HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



545 



Ministerium of Pennsylvania in Salem 

 church, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, June 17, 

 1889. He was installed as pastor of St. 

 IMichael's and St. John's churches June 23. 

 1889, and is still filling that charge. Dur- 

 ing his pastorate both churches have pros- 

 pered, the latter having erected in 1899 a 

 handsome modern church building. Mr. 

 Waidelich, in addition to his regular par- 

 ish, also served temporarily as pastor of 

 Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church at 

 Ridge Road, Rockhill township, and in 

 1892 organized Trinity congregation at 

 Perkasie. Li 1900 these last two churches 

 were by his advice formed into a separate 

 parish. 



Mr. Waidelich served as secretary and 

 later as president of the Norristown con- 

 ference of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania 

 and adjacent states, and has served as rep- 

 resentative of his synod at the meeting of 

 the General Council of North America. He 

 was trustee of Muhlenberg College for six 

 years. He has also been secretary of the 

 Lutheran Pastoral Association of Bucks and 

 of a portion of Montgomery county since 

 the fall of 1889. In his home town of Sell- 

 ersville Mr. Waidelich has exerted a wide 

 influence for good among the young people. 

 He has served as a member of the local 

 school board and taken a deep interest in 

 the cause of education. 



On July 4. 1889, Mr. Waidelich married 

 Alice S. Keller, daughter of Nathan and 

 Ellamina (Smith) Keller, of Albany. Berks 

 county, Pennsylvania. She had been a 

 teacher in the public schools of that county 

 for five years or more, and had charge of 

 a kindergarten department in the schools 

 of Reading, Pennsylvania, for one year. 

 Rev. and Mrs. Waidelich are the parents of 

 one son, Luther Frederic, who was born at 

 Sellersville, May 24. 1890, and is preparing 

 for a college education. 



FRANK L. KNOLL. Among the en- 

 terprising business men of Perkasie is 

 Frank L. Knoll, undertaker and cabinet- 

 maker. He was born in New Britain 

 township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on 

 January 31, 1862, and is of German descent, 

 being a son of Lewis and Hannah (Tref- 

 finger) Knoll. Lewis Knoll, father of the 

 subject of this sketch, is a son of Charles 

 T. Knoll, and was born in Germany in 

 1827 and came to America June r, 1844, 

 at the age of seventeen years. He had 

 learned the trade of a locksmith in Ger- 

 many, and after his arrival in Bucks county 

 learned the blacksmith trade at Newville, 

 New Britain township. He followed the 

 latter trade at Mt. Pleasant, Hilltown town- 

 ship, Bucks county, for about twenty years, 

 and then removed to Lansdale, Montgom- 

 ery county, where he still resides. He 

 married Hannah, daughter of Frederick 

 Treffinger, also of German descent, she 

 having been born in Germany, February 23, 

 1830. She died November 4, 1892. Lewis 

 35-3 



and Hannah (TreiBnger) Knoll were the 

 parents of five children, viz. : Charles, of 

 Perkasie, who married Susan Rickert ; 

 Frederick, deceased; Mary, wife of John 

 S. Barndt, of Line Lexington; Amanda, 

 wife of Milton Haines; and Frank L., the 

 subject of this sketch. 



Frank L. Knoll was reared and educated 

 in Hilltown township. Early in life he 

 learned the trade of a carpenter and cabinet 

 maker with Francis Sellers, whose daugh- 

 ter he subsequently married. In 1888 he 

 started in the undertaking business at Sil- 

 verdale, and in 1894 r^ioved to Perkasie, 

 where he has since followed that business. 

 He is a member of the Hilltown Reformed 

 church, and politically is a Democrat. He 

 filled the office of chief burgess of Per- 

 kasie for six months, and then resigned the 

 oflice. He married December 27, 1884, 

 Emeline Sellers, daughter of Francis and 

 Emiline (Frantz) Sellers, and they are the 

 parents of two children : Florence, born 

 October i, 1889, and Idella, born July i, 

 1891. 



ROBERT M. CROASDALE, one of the 

 well known young business men of New- 

 town, was born in Newtown, May 16, 1864, 

 and is a son of John Wilson and Eliza- 

 beth B. (Parry) Croasdale, and is a de- 

 scendant of the oldest families in Bucks. 

 His paternal ancestor, Ezra Croasdale, was 

 a native of Yorkshire, England, and brought 

 a certificate from the Friends' Meeting at 

 Brighouse, Yorkshire, dated i mo. 29, 1683, 

 and settled in Middletown, where he mar- 

 ried 2 mo. 6, 1687, Ann Peacock, also a 

 native of Yorkshire, coming from Kirks- 

 dale, in that county, in 1684, in the ship' 

 "Shield," of Stockton, which arrived in 

 the Delaware river in the latter part of the 

 8th month, 1684. They were married at 

 the house of Nicholas Wain, under the 

 .direction of Neshaminy (now Middletown) 

 Monthly Meeting. Ezra Croasdale died 4 

 mo. 18, 1740, and his- wife Ann 10 mo. 8, 

 1732. They were the parents of four chil- 

 dren, viz. : Ezra, born 12 mo. 5, 1689, died 

 4 mo., 1702; William, born 7 mo. 19, 1690, 

 died 9 mo. 19, 1777 ; Grace, born 2 mo. 6, 

 1692; and Jeremiah, born 8 mo. 29, 1694. 



Jeremiah Croasdale, son of Ezra and Ann, 

 was born and reared in Middletown, and 

 spent his whole life there. He married 7 

 mo. 22, 1720, Grace Heaton, daughter of 

 Robert and Gra^e (Pearson) Heaton, of 

 Middletown. Robert Heaton was born in 

 Yorkshire in 1671, and came to Pennsyl- 

 vania with his parents, Robert and Alice 

 Heaton, from Settle, Yorkshire, ^n the 

 "Welcome," with William Penn, arriving^ 

 8 mo. 27, 1682. He was a large landholder 

 in Middletown, and one of the prominent 

 men in the little Quaker colony on the 

 Delaware. Jeremiah and Grace (Heaton) 

 Croasdale were the parents of nine chil- 

 dren: Grace, born 9 mo. 8, 1721. marrie-' 

 Jonathan Knight ; Mercy, born 12 mo. 28, 

 1723-4; Ezra, born 5 mo. 12, 1726; Robert, 



