HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



647 



affairs. In religious belief he adheres to 

 the New Mennonites, and is a member of 

 the Bethany Mennonite church, of which 

 he has been trustee since 1902. He is prom- 

 inent in the young people's society, of 

 which he is chairman. Dr. Hedrick mar- 

 ried, in 1898, Anna Rice, daughter of Jo- 

 seph and Barbara ( Rice) Hunsberger, the 

 former a farmer of Dublin, Bucks county. 



JONAS S. HARLEY. In business life 

 success depends so entirely upon individual 

 merit that when one has attained a posi- 

 tion of prominence, as has Jonas S. Har- 

 ley, of Quakertown, a manufacturer of 

 saddlery, etc., also president of the Quaker- 

 town Trust Company, it is an unmistakable 

 evidence of ability, natural and acquired. 

 His business career has be'en one of marked 

 enterprise, wherein his reliable methods 

 have contributed in a large measure to his 

 prosperity. He was born in Harleysville, 

 Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, August 



2, 1857- 



John Harley, grandfather of Jonas S. 

 Harley, was born July 28, 1792. He was 

 united in marriage December 31, 1814, to 

 Catherine Kline, who was born September 

 I7> 1793. and his death occurred June 27, 

 1872. Jacob K. Harley, father of Jonas S. 

 Harley, was born in Frederick township, 

 Montgomery county, Pennsj-^vania Decem- 

 ber 23, 1825. In early life he served an 

 apprenticeship at the trade of harness 

 maker, becoming an expert mechanic. This 

 line of work he followed successfully, con- 

 ducting a business of his own at Harleys- 

 ville until 1897, the year of his retirement 

 from active pursuits. He served in the 

 capacity of director of the East Greenville 

 National Bank, and president of the Turn- 

 pike Company, the turnpike road extending 

 from Harleysville to Lederachsville. He 

 was prominently identified with local affairs, 

 and was keenly alive to everything which 

 concerned in any way the well being of the 

 township and county. He was a member 

 of the executive committee of the Dunkard 

 church, and politically a Republican. , He 

 married Sarah Stover, daughter of Jacob 

 Stover, of Kulpsville, and they were the 

 parents of nine children : James, Elmira, 

 Jonas S., Katheryn, Jennie, Jacob, Martha, 

 Charlotte, and Lizzie, who died at the age 

 of nine years. Jacob K. Harley (father) 

 died April 3, 1903, in the seventy-eighth 

 year of his age. He survived his wife 

 several years, her death occurring in No- 

 vember, 1896. 



The educational advantages enjoyed by 

 Jonas S. Harley were obtained in the pub- 

 lic schools adjacent to his home, and at 

 Bruner's Academy, North Wales. In 1875 

 he engaged in the manufacture of saddlery 

 at Kulpsville, remaining there until Febru- 

 ary 7, 1878, when he moved to Quaker- 

 town and established a business on a small 

 scale. His trade increased so rapidly both 

 in volume and importance that he was com- 



pelled to greatly enlarge his facilities, and 

 at the present time (1905) his plant con- 

 sists of a large factory four stories in 

 height, the dimensions of the main building 

 being two hundred and forty by sixty feet, 

 and an annex eighty by sixty-five feet. It 

 gives constant employment to one hundred 

 and seventy-five men, all skilled mechanics, 

 and the product is of the best quality and 

 workmanship, which insures a ready sale. 

 His extensive sales rooms are in New York 

 city. The able manner in which he man- 

 ages his affairs denotes that he possesses 

 business talent of a high order, and at the 

 same time the interest he maintains in all 

 matters calculated to promote the welfare 

 of the people proves his loyal devotion to 

 the town in which he makes his home. He 

 is a director of the Quakertown National 

 Bank, and was one of the organizers of the 

 QuakertQwn Trust Company, was appointed 

 its first president, and is still serving in that 

 capacity. He takes an active and prominent 

 part in politics, and was chosen as a dele- 

 gate to the Republican National Conven- 

 tion in 1904. He is a warden of the 

 Protestant Episcopal church, and a mem- 

 ber of the Bucks County Historical So- 

 ciety. On September 16, 1886, Mr. Harley 

 was married to Helen Sargent Baylies, of 

 Baltimore, Maryland. Their children are: 

 Frederick L., who is engaged in business 

 with his father ; and Irene, wife of J. 

 Howard Ozias, and they are the parents 

 of one child, Helen. 



HIEL GILBERT, who for many 

 years vvas identified with industrial in- 

 terests in Holicong, and is now engaged 

 in farming in Buckingham township, was 

 born in this township. May 4, 1849, his 

 parents being Maris and Lydia Ann 

 (Large) Gilbert. The father, also born 

 and reared in Buckingham township, 

 learned the wheelwright's and carriage- 

 builder's trades, and for many years 

 carried on business on his own account 

 along those lines in Centerville. He 

 afterward removed to Philadelphia, 

 where he continued in the same business 

 for nineteen years, after which he re- 

 turned to Buckingham township and pur- 

 chased the farm belonging to his father- 

 in-law, Matthew Large. He then began 

 the cultivation of his fields, but after 

 three years found that he knew little 

 about farming, and, selling the property, 

 he purchased a residence in Holicong, 

 where he again engaged in carriage 

 building. He remained there for ten 

 years, after which he returned to Phil- 

 adelphia, where he resided up to the time 

 of his death. To Maris and Lydia Ann 

 (Large) Gilbert were born three chil- 

 dren, of whom two are living: Hiel and 

 Ella, the latter the widow of Thomas 

 Maynes. of Philadelphia. 



Hiel Gilbert, spending his youth in his 

 parents' home, pursued his education in 



