My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM ERWIN SCHMERTZ, president Third National Bank of Pittsburgh, was born in Drieburg, Westphalia, Prussia, May 24, 1826. His father, John Christian Schmertz, was collector of revenues for Baron von Sierstof, and his mother, Caroline (von Westphalen) was descended from a Saxon to whom Charlemagne granted the province of Westphalia in 803. In 1832 William E. came with his parents to America, and his father carried on business in Pittsburgh, from which he retired in 1846, dying in 1860; his widow died in 1885. W. E. Schmertz attended the public schools of Pittsburgh until he was twelve years old, when he entered the shoe store of H. P. Cain. In 1848 he opened a retail shoe store, and within a few years embarked in the wholesale trade. In 1860 he became a trustee in the Dollar Savings Bank, of which he is now vice-president. He was one of the organizers of the Third National Bank in 1863, and was elected president the following year. He has served as president of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, is a director of Braddock National Bank, and chairman of the finance committee of the Chartiers Valley Gas Co. In 1882, Mr. Schmertz was placed by the Chamber of Commerce at the head of the committee, which, after a three years’ fight, succeeded in ousting the “bond syndicate,” whereby the city was saved nearly $2,000,000. Mr. Schmertz was also prominent in other reform measures for the good of the city. Politically, he is a republican. Dec. 4, 1849, he married Amelia A., daughter of Rev. David Kammerer, who was fourteen years pastor of the Smithfield Street (Pittsburgh) Evangelical Church.