My Genealogy Hound

THE BOSLER FAMILY. ABRAHAM BOSLER. Johan Wilhelm Bossler was the earliest American ancestor of the Bosler family of Cumberland county. He came from Hanover, Germany, and landed at Philadelphia, Oct. 28, 1738, from the ship “Bilander Thistle,” and was the only person of his name on the vessel. In fact, he is the only Bosler that appears anywhere upon the immigrant records of Pennsylvania. He was yet quite young when he arrived in this country and it is not definitely known where he first settled and what occupation he followed. By 1761 he was living in Lancaster county, between Elizabethtown and Maytown, where he married a Miss Longenecker, by whom he had a large family. Among their children was a son John, born Nov. 14, 1765, who married Catharine Gish, of Lancaster county, and engaged at farming. In 1794 he came to Cumberland county, and settled on the north side of the Conedoguinet Creek, in what is now Silver Spring township. He purchased from John and James Buchanan the farm that is now owned by David R. Vogelsong, and made it his home during the rest of his days. He also afterward acquired the ownership of two other farms, adjoining this one on the north, and for thirty years was a prominent and influential citizen of that part of the county. He died Nov. 21, 1824, his wife, Catharine (Gish) Bosler, died Feb. 15, 1829, aged fifty-seven years, and the remains of both are buried in the cemetery of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church.

John and Catharine (Gish) Bosler had five children, three sons and two daughters. The sons were Jacob D., John and Abraham; and the daughters were Nancy and Catharine. Jacob was a physician and for a time had a drug store and practiced his profession in Mechanicsburg. He married Ann D. Herman, daughter of Martin and Elizabeth (Bowers) Herman, and removed to Dayton, Ohio, where he lived to a great age and where some of his descendants are still living. John was married twice. His first wife was a daughter of Rev. Jacob Keller, and his second a daughter of George Webbert. Nancy was also married twice; her first husband was John Rife, and her second Melchoir Webbert. Catharine married Dr. John Fahnestock on Oct. 23, 1827.

Abraham Bosler was the youngest child. He was born Aug. 19, 1806, on the farm which his father purchased from the Buchanans in the part of East Pennsboro township that is now included in Silver Spring. Here he grew to manhood and received such education as the district schools of that section afforded. Although reared on the farm and trained to that vocation he had scarcely reached the years of maturity when he turned his attention to merchandising. He engaged at merchandising in the village of Hogestown for several years and then formed a partnership with Francis Porter in the produce and forwarding business, shipping by arks and boats to Baltimore by way of the Susquehanna river, and by canal to Philadelphia. He also was a large dealer in cattle, which he purchased in Ohio and western Pennsylvania and then drove them to the Eastern markets. His business ventures were quite successful, but he still retained his interest in farming. For some years he farmed a farm which adjoins Hogestown on the northwest, now owned by the McCormick estate, and in March, 1838, bought a fine farm from Martha Cunningham. This farm lies next to the place on which he was born, in a peninsula on the north side of the Conedoguinet, due north of Hogestown, and since Mr. Bosler has parted with it it has been owned by the Mussers. Here he farmed, manufactured brick, erected new buildings and made other improvements, and lived twelve of the most strenuous years of his entire career. In April, 1850, he sold his possessions in Silver Spring township, moved his family to his wife’s brother, Christian Herman, near New Kingston, and went West. He made an extended trip and purchased a large tract of land near what is now Monmouth, Ill., and then returned to Pennsylvania for his family. His wife, however, was averse to going West, so in the spring of 1852 he moved to South Middleton township, a short distance south from Carlisle, where the fall previous he had purchased a farm, a mill and a distillery. He engaged in these various branches of industry in that locality until 1863, when the revenue taxes became exorbitant and he closed his distillery. Later he sold his interests at this place to his son, J. Herman Bosler, and in 1872 moved to Carlisle, where, under the firm name of A. Bosler & Dale, he engaged in the grain and coal business for seven or eight years and then retired.

On Feb. 25, 1830, Mr. Abraham Bosler was married to Miss Eliza Herman, by Rev. James Williamson, pastor of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church. Eliza Herman was a daughter of Martin and Elizabeth (Bowers) Herman, and a member of a prominent Silver Spring family whose history appears in another part of these annals. Soon after their marriage they connected with the Presbyterian Church at Silver Spring, where they continued faithful attendants until they removed to South Middleton, when by certificate they transferred their membership to the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, of which church they were devout members and liberal supporters until the end of life. Mr. Bosler died Dec. 21, 1883; his wife died Dec. 7, 1885, aged seventy-five years, and their remains rest in the family plot in Ashland cemetery in Carlisle. They had eight children, namely: John Herman, James Williamson, Benjamin C., Joseph, Elizabeth Bowers, Mary Catharine, George Morris and Charles A. The last-named died in infancy, but the rest all grew to maturity. Elizabeth B. is unmarried and a resident of Carlisle. Mary C. married Joseph R. Stonebraker and resides in Baltimore, and George M. resides in Carlisle, where he has extensive business interests. Benjamin C. was reared upon the farm and in 1857 went to Illinois, where he resided until the early ‘sixties, when he removed to California and died in a mining camp in 1862. He was unmarried.

Abraham Bosler was a strong character in the business and social life of Cumberland county, and his activity, honesty of purpose and integrity won for him an honorable place in its history.