My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM H. HUNSICKER is a member of the firm of M. C. Ebbecke & Co., dealers in hardware, guns and sporting goods in Allentown. His entire life has been passed in the Keystone State, and he is one of the well known residents of the community in which he now makes his home. He was born in Northampton County, on the 25th of November, 1841, and is a son of John and Sarah (Heinbach) Hunsicker. The father was a wheelwright by trade, and carried on business along that line during his active life. His last days were spent in Catasauqua, Pa., where his death occurred in 1874. His father, Jacob Hunsicker, was of German lineage, and the family was probably founded in America during early Colonial days.

The boyhood days of our subject were spent in Allentown and in Cherryville, Northampton County, and until eighteen years of age he attended the common schools. He then learned the wheel-wright’s trade with his father, and followed that business until 1861. At that time he laid aside all business cares and responded to the country’s call for troops to aid in crushing out the Rebellion. He enrolled his name among the boys in blue of Company I, Eighty-first Pennsylvania Infantry, under Col. Charles Miller, and with his regiment was sent to Virginia, where they were attached to the command of General McClellan. Mr. Hunsicker took part in the seven-days Battle of the Wilderness, and on the sixth day was shot through the shoulder and sent to the hospital in Washington, D. C., where he remained for two months. He was then transferred to Philadelphia, where he was confined in the hospital for seven months, but his wound unfitted him for further duty, and on the surgeon’s certificate of disability he was honorably discharged and returned home.

When he had sufficiently recovered his health, Mr. Hunsicker went to Philadelphia, where he joined the firm of Seltzer & Miller, and engaged in the wholesale liquor business, which he successfully carried on until 1893. In that year he sold out, and soon after came to Allentown, where he purchased the interest of Samuel Moyer, of the well known firm of M. C. Ebbecke & Co. The firm style continued the same after Mr. Hunsicker was admitted to partnership. They carry a large and well assorted stock of hardware, guns and sporting goods of every description, and occupy a store 20x130 feet, utilizing all three floors of the building. Their business has assumed extensive proportions.

In 1865 Mr. Hunsicker was united in marriage to Miss Sabina S. Mohry, of Whitehall, daughter of Benjamin Mohry. They have three children, Irwin J., Harry H. and Howard P., all of whom are still at home. In his political affiliations, Mr. Hunsicker is a Republican, and socially is connected with E. B. Young Post No. 87, G. A. R. He belongs to St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, and is a worthy and valued citizen of the community. He possesses excellent business and executive ability, and enterprise and industry have been the important factors in his success.