My Genealogy Hound

A. D. FETTEROLF was born near Collegeville, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1850. He was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools and in Freeland Seminary. He is the son of Gideon and Esther (Hunsicker) Fetterolf, both natives of this county.

Gideon Fetterolf (father) was reared and lived all his life in Montgomery county. He died in 1894, aged eighty-seven years. He was an elder and a leader in the Mennonite church, which is now merged into the Reformed church of Collegeville. He passed most of his life in farming, but also spent some time as a merchant in Royersford. He was widely known and highly respected. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Bishop John Hunsicker. They had the following children: Captain Henry H., of Collegeville, ex-representative of the county; Adam H., president of Girard College, Philadelphia; Susan (Mrs. A. Tyson); Sarah (Mrs. A. Grimley). Gideon Fetterolf’s second wife was Esther Hunsicker, daughter of Bishop Abraham and Elizabeth Hunsicker. They had the following children: Abraham D., the subject of this sketch; A. Curtin, connected with the International Merchant and Marine Company, of New York; Horace G., a prominent manufacturer of rugs and carpets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All the children inherited the business sagacity of the parents, and hold various high positions in the world.

Adam Fetterolf, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a member of an old Berks county family. His children were: Michael Samuel, Peter, Daniel, Adam, Gideon (father), Rachel (Mrs. Correll).

Bishop Abraham Hunsicker (maternal grandfather) was born in Montgomery county, July 31, 1793, and died June 12, 1872, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was the son of Bishop Henry Hunsicker. He descended from a family of ministers, and was a man who held liberal views and could look ahead of his time. His ideas caused a division of the Mennonite church. The few followers remained together, and in 1862 Rev. Joseph H. Hendricks was elected minister and took charge of the church. The church flourished, and in 1888 merged with the Reformed Church in the United States, and is among the strong congregations of that denomination. It is still under Mr. Hendrick’s supervision, as it has been for more than forty years, and its success is a monument to Abraham Hunsicker’s views. Bishop Hunsicker was the founder of Freeland Seminary, and established his son Henry as principal, the institution afterwards becoming Ursinus College. Abraham Hunsicker had children as follows: Henry, who conducted Freeland Seminary for years, and later settled in Germantown, where he still resides; Horace; Elias; Mary, married Rev. J. T. Preston; Kate, married Rev. Joseph H. Hendricks; Esther (mother), who still lives at Collegeville; Anna (Mrs. John B. Landis); Abraham, and Benjamin A.

Abraham Hunsicker (father) was descended as follows: Bishop John Hunsicker was his oldest brother. He was born in Montgomery county. Bishop Henry Hunsicker was his father, and is a descendant of Valentine Hunsicker, who came from Switzerland, and was among the early settlers of Pennsylvania. He was one of the leaders of the Mennonite church.

Abraham D. Fetterolf received a good education and started in life with principles fixed by the training of his parents. At the age of sixteen he became a teacher in the public school. When he became of age he went to Philadelphia and engaged in mercantile pursuits. From 1871 until 1875 he was a lumber inspector, and then formed a partnership which carried on a flour and feed business. From 1888 to 1890 he was a member of the firm of Roberts & Company Machine Works, at Collegeville. In 1882 he was elected a justice of the peace of Upper Providence township, and served until he resigned to accept a county office. In 1885 he was elected transcribing clerk of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the following year was promoted to speaker’s clerk; in 1889 was journal clerk; in 1893, resident clerk; in 1895, chief clerk, and in 1897 and 1899 resident clerk. In 1890 he was nominated for the office of register of wills of Montgomery county, and failed of election by only a small majority. In 1891 he was appointed deputy clerk of the courts of Montgomery county. In 1892 he was unanimously elected chairman of the Republican committee of Montgomery county, and that he conducted the campaign successfully is shown by the fact that the entire Republican ticket was elected with a single exception. He resigned this office to become secretary of the Republican state committee during the campaign of 1893-4.

At the present time Mr. Fetterolf is burgess of the borough of Collegeville, elected in the spring of 1903, and also has a real estate and loan investment office in Philadelphia which receives the most of his attention. He is a broad-minded business man, and widely known and respected. His home is on Main street, Collegeville. Since July, 1889, Mr. Fetterolf has been secretary of the Perkiomen Mutual Fire Insurance Company. For years he was a director of the National Bank of Schwenksville. He is a director in the Times Publishing Company, of Norristown, and of other corporations. He became a Mason in Warren Lodge, Trappe, and served as master in 1880, and as secretary for ten years. He is a member of Royal Arch Chapter, Free and Accepted Masons, No. 190; of Hutchinson Commandery; No. 32, Knights Templar, of Norristown; and of the Patriotic Sons of America. He is a director in the Valley Forge Memorial Association.

He married (first wife) Miss Sallie Graybill, a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Henry N. and Ann Musser Graybill, originally of Lancaster county. He was a bishop of the Brethren church, and a prominent farmer. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Graybill were: Martha (Mrs. H. A. Kaufman); Mary, married Attorney J. S. Freeman; Sallie (Mrs. Fetterolf); Elizabeth (Mrs. L. Royer); Rebecca, died unmarried; James M.; Christopher; Jay N., and Henry.

Abraham D. and Sallie (Graybill) Fetterolf had the following children: Gertrude, died young; Henry, died in infancy; Clement G., received a good education and gave promise of great success in the business world, was the youngest member of the New York Produce Exchange, but was cut off in his early manhood, dying February 23, 1899; Horace N., born in 1885, now a student at the University of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Fetterolf died in 1889. She was a member of the Reformed church of Collegeville.

On June 21, 1891, Abraham D. Fetterolf married (second wife) Miss Bertha Kooken, who was born at Mercersburg, the daughter of John R. and Mary (Prizer) Kooken, both natives of Pennsylvania of German descent. Mr. Kooken was a highly educated man and a well known educator and minister of the Reformed church. He conducted Elmwood Seminary, near Norristown, which was the second seminary in the county. Under President Buchanan’s administration he was appointed consul to Trinidad-de-Cuba, When Lincoln became president he returned to his home, and at the beginning of the Civil war raised a company and served as captain of Company C, One Hundred and Tenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was killed in battle at Fredericksburg, and was buried in the national cemetery at that place. Mr. Fetterolf still has Captain Kooken’s sword in his possession, and it is highly prized by the family. At one time Mr. Kooken was a teacher in the Mercersburg Academy. His wife, who survived him some years, was the daughter of Henry Prizer, the first principal of what was long known as Washington Hall Boarding School at Trappe. The children of John R. and Mary (Prizer) Kooken were: Warren, of Philadelphia; Robert, died at the age of twenty-two years; Bertha C. (Mrs. Fetterolf). Abraham D. and Bertha C. Fetterolf have no children. The family are members of the Reformed church.

Judging from his past record and considering that Mr. Fetterolf is now in the prime of his life, it is highly probable that new and still higher fields of usefulness will be opened to him in the future.