My Genealogy Hound

ABRAHAM G. GOTWALS, long an efficient member of the Norristown police force, and more recently warden of the Montgomery county prison, is a native of Upper Providence township, where he was born July 30, 1850. His father was Joseph S. Gotwals, horn November 11, 1810, in the same township where he lived all his life. The father had a limited education, his father dying when he was eleven years of age, so that he was compelled to seek a home among strangers. An uncle named Hendricks received him as a sort of an adopted son. He lived with this uncle until his marriage. His wife was Mary Grater, whose ancestors had for generations lived at what is now known as Grater’s Ford, in Perkiomen township. She inherited money from her father’s estate, with which they purchased the farm on which they lived thirty years, and where their eight children were born. This farm is now occupied by their son, John G. Gotwals, and is known in the family as the old homestead. In early life he was a Whig and on the formation of the Republican party he became a strong member thereof. He took an active interest in politics but was not an office-seeker. In religious faith he was a Mennonite. He died in 1889 and was buried in the Upper Providence Mennonite cemetery. He had the following children: Susan, the eldest, is deceased; Catharine (deceased) married John D. Bechtel, they having one child, Mary Ella; John G. married Lydia H. Detwiler, their children being Daniel (deceased), Joseph (deceased), Abraham, Isaiah (deceased), Mary, Jane, Kate, David, Esther (deceased), Elmer, Raymond (deceased) and Vernon; Mary M. married James G. Detwiler, their children being Frances (deceased), John, Mary, Lydia, Joseph, Elias, Susan, Lizzie, James and Sarah; Elizabeth married Peter H. Colehower; Joseph G. married Sarah Detwiler, their children being Elias, John, Mary, Charles, and two died in infancy; Abraham G. is the subject of this sketch; Amos G. married Ida Radcliff, their children being Sarah, Mary, Claude, Ruth and one boy.

Abraham G. Gotwals grew to manhood on the old homestead, attending the country schools in the winter months and working on the farm in the summer, until he reached the age of eighteen years, when he became an apprentice to Reuben Landis at the carpenter trade. He remained with Landis for two years and afterwards followed his trade for about five years. He then accepted a position as superintendent of the Yerkes Creamery, located at Yerkes Station, on the Perkiomen Railroad, where he remained two years. He then removed to Norristown, where he engaged in the flour and feed business for one year, when he sold out and sold meats and produce for the Philadelphia market. Several years, unprofitably spent in this way, satisfied him that he was not intended for the produce business and he became a member of the police force of Norristown in 1890, remaining in that position eight years, during the last two years as assistant chief of police. In 1898 he was appointed by the Montgomery county prison inspectors to the position of warden of the prison, to which he has been elected continuously ever since. He is a Republican in politics and he and his family are members of the First Presbyterian church.

Warden Gotwals was a model of what a policeman should be when he held that position. In the office of warden he has won the highest encomiums by his careful, vigilant and efficient management of the institution. He takes the deepest interest in those under his charge, looking specially after their comfort and leaving nothing undone that promises to promote the welfare of the inmates of the institution which is everywhere recognized as being, under Mr. Gotwals’ superintendence, one of the best managed in the state or country. In his police experience Mr. Gotwals had many memorable experiences. He assisted in apprehending the parties in the Kaiser tragedy and, being then appointed warden, had charge, in that capacity, of Kaiser and Clemmer, the former of whom committed suicide after being convicted of the murder of his wife. Clemmer, the accomplice, who was also convicted, was executed in the prison for the crime.

An exciting episode during Warden Gotwals’ prison experience, was the deadly assault made upon him and Watchman Beckwith, on the evening of January 24, 1904, by Frederick Bond and William Cornwall, who were in prison awaiting trial. Cornwall pretended to be very sick, and when Mr. Gotwals and Mr. Beckwith went into the cell occupied by the two, Bond swung an iron bar with great effect, injuring the Warden and pounding the watchman into insensibility. They nearly succeeded in making their escape from the prison, but were prevented by the courageous conduct of Mrs. Gotwals and her sixteen-year-old daughter Eunice. The latter notified Chief of Police Rodenbaugh, at the city hall, while the mother kept the desperate men at bay with a revolver which she had obtained from the family apartments in the prison. The jail-breakers were finally overcome, and were tried at the next term of court, pleading guilty and receiving sentences of eleven and twelve years respectively in the penitentiary for the assault on their keepers and the crimes for which they had been arrested and sent to prison. The aged watchman, Beckwith, ultimately recovered, although he was badly injured.

Mr. Gotwals married, December 23, 1876, Mary C., daughter of William B. and Kate (Connell) Logan. She was born February 23, 1859, in Audubon, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Gotwals are: William, born December 25, 1877; Elizabeth, who was born May 12, 1879, and married Dr. J. R. Shuman, now residing in Wagon Mound, New Mexico; Cora Kate, born October 14, 1880; John Carl, born November 4, 1884, and Eunice, born November 15, 1888. The Logan family are of Irish ancestry, and on coming to this country settled at what is now Audubon, where they purchased a large tract of land, lying between Audubon and Norristown, in Norriton township. Some of the family have always occupied this farm. William B., the father of Mrs. Gotwals, was a skillful blacksmith and one of the best known horse trainers in all the country round. He handled and trained horses for General John F. Hartranft, and other prominent men. He owned some fine horses himself. His wife was Kate Connell and they had the following children: Abraham Linwood, who married Emma Bader; Mary C.; William B., Jr., who married Mrs. E. Butz, of Philadelphia; and Eunice S., unmarried. Mr. Logan has always been an active Democrat, and has been school director and election officer. He is a member of the Reformed church. He resides at Yerkes Station, in Upper Providence township.