My Genealogy Hound

BYRON MILLER FLECK, son of Allen and Elizabeth James (Miller) Fleck, is a native of Lower Gwynedd township, having been born on the farm on which he now lives, November 29, 1859, being the second oldest child of his parents. He attended the public school of his district, commonly known as the “Eight Square School,” and also Sunnyside Academy, at Ambler, which institution he left when he had entered his nineteenth year. During vacation periods, as well as at intervals at other times, he found abundant employment on the farm. His father was a careful and successful farmer, and he was thoroughly taught the occupation which was to be his future calling in life. The farm, known as Willow Valley, at that time contained 89 acres of land and timber, but has since been reduced to 80 acres by sale of a portion. When Allen Fleck purchased the farm it contained 124 acres. Since his death the farm has been held jointly by Byron M. Fleck and his sister Laura Dalena. It is operated as a dairy and a general farm by the two.

Byron M. Fleck married, July 29, 1892, Martha, daughter of Henry and Mary Ann (Fry) Reyner, of Penllyn. They have one child, Warren Stanley, born January 24, 1903.

The family are members of the Baptist church at Ambler. Mr. Fleck has been a trustee of the church since 1902. Mrs. Fleck has been a member of the Aid Society since 1900. In politics Mr. Fleck is a member of the Democratic party, but has taken little interest in party affairs the past few years, his entire attention being given to the farm.

Allen Fleck (father) was the son of Jacob and Mary (Hallman) Fleck. He was born August 1, 1820, on the old Fleck homestead, more recently the Adam Hoover farm. He attended the schools of the neighborhood, but the opportunities for acquiring an education were much more limited at that day than they are at the present time. It was all that a farmer’s son could expect to obtain the mere rudiments of an education, leaving it to those more fortunately situated to attend the higher institutions of learning. The only marvel is that men so intelligent as Allen Fleck and his contemporaries of a past generation were produced amid such surroundings. Mr. Fleck married Elizabeth James Miller, daughter of Henry L. and Elizabeth (James) Miller, of New Britain township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. The couple located immediately on the Willow Valley farm, which Mr. Fleck had purchased in 1842. The older child of the couple besides Byron M. Fleck is Laura Dalena, born August 19, 1858. She attended the Eight Square School and Sunnyside Academy at Ambler, until her eighteenth year, after which she remained with her parents, assisting in household duties. She married, September 24, 1895, Finley Hutton, son of Lewis and Anna Mary (Brinton) Kitzelman, of Dilworthtown, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. Their only child is Stanley Brinton, born July 13, 1897. Mr. and Mrs. Kitzelman make their home with their brother.

Jacob Fleck (grandfather) was born February 1, 1784, and died March 25, 1824, at the family homestead, in Lower Gwynedd. He married, September 8, 1807, Mary Hallman, of the same vicinity. Their children: 1. Catharine, born May 26, 1808, who married John Kuhler, of Lower Gwynedd, their children being Mary Ann, who married George Wallace, they living in Philadelphia, and Anna, who married Albert Colflesh, the couple living at Ambler; 2. Margaret, born April 16, 1810; 3. Henry, born May 1, 1813, married Mary Detwiler, of Horsham township, and died a few years ago in Norristown at a very advanced age; 4. Mary Ann, born July 5, 1815, who married Charles Berkhimer, of Whitpain township; 5. Allen, father of Byron M. Fleck. The Flecks have always been a worthy and highly respected family, enjoying the esteem of the whole community. The family are of German origin, their ancestor having come to America with the tide of emigration which came about the middle of the eighteenth century.