My Genealogy Hound

FRANCIS B. UPDEGROVE, the well-known grocer who is engaged in business at Second and Johnson streets, Pottstown, was born in Berks county, December 12, 1848. He is the son of William and Elizabeth (Bower) Updegrove, both of them natives of Berks county. They had nine children, all now living, as follows: Mary E., wife of Jacob Bickhart, of near Sanatoga; Francis B.; Harrison B., of Salford Station; William B., a resident of Oklahoma; Jacob, living at Avery, Kansas; Susan E., wife of Aaron Mutter, of Frederick; Thomas F., of Anadarko, Oklahoma; Annie, of New Hanover township, and Ulysses G., of Huntsville, Kansas.

William Updegrove (father) was a shoe-maker by trade, but afterward a farmer in Montgomery county, owning a farm in Frederick township. He removed from the farm six years before his death, locating some distance above Brendlinger’s store, where he died, February 20, 1899, aged seventy-six years. His wife survives him and is in her eighty-second year. Both the parents were members of the Lutheran denomination. He was a Democrat prior to Abraham Lincoln’s election as president of the United States but subsequent to that time he invariably voted the Republican ticket and supported the principles of that party.

Jacob Updegrove (grandfather) was born in Berks county. He was also a shoemaker by trade and followed that occupation until his death, although he owned a small piece of land which he tilled himself. His wife was Elizabeth (Schaeffer) Updegrove. He was upwards of eighty-years old at the time of his death, as was also his wife. They had ten children.

Jacob Bower (maternal grandfather) was a native of Berks county. He was a blacksmith by trade and later a farmer. His wife was Susan Happel. He died in his eighty-fifth year on the farm in Frederick township, on which he lived with his son-in-law, William Updegrove. The couple had eight children who grew to maturity.

Francis B. Updegrove spent the first eighteen years of his life in Berks county, where he began shoemaking when a boy and worked at that occupation until of age, when he turned his attention to farming, which occupation he pursued to the age of thirty-five years, and then engaged in the grocery business in Pottstown, which he has continued at the same stand since 1884. He owns his place of business, adjacent to which is his handsome residence. Mr. Updegrove received a public-school education and followed the occupation of teaching one winter, having charge of a school in New Hanover township.

On December 26, 1876, Mr. Updegrove married Miss Lydia Gilbert. Her mother was Sarah (Romie), Gilbert. Mr. and Mrs. Updegrove’s children are: Sarah, William and Edna. Sarah married Sidney R. Kepner, of Pottstown. William is a clerk in his father’s store. Both William and his sister Edna are attending the high school.

Mr. and Mrs. Updegrove are members of the Emanuel Lutheran church. Politically Mr. Updegrove is a Republican.