My Genealogy Hound

JOHN SCHRACK, grandson of John and Mary E. Schrack, and son of Charles Norris and Harriet Schrack, was born at Norris Hall, in Norriton township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1847, the estate of his father, descending from the Norris family, their ancestor having purchased from the son of William Penn, the founder of the colony. On the old estate is a family burial-ground, established by Charles Norris in 1812, in which the remains of fifteen members of the family have been interred from time to time.

Mr. Schrack spent his youth on the family homestead, attending the public school at Port Indian until he had reached the age of seventeen years. His conscientious devotion to duty and his standing in the school may be gathered from the fact that he often took entire charge of it in the absence of the teacher. He subsequently attended Freeland Seminary, at Collegeville, where he received a substantial education, studying foreign languages under Professor J. Shelly Weinberger; mathematics under Dr. A. H. Fetterolf, now president of Girard College, and other branches of learning under equally able preceptors of the institution, now Ursinus College. He also took a partial course in the study of medicine under his brother, David Schrack, M. D., long since deceased.

When Mr. Schrack arrived at manhood, his father gave him an interest in the management of the farm, which they conducted successfully until the spring of 1881, when the farm was placed in the care of a tenant, and they retired from active agricultural pursuits.

Mr. Schrack married Eleanor McMinn, only daughter of the late Rev. Charles Collins, D. D., of Philadelphia. Their children are: Eleanor Collins, wife of Mr. H. N. Arkless, of Norristown; and Harriet E., residing with her parents.

Mr. Schrack has long been identified with the Presbyterian denomination, and has been an elder in the Port Kennedy Presbyterian church, where he and his family worship, since 1887. For nearly twenty-five years his residence has been at 615 West Marshall street, Norristown. He is also the owner of a fine country-seat at the junction of White Hall Road and Germantown Pike, in Norriton township, where with his family he usually spends the summer months.

Mr. Schrack is a man of superior culture and literary tastes, devoting much time to reading and study. Various articles from his pen have appeared from time to time in the columns of the “Norristown Herald,” and elsewhere. In politics he is and always has been a staunch Republican, never holding office, notwithstanding the fact that numerous flattering proffers of political preferment have been tendered him from time to time. These have invariably been declined, his ambition and tastes centering in other channels of usefulness.

The first Schrack in America arrived from Germany in 1717, and settled on 250 acres of land near Trappe, Upper Providence township, Montgomery county. He died February 22, 1742, aged sixty-three years.

John Schrack (grandfather) was born in 1780. He married Mary Elizabeth Norris. Their children were: David, a farmer in Norriton township, who married Elmina, daughter of Christian Weber, and had two daughters, Kate and Elmina, the latter marrying William Porter, and having two children, David and Elmina; Norris (2), a farmer in Norriton, and father of John Schrack; John (3), who studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Johnson, of Norristown, graduated at Jefferson College, and practiced in Norriton, Providence and Worcester townships ; Eunice (4), married Colonel Augustus W. Shearer, and had the following children: Mary, married E. B. Moore, who had one son, Augustus; Kate, married William Owen; John Schrack, married Martha Ambler; Naomi, married George Longaker; Eliza, married Dr. Daniel Brower; Lydia, married J. Roberts Rambo.

Mary Elizabeth Norris Schrack (grandmother) was a member of the Quaker family of Norris for whom Norristown and Norriton townships were named.

Charles Norris Schrack (father) married in 1841, Harriet, youngest daughter of Rev. Sylvanus Haight, pastor of Providence Presbyterian church, and Charles N. and Harriet Schrack had three children: David, a prominent physician during his life time; John, subject of this sketch, and Charles Norris.