My Genealogy Hound

NOAH ENGLE, an active and enterprising citizen of Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, son of Cyrus and Elizabeth (Duble) Engle, was bors in Waldeck, so-called, two and a half miles from Shaffertown, in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1872.

Cyrus Engle (father) was also born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, near the Blue Mountains, June 6, 1846. He was a stone mason by trade, but, preferred the calling of his father, Conrad Engle, which was that of a charcoal burner. He served in the war for the Union, enlisting on October 11, 1862, in Company C, Seventeenth Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry, and was honorably discharged from the service of the United States government on August 7, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky. At Brickerville, Lancaster county, Penpsylvania, January 14, 1865, Mr. Engle was married to Elizabeth Duble, who was born December 5, 1845, also a member of a Lebanon county family. Their children were: Cyrus, born November 10, 1866, died, February 7, 1869; Jacob, born December 22, 1868, died December 13, 1887; Noah, born January 5, 1872, mentioned hereinafter; Aaron, born June 28, 1874, married, and has one child; Matilda, born September 4, 1876 became the wife of Joseph Kluser, and they are the parents of two daughters-Ruth and Catherine Kluser; Mary, born October 17, 1878, became the wife of Mr. Schriver; Isaac, born November 9, 1880; Priscilla, born January 8, 1884; and George, born September 28, 1887.

When Noah Engle was six years of age he went to Clay, in Lancaster county, to live with his aunt, Mrs. Mary Ann Bingeman, with whom he remained until, he was thirteen years old, attending the public schools and assisting his aunt. He then returned to his father and remained with him until he was eighteen years of age, burning charcoal and working on the railroad. In 1890 he came to Bridgeport and obtained employment on the Trenton Cut-Off, a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad then in course of construction. In 1891, when the line was completed, he went to Swedeland and worked first as a laborer in the furnace of R. Heckscher & Sons, remaining with them two years and working himself up to the position of weighmaster. In 1893 he worked three months at the Steel Works of Isaac McHose & Sons, in Norristown, and then became a brakeman on the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, following that employment for five years, serving part of that time as extra conductor. He was then promoted to fireman and remained in that position three years, was then given an engine in the Bridgeport yard and has held the position of engineer to the present time. Mr. Engle has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since he was twenty-one years age, belonging to Gulf Lodge, No. 525. He is past noble grand of that lodge. He is also a member of the Patriotic Order of Sons of America, since April 8, 1891, affiliating with Camp 18, of West Conshohocken, and with the Montgomery Commandery. He belongs to the Foresters of America, Court Pride of Norristown, No. 82, and is a member of Tribe No. 62, of Norristown, Improved Order of Red Men, since March 30, 1904.

Noah Engle was married September 2, 1893, to Miss Eleanor E. Engle, born October 10, 1870, in Upper Merion, daughter of John M. and Anna Jane (Famous) Engle. Their children are: Elizabeth, born May 9, 1894; and John M., born June 25, 1901.

John M. Engle, father of Mrs. Engle, was born in Upper Merion, January 18, 1839. He grew to manhood in his native township, attending the public schools until he was eleven years of age, after which he worked on his father’s farm and at anything he could get to do until after his mother’s death, which occurred when he was quite young, when he started out in life for himself. He cultivated Eastburn’s farm in Upper Merion. He enlisted on the 31st of August, 1861, from Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, to serve three years or during the war, and was mustered into the United States service at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1861, as a private of Captain George R. Pechin’s Company F, Fifty-first Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Colonel John F. Hartranft commanding. The regiment was recruited by Colonel J. F. Hartranft, of the Fourth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, first three months service, and many of the officers and men had previously served under him. It rendezvoused at Camp Curtin, where it was organized, leaving Camp November 18, 1861, for Annapolis, Maryland, and quartered in St. John’s College. On December 1, it encamped two miles from the city, was assigned to Reno’s (Second) Brigade, of Burnside’s army, and rigidly drilled and disciplined. On January 6, 1862, embarked with sealed orders and moved out to sea, immediately encountering violent storms which continued for two weeks. Febrauary 7, landed at Roanoke Island, supporting Foster’s brigade in the capture of the enemy’s force and works. On March 3, 1862, re-embarked and took part in the battle and capture of Newbern, North Carolina, also defeating the enemy at Camden, or South Hills, North Carolina. June 30, 1862, embarked for Fortress Monroe, where it was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Ninth Army Corps, and marched with the corps on August 12, participating in the battles of second Bull Run, Chantilly, South Mountain and Antietam, where the regiment gained historic fame by its celebrated charge and capture of the “Stone Bridge” over Antietam creek, assisted by the Fifty-first New York Infantry. The regiment also bore its part in the battle of Fredericksburg, March 25, 1863, after which it proceeded via Fortress Monroe to Kentucky, operating against Wheeler, Morgan, and Pegram. It moved on June 4, 1863, and took part in the sieges of Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi, returning to Kentucky and recruiting. It fought Longstreet’s vastly superior forces at Campbell Station, Tennessee, and was besieged in Knoxville, suffering much from lack of food until relieved by General Sherman. The winter quarters were at Blaine’s Cross Roads, where on January 5, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted as a veteran organization, marching, poorly clad and fed, over the mountains to Camp Nelson, Kentucky, thence moved via Cincinnati and Harrisburg, and home on veteran furlough and recruited. It reassembled with the Ninth Corps at Annapolis, Maryland, was assigned to the First Brigade, First Division, moved on Grant’s campaign, and participated in the following engagements: Wilderness, My River, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Ream’s Station, assault and siege of Petersburg, mine explosion on the “Crater,” Weldon Railroad, Preble’s Farm, Boynton Road; Hatcher’s Run, Fort Stedman, and fall of Petersburg, all in Virginia. It was mustered out at Alexandria, Virginia, having fought over the whole line of battle from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river in the four years of its gallant service.

John M. Engle re-enlisted for three more years or during the war as a veteran volunteer in the same company and regiment, on January 1, 1864, at Blaine’s Cross Road, Tennessee, and was promoted to corporal. For gallant service in the night attack on Forts Stedman and Morton in front of Petersburg, March 25, 1865, he was awarded a Medal of Honor by Congress, although he has not yet received the same. At that time Corporal Engle had charge of nine men on the picket line when an attack was made on the pickets. He remained on the line all night, keeping up a fire on the enemy, and preventing their farther advance. He contracted typhoid fever on Pope’s campaign, but marched with the command to Washington, where he was taken to Harewood Hospital, and was brought near death by the fever. Recovering, he rejoined the regiment at Fredericksburg, Virginia, before the battle was fought. With the exception of South Mountain and Antietam, at which time he was sick in hospital, he participated in all the marches, campaigns and battles of his command, achieving a gallant record for soldierly bearing at all times. He was honorably discharged at Alexandria, Virginia, July 27, 1865, by reason of the close of the war. He was a member of Gulf Lodge, No. 525, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has filled all chairs, also of the Patriotic Order of Sons of America. He had been elected supervisor of his district for seven years in succession.

In Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1866, John M. Engle was married to Anna Jane Famous, who bore him the following named children: Rebecca Ann, born December 1, 1866, died March 16, 1871; George F., born August 6, 1868, married Charity Spear Reynoldsville; their children are: Albert and Arthur; Eleanor E., born October 10, 1870, aforementioned as the wife of Noah Engle; Adaline F., born May 3, 1873, married Michael Barrett, of Bridgeport, an engineer, and their children are: Rebecca Jane, born December 1, 1890; Jennie, born February 19, 1891; Alice, born August 14, 1894; Bertha G., born April 19, 1896; Florence M., born March 23, 1900; Bertha G., born July 25, 1874, died May 14, 1888; Lydia F., born March 27, 1876, died April 28, 1876; Charles F., born February 28, 1878; Anna S., born October 25, 1879, died October 31, 1879; Margaret S., born September 11, 1880, died September 21, 1880; Mary S., born December 2, 1883, became the wife of James Stewart, of Swedeland, and they have one child, William Russell Stewart; and Hannah P., born December 12, 1885, died July 23, 1886. John M. Engle, the father of these children, died on October 1, 1902.