My Genealogy Hound

SAMUEL FRONHISER, the son of Samuel and Mary (Springer) Fronhiser, was born in Washington township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1835. His parents were also natives of Berks county. Samuel and Mary Fronhiser had two sons and three daughters: Catharine, deceased wife of Daniel Cleaver; Samuel Fronhiser; Abraham Fronhiser, of Montgomery county; Mary, wife of Thomas Miller; and Hattie, wife of Joel Moyer of Berks county.

Samuel Fronhiser (father) was a farmer and died in 1841. His wife survived him and died at the age of seventy-seven years. Both were Lutherans. She married (second husband) Jacob Dearolf, who is also now deceased. They had two children.

The paternal grandfather of Samuel Fronhiser was a native of Pennsylvania and lived in Berks county where he died. He was of German descent and his people came from Kalem, Germany. His wife lived to be ninety years of age.

The maternal grandfather of Samuel Fronhiser was also a native of Berks county, where he was a farmer. He died there at an advanced age. He had a small family.

Samuel Fronhiser went to Chester county in 1854 and followed farming, butchering and boat-building. By trade he was a carpenter and later a contractor and builder. In the fall of 1862 he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Seventy-fifth Regiment, and served nine months. He was in several small battles and did a great deal of scouting and marching. He was a private and served in the commissary department most of the time. After the war he returned to Chester county for one year and then removed to Pottstown. He engaged in carpentering and later became a partner in the coal and iron business with J. Fegely & Company. This partnership continued for more than twenty years.

His health failing, Mr. Fronhiser went to Europe, visiting the old home of his ancestors and traveling over the continent with Rev. Mr. Kepner, for some years pastor of the Emanuel Lutheran church of Pottstown. Afterwards he looked after his varied interests in Pottstown, he owning considerable real estate in that borough, and being actively engaged in the care of his property. He is vice-president of the Security Company, and was a member of Pottstown council for several terms. He was a member of the Mutual Insurance Company of Montgomery county at Norristown, with which Mehelm McGlathery was so long connected as secretary. He is also interested in the Pottstown Cold Storage Company and various other business enterprises in that borough. Mr. Fronhiser belongs to Graham Post, No. 106, Grand Army of the Republic. In politics he has always been a Republican.

On February 19, 1859, he married Susan, daughter of Richard and Harriet (Skean) Geist. They have two children: Amy S. and Wilfred G. Fronhiser. The son married Mrs. Daisy Percy. He is in the chinaware and queensware business in Pottstown.

Mrs. Susan Fronhiser, wife of Samuel Fronhiser, died June 4, 1890, aged forty-nine years and six months. She was a member of Trinity Reformed church. Mr. Fronhiser is a member of the Hill Lutheran church.

Mr. Fronhiser is emphatically a self-made man, his success in life being due very largely to his own exertions. Beginning life for himself when a mere boy without a dollar of capital, but with a courageous heart, industrious habits, and a determination to succeed in life, he has accomplished excellent results, accumulating considerable property and being generally recognized as one of the most substantial and reliable business men of Pottstown. He has contributed much toward the development of that borough, having erected many of its attractive dwellings and been concerned in the management of various important enterprises. His success is all the more remarkable because he lacked the advantages of an extended education, his experience in this direction being limited to such knowledge as he succeeded in acquiring for himself in the occasional leisure moments of a practical business life. Although of a retiring and unostentatious disposition, he has always been energetic in business pursuits, and, having been blessed by nature with a strong constitution, a vigorous mind and a discriminating judgment in business affairs, he has achieved a position that is highly creditable to him in every way, and he is known as one of Pottstown’s most enterprising and public-spirited citizens.