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Below is a family biography included in the book,  Portrait and biographical record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, Pennsylvania published in 1894 by Chapman Publishing Company.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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REUBEN R. OPLINGER is a practical and wide-awake business man of Northampton County, and is now successfully engaged in the manufacture of roofing slate, etc., in Lehigh Township. He is a native of this county, and was born October 29, 1843, to Daniel and Lovina (Seip) Oplinger, also natives of this county, and at present residing in Danielsville, where they have attained an advanced age. The family is a very old one in the Lehigh Valley, and on one occasion entertained Benjamin Franklin.

Daniel Oplinger was engaged in agricultural pursuits for a number of years, but is now living retired, having accumulated a good property. Of his family of children live survive, those besides Reuben R. being John A., whose history will be found on another page in this volume; Emma, the wife of Henry Buck, living in Catasauqua; Amelia, who married Amandus App, and makes her home in Lehigh Township; and Kate, the wife of J. K. Hower, also a resident of that township.

Reuben R. Oplinger grew to manhood in this county, where he has resided his entire life. The knowledge gained in the common schools was supplemented by a course in the Kutztown State Normal, after which young Oplinger taught twelve terms of school. This occupation not being exactly to his taste, he next began working in the slate quarries, and after being thus engaged for a number of years, became a member of the firm of Oplinger, Bossard & Co., owners of a gristmill located on Indian Creek, in Lehigh Township, and run by steam and water power. He was connected with that business for about, five years, when he resigned, and began as a slate operator, under the firm name of the Oplinger & Bossard Slate Company.

The marriage of Mr. Oplinger was celebrated in 1873, with Miss Catherine Clewell, daughter of John Clewell, formerly a resident of Lehigh Township, but now deceased. Their union has resulted in the birth of eight children, six of whom are deceased. The two living are Walter W., who is attending the Pennsylvania State Normal at Kutztown, and Edith E., at home. In politics Mr. Oplinger is a strong Prohibitionist. His career up to the present time has been a most successful one, and he is ranked among the well-to-do residents of the county. He is a devoted member of the United Evangelical Church, in the work of which he takes a prominent part.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in the book, Portrait and biographical record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, Pennsylvania published in 1894 by Chapman Publishing Company. 

View additional Northampton County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Northampton County, Pennsylvania Biographies

View a historic 1911 map of Northampton County, Pennsylvania

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