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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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THOMAS McDONOUGH HIRST is one of the oldest and most reliable contractors and builders in Bethlehem, having been very successful in his profession, and has erected much of the finest work in this place. He is quite original in his method, and many fine architectural piles stand as monuments to his skill and ability. Born in Bath, Northampton County, Mr. Hirst is the son of Hon. Joseph Hirst, who was a native of the same county. The date of the birth of our subject is October 25, 1827.

Hon. Joseph Hirst was an agriculturist, and at one time ran the Bath Hotel. His death occurred in that place when he was fifty-seven years of age. In politics he took an active part, for two terms represented his fellow-citizens in the Legislature, being elected on the Democratic ticket, and was also Justice of the Peace for many years, occupying an enviable position in the esteem of his friends and neighbors. His wife, formerly Mary Gangewere, was born in Allentown, and was a sister of Col. Abram Gangewere, who won that title in the War of 1812. Mrs. Hirst died when over seventy-six years of age. Both she and her husband were devoted members of the Lutheran Church, and of the fifteen children who graced their union, all but one lived to maturity, but only eight now survive.

The early years of Thomas Hirst were passed in his native town, assisting his father on the farm and attending the district schools until attaining his eighteenth year, when he was apprenticed to learn the carpenter’s trade under Charles Nagle. At the end of three years he engaged in contracting and building for himself, and continued to make his field of operations in Bath until the spring of 1865. That year saw him located in Bethlehem, where he has since continued working at his life occupation. Among the many good buildings he has erected, we mention a few: the Myers’ Block, Reigle’s Block, the Lutheran Church at Bath, the Mary Dixon Memorial Chapel, of Lititz, Riegel & Cortright’s Globe Store on Main Street, Rauch’s jewelry store, the German Evangelical Church, the Presbyterian Chapel, and the handsome residences of George H. Meyers, Dr. J. P. Scholl, Dr. Schultz, and many others. In 1893 he built his own beautiful residence from original designs, and indeed has been his own architect on many of his most elegant buildings.

In Bath, in 1850, Mr. Hirst married Miss Mary J., daughter of Henry Beaber, a native of that city, and to them eight children were born. Charles died in his thirty-fourth year; Mary is the wife of A. C. P. Laury; Alice died at the age of twenty-nine years; Gussie is Mrs. Edwin Woodling, of Bethlehem; James departed this life in 1888 at Washington, D. C.; William and Francis are carpenters, working with their father, and Annie completes the family. They are members of the Moravian Church, and are highly respected in social circles.

During the busy season Mr. Hirst gives employment to from twenty to thirty men, and in addition to the hundreds of dwelling houses constructed by him in this immediate vicinity, he has also erected residences in Coplay, Catasauqua, Mauch Chunk, Hellertown, Lititz and Easton.

Formerly Mr. Hirst was a member of the Odd Fellows’ society and Sons of Temperance. A Republican in politics, his first vote having been cast for Lincoln on his first nomination, he has been stanch and true to the party ever since; and though many times urged to become a member of the Council from the Third Ward, he has always declined to permit his name to be used, though his election was assured.

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This family biography is one of 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

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