My Genealogy Hound

ABNER H. GEHMAN, merchant and clerk of the courts of Montgomery county for several years, is a native of Franconia township, although he has been long resident in Norristown. He is the son of Samuel W. and Elizabeth (Haring) Gehman. He was born July 15, 1854.

Samuel W. Gehman (father) was born in Franconia township, Montgomery county, February 6, 1815. He was the son of Jacob and Catharine (Woodward) Gehman. He was a shoemaker by trade and followed it for thirty years, but also gave some attention to farming. Although a man of retiring disposition, he took an active interest in politics, supporting the Republican party, and filled several township offices, including that of assessor, and was once a candidate for county commissioner on his party ticket at a time when the county was hopelessly Democratic and there was no hope of election. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Conrad and Ida (Clemer) Haring, who came from the vicinity of Bethlehem to Montgomery county. Samuel W. Gehman died January 24, 1889, and his widow died July 21, 1901. She was born January 12, 1813. Both were buried at Franconia Mennonite meeting-house. Their children were as follows: William H., now residing on the Franconia homestead, who married Catharine Swartley, daughter of John G. Swartley, long a resident of Royersford, but died about 1900 at Line Lexington; Catharine, married Enos Kooker, they residing at Sellersville; Abner H. is the subject of this sketch; Daniel H., born August 21, 1846, an active business man, and for many years engaged in the hardware line at Harleysville, the firm being Moyer & Gehman, was an active Republican and was elected to the house of representatives of the state legislature in 1880, serving at the session of 1881. He died January 19, 1901, at the age of fifty-five years, unmarried.

The children of William H. and Catharine Gehman are: Ida, Ulysses S., Samuel S., Vincent and Nelson. Of these the first three are married. Ida married Andrew Godshall, they residing in Upper Salford, and having four children, Howard, Verda, Hattie and William. Ulysses married Amelia Bergey, they residing at Earlington, in Franconia township, and having five children, Abraham Lincoln, Florence, Ralph, Aida and Grant.

Enos and Catharine (Gehman) Kooker had but one daughter, Lizzie, who married John B. Clemens, of Morwood, and is now deceased, leaving three children, Herbert, Enos and Raymond.

Samuel W. Gehman and all his family were Mennonites in religious faith. He was very highly respected in the community in which he lived. Conrad and Ida Haring, his wife’s parents, were buried in Lower Salford Mennonite graveyard. He died at ninety-four years of age and she was above eighty years of age at the time of her death.

Jacob Gehman (grandfather) spent most of his life in Franconia township and died there although he was probably born in Bucks county. He was born in 1789 and died in 1826, at the age of thirty-six years and nine months. His remains were interred in the Franconia Mennonite burial-ground, as were those of his widow, who survived him forty-four years. She was born September 28, 1787, and died March 30, 1870. They had six children: Isaac died in 1861, leaving a large family; William, born May 30, 1819, died March 4, 1852; Mary, died unmarried in 1881, aged sixty-eight years; Magdalene, born March 5, 1817, died May 5, 1888, aged seventy-one years (unmarried); Susanna, born in 1821, died unmarried in 1852, being an invalid for many years; Catharine, married Samuel Favinger, her husband dying in Philadelphia in 1900, she having died several years previously, leaving two children, Henry Harrison and Andrew J. William Gehman had three daughters, Julia and Maria, who died young, and Sarah, wife of Thomas Nicom, they residing near Penn Square. She was married twice previously, Isaac Gehman married Catharine Landes. William’s wife was Catharine Richard.

Rev. Samuel Gehman (great-grandfather) was ordained a Mennonite minister in 1798. He was born May 9, 1767, and died September 24, 1845. He was buried at Gehman’s or Rockhill Mennonite graveyard, near Telford.

The Gehmans are descended, it is believed, from one of two brothers, Christian and Benedict Gehman, who came, it is supposed, from the Palatinate in 1732, reaching Philadelphia in the ship “Samuel”, Hugh Percy commander, August 11, of that year. It is known that the mother of Rev. Samuel Gehman was a Bechtel, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Bechtel, also very prominent in the Mennonite congregation in early times. There is a family tradition that the brothers, Christian and Benedict Gehman, who were twenty-four, and twenty years of age respectively when they came to this country, bought land in Lehigh and Northampton counties and settled there, their descendants coming later to Bucks and Montgomery counties, in which they are now quite numerous. A family association has been formed which may be expected to collect all the details of the earlier generations of Gehmans.

Abner H. Gehman was educated in the public schools of Franconia, working on the farm in the intervals of study. He also learned the shoemaking trade but never followed it because he preferred merchandising, in which he has been engaged nearly all his adult life. He kept a general store at Morwood, in Franconia, for fourteen years. In 1890 he was elected clerk of the courts on the Republican ticket, he having been a life-long member of that party, and laboring earnestly to promote the success of its principles and candidates. He was thus engaged five years, completing in the last two the indexing of the records in the office which had been commenced during his term as clerk. Afterwards he was for a time clerk in Scheidt’s brewery. Later he opened a men’s furnishing store at No. 26 West Main street where he has continued ever since, being successful in his business undertakings.

Mr. Gehman married, April 21, 1877, Barbara, daughter of John O. and Catharine (Bergey) Clemens, of Franconia township. Mrs. Gehman was born August 7, 1855. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Gehman are: Minnie C., born September 20, 1879; Mary E., born April 25, 1889; and Harry Merrill, born January 15, 1898.

The Clemens family are old residents in Montgomery county, being Mennonites, and of German descent. John O. Clemens (father of Mrs. Gehman) is one of the best known residents of Franconia township. He is a Republican in politics and has frequently filled township offices. He served as poor director for ten years, being elected to three full terms and serving one year by appointment when another member of the board died. The children of John O. and Catharine Clemens are: Barbara (Mrs. Gehman); Henry B., married Lizzie Scholl, they having several children; John B., married Lizzie Kooker, a niece of Mr. Gehman, his first wife dying, leaving three children, Herbert, Enos and Raymond; Emma, married Henry L. Moyer, their children being Jonas, Martha, Clayton, Calvin, Eva and Mary, and they living in Franconia; Catharine (deceased) married Isaiah K. Moyer, and left four children, Warren, Katie, Lillie and Florence; her husband, who resides at Souderton, has a second wife; Mary, married William D. Detwiler, they residing at Telford and having six children: John, William, Vincent, Emma, Cora and Annie, the last named of whom married Hiram Scholl, they having one child, Lloyd; Annie, married Samuel G. Landes, they living in Philadelphia, and having had but one child who died in infancy. After the death of his wife, Lizzie, John B. Clemens (brother of Mrs. Gehman) married (second wife) Hannah Bean, and has two children, David and Paul. Lizzie, daughter of J. O. Clemens, married Jacob W. Markley, of Zieglersville, and has several children.

Among the brothers and sisters of John O. Clemens (Mrs. Gehman’s father) were Henry; Abraham, who was drowned in Canada; Mrs. Jacob Kratz; and the wife of Rev. Jacob Landes, all now deceased.

Among the brothers of Samuel H. Gehman (father) the eldest was Isaac. His children are: Reuben, who married Mary Bergey, their children being Catharine, Morris, Annie, Cornelius, and they reside in Franconia; Jacob L., who married Miss Shaner, and has several children, and they reside in Bucks county; Isaac L., who married Sarah Frederick, and they reside in Franconia and have several children; Gideon, who married Mary Landes, their children being Lizzie, Amada, Maggie and Henry, and they reside in Franconia; Catharine, who died unmarried; Maggie, who married Henry B. Moyer, of Souderton; Lizzie, who married Henry Yoder, of Hilltown, Bucks county.