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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company; Elwood Roberts, Editor. 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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CHARLES A. SIMONS, the well known farmer and marketman of Limerick, is a descendant of a German family long domiciled in this country.
James Simons (grandfather) was born in Philadelphia. After acquiring such education as was to be had in the common schools of that day, he learned the trade of a baker, which occupation he followed throughout his life. Among the children of James Simons was James (father of our subject), also born in Philadelphia, and, like his father, a baker in that city. He removed from Philadelphia to Bird-in-Hand, where he continued his business of baking and also gave some attention to farming. He lived seven years with his son, Charles A., and died there in 1885. He was a Republican in politics, and a very reputable citizen. He married Eliza Wood (also now deceased) and had the following children: James and William (both deceased), Emma, Elizabeth (deceased), and Charles A., subject of this sketch.
Charles A. Simons was born at Bird-in-Hand, Upper Merion township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1845. He was educated in the public schools in the vicinity of his home and at Bryn Mawr, and on leaving school engaged in farming on the homestead, remaining there for a number of years. In 1885 he removed to Limerick township, where he purchased his present farm and engaged in the culture of berries and fruits, in which he has been very successful, having a large and thrifty orchard and a large area in small fruits and berries. He has a stand in the Philadelphia market, at Nineteenth street.
Mr. Simons has been twice married, first, in 1867, to Miss Mary J., daughter of Simon Leamy, a farmer of Lower Merion township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, who died in 1872, there being no children by the marriage, and (second) in 1878 to his present wife, Miss Elizabeth Berry, daughter of George Berry, of Norristown, Pennsylvania. By the second marriage Mr. Simons has the following children: Crawford, married Susan Wise, and has two children; Elsie, married Harry Jefferson, and has four children; Gertrude, married Harry DeHaven; Allen, unmarried; Pauline (deceased) and Adolj, unmarried.
Mr. Simons is a successful farmer, very attentive to business and never neglecting any interest on the farm. He is not only an industrious and enterprising farmer, but a good neighbor and a useful citizen, and is well esteemed in the community in which he lives. He is a Republican in politics, but has never sought or held office. When it has been offered him he has declined because of the pressure of other business. His buildings and other equipment are all that are required on a modern well managed farm.
In religious faith Mr. Simons is a Methodist, and his wife is a Baptist and attends that church.
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This family biography is one of more than 1,000 biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company. For the complete description, click here: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
View additional Montgomery County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Biographies
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