My Genealogy Hound

JOHN H. TYSON, a prominent business man in Norristown, is a member of an old Montgomery county family of Dutch origin. He is a son of the late ex-sheriff Jacob Tyson and Sarah Y. (Linderman) Tyson. He was born January 17, 1857, in the township of Upper Providence, near what was then the village, now the borough of Trappe, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania.

Jacob Tyson (father of the subject of this sketch) was born near Trappe, January 10, 1818, a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Bergey) Tyson. His ancestors were residents of the county for several generations. On his mother’s side, Sheriff Tyson’s ancestors (Bergeys) were an old Revolutionary family. John Tyson, his grandfather, was a weaver by trade and a well educated man for those days. Jacob Tyson, grandfather of John H. Tyson, was born near Skippackville, January 6, 1786. He was a farmer by occupation, a good business man, and a citizen of the strictest integrity. In religious faith he was a member of the German Reformed church. He had nine children, one of whom is still living-Harriet Saylor, a widow. Those deceased are: Susan, Charles, Mary, Abraham, John, Margaret, Elizabeth and Jacob. Abraham and John emigrated to Canada in 1845, were married there and reared large families. Abraham located permanently in Berlin, Waterloo county, and John in the city of Guelph, both places being in Canada West. Jacob Tyson during his boyhood days, alternated his time working on his father’s farm and attending school, as was the custom with boys reared on farms. He continued to live on the same homestead for a period of sixty years. During this time, in addition to conducting large farming interests, he was for twenty years engaged in the butchering business, a part of which time he drove a wagon over a portion of Montgomery county. He continued the quiet routine of a farmer’s life until 1877, when he was prevailed upon to offer himself as a candidate for the office of high sheriff of Montgomery county. He was elected to the position and during his incumbency made a very efficient official. For a number of years subsequently, he was actively identified with both political and public interests in the county, but during the last dozen years of his life he was engaged in the coal business, although he had lived semi-retired until the time of his death which occurred November 9, 1899.

Sheriff Tyson was a Democrat and a staunch supporter of the policy of that party. He was president of the livestock company of his township for many years. He had filled various local and political places of trust. He was a member of the German Reformed church. He married, March 12, 1846, Sarah Y. Linderman, daughter of Isaac Y. Linderman, Esq., of Limerick township, in Montgomery county. This marriage resulted in the birth of seven children, all of whom are living, as follows: Wilhelmina L., wife of Joseph R. Hunsicker, of Norristown; Joanna L., wife of H. H. Hunsicker, deceased, also of Norristown; Sallie L., widow of Amos Forker; Harriet L., wife of Allen G. Reiff; Elizabeth L., wife of Clarence R. Free; Mary L.; and John H.

John H. Tyson was reared on the farm near Trappe, where he grew to manhood. His education was obtained at the ordinary neighborhood schools, and he was for some time a student at Washington Hall Collegiate Institute, at Trappe, conducted by County Superintendent Abel Rambo, long since deceased, where boys were fitted for a college career or for a business life. Like other boys of that day, who were sons of farmers, he worked on the farm during the summer months. In November, 1877, Mr. Tyson’s father being elected sheriff of Montgomery county, he removed to Norristown with the family, and served during his father’s term as sheriff in the position of outside deputy, doing nearly all the laborious work connected with the office. He is well acquainted throughout the county. At the expiration of the term in the sheriff’s office, he engaged in the coal business with his father at Marshall street and Stony Creek, where they did a very successful business. About a year prior to his father’s death, which occurred in 1899, he purchased his father’s interest in the business and has since managed it, giving it careful attention and adding largely to the amount of business done. Mr. Tyson is a Democrat in politics but not an office seeker in any sense of the word. He has been a member of county and borough committees of the party, and on several occasions a delegate to county and state conventions. He is and has been from boyhood a member of the Reformed Church of the Ascension of Norristown. He is a stockholder of the Peoples National Bank of Norristown. He owns and takes care of considerable real estate in Norristown and vicinity, and is administrator or executor of several estates, to which he gives his personal attention, managing them very successfully. He also finds time to pursue his avocation of auctioneer, conducting many sales of personal property in Norristown and its vicinity.

Mr. Tyson married, November 21, 1901, Miss Iola E. Kehl, daughter of Augustus and Elizabeth (Walt) Kehl, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Their union has been blessed with one child, Elizabeth K. Mrs. Tyson was born March 29, 1860, in Bechtelsville, Berks county, where her parents were then living, her father being extensively engaged in the commission business. Her parents removed from Bechtelsville to Limerick township, in Montgomery county, where her father bought a large farm which he owned and cultivated for forty years, he being one of the most successful men of his day and locality. He had a good education for that day, was a clerk in mercantile business, and afterward did a wholesale and retail commission business in Philadelphia. In politics he was a Democrat, and held various township offices but never sought anything higher in that line. He was one of the organizers of the National Bank of Royersford and a director in the institution to the time of his death. In religious faith he was a Lutheran, being a member of St. James church, Limerick, in which he was for many years an elder and at the time of his death a trustee. He married Elizabeth Walt, January 13, 1859. The couple had three children, as follows: Iola E. (Mrs. Tyson); George H., who was born March 17, 1862, and died February 17, 1899; and Laura A., who was born November 19, 1864, and married, June 9, 1903, Samuel H. Porter, a prominent druggist of Pottstown. Augustus Kehl, father of Mrs. Tyson, was the son of George and Sarah (Dotterer) Kehl. Their children were: Augustus, Jonathan, William D., Margreta and Sarah Ann. A few years before his death, Augustus Kehl purchased a fine home in Pottstown, and retired from active business, dying there. The Walts are of an old family in Montgomery county, of German descent, Henry Walt having emigrated with his wife Catharine from the fatherland. Among their children was Andrew, who resided in Upper Salford township, Montgomery county, where he spent the greater portion of his life as a farmer. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Schwenk. They had eight children. Henry S. Walt, grandfather of Mrs. Tyson, was born December 6, 1806, in Upper Salford, where he remained until his removal to Limerick at the age of fourteen years. His father’s death, when Henry was a mere schoolboy, cut short his educational opportunities as his services upon the farm were invaluable, he being the chief dependence of his widowed mother. After renting the homestead farm for two years, he removed to another farm, belonging to his grandfather Schwenk, in Skippack, which he cultivated in ten years. In 1842 he purchased his home in Limerick, devoting thirty years to the employment of farming thereon. In 1872 he sold this farm to one of his sons. Mr. Walt married, March 26, 1829, Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Stauffer, of Limerick. They had nine children. Mr. Walt was a Republican in politics, and served as school director. He was identified with St. James Lutheran church, Limerick, as elder, deacon and treasurer.