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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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SAMUEL B. BECHTEL, merchant and postmaster at Congo post office, Douglass township, Montgomery county, was born August 7, 1854, in the township where he now lives. He is the son of David H. and Mary (Bechtel) Bechtel.

John Bechtel (grandfather) lived upon the farm in Douglass township now owned by the family. He was a very popular citizen. He married Elizabeth High, and they both lived to an advanced age. They were members of the Mennonite church, and are buried at Bally, Berks county, as were his parents also. They had four children: Rebecca, unmarried, and resides in Bally; Elizabeth (deceased); David H. (father); and Anna (deceased), was unmarried. The maternal grandparents of Samuel B. Bechtel lived at Bally, Berks county.

David H. Bechtel (father) was a farmer in Douglass township all his life, dying at the age of forty-five years. He was also a school teacher for many years. He married Mary Bechtel, who survived him for some years. They were members of the Mennonite church, and are buried in Bally, Berks county. In politics David Bechtel was a Republican. Their children: J. Elhanon, married Miss Johnson, and is a farmer near Congo, Douglass township, they having one child, Mary; Samuel B.; Clement B., married Miss Landis, and also lives in Congo, being a farmer, they having four children, Emma, Archie, Lloyd, and Helen; Holmes (deceased); Aaron, living in Philadelphia where he is a bookkeeper, married Miss Weiss, they having one child living, Mabel, and one deceased; Joseph, residing in Philadelphia where he is engaged in the jewelry supply business, wholesale and retail. 725 Sansom street; he married Miss Schultz, and they have two children.

Samuel B. Bechtel attended the township schools until he was about twenty years of age. He then worked on his parents’ farm for two years, when he secured a position as clerk in the store of A. H. Keely, at Sassamansville, where he remained one year. He next engaged in farming for a short time, and then returned to the store, remaining there until he went into business for himself at his present location in 1886. He bought out John Frederick, who had conducted the business at that place many years previously.

Mr. Bechtel married Katie, daughter of Jacob C. and Catharine (Bliem) Bahr. They resided at Gabelsville, where he was a farmer by occupation. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bechtel took place December 25, 1880, Rev. L. Groh, of Boyertown, performing the ceremony. The couple have one child, Mary Elsie, born December 17, 1883. Mrs. Bechtel died October 28, 1885, aged thirty-one years and fourteen days, and was buried at Bally, Berks county. Mr. Bechtel married (second wife) Elmira, daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Solladay) Rohrbach. The parents resided in Berks county, where he followed the occupation of a shoemaker, dying many years ago. His widow resides in Berks county, at Huff’s church, at an advanced age. Mr. and Mrs. Rohrbach had four children. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel B. Bechtel have had two children: Norman Samuel, born October 22, 1900; and Florence May, born August 4, 1898, died at the age of two years and eleven months.

Mr. Bechtel conducts a very prosperous business at Congo. In politics he is a Republican. He was appointed postmaster in 1886, and has since served as such. He is a Mennonite, and his wife a Lutheran, of Huff’s church, Berks county.

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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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