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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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WILLIAM P. BACH, postmaster of Pottstown, was born in Germantown, Philadelphia, September 20, 1845. He is the son of Francis S. and Mary P. (Price) Bach, the former a native of Bucks county and the latter of Chester county, Pennsylvania. They had five children, two sons and three daughters, as follows: Elizabeth P., wife of Aaron S. Burns, of Frick’s Lock, Pennsylvania; William P., of Pottstown; Irvin P., of Peoria, Illinois, manager of the Central telephone; Emma P., wife of Aaron Hartenstine, of Pottstown; and Rebecca P., wife of Allen Davis, of Norristown.

Francis S. Bach (father) was a carpenter by trade, spending most of his life in Germantown where he died in 1883, at the age of sixty-two years. His wife is now living in Norristown, at the age of eighty-four years. They were both members of the German Baptist Brethren church. In politics he was an ardent Republican. During the Civil war he served twice in the emergency call.

The paternal grandfather was also a carpenter and worked at his trade until his death at the age of eighty-six years. He was a native of Bucks county, but was of German descent. He had six children.

John Price (maternal grandfather) was a native of Chester county. He was a prominent minister of the Brethren church. His wife was Mary Rinehart and he was the father of twelve children.

The great-grandfather was George Price. The founder of the Price family in America was John Price, who spelled his name Priez. He came to this country from Germany and located in Bucks county.

William P. Bach was reared on a farm in Chester county, south of Pottstown. He attended the district schools and later what is now known as the Hill school, Pottstown, which at that time was a boarding school, conducted by Professor Matthew Meigs. In 1862 he enlisted in Company H, Sixty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He served as a private twenty-one months, when he was discharged on account of wounds. At the battle of Fredericksburg he was wounded in the right hand, and at the battle of Gettysburg in the left leg and right foot, these being the only two engagements in which he took part.

After the war he carried on the harness business in Pottstown for thirty-seven years and still has an interest in that business, which is now managed by his son William P.

On June 30, 1866, he married Miss Elizabeth May, daughter of Thomas May. They had seven children, four sons and three daughters, as follows: George, Percy, William, Harry, Evelyn, Blanche and one who died in infancy. George is a conductor on a street railway in Camden. He married Orpha Rhoads. Percy died aged seven years. William is in the harness business in Pottstown. He married Mary Yorgey. They have two children, Leon and Edith. Harry is a salesman in the harness department of Strawbridge & Clothier’s store in Philadelphia. The other children are at home.

Mr. and Mrs. Bach are members of the Baptist church of which he has been a trustee for twenty-four years. He was made postmaster under Harrison for one term and again appointed by McKinley, in September, 1898, and re-appointed by Roosevelt, February 19, 1903. He was chief burgess of Pottstown for three terms, and president of the school board two years, holding both offices at the same time. He has been actively identified with the affairs of a public character, especially in politics, in Pottstown for the past twenty-five years. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum and the Loyal Association, also M. Edgar Richards Post, No. 595, G. A. R., and of Union Veteran Legion Encampment, No. 22.

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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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