My Genealogy Hound

BARTHEL ERBE, retired, Pittsburgh, was born at Barchfeld, Hessen, Germany, May 23, 1824, a son of Henry and Anna Barbara (Funkart) Erbe. His grandfather, Peter Erbe, was a tanner, and his father was a locksmith. Having mastered his father’s trade, Barthel Erbe set out for America in 1848. After spending a few months in mining iron ore at Columbia, Pa., he came to Pittsburgh in August of that year, where he secured employment at the Novelty works, afterward at the Excelsior works. For more than twenty years after the name of the latter was changed to Variety he held the position of foreman of lock and scale department. Having made good investments in real estate, Mr. Erbe retired from active labor in 1873. He was one of the first stock holders of the German Savings and Deposit Bank; was one of the incorporators of the Birmingham Fire Insurance company, in which he has been a director for three years, and is a trustee of the Odd Fellows’ Hall association. He is a member of the U. E. Church, of the I. O. O. F. and A. O. U. W., and is a republican. Mr. Erbe married, Feb. 22, 1849, Maria Eichacher, who came from Bavaria the previous year. Mrs. Erbe died in January, 1889, leaving two sons, Henry and August Bernhard, the latter of whom resides near Charles City, Iowa, on a farm of four hundred acres.