My Genealogy Hound

BENJAMIN F. TREXLER is one of the prominent and well known citizens of Allentown, and comes of an honored pioneer family of Lehigh County. Thirty years after William Penn settled in this state his ancestors emigrated from Germany and located in Philadelphia County. One of the number, Peter Trexler, was naturalized in 1730, according to the law which declared a citizen must have held land seven years before becoming naturalized. His name appears on a petition for the formation of Oley Township, Berks County. He died in 1758.

Jeremiah Trexler and his wife are mentioned in early records, and he and Peter must have been among the first white settlers of Macungie. Their descendants became numerous, and their names frequently appear on public documents, especially in the sale and purchase of lands. The family was represented by valiant soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and other members of the family won prominence in various walks of life. The Trexlers were also represented in the War of 1812. Their descendants are now widely scattered in various states of the Union, but many of them still live in the neighborhood where the first American ancestors settled about two hundred years ago. A village sprang up and was given the name of Trexlertown, and members of the family are inseparably connected with the history of eastern Pennsylvania.

The father of our subject, Benjamin Trexler, was born about 1792. He was a man of fine physique, robust, was nearly six feet high, and could easily raise a barrel of water from the ground to a wagon. He was by trade a shoemaker. He served as Constable, and was Captain of a militia company in Long Swamp Township, Berks County. He was twice married, and by his first wife had three children. He afterward married Rachel Wetzel, who was born in 1796, and died in 1876, the Centennial year. They had one child, the subject of this sketch.

Benjamin Ferdinand Trexler was born in Long Swamp Township, Berks County, February 25, 1827, and commenced his school life in Millerstown under Jesse B. Nase, a renowned teacher of that time. At the age of thirteen he came to Allentown, where he learned the printer’s trade, in the office of the Friedensbote. In 1848 he formed a partnership with Reuben Guth and edited and published the Lecha Patriot, a Whig paper. As he was not in sympathy with the principles of the Know-Nothing party, which arose from the grave of the Whig party, in 1854 he founded the Welt-Bote, which he published with great success for more than thirty-eight years, gaining subscribers in all the states of the Union, and in Europe to the number of over twenty thousand. In 1858 he went into partnership with the publishers of the Unabhaengiger Republikaner, a Democratic paper. For some years he also published a religious monthly, Zeichen der Zeit, and a farmer’s monthly, Bauern Journal. Both of these papers he afterward sold. In 1866 he compiled the Welt-Bote Calendar, which is yet issued each year. Having dissolved his connection with the Republikaner, in 1867 he moved his business to the Odd Fellows’ Hall, where, in connection with the publication of the Welt-Bote, he established a daily local paper, Stadt und Land Bote, which was later changed to a tri-weekly under the name of Lecha Bote. In 1870 he formed a partnership with the publishers of the Allentown Friedensbote, and again labored as chief editor of the several papers for twenty-three years. Mr. Trexler was married, on the 11th of November, 1849, to Miss Diana Walter, who was born August 26, 1828. Her father was David Walter, of Allentown, and her grandfather was Simon Walter, who emigrated from Germany to Upper Saucon in 1749. Her mother bore the maiden name of Margaret Wittman. Mr. and Mrs. Trexler have two sons, Herman and Julius, both of whom are engaged as printers with the Welt-Bote Publishing Company. The former married Jennie, daughter of Solomon Ziegler, and their children are Anna Minerva, Florence Marie, Cora Diana, Blanche Rachel and Ralph Benjamin. Julius married Katie, daughter of Lewis M. Engleman. They had two children, Helen Diana and Benjamin Ferdinand, but the last-named died in infancy.

Mr. Trexler has been an untiring worker, both while at home and abroad. He has traveled quite extensively in America and Europe, and has usually been accompanied by his wife. He has twice visited California, Florida and Canada, and has twice crossed the Atlantic to the Old World, visiting most of the countries of Europe between the North Cape and Naples. During his journeys he wrote weekly to the papers with which he was connected an account of his travels, and the articles proved most interesting to the readers. By good business ability and well directed efforts he has met with excellent success in his undertakings. In 1893 he disposed of his newspaper interests, and has since lived a retired life in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil.