My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES LARAMY, of Bethlehem, is engaged in the undertaking business, and is also very active in religious work. With the pastor of the Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church he was prominent in organizing the Fritz Memorial Church, which was dedicated October 16, 1887, and of which he is a Trustee. The members of this denomination living in South Bethlehem were organized into a class, of which he was leader, and their first meetings were held in private residences. From this small beginning grew the present congregation, which was liberally endowed by John Fritz, and named the Fritz Memorial Church.

The birth of our subject occurred in Lausaulet, Glamorganshire, Wales, August 24, 1839. His father, Charles, who was a native of Bristol, England, removed to Wales, and near Neath married Margaret Price, a native of that place, and the daughter of Reese Price, at one time a prominent man in Wales, but later a resident of St. Clair, Schuylkill County, Pa. The Laramy family is descended from French Huguenots, who settled in England during the days of the persecution in France.

After his marriage Charles Laramy, Sr., engaged in farming in Wales until 1842, when he brought his family to Pennsylvania and settled in Schuylkill County, becoming an engineer in the coal mines. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died at the age of fifty-four and she when eighty years of age. They were the parents of four children, three of whom are living: William, a resident of Reading; Charles and a daughter.

In the spring of 1842, when a child of four years, our subject set sail with his parents from Liverpool for New York City. Arriving in the United States, he was taken by his parents to Minersville, Pa., where his boyhood was passed. When twelve years old he began work in the mines, where he learned engineering. Later he occupied a position as engineer in a planing-mill for two years. Then he served an apprenticeship of two years at the cabinet-maker’s trade and continued thus engaged until 1859. From that time until 1862 he was in the employ of a railroad company as carpenter.

August 8, 1862, Charles Laramy enlisted as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania Infantry, and was mustered in at Harrisburg. He took part in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and in May, 1863, was mustered out, on the expiration of his term of service. Returning to his trade, he then took charge of the carpenter work in a colliery, being thus employed until the year 1866, when he went to St. Clair and engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, manufacturing nearly all of his supplies himself.

In 1870 Mr. Laramy settled in Catasauqua, being employed, in the same business on the present site of the Catasauqua Manufacturing Company’s office. In 1872 he was burned out, but rebuilt, continuing for six years, when he removed to a larger shop on Third Street, there pursuing his trade until 1886. That year witnessed his removal to Bethlehem, where he succeeded S. S. Schueller as undertaker, his office being at No 21 North New Street until 1892, when he removed to his present location at No. 81 Broad Street. In this place, which he purchased and remodeled, he carries the largest stock of coffins and caskets in the city, and owns a hearse and undertaker’s wagons.

In Minersville, in the fall of 1861, Mr. Laramy married Miss Elizabeth McDaniel, a native of Milton, Pa. To them were born four children: Ella; Margaret; Robert, a graduate of the school of embalming of New York City; and Anna. Mr. Laramy is Chaplain of J. K. Taylor Post No. 182, G. A. R. He was a charter member of Fuller Post at Catasauqua, and served as its Commander for three years. In politics he is a Republican and is a member of the School Board.