Historical note may have been submitted by Calvin Kephart, the historian., Weisel Family Association 1935 Reunion Program.

1936 Weisel Family Association

Fifth Annual Reunion

at Forest Park, Chalfont, Bucks County, PA

on Saturday, September 5, 1936

Fifth Annual Reunion Approaches

The Committee on Arrangements is looking forward to this year's meeting as the largest and most enjoyable so far. Forest Park, a beautiful picnic grove, has been chosen because of the many advantages not heretofore available. A modern sanitary swimming pool and a few amusements will make the youngsters glad they came, and the location of this park makes it convenient for the Bucks County Weisels as well as the others. Support the plans of the committee by bringing the whole family. Pack a picnic lunch and we will all have a good old Weisel outing.

HISTORY OF THE MARYLAND WEISELS

Brief mention has been made at earlier reunions of the Maryland branch of the Weisel family of Bucks County. It is now fitting that some of the facts of the illustrious group should be made more generally known.

Jacob Weisel, Sr., son of the colonial pioneers, born about 1726, married Ann Margaret (surname not known) early in 1750 and they had the following children.

(1)Frederick, born January 1, 1751, died unmarried at Williamsport, PA, on November 1, 1838;

(2)Jacob, Jr., born August 5, 1753; more later;

(3)Anna Catherine, born March 18, 1756; died August 18, 1758;

(4)John, born July 6, 1758, no further data;

(5)George, born January 29, 1761, died June 12, 1835: married Elizabeth

Hoenig (Haney) January 18, 1788, born March 18, 1760, died March 8, 1858,

descendants around Williamsport, PA;

(6)Henry (?): uncertainty as to this name;

(7)Daniel, born April 10, 1766; more later;

(8)Maria Elizabeth, born July 9, 1769, died September 14, 1840, unmarried, at Williamsport, Penna.

In our struggle for independence, Jacob, Sr., served as an Ensign and First Lieutenant, and Frederick as a private in the Bucks County militia, and Jacob, Jr. served as a gunner in Captain Joseph Watkins' 1st Company, Artillery Battalion of Philadelphia. In 1786 the brothers Jacob, Jr., and Daniel migrated to the later-named Williamsport, Maryland, southwest of Hagerstown. Jacob, Jr., died unmarried on October 31, 1812, and was buried there. Daniel associated himself with a Mr. Humrichhouse in the merchandise business there and about 1790 married Margaret Startzman, born September 16, 1773, died July 28, 1817, daughter of Henry and Eve Startzman. Their house was one of the first erected on the banks of the Potomac River in that region. Their children were:

(1)Jacob, born May 2, 1791;

(2)Elizabeth, born November 17, 1792: married Daniel Cyester, no issue;

(3)George, born January 29, 1796;

(4)Sarah, born 1797, married Skipwith Wilson: issue;

(5)Mary, born December 6, 1799, unmarried: died April 4, 1846;

(6)Daniel, Jr., born January 26, 1803: more below;

(7)Margaret, born October 11, 1807: md. Jacob Roth (Rhode) Jr.: issue;

(8)Samuel, born May 16, 1810: more below;

(9)Susanna, born October 11, 1813: md. Adam Shoop: issue.

Daniel Weisel, Jr., was graduated from Princeton College in 1824 and immediately entered the office of Attorney Hoffman at Baltimore. While there he was graduated from the Baltimore Law School. In 1826 he was admitted to the Maryland Bar and the same year married Matilda, daughter of Amos and Sarah Theresa (Williams) Davis, the latter a niece of General Otho Holland Williams. In 1830, with a Mr. Tice, he established the Republican Banner, a Whig newspaper, at Williamsport. His editorials were so able and forcible as to attract widespread attention, including the publishers of the "National Intelligencer". In 1838 they moved to Hagerstown, where he gained a lucrative law practice. From 1847 to 1852 he was Associate Justice of the Judicial District comprising Frederick, Washington, and Allegheny Counties, when by a constitutional change the court was supplanted by the single judge system. In 1861 he was elected Judge of the 4th Judicial Circuit, comprising Washington and Allegheny Counties, and in 1864 became a Judge of the Court of Appeals of the state, going out of office with another constitutional change in the judicial system in 1867. He thereupon resumed private practice.

In 1868 he was Republican candidate for Congress in the 6th District, reducing the normal opposition majority from 2800 to 480. That year he was awarded the honorary degree of LL.D. by his alma mater, Princeton College. In 1872 he was Delegate-at-large from Maryland to the National Republican Convention that nominated Grant and Wilson.

HISTORY of the MARYLAND WEISELS

Judge Weisel was a founder of the Williamsport Bank and its president for many years. His benefactions were numerous and he was an ardent advocate of education. He participated in the promotion and foundation of the Hagerstown Lyceum and the Hagerstown Female Seminary, and also was a member of the Board of Visitors of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Frederick.

Judge Weisel died at Hagerstown on September 25, 1880, and was buried in the cemetery of the Trinity Lutheran Church there. Promptly upon his decease the Washington County Bar adopted a resolution eulogizing his distinguished career and his personal character, as set out on page 1126 of J. T. Scharf's History of Western Maryland. He was a man of sturdy independence of character, sincere convictions, and great earnestness of purpose . . . . the personification of gentlemanly bearing and professional courtesy. His portrait will soon be hung among those of the other judges of the Maryland Court of Appeals at Hagerstown. He left no children.

His brother, Dr. Samuel Weisel, was likewise an eminent man. He was graduated in medicine from the University of Maryland at Baltimore in 1832 and was an outstanding surgeon in western Maryland. On November 14, 1837, he married Susan M. Turner. He died on January 26, 1872, and his wife died on December 26, 1898, aged 89 years. A son, Dr. Daniel Weisel, was also an able surgeon, having served in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army and attained the grade of Captain and Assistant Surgeon. Me was born on August 29, 1838, and died on October 30, 1888. His wife, who was Isabel Waters, died on November 19, 1929. A daughter, Harriet, lives in Washington DC, and a son, Major Edmund T. Weisel, born September 21, 1878, served in the Field Artillery of the U.S. Army. During the World War (I) he was promoted to the temporary grade of Lieutenant-Colonel on General Staff duty. On October 15, 1922, he was retired on physical disability and died (unmarried) on October 31, 1927.

Original source for birth record in the newsletter is unknown.