Benjamin F. Overholt

Martin Oberholtzer, the ancestor of the Overholts of Westmoreland county, also of a numerous family in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, as well as of those of Stark and Tuscarawas counties, Ohio, was born thirty miles from Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, in the year 1709, and died in Bedminster township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1744. The date of his arrival in Pennsylvania has not been ascertained, but it was probably when he was quite a young man. Prior to his settlement in Bucks county he resided on the Skippack, in what is now Montgomery county, where he married, November 2, 1736, Agnes ---, born April 18, 1713, died November 2, 1786. After the death of Mr. Oberholtzer she became the wife of William Nash, by whom she had four children. Mr. Oberholtzer and his wife were among the earliest members of the old Deep Run Mennonite congregation in Bedminster, and are buried in the graveyard there. Their children were:

Barbara, born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1737, died May 8, 1823. She was the wife of Christian Fretz, and has left numerous descendants in Bucks county and elsewhere. 2. Henry, mentioned hereafter. 3. Maria, born December 19, 1740. 4. John, born August 8, 1742, died December 7, 1742. 5. Martin, born in Bucks county, December 20, 1743; he married Esther Fretz, daughter of Christian Fretz, of Tinicum, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, who came from Baden, Germany, with his brother John about 1720, settled first in Upper Salford, Montgomery county, and removed to Bucks county about 1740. Their children were: Elizabeth, born in Bucks county, 1770, became the wife of the Rev. Abraham Welty, a Mennonite minister in Westmoreland county, and they removed later to Ohio. Agnes, born in Bucks county, 1773, died in Westmoreland county, June 14, 1845; she was the wife of Christian Stauffer, of Fayette county, born in Lancaster county, 1778, died in Fayette county, July 6, 1852. Issue, two sons and five daughters. Christian, born in Bucks county, August 1774, died in Harrison county, Ohio, 1846. He went from Bedminster township, Bucks county, to Westmoreland county, 1800, and from there to Harrison county, Ohio, 1818. He married Rebecca Grundy, born June 2, 1775, died in Stark county, Ohio, February 7, 1857; issue: Joseph, Martha, John, Esther, Fannie, Rebecca and Anna. Barbara, born in Bucks county, 1775, died in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, January 16, 1873. She married, in Westmoreland county, the Rev. Mathias Burchfield, who died in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, March 16, 1822. Henry, died unmarried. Mary, married, in Westmoreland county, Christian Noffzinger, issue, six children. Magdalena, born in Bucks county, married John Mumma, of Westmoreland county, removed to Ohio in 1809, and from there to Adams county, Indiana, in 1853. Martin, born in Bucks county, 1784, died in Westmoreland county, February 14, 1814. He married, October, 1806, and his children were: Jacob, Abraham, Esther, Martin. Isaac died in Westmoreland county, unmarried. Abraham, born in Bucks county, died in Tuscarawas county, Ohio. Married Susan Crites, issue: John, Catharine, Abraham, Elizabeth, Esther, Anna, Martin, Isaac, Jacob and Christian. Esther, died in Westmoreland county in early life. Sarah, born in Bucks county, April 17, 1791, died in Ohio, December 3, 1857. She married. January 9, 1816, Philip Welty. of Westmoreland county, and later moved to Stark county, Ohio. Joseph, born in Bucks county, June 19, 1793, died in Huntingdon, Indiana, February, 1873. He married, April 13, 1817, Barbara Kline, born Glades, Pennsylvania, May 16, 1797, died in Indiana, 1870. Issue: Abraham, Elizabeth, Jonas, Joseph, John, Jacob, Margaret, Mary and Isaac. Anna born in Westmoreland county, April 8, 1802, died January 15, 1839. She married, 1822, Gabriel Weimer, born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, May 13, 1801, removed to Ohio, 1815, and died in Wilmot, Stark countv February 12, 1876.

Henry Overholt, eldest son of Martin and Agnes Oberholtzer, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, February 5, 1739, died in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 1813. He married, January 3, 1763, Anna Beitler, born in Milford township, Bucks county, March 24, 1745, died April 5, 1835, daughter of Jacob and Anna (Meyer) Beitler or Beidler, the former a native of Germany and the pioneer of the Bucks county family of that name, and the latter a daughter of Hans Meyer, the pioneer settler in Upper Salford township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Henry Overholt and wife resided on a farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres near the Deep Run meeting house until April 25, 1800, when he conveyed the farm to Andrew Loux and removed with his family to Westmoreland county, settling on a tract of wild land at West Overton, East Huntingdon township. The children of Henry and Anna (Beidler) Overholt were:

I. Agnes, born October 15, 1765, died June 15, 1830. She married Christian Fretz, of Bucks comity, and removed to Westmoreland county. 2. Maria, born in Bucks county, December 22, 1766, became the wife of John Myers. 3. Jacob, born in Bucks county, October 15, 1768, died in Westmoreland county, May 10, 1847. He was a veterinary surgeon. He married Elizabeth Detweiler, born in Bucks county, March 8, 1775, died September 20, 1849, issue: John, Henry, Annie, Jacob, Susan and Martin. 4. Anna, born in Bucks county, November 25, 1770, died in Westmoreland county, March 15, 1845. She became the wife of Peter Loucks, born in Bucks county, December 19, 1760, emigrated to Fayette county, 1800, and later to Westmoreland county, where he died July 10, 1825. Their children were: Catharine, Henry, Jacob, Mary, Martin, Nancy, John, Peter and Sarah, all but the last three born in Bucks county. 5. Martin, born in Bucks county, November, 1772, died in Sangamon, now Logan county, Illinois, June 18, 1835. He married Catharine Overholt, daughter of Abraham Overholt, of Bucks county, born November 1, 1781, died in Westmoreland county, December 21, 1866. Issue: Susanna, Esther, Anne, Abraham, Henry, John and Martin. 6. Barbara, born in Bucks county, April, 1775, married Jacob Durstine, born in Bucks county, April 3, 1773, died in Westmoreland county. Issue: Anna, Abraham, John, Henry, Jacob, Martin, Catharine and Samuel. 7. Elizabeth, born in Bucks county, June 12, 1777, died in Fayette county, 1833. She married Martin Stauffer, born in Lancaster county, August 31, 1780, died in Fayette county, March 8, 1869. Issue: Abraham, Henry, Anna, Sarah and John. 8. Henry, born in Bucks county, July 10, 1779, removed with his parents to Westmoreland county in 1800. In 1809 returned to Bucks county to marry a Miss Myers, but before the day set for the wedding was kicked by a horse and died April 10, 1809. 9. Sarah, born February 18, 1781-82, died unmarried. 10. Abraham, born in Bucks county, April 19, 1784, died in West Overton, Westmoreland county, January 15, 1870. Married, April 20, 1809, Maria, daughter of the Rev. Abram and Ann Nicely Stauffer, born in Fayette county, July 13, 1791, died in West Overton, November, 1874. Abraham was a weaver, miller and distiller, and was the first man to discover and use coal in Westmoreland county, 11, Christian, born in Bucks countv, July 18, 1786, died in Hancock, Ohio. January 11, 1868. Married, November, 1811, Elizabeth Stauffer, issue: Abraham, Sarah, Henry, Anna, Elizabeth and Christian. He was a farmer and distiller, and in 1858 left Westmoreland county with his son Abraham and removed to Fostoria, Seneca county, Ohio. 12. Susanna, born January 13, 1789, died unmarried.

Abraham Overholt, tenth child of Henry and Ann (Beitler) Overholt, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April 19, 1784. In young manhood he learned the trade of weaver and followed this occupation until 1810, when he turned his attention to farming. In 1812 he purchased one hundred and fifty acres of the homestead farm, including a log distillery, for which he paid seventy-five hundred dollars. Later he erected a stone distillery and brick mill, and the former he replaced in 1859 with one of the finest distilleries in the state of Pennsylvania. His long business career was one of success and prosperity, which was in some part due to his straightforward dealings, untiring energy, patient perseverance and tenacity of purpose. He was actively interested in educational affairs, and was one of the early advocators of the present school system in Pennsylvania. In politics he was a strong Republican, and ever alive to the interests of his party. He married. April 20, 1809, Maria Stauffer, born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, July 13, 1791, daughter of the Rev. Abraham and Ann Nicely Stauffer. She bore him eight children, six sons and two daughters. The death of Abraham Overholt occurred January 15, 1870, in Westmoreland county, and in his demise the community lost one of its foremost and useful citizens. His genial and hospitable disposition won for him a large circle of friends, who sincerely mourned his loss. His wife died in West Overton, November, 1874.

Henry S. Overholt, eldest child of Abraham and Maria (Stauffer) Overholt, was born August 10, 1810. He was employed by his father as bookkeeper until 1844 when he was admitted to the firm. He was a straightforward business man, and achieved most gratifying success in his active career. He married, February 10, 1846, Abigail Carpenter, born March 13, 1824, daughter of B.F. and Mary (Sarver) Carpenter, of Versailles township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and a descendant of a Scotch-Irish ancestry. Their children were: Sarah A., wife of A.S.R. Overholt; Benjamin F., mentioned hereafter; Maria C., Abigail C., wife of Dr. J.R. Smith, of Cleveland, Ohio; Abram C., of Scottdale, Pennsylvania; Henry C., of Cleveland, Ohio; Jennie C., wife of Nathaniel Miles. The death of Henry Overholt occurred June 18, 1870. His widow subsequently moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where she resided several years. She then returned to Scottdale, Pennsylvania, where she died August 28, 1898.

Benjamin F. Overholt obtained his intellectual training in the common schools of Westmoreland county, in Westerville University, Ohio, and the Mount Pleasant Institute of his native county. He later attended Bryant and Stratton's Business College, in Philadelphia, from which he was graduated with high honors. He engaged in the distillery business with his father, continuing until the death of the latter in 1870, and two years later he and A.S.R. Overholt, his brother-in-law, purchased the distillery, conducting it until 1873, when they disposed of the same. In the same year they engaged in the manufacture of coke, and five years later their sixty-two ovens were purchased by the firm of A.C. Overholt & Co., who added to the plant forty-eight additional ones. In 1875 Benjamin F. Overholt was made the general manager of the A.C. Overholt & Company's coke business, and since then he has acquitted the duties of this responsible position with the greatest efficiency and credit, and his conduct in the management of the concern has won much commendation from his superiors. In political relations Mr. Overholt affiliates with the Republican party, and is a member of Lodge No. 518, Order of Solon, at Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. Overholt married July 16, 1884, Florence M. Osterhout, born at Glenwood, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1859, died September 27, 1900, daughter of William H. Osterhout, of Ridgway, Elk county, Pennsylvania. They had four children: William Henry, born April 9, 1886, died March 23, 1893; Helen Abigail, born August 26, 1890; Raymond Dean, born April 17, 1893; Mildred Jessamine, born February 10, 1896.

John W. Jordan, ed. History of Westmoreland County Pennsylvania Genealogical Memoirs, vol. II. New York: Lewis Publishing Co., pp. 340-343.

Submitted by Nancy.