Montgomery County PA Archives Biographies.....Anders, Samuel K. October 18, 1838 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Patterson jpatter@epix.net October 14, 2025, 11:05 pm Source: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, T. S. Benham & Company and the Lewis Publishing Company, 1904 Author: Ellwood Roberts, Editor SAMUEL K. ANDERS, President of the People's National Bank of Norristown, is a descendant of Balthasar Anders and his wife, Anna Hoffrichter, who came in 1734 to Pennsylvania with one child, George, born in 1733, in Germany. The couple had two more children born in this country; Anna, born April 8, 1736; Abraham, born April 1739. Balthasar Anders (great-great-grandfather) was by trade a shoemaker, and lived in Towamencin township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, upon the property now owned by George Anders, and there followed his trade until his death, which occurred May 25, 1754, aged fifty- six years. His wife died March 29, 1784, aged eighty-three years and nine months. His mother, who came with him to this country, was buried September 30, 1734, in Philadelphia, eight days after their arrival. Abraham Anders (great-grandfather), son of Balthasar Anders, married Susanna, daughter of Melchior Kriebel, November 25, 1765. Their children were: Benjamin, born November 30, 1766; Rosanna, born July 1, 1769, died December 24, 1853; Abraham, born June 2, 1774; Anna, born April 13, 1780. Susanna, wife of Abraham Anders, died March 28, 1813, aged seventy-three years, five months. Abraham Anders died April 19, 1819, aged eighty years, six days. Abraham Anders (grandfather), son of Abraham Anders, married Susanna, daughter of Abraham Dresher, November 25, 1802. Their children were: George, born November 19, 1803; Lydia, born July 6, 1805; Abraham, born September 2, 1807; Anna, born October 24, 1809; Samuel, born March 28, 1812; Susanna, born October 2, 1815; and Sarah, born August 8, 1820. Susanna, wife of Abraham Anders, died October 26, 1831, aged fifty years, three months. Abraham Anders died August 2, 1852, aged seventy-eight years, two months. He lived in Worcester township on a farm which he owned. George Anders (father), son of Abraham Anders, married Susanna, daughter of Samuel Kriebel, October 27, 1825. Their children were: Sarah, born June 3, 1828, died September 3, 1828; Elizabeth, born May 15, 1830; Abraham K., born October 1833; Rosanna, born October 16, 1836, died same day; Samuel K., born October 10, 1838; William K., born June 12, 1841; Daniel K., born September 19, 1846. Susanna, wife of George Anders, died May 21, 1857. George Anders died January 23, 1876. Balthasar Anders and his wife and the successive generations of the family which have been mentioned were members of the religious body known as Schwenkfelders, who were so called from Caspar Schwenkfelder, a Silesian nobleman, born in 1490, who, having become imbued with the principles and doctrines proclaimed by John Huss, renounced the Catholic church to become an evangelist, and for thirty-six years, with voice and pen, exhorted men to repentance and godliness. He denied that the external word that is, the scriptures is endowed with the power of healing, renewing and illuminating the mind, but ascribed this power to the internal or eternal word, that is Christ himself. He differed with Luther and, cut off from fellowship with the Lutherans, he and his followers were persecuted by the Catholics. He died at Ulm, December 10, 1562. The Schwenkfelders after his death increased and maintained their faith and worship in the Fatherland for nearly two hundred years. About 1725 persecution which had almost ceased for a time, was renewed with great fury, and this unhappy people were given the choice of apostasy, continued endurance or flight from the country. The exodus commenced in February, 1726. One hundred and seventy families fled to Saxony, where they were hospitably received and treated with much consideration by Count Zinzendorf and others. They remained eight years, but in 1733 they were informed that they would be tolerated no longer in Lusatia, where they had settled, an application having been made for their return to Silesia. Two families emigrated to Pennsylvania, arriving at Philadelphia September 18, 1733, and sent such a good report of the country that the whole band determined to follow them. They set out for Altona in Denmark in April, 1734, where they arrived May 17, and on the 28th embarked on three small vessels for Harlem, arriving there June 6, thence proceeded June 19 to Rotterdam, embarking for Pennsylvania on an English ship, the "St. Andrew," touching at Plymouth, England, and arriving at Philadelphia on September 22, 1734. The' spent the 24th in thanksgiving to God for delivering them out of the hands of their persecutors, for raising up friends in the time of greatest need, and for leading them into a land of freedom where they might worship without being molested by civil or ecclesiastical power. That day, September 24, has been so observed ever since. They settled in the neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, and in Burks, Lehigh and Montgomery counties, the greater number in what is now Montgomery. Samuel K. Anders was educated in the public schools of Norriton, and on reaching manhood engaged in agricultural pursuits on his own account, following that occupation for twenty years. In 1888 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners on the Republican ticket, having previously served as school director and in other minor positions. As a county commissioner, he was faithful, vigilant, and earnestly devoted to the public interests; many improvements in the court house, rebuilding the county prison and other public institutions having been brought about largely through his instrumentality. He is the only person who ever served in that position in Montgomery county for so long a period. In the discharge of his official duties he displayed the same integrity, ability and good judgment that that have characterized him in all business, public and private. On the death of Abraham A. Yeakle, president of the People's National Bank of Norristown, in 1888, he became his successor, and has held the position by successive re-election ever since, the success of the institution having been largely due to his careful and conservative management. In 1866 Mr. Anders married Mary A. Heebner, the daughter of the late David S. Heebner, of Lansdale. They had four children, two of whom died in infancy; another, A. Laura, died at the age of sixteen years; the only one now living being George H. Anders, who served for a number of years as deputy in the county treasurer's office. Mrs. Mary A. Anders died September 16, 1881. Samuel K. Anders is a man of pleasing personality, his manners being affable, his natural kindness of heart being tempered by a practical good sense and keen insight of human nature. As a politician, a financier, a business man and a citizen, he has been eminently successful and is universally esteemed. George H. Anders, son of Samuel K. Anders, attended the neighboring school in Norriton township, and, for a time, the Norristown high school. He was engaged in farming in Norriton until his removal to Norristown. In politics he is, like his father, an active Republican, and served for some years in Norriton township as a school director, besides occasionally filling minor township offices. He was frequently a delegate to county conventions. He married Eveline, daughter of Nathan and Martha J. Schultz, of Norristown. The father, for many years proprietor of a hotel at Marshall and DeKalb streets, Norristown, has been deceased some years. Mrs. Eveline Anders was born July 19, 1862. She was married January 16, 1883. Their children, all born in Norriton township: Laura S., born October 23, 1884; Stanley S., born October 12, 1886; Rebecca, born February 8, 1889, died April 25, 1890; Samuel K., Jr., born September 25, 1891. George H. Anders served six years as deputy County treasurer during the terms of Abraham C. Godshall, of Lansdale, and Henry W. Hallowell, of Bethayres. On the death of ex-Judge Charles H. Stinson, Samuel K. Anders became a member of the board of trustees of the Norristown Hospital for the Insane, a position which he still holds. On the death of David Schall, he was appointed a member of the board of directors of the Montgomery county prison, which also he still holds. This file has been created by a form at http://www.usgwarchives.net/pafiles/ File size: 8.8 Kb