Montgomery County PA Archives Biographies.....Berkhemer, John April 18, 1846 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joe Patterson jpatter@epix.net November 2, 2025, 4:17 pm

Source: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, T. S. Benham & Company and the Lewis Publishing Company, 1904
Author: Ellwood Roberts, Editor

  JOHN BERKHEMER, one of the best-known farmers of Whitpain, 
was born April 18, 1846, in Upper Dublin township, 
Montgomery  county, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Jacob and 
Tacy Weber (Deaves) Berkhimer, his father being a farmer. 
The son was brought up to hard work on the farm, going to 
school when there was nothing to be (lone at home, as it was 
a well-settled principle at that time that work must not be 
interfered with for the secondary purpose of gaining an 
education.

  On reaching his eighteenth year he laid aside his books 
and betook himself entirely to the cultivation of the soil. 
At the age of twenty-one years he was apprenticed to the 
trade of stonemason, at which he worked for ten years, and 
then again engaged in the occupation of farming in Plymouth 
township, when he rented the old Berkhimer homestead known 
as the Maples, succeeding to the title on the settlement of 
his father's estate, which occurred in the year 1895. 

  The Maples contains sixty-four acres of rolling and highly 
fertile land, part of it heavily timbered, and all in a fine 
state of cultivation. The farm takes its name from the many 
maple trees that surround the dwelling and are found 
elsewhere on the place. Mr. Berkhimer operates The Maples as 
a dairy and truck farm, his products being shipped to the 
Philadelphia markets.

  Mr. Berkhimer has been twice married. His first wife was 
Susanna Rex, of Plymouth township. Their children are: Tacy, 
born June 27, 1868, unmarried; and Mary Ann, born January 2, 
1874, unmarried. Both daughters reside at The Maples. Mrs. 
Berkhimer died September 10, 1877, and he married (second 
wife) Mrs. Josephine Rapine, widow of Jerome Rapine, of 
Whitemarsh township. Mrs. Rapine, whose maiden name was 
Hallman, had two children by her first marriage.

  Mr. Berkhimer has always been actively interested in the 
affairs of his community. He is a Democrat in politics. He 
is a member of the Baptist church, at Cold Point, Plymouth 
township, of which he is a trustee. He is a progressive 
citizen and engaged earnestly in whatever tends to religious 
and social improvement.

  Jacob Berkhimer (father) was born January 6, 1809. He was 
the son of George and Margaret Berhimer. He married, 
November 14, 1841, Tacy Weber Deaves. Her mother was Tacy 
Weber, of Fairview Farm, at Sandy Hill, in Whitpain 
township. Their children are: Susanna Deaves, born September 
27, 1842, married, June 3, 1869, Nicholas R., son of William 
and Mary Ann Rex, of Plymouth township; George E., born 
January 13, 1845, died July 3, 1845, and was buried at 
Plymouth Meeting; John, subject of this sketch; William D., 
born May 22, 1848, married Margaret, daughter of Joel 
Dewees, of Whitpain township, they living on the township 
line near Blue Bell road, in Whitpain; Isaac, born in 1848, 
died August 13, 1848; Mary Elizabeth, born October 5, 1850, 
died September 22, 1851; Jesse, born October 5, 1852, 
married Sarah, daughter of William Moore, who dying, he 
married (second wife) Emily, daughter of Samuel and Sarah 
Fisher, they living at West Ambler; Jacob Martin, born 
December 25, 1854, married Sarah J. Thomas, of Harmonville, 
in Whitemarsh township, where they live, having one 
daughter; Charles, born May 3, 1859, unmarried, lives at 
Fairview Farm, and owns the property which formerly belonged 
to his grandfather Deaves, and prior to that to his 
great-grandfather Weber, who held it from his father.

  The children of Nicholas R. and Susanna D. (Berkhimer) Rex 
are: Jacob, born November 11, 1871, died July 11, 1872; Mary 
Ann, born September 22, 1877, died September 6, 1878; 
William Berkhimer, born September 24, 1882, unmarried and 
resides at Fairview, where he assists his uncle, Charles 
Berkhimer, in managing the farm.

  George Berkhimer (grandfather) was born October 1, 1773. 
George Berkhimer (great-grandfather) was born in 1750.

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