Montgomery County PA Archives Biographies.....Buckwalter, Isaac N. (I.N.) November 24, 1838 - 
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Joe Patterson jpatter@epix.net November 12, 2025, 4:51 pm

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

  I. N. BUCKWALTER, Vice-President and Superintendent of the 
Buckwalter Stove
Works at Royersford, Pennsylvania, is a 
native of Chester county, Pennsylvania,
where he was born 
November 24, 1838. 

  Although reared to farm pursuits,
young Buckwalter gained 
an insight into mechanical occupations by means of a 

saw-mill and machine shop to which he had access. He 
received his education at
the ordinary schools of the 
vicinity in which he lived. He remained under the
parental 
roof until he was twenty-two years of age. Then, about 1861, 
he went
to California, did some prospecting, spending a year 
or more in mining and as
much more time on a ranch, 
returning to his home in 1864, and again taking
charge of 
the saw mill and machine shop. After two years he made a 
second trip
west, going, however, no further than Illinois, 
where he was employed as a
carpenter about a year, when he 
again returned to the mill and shop. A little
later he went 
to Kansas, pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land, 
made
improvements and did some farming on his new 
acquisition, remaining three
years, at the end of which time 
he returned to his home. While he was west he
built a house 
in Burlington, Kansas. In 1872 he went to Royersford, 

Pennsylvania, and was employed at the Francis Buckwalter 
Stove Works,
continuing with that firm until 1883, when 
various firm changes ensued, ending
in incorporation as the 
Buckwalter Stove Company, when I. N. Buckwalter became
a 
partner. He was foreman of the mounting department, and so 
continued until
1899, when he was made superintendent. 
Joseph A. Buckwalter is president; I. N.
Buckwalter, 
vice-president and superintendent; A. L. Buckwalter, 
assistant
superintendent; Augustus Dotterer, secretary; T. 
D. Buckwalter, treasurer. The
establishment has a large 
output of stoves and ranges, about fifteen thousand 

annually, and their products have a high reputation for 
excellence, not
surpassed by any in the state or country. 
The number of employees is about one
hundred and 
seventy-five, and the company have repositories for their 
goods
where they are on sale in Philadelphia, New York and 
Chicago. The company is
known all over the United States, 
and it has contributed very materially in the
building up of 
Royersford.
 
  Mr. Buckwalter inherited mechanical genius from
his 
ancestors, he being descended from a long line of mechanics 
and
machinists. The present generation, including I. N. 
Buckwalter, have brought
the name prominently before the 
public throughout the entire country. (See J.
A. 
Buckwalter's sketch, in another part of this work for a more 
complete
account of the Buckwalter Stove Works).

  Isaac N. Buckwalter married, in 1875,
Miss Irene F. 
Buckwalter, she being a daughter of Daniel R. and Hannah R. 

(Williams) Buckwalter, the mother being of Montgomery, and 
the father of
Chester county. They were married at 
Phoenixville. He had a large farm which he
later sold, and 
bought a small farm at Spring City. The latter part of his 

life he was employed with the Buckwalter Stove Company. 
Early in life he was a
farmer. Daniel R. Buckwalter's 
parents were Daniel and Mary (Roudenbush)
Buckwalter, both 
of whom were members of the Mennonite church. Their 
children:
Mary Mrs. M. Schrack; Samuel, Sarah (Mrs. D. 
Yost); David; Barbara (Mrs.
Zimmerman). Of these Daniel 
(father of Mrs. I. N. Buckwalter), was a Republican
in 
politics and a member of the Lutheran church. He died 
several years ago,
but his wife yet survives, at an advanced 
age, residing at Royersford. She was
the daughter of Samuel 
and Maria (Richards) Williams. Their children: Hannah
R. 
(mother), Charles, Samuel, Maria (Mrs. Sassaman); John, 
Eliza (Mrs.
Walker); Emma (Mrs. C. Spare); Mary (unmarried). 
The parents were Friends.


 The children of Daniel and Hannah Buckwalter: Samuel W., 
died in 1901; Clara
(Mrs. E. Moore, who died leaving one 
daughter, Phoebe); Irene F., (wife of
Isaac N. Buckwalter); 
Crawford A., deceased; Maria J. (Mrs. B. B. Brant);
Anna 
(Mrs. William Melotte); Theodore, of Royersford.

  Mr. and Mrs. I. N.
Buckwalter have two children: Madge W. 
S., who was educated in the schools of
Royersford and 
Shisler's Business College of Norristown; and Samuel Emmet, 
who
is teller of the Royersford National Bank. 

  Isaac N. Buckwalter is the son of
Abram and Rachel 
(Ortlip) Buckwalter, he of a Montgomery and she of a Chester 

county family. Mrs. Buckwalter (mother) was a daughter of 
Henry Ortlip, who
operated the old Ortlip mill, a well-known 
structure in its day. For many years
he kept the Black Horse 
hotel at Shannonville, now Audubon. He died on his farm
near 
Norristown. His children: Henry, Andrew, Abram, Osmun, 
Samuel, died and
left a son, who is also deceased; Rachel 
(mother of I. N. Buckwalter); Mary
(Mrs. Osmond); Rebecca 
(Mrs. Minter); Eliza (Mrs. G. Eppehimer) ; Julia (Mrs.
J. 
Teany).

  Abram and Rachel Buckwalter's children Elias, died at the 
age of
twenty-two years; David R., died at the age of 
seventeen years; Henry, one of
the original Buckwalter firm, 
who started the stove works, who died in May,
1880, leaving 
a widow and seven children; B. F., died unmarried; J. A., 

president of the Buckwalter Stove Company; I. N., subject of 
this sketch; L.
C., machinist of the Stove Company; four 
other children died when quite young.
Both parents belonged 
to the Spiritualists. The father died at eighty years
of 
age; the mother at ninety-three.
 
  Abram Buckwalter (father) was born near
Trappe. The first of 
the family in America came from Holland to Pennsylvania. 

Abram married and located in Chester county. He was a 
millwright, and an
excellent mechanic, owning and operating 
a saw mill and machine shop for many
years, and thus 
educating his children to the exercise and cultivation of 

inventive genius which proved exceedingly valuable to them 
in after years.
Abram Buckwalter was, a very active 
temperance worker. He started the pledge
with his own name, 
and had over seven hundred names enrolled in an incredibly 

short space of time, showing what can be done by earnestness 
and enthusiasm.
The original pledge or roll is still in the 
possession of the family, being
kept as a memento of their 
father's work for the good of humanity.

  Isaac N.
Buckwalter is a worthy son of such a sire, as are 
all the others. He is public
spirited and a thoroughgoing 
business man, exerting himself for the benefit of
Royersford 
in every possible way. He, in common with the other members 
of the
Company, has accomplished much in building up the 
town and advancing its
prosperity.

  Mr. Buckwalter built the large brick house in which he 
resides,
and in 1896 altered and constructed what is now 
known as the Buckwalter Block.
He is a Republican in 
politics, although in the past he affiliated with the 

Greenback party. He has served three years as a member of 
town council. He is
an active member of the Royersford Fire 
Company; a stockholder in both banks,
and is otherwise 
identified with the interests of the community in which he 

lives. He and Mrs. Buckwalter are both Spiritualists in 
religious faith.

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