Montgomery County PA Archives Biographies.....Brecht, John Ernst November 25, 1837 - March 25, 1904
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Source: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, T. S. Benham & Company and the Lewis Publishing Company, 1904
Author: Ellwood Roberts, Editor

  JOHN E. BRECHT, son of John Gottlieb and Catharine (Ernst) 
Brecht, for many
years a member of the board of directors of 
the People's National Bank, of
Norristown, where he lived 
retired the last few years of his life, died early
on the 
morning of March 25, 1904, at his residence, 926 West 
Marshall street.
He had been in feeble health for more than 
a year, but his death came
unexpectedly, being a severe 
shock to the community in which he lived, of which
few 
members were more valued or so highly respected as he. He 
was interred at
Worcester Schwenkfelder cemetery, March 30, 
1904.

  John G. Brecht (father)
was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, 
February 6, 1806. He was the son of Conrad
Brecht. He 
acquired near his home such education as was obtainable in 
his day.
He became a weaver by occupation, and attained 
considerable skill in his
calling. He wrought in silk, 
woolen and linen. At the age of twenty-one years
he went to 
Marseilles, France, where he secured a good position in a 
large
silk mill. In 1832 he came with his father to America, 
and located at New
Britain near Doylestown, in Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, where he continued to
work as a weaver. In 
1836 he married Catharine Frances Ernst, who was the 

daughter of George Ernst. The Ernsts were also natives of 
Germany. John G.
Brecht was a farmer in addition to his 
occupation of weaving.

  After farming
in several localities, John G. Brecht 
removed with his family to Ohio, but his
wife's relatives 
being anxious that he should return to Pennsylvania, he did 

so, and took charge of a large farm and mill in Lancaster 
county. His wife died
while he was at that place, on 
December 22, 1861, and was buried in the little
Mennonite 
graveyard at Strasburg. Soon after Mrs. Brecht's death the 
family
returned to Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and 
resided for several years on
the property of Jacob Heebner, 
now owned by Henry H. Heebner, in Worcester
township.

  In 1865 John G. Brecht purchased a lot in Towamencin 
township,
west of Kulpsville. About this time he married 
(second wife) Mary, widow of
Frederick Merkle. He died in 
Towamencin township, September 25, 1881, and his
remains 
were interred in a cemetery connected with Wentz's Reformed 
church, in
Worcester township, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania. He had been, however, a
member of the Lutheran 
church. His widow died in Skippack township, August 8,
1898, 
her remains being also interred at Wentz's church.

  The children of
John G. and Catharine (Ernst) Brecht 
(first marriage): John Ernst, subject of
this sketch, born 
in Hilltown township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, November 

25, 1837; Elizabeth, married Samuel H. Price, of 
Collegeville; Jacob E., of
Fort Myers, Florida, who married 
Clara, daughter of the late Rev. J. H. A.
Bomberger, of 
Collegeville, and practiced dentistry at Trappe, in that 

vicinity, and at St. Louis, Missouri, and for a number of 
years has been
located in Florida, where he is now engaged 
in the practice of medicine; Samuel
E., born June 15, 1844, 
now of Lansdale, formerly of Skippack and Worcester 

townships, who married, October 23, 1869, Annie, daughter of 
Michael and Ann
Hallman, of Skippack; Susan Louisa, now of 
Collegeville; George E., now of
Ashbourne, formerly of 
Philadelphia, and Montgomery county, who married
(first 
wife) Kate, daughter of William D. Bean, of Skippack, and, 
she dying in
1879, he married (second wife) Elma, daughter 
of Milton and Sarah Jenkins, of
Hatfield township, in 
Montgomery county; Abraham E., of Germantown, born
December 
4, 1851, married, February 24, 1876, Josephine Brong, of 
Germantown,
adopted daughter, and reared in the family of 
Adam and Julia (Brodhead)
Mintzer; Sarah E., married Ephraim 
Hertzler, of Johnson county, Kansas, where
she died January 
15, 1894.

  The children of Samuel E. and Annie H. Brecht:
Miriam H., 
wife of Jacob L. Gaumer, of Lansdale; Annie H., who married 
Edwin
S. Godshall, now of Norristown, (lied March 9, 1895; 
and Mary H. Brecht. Jacob
L. and Miriam B. Gattmer have one 
child, Samuel Brecht Gaumer.

  The children
of Samuel H. and Elizabeth B. Price: Ella B., 
of Collegeville; Harry B., of
Philadelphia, who married 
Bertha Starr, their children being Marion Price,
Samuel 
Price, Jr., and Catharine Price.

  The children of George E. Brecht:
Vincent B. and William 
Alvin by the first marriage, and Anson, John Ernst and
Sarah 
Elizabeth by the second marriage.

  The children of Abraham E. and
Josephine B. Brecht: 
Julianna Brodhead Brecht and Frances Harland Brecht.


 John Ernst Brecht, subject of this sketch, married, 
February 18, 1865, Sarah,
daughter of George and Sophia 
Kriebel, prominent members of the Schwenkfelder
congregation 
of Towamencin church or meeting-house, where Mr. Kriebel's 

ancestors for several generations were born, lived and died, 
and where his son,
Abraham Kriebel lived all his life and 
died, November 8, 1903, aged almost
seventy years. The farm 
is now occupied by Abraham's son, Charles Kriebel, Jr.

  Soon after his marriage John E. Brecht united with the 
Schwenkfeldian church,
of which he was a faithful member the 
remainder of his life. 
 
  He being the
oldest child, was obliged, from an early age, 
to take part in a variety of
employment incident to farm 
life, and had very little opportunity to make use
of the 
educational advantages afforded by the public schools. He 
attended
school irregularly, a few months during each 
winter, and grew up with a
practical knowledge of the 
routine of farming. While quite a young man, he
assisted the 
farmers in the neighborhood. 

  At the time of his marriage, he
was engaged in the work of 
cigar-making, living about one year in Gwynedd
township, but 
in 1866 he purchased from William D. Bean a farm of one 
hundred
and fifteen acres in Worcester township, on which he 
lived and engaged in the
active pursuits of agriculture 
until 1898, at which time he leased his farm and
removed to 
Norristown.

  Some time later he purchased the house on Marshall
street 
in which he resided until his death, and in which his widow 
now lives.
During almost the entire time, in the course of 
his farming career, he attended
the Philadelphia markets, 
first the old Spring Garden market, and, after its
erection, 
the Ridge Avenue market, at Eighteenth street and Ridge 
avenue,
occupying a stand there. Having reached his majority 
about the time of the
birth of the Republican party, he 
became active in its support, but he was too
busy and too 
modest to aspire to public office. 

  He was one of the
organizers of the Worcester Creamery 
Association at Centre Point, in the early
eighties, and was 
a director to the time of his death. He was also active in 

organizing the Ridge Avenue Market Company, although not 
officially connected
with it. He was a member of the board 
of directors of the Girard Avenue Market
Company. He was 
connected with the People's National Bank of Norristown, 
from
its organization in 1881 until his death.

  The children of John E. and Sarah
K. Brecht: Emma K., born 
January 21, 1866, in Gwynedd township, married, August
16, 
1892, John D., son of George M. and Matilda Weber. Mr. Weber 
is the
proprietor of Centre Point store. Their children: 
Sarah B., born July 6, 1895;
Russell B., born January 27, 
1898; John Herbert, born June 30, 1900; Marion B.,
born 
September 9, 1903.

  George K., born October 7, 1867, in Worcester
township, 
was educated in the public schools of that township and in 
West
Chester State Normal School, graduating from the latter 
in 1889. Before
graduating he taught at Cassel's school, in 
Skippack township, and at Metz
school in Worcester township, 
one term each. In the autumn of 1889 he became
principal of 
the Hatboro public school, remaining in that position one 
year.
He then became principal of the Plymouth township high 
school, on its
establishment. 

  After five years there he registered as a law student with 

Childs & Evans, a prominent law firm of Norristown, 
finishing his law studies
in the autumn of 1898, under the 
direction of Louis M. Childs, the firm of
Childs & Evans 
having meantime been dissolved, and being admitted to the 

Montgomery county bar. In February, 1902, he was admitted to 
the bar of the
supreme court of Pennsylvania. 

  In April, 1903, he assumed the duties of
secretary and 
trust officer of the Montgomery Trust Company, which 
position he
still holds. On October 7, 1902, he married 
Rebecca Allabough Wood, daughter of
William H. and Belle 
Morgan Wood, of Philadelphia, formerly of Montgomery
county. 
The couple reside at 539 George street, in a house which Mr. 
Brecht
purchased about the time of his marriage.

  Samuel K., born December 14, 1869,
was educated in the 
public schools, being one of the first graduates in 

Worcester after the graded course of study was adopted. He 
graduated from the
West Chester State Normal School, in 
1891, and from Haverford College in 1896.
Before his 
graduation from the normal school, he taught two terms at 
the Metz
school, in Worcester. Before attending college, he 
was principal of Bryn Mawr
high school, in Lower Merion 
township, for two years. After completing his
college 
course, he was instructor in the preparatory school for the 
Annapolis
Naval Academy, Maryland. He was also similarly 
engaged at Perkiomen Seminary,
Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, and 
at Pottstown high school. He was also principal of
the Union 
school of Rushford, New York, for two years, and is at 
present a
member of the corps of teachers at the Norristown 
high-school. He married,
August 2, 1898, Alberta Williams, 
of Rushford, New York. Their children are
Harold Walton, 
born December 23, 1899, at Rushford, New York, and Arthur 

Malcolm, born December 1, 1902, at Norristown.
 
  Catharine, born October 19,
1874, in Worcester township, 
also attended the State Normal School at West
Chester. She 
married, June 9, 1903, John A. Longacre, son of David and 
Helena
Longacre, of Norriton township. They reside in 
Elmira, New York, where Mr.
Longacre is employed by the 
Empire Bridge Company, a branch of the American
Bridge 
Company. They have one child, Ruth, born in Elmira, March 
23, 1904.

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