Montgomery County PA Archives Biographies.....Detwiler, George M. June 30, 1862 - 
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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

  GEORGE M. DETWILER, a well-known contractor of Norristown, 
is a native of Chester county, where he was born June 30, 
1862, his parents then residing at Spring City. From that 
place his father removed to Philadelphia, when he was six 
years of age. The elder Detwiler kept the Sorrel Horse 
Hotel, at Fourth and Vine streets, for four years, and then 
removed to Phoenixville, where he stayed until George M. had 
reached manhood.

  George M. Detwiler was educated in the public schools of 
Philadelphia, Phoenixville and Norristown. when he was 
seventeen years of age. he started out to learn the trade of 
plastering with his father. He served as an apprentice four 
years and after he had finished his trade he remained with 
his father until the latter's death, about 1888. After his 
father's death the son finished the contracts on which he 
was engaged, and then worked for five years in Philadelphia, 
Washington and New York, thus thoroughly mastering his trade 
and gaining the experience which was to be of great value to 
him in after life. In this way he fitted himself for any 
kind of work in his line, however difficult.

  In 1893 Mr. Detwiler returned to Norristown, and, though 
almost without capital, entered upon the career of 
contractor and business man in which he has been so 
successful. He has completed some of the most important 
contracts in Norristown, among them the reconstruction of 
the interior of the Montgomery National Bank the upper 
stories of the cigar manufactory of Gresh & Sons: the Elks' 
Home on Main street; the parish building of All Saints' 
church; the new Jeffersonville Presbyterian church; the 
Bridgeport Baptist church; the magnificent building of the 
Norristown Trust Company; the work on the plant of the Adam 
Scheidt Brewing Company; work at Watt's Mill; the residences 
of Assemblyman John H. Rex, Attorney Hillegass, Louis N. 
McCarter, and many others of the finest mansions on DeKalb 
and West Main streets, the most prominent thoroughfares of 
Norristown. Mr. Detwiler is straightforward in his business 
methods, always takes care that his employes receive their 
wages at the end of the week and never leaves any bills 
unpaid.

  Mr. Detwiler is a member of Tecumseh Tribe, Improved Order 
of Red Men, of John F. Hartranft Conclave of Heptasophs; and 
the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, all of Norristown. 
He and his wife are both members of the Central Presbyterian 
church. He is a Republican in politics, but not an 
office-seeker, although never missing an opportunity to cast 
his ballot for the candidates who represent his party 
principles.

  On May 3, 1881, he married Hattie S., daughter of Levi 
Bolton, who was born June 20, 1861. Their children are: 
George, born March 19, 1885; Raymond B., born October 19, 
1886; Amos L., born June 1, 1888; Alice N., born April 26, 
1890; and Willis Bland, born March 9, 1901.

  Amos Detwiler (father) was born October 25, 1816, and died 
December 14, 1888. He was born and grew to manhood in Lower 
Providence township, Montgomery county. Before his removal 
to Spring City in 1861, he learned and followed the trade of 
plasterer. He built the Spring City Hotel and managed it for 
five years until he leased the Sorrel Horse Hotel in 
Philadelphia, where he remained six years. He afterwards 
managed the Western Hotel, on Market street, on the site of 
Gimbel Brothers' store and later the Ellerton House at 
Fourteenth and Ridge avenue. In 1872 he went to Phoenixville 
and engaged in the business which he had learned in his 
youth, that of a contracting plasterer, and in 1876 settled 
in Norristown, continuing as a plasterer until his death.

Many of the best residences of Norristown contain specimens 
of his work, among others the home of Charles Templeton. He 
was a member of the Knights of Friendship. Though his life 
was too busy for him to devote much time to politics, he was 
a staunch Republican. In religion he remained in the faith 
of his father, the Reformed Mennonite.

  Amos Detwiler was buried in the burial-ground of the 
Trinity Reformed church of Collegeville. He married 
Elizabeth Vanderslice and they had ten children, as follows: 
Kate; Mary; Warren, who enlisted in 1861 and served until 
after he lost his arm at Antietam, when he was discharged, 
and remained at home for a short time, since which time he 
has lived in Manayunk, serving as a mail carrier and working 
in a mill; Anthony, who died young; John; Sarah; Frank; 
Milton; Martin; and one who died in infancy.

  After the death of his first wife Amos Detwiler married, 
in 1858, Mrs. Hanna Bland, daughter of Peter and Hannah 
Hill. She was born October 28, 1824. Amos and Hanna Detwiler 
had children, as follows: Bessie, who married (first 
husband) Milton Harley, and (second husband) David 
Allabaugh; Ellie M., who married Dr. John D. Weaver, and 
resides in Norristown; George M.; and Howard A., who died in 
infancy. Mrs. Hanna Detwiler died March 7, 1904, in her 
eightieth year.

By her first husband Mrs. Detwiler had two children: 
Henrietta and H. Willis Bland, a self-made man who is judge 
of the Orphans' Court of Berks county. H. Willis Bland 
enlisted in the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry at the age 
of sixteen years.

  John Detwiler (grandfather) was also born in Montgomery 
county. His wife was Catherine Krupp.

  Levi Bolton, the father of Mrs. George Detwiler, was born 
June 16, 1836, at the house in Norristown where he still 
lives. At the age of eighteen he became an apprentice to 
Lewis H. Davis to learn the trade of bricklaying. He had 
been working at his trade for several years when, on 
September 12, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Fifty-first 
Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, to serve three years. On 
December 3, 1864, he was promoted to the rank of commissary 
sergeant. He sustained a gun-shot wound, at Antietam, and 
also at Spottsylvania, and each necessitated his remaining 
in the hospital for three months. He was mustered out of 
service July 27, 1865, after engaging in the following 
battles: Roanoke Island; Newbern, North Carolina; Camden, 
North Carolina; Chantilla; South Mountain, Maryland; 
Antietam; Vicksburg, Mississippi; Siege of Jackson; London, 
Tennessee; Campbell Station; Knoxville; Wilderness; 
Spottsylvania; Hatches' Run; Fort Steadman; Petersburg and 
Richmond. At the close of the war he returned to his home 
and has followed his trade ever since. He has been a member 
of the Humane Fire Company of Norristown since 1858, and 
belongs to Zook Post, No. 11, Department of the Pennsylvania 
G. A. R.

  John Bolton, the grandfather of Mrs. George Detwiler, was 
also a resident of Norristown. He married Sarah Shiffy, and 
their children were Caroline, Isaac (deceased), William, 
Josiah, and Levi. John Bolton was a prominent contractor and 
carpenter in Norristown for many years.

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