BIOS: Hon. William Henry KOONTZ, Somerset, Somerset County, PA

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Vol. XXXII, Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of 
Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania. Boston, Biographical Review 
Publishing Company: 1899, pp 38-42.

  Hon. William H. Koontz, of the Somerset County bar, a former member of 
Congress from the Sixteenth District of Pennsylvania, is now serving as 
Representative in the State legislature, having been elected in the fall of 
1898.  He was born in Somerset, Pa., on July 15, 1830, son of Jacob and Rosanna 
(Snyder) Koontz.
  His paternal grandfather, Samuel Koontz removed from Lancaster County, where 
he was born, to Somerset, becoming one of the first settlers in this county.  
Following the trade of blacksmith, he lived to a good age, and died here.  His 
wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Pile, bore him seven children, none of 
whom are now living.
  Jacob, father of the subject of this sketch, was the second child.  He was 
born in Somerset, and attended school here.  The last thirty years of his life 
were spent on a farm, which he managed most successfully.  For many years he was 
Constable of Somerset borough, and for a time was County Auditor.  He was a 
Republican in politics.  He died at the age of seventy years.  His wife attained 
the age of eighty-four.  She was a daughter of Jacob Snyder, who, with two of 
his brothers, settled on a farm in this county, they being among the first 
settlers here.  He married a Miss Heiple, and had a family of seven girls and 
two boys, Rosanna, Mr. Koontz's mother, being the sixth child born.  The only 
one of the family now living is a daughter, Julia, who is the widow of G. C. 
Lint.  Of the six children born to Mr. Koontz's parents, six are living, as 
follows: William H., Susan C., Missouri J., Frank F., Lavinia, and Jacob S.  
Susan is the wife of the Hon. B. F. Meyers, a very prominent resident of 
Harrisburg, Pa., and ex-member of Congress.  She is the mother of Edward K., 
Harry, William K., Rose, and Susan Meyers.  Frank F. Koontz, who married 
Katharine Dunham, has two children- Jacob S. and Howard D.
  After receiving a common-school education, Mr. Koontz studied law with Messrs. 
Forward & Stutzman, and in 1851 was admitted to the bar.  Since that time his 
connection with the important trials has been constant.  He was engaged for the 
Commonwealth in the case against Henry Pritts (who was tried, convicted, and 
hanged for the murder of one Weimar), and for the defence [sic] in the 
celebrated trial of the Nicely brothers, which lasted for two years.  In 
connection with his associate counsel, he carried this case to the Supreme Court 
and to the Board of Pardons.  Before the last body he made an argument relating 
to the power of the board which has since been much commented upon and quoted by 
the bar of the State.  He was counsel in the Miller case, assisting the 
prosecution and securing the conviction of the defendant.  He also assisted in 
the prosecution of Fuhrer, who shot a railroad employee; and was counsel for the 
defense of Lehr, who was charged with the crime of murder; also for the 
Commonwealth, in the case against the Roddy brothers, who were convicted and 
hanged for the murder of one Berkey.  For some years past he has been in 
partnership with Mr. J. G. Ogle.
  The political career of Mr. Koontz began shortly after his admission to the 
bar.  In 1853 he was elected District Attorney of Somerset County on the Whig 
ticket, and four years later was nominated for the State Senate, but made an 
unsuccessful run, owing to local complications.  In 1860 he was a delegate to 
the National Republican Convention at Chicago, and was one of the first to cast 
his vote for Lincoln.  The same year he was elected Prothonotary of the county, 
which position he filled in an able manner for three years.  In 1864 he was 
elected to Congress from the Sixteenth District, then comprising the counties of 
Somerset, Bedford, Fulton, Franklin, and Adams.  In 1866 he was re-elected.  
While in Congress he was a member of the House Committee on the District of 
Columbia and Expenditures of the Interior Department.  He was deeply interested 
in the work of reconstruction, and gave most careful attention to all measures 
introduced that in any way related to that department of national affairs.  His 
plea was for protection for all people of the South, without regard to race or 
color, who had been true to the Union.  The following is a quotation from one of 
his speeches:- "The great duty rests upon us to finish the work which has not 
been finished by warfare.  The shackles of four millions of slaves were melted 
by the fierce fires of civil war, but the animus of slavery, its passions and 
prejudices, yet remain.  It is our duty so to legislate as to remove the last 
relic of a barbarism that would have suited the dark ages, to conform our 
institutions to the advanced condition which will have been brought about by the 
revolution just ended; and when this shall have been done, the great Republic, 
freed from the dark stain of human slavery, will start upon her mission to 
promulgate by precept and example the immutable and eternal truth of the 
equality of men, before whose resistless march kingdoms and powers, and all 
systems built upon caste and creed for the oppression of men, will be wiped from 
the face of the earth and known no more forever."
  Mr. Koontz spoke with great force in favor of the resolutions for the relief 
of the destitute of the South.  On the death of the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens he 
delivered in the House of Representatives an address commemorative of the great 
public services of that distinguished statesman.  He also took a conspicuous 
part in the measures connected with the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.  The 
Supplementary Re-construction Bill also received a large share of his attention.  
Mr. Koontz has earned the reputation of being one of the brightest public 
speakers in Western Pennsylvania.  He has spoken in many of the counties of the 
State of Pennsylvania in political canvasses, and has spoken in three campaigns 
in the State of Ohio and frequently in the States of Maryland and West Virginia.  
Many of his speeches on other than political subjects possess high literary 
merit.  On June 15, 1880, he gave an address entitled "American Politics" before 
the literary societies of Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pa., in 
which he urged upon the students the necessity of guarding the ballot and of 
using their high privilege and influence towards purifying the elevating 
politics.  In 1895, upon the celebration of the centennial of the organization 
of Somerset County, Mr. Koontz delivered a valuable and beautiful historic 
address, in which he gave an account of the early settlement of the 
Pennsylvania, and particularly of the territory now included in the limits of 
Somerset County, describing the natural condition of the county before it was 
invaded by the white man, the early settlements, the toil and privations of the 
pioneers, and then referred to the material and intellectual development of the 
county, showing the wonderful progress it had made and the eminent men it had 
produced.
  For several years Mr. Koontz has officiated as vice-president of the Somerset 
County National Bank.  He has been and now is a director in the Pittsburg & 
Connellsville, the Somerset & Cambria and the Berlin Railroads.  All movements 
looking towards the improvement or welfare of the town have his cordial and 
active support.  In the legislature of 1899 Mr. Koontz is chairman of the 
Committee on Constitutional Reform, and is a member of several other important 
committees.  He introduced a series of resolutions alleging that attempts had 
been made to bribe certain members of the House of Representatives and demanding 
that a committee be appointed to investigate the charges.  Finding that a 
majority of the committee seemed hostile to investigation, he succeeded in 
getting four additional members appointed, with the result that the work of the 
committee was pressed with great vigor and much damaging testimony was brought 
out.  The committee reported that nine persons had been guilty of corrupt 
solicitation of members of the House and recommended that they be prosecuted in 
the Court of Quarter Sessions of Dauphin County.
  On December 28, 1869, Mr. Koontz was united in marriage with Matilda Johnson, 
who was the eldest of six children born to Joshua and Susan (Sullivan) Johnson.  
Mrs. Koontz is a member of the Methodist church.  In 1865 Mr. Koontz began the 
erection of his present residence on the northern side of Union Street.  It is a 
handsome brick structure, with the grounds in front tastefully laid out, and 
with a fine garden in the rear.