BIOGRAPHY: Everhart GESSLER, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 325-6
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EVERHART GESSLER, a wounded Union officer of the late Civil War, and one of the 
pioneer business men of Hastings, is a son of Captain Charles Frederick and 
Caroline (Shoemaker) Gessler, and was born in Horb, on the river Neckar, in the 
kingdom of Wurtemburg, now in the southern part of the German empire, September 
21, 1836. He was reared in his native land, attended the public schools of his 
kingdom, and at fifteen years of age came to Philadelphia, where he learned the 
trade of tanner with Chambers & Cardall. After learning his trade he worked as a 
journeyman in a tannery at Pottsville, Schuylkill county, until the commencement 
of the Civil War, when he was among the first to volunteer under Lincoln's call 
for seventy-five thousand men in April, 1861. He enlisted April 22d in Company 
F., Sixth Pennsylvania volunteers, one of the first three companies to reach 
Washington city; participated in the fight at Falling Waters, the first 
engagement of the war, and was discharged at Harrisburg, this State, July 26, 
1861. After a few days of recreation he re-enlisted, entering company H, 
Seventeenth Pennsylvania cavalry, and serving until June 16, 1865, when he was 
honorably discharged at Cloud Hill. He was promoted successively to corporal and 
to sergeant, receiving a gun shot wound at Shepherdstown and a sabre cut in the 
head at Catholic Station, and participated in nearly all of the hard battles of 
the Army of the Potomac from Fredricksburg to Appomattox Court House, being 
among the first under fire at Gettysburg, where he was under General Beauford. 
Retiring from the army he and his brother operated a tannery at Ringtown, 
Schuylkill county, until 1871, when he removed to Indiana, where he operated a 
tannery for thirteen years, and then conducted a hotel from 1884 to 1890. In the 
last named year he became one of the pioneer business men of Hastings, and 
started his present general mercantile business. His establishment is a large 
one, and he is active and always ready to accommodate his patrons. He keeps a 
large stock of goods, especially selected for his section, and does a good 
business.
     In 1866 Mr. Gessler married Caroline Lurtz, a daughter of Mr. Lurtz, of 
Black Creek, Luzerne county. To their union have been born six children, three 
sons and three daughters; John, a baker and confectioner of Connellsville, 
Fayette county; Charles, William, Sarah, wife of Albert McClain, of Pittsburg; 
Katie, married Joseph Hank, of Hastings, and Maggie, wedded Elmer Nagle, and 
resides at Hastings.
     In politics Mr. Gessler has always acted with the Democratic party.
     He is a prominent and active member of the Masonic fraternity, holding 
membership in Indiana Lodge, No. 313, Free and Accepted Masons, and William Penn 
Chapter, No. 305, Royal Arch Masons, both of Indiana, this State. Mr. Gessler 
has been successful in business, and is respected by all who know him for his 
many sterling qualities of character.
     His family is one among the old and respectable families of Hart, 
Wurtemburg, where his father, Captain Charles Frederick Gessler, was a wealthy 
clothing manufacturer at one time. He raised, equipped, and commanded a 
Revolutionary company in the uprising of 1848 in Germany, and at its suppression 
escaped into Switzerland, where his sons, Everhart and C.H., sent him money six 
years later to come to America. After the death of King William I., his 
successor, William II., pardoned all political exiles, and Captain Gessler 
returned to Horst, where he died in 1876. His immense property, which had been 
confiscated in 1848, was kept by his government. He was a man of business 
ability and great influence before the Rebellion of 1848.
     Captain Gessler was twice married, and had twenty children. He married for 
his first wife Caroline Shoemaker. By this marriage he had two children: Charles 
H., a baker and confectioner of Indiana, this State, and Everhart, whose name 
appears at the head of this sketch.