Philip Sandt

PHILIP SANDT, a popular and well known resident of Palmer Township, who for some time has acted efficiently and successfully in the capacity of Secretary and Acting Treasurer of the Farmers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Northampton County, enjoys an enviable reputation as a thorough and reliable business man, fitted both by nature and experience for the successful management of an important enterprise, as is that with which his name is connected.

In the county where he now resides the subject of this sketch was born March 14, 1838. He is the son of Philip and Elizabeth (Schweitzer) Sandt, likewise natives of Northampton County. The family was founded in America by his great-grandfather, John Sandt, who crossed the Atlantic from Germany, and made settlement in this country more than a century ago, selecting as his permanent home that portion of Northampton County now known as Forks Township. The father of our subject, a lifelong resident of Forks Township, was universally esteemed wherever known, and his death in 1854 was mourned as a public loss.

In the parental family there were five sons who participated in the Civil War as soldiers in the Union army, and one of the number fell at the battle of Chancellorsville. There are five now living, all but our subject residents of Easton, Pa., namely: Mary A., wife of Edward Lerch, whose home is in Forks Township, near Easton; Eliza, wife of Joseph Michael; Catherine, who married Jacob Lear; Philip and Edwin. Our subject was reared to years of maturity in Northampton County, and in boyhood alternated attendance at the district schools of Forks Township with work on the home farm. For a time he was a student in a private school in Easton, after which he was employed as teacher in both public and pay schools of the county.

Choosing an occupation, Mr. Sandt selected that of a merchant, and opened a store at Stockertown, where for twenty years he conducted a profitable trade among the people of the village and surrounding country. So reliable was he in his business transactions, that he gained the confidence of his customers to an extent not usually enjoyed. Finally retiring from the mercantile trade, he was, on the 27th of August, 1886, appointed Secretary of the Farmers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Company of this county. At the same time he was likewise made Acting Treasurer of the company, and both of these offices he has held to the present time.

In politics a Republican, Mr. Sandt was in 1890 a candidate of that party for the Lower House of the Pennsylvania State Assembly, but owing to the strong Democratic majority in the county he was defeated. Religiously a Lutheran, he has served as Deacon and Elder in the congregation in Forks Township. He is a man who may always be relied upon to assist progressive enterprises, and is classed among the representative citizens of his locality. For his wife he chose Miss Matilda, daughter of Peter Wottring, of Stockertown, Pa. One son has been born unto them, Rev. Charles E. Sandt, now pastor of the Lutheran Church of Freemansburg, this state and county.

Source: Source: Portrait and Biographical Record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon Counties, Pennsylvania. Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the Counties, Together with Biographies and Portraits of all the Presidents of the United States. Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co., 1894; Pages 693-694.

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