Portrait and Biographical Record ~ Pages
522 -525
Kindly submitted by: Nancy Tweedie
JOSEPH C. BACHMAN is an
enterprising young business man of
Bethlehem, where he carries on a
coal and wood trade and also runs a flour and feed store. It
is now only four years since he started in this line here, but
he has succeeded in building up a good trade and his business
is flourishing. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Rev.
Henry Bachman, was born in Germany, and was a missionary of
the Moravian Church among the Indians in Canada, devoting
almost his entire life to the cause, and finally departing
this life at Hope, Ind. His son, Bishop H. T., is prominent
also in the work of Moravian Church and now occupies a
pastorate in Grace Hill, Washington County, Iowa. The latter,
our subject’s father, was educated in Canada, and also at
Nazareth Hall, where he graduated from the college and
theological seminary, afterward teaching at his Alma Mater. On being ordained he preached, for a number of years in
Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, after which he was made Bishop
of the Northern District of the Moravian Church, succeeding
D.E. Bishop A. Schweinitz. His
district included from Maryland to northern Canada, and from the Atlantic to
the Pacific Ocean, also Alaska. Through this large territory
he traveled extensively, and was in Alaska one summer for the
purpose of establishing missions. He was also President of
the P.E.C. until his resignation. He still holds the title of
Bishop and is in active service, though he will be fifty-eight
years of age in October, 1894.
The mother of Joseph C. bore
the maiden name of Sarah E. Gernand,
her birth occurring in
Graceham,
Md. Her father, Edward Gernand,
who was a manufacturer in Maryland, was also an adherent of
the Moravian faith. Mrs. Bachman received her education at
her birthplace, and after her marriage she offered her
services as a missionary of her denomination to the Indians,
as workers in the field were very scarce. A lady of
courageous and zealous qualities, she did a wonderful work in
Alaska, where she was stationed for a year and a half, there
being only some four missions being located in the northern
part of Alaska. Among the Esquimaux she was known as the grandmother and her son as the prince. Resigning her work in 1890, with her son she returned to the
United States bringing with them two
Esquimaux by the names of George
Nochneguk and David Scoveuk,
who entered the college at Carlisle, PA.
to receive an education and are now back in Alaska
helping the missionaries in their arduous work. Mrs. Bachman
is with her husband in Iowa, and of her seven children only
four survive. Edward is a farmer and stock-raiser near
Osborn, Kan.; Mary is in Iowa; John is attending Nazareth
Hall; and Joseph C. completes the number.
The birth of the latter
occurred June 5,
1868 in Graceham, Md., where he
lived until
Page 525
one year of
age, when his parents removed to Bethlehem. In his tenth year
he became a student in Nazareth, where he lived for three
years, and then attended school in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, for two
years. When only a youth of fourteen, he started out to make
his own way in the world and for some years had a pretty
difficult experience. Believing that the West afforded good
opportunities, he went to Colorado and engaged in prospecting
for gold near Gold Hill, in that state, making several claims
and continuing operations for a year and a half, when he sold
out and returned to the East. While carrying on his gold mine
he could find no place in the locality to board and lodge, and
was obliged to sleep out of doors in wet and stormy weather,
but when penetrating the mountains he was lucky in coming upon
an abandoned log house, where he made a bed with poles and
with hay and pine needles for a mattress, covered with
blankets, he managed to be more comfortable. However, during
the winter season, when the snow was deep, he often suffered
severely with the cold, and many a time during a blizzard he
would waken in the morning to find two or three inches of snow
on his bed. His nearest neighbor was three and a half miles
away, and provisions were very hard to obtain..
On returning to the East,
Mr. Bachman located at Gnadenhutten, where he served an
apprenticeship at the carpenter’s trade, working at that
vocation both there and in Bethlehem for four
years. In the fall of 1890 he started in the coal and wood
business in the latter city, and later opened
a flour and feed store, located on
Vineyard and Water Streets. Here he has a good store of
40x100 feet, for his flour and feed business, with a coal and
wood yard adjoining. He keeps a full line of supplies, and is
succeeding in building up a lucrative trade, keeping about
three delivery wagons in constant service.
In this city,
September 11, 1893, Joseph C. Bachman was married to Miss
Sarah E. Clotz, who was born near
Cherryville, and is a daughter of Phaon
Clotz, now of Wilkes
Barre. Our subject and his
estimable wife are members of the Moravian Church. In
politics, Mr. Bachman is a Republican and fraternally belongs
to the Royal Arcanum, and to the Order of Red Men, being a
member of Oppomanyhook Tribe No.
302. Besides those mentioned he is a member of Mystic Chain
belonging to Castle No. 42 of Bethlehem.
