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MORRIS L. KAUFFMAN

 

. MORRIS L. KAUFFMAN, who is recognized as one of the ablest lawyers

of Pennsylvania, is a member of the Bar of Allentown, where for a number of years he has been engaged in legal practice with success. He was born ill this city on the 11th of June, 1848, and comes of an old family of the Keystone State. His father, Franklin E. Kauffman, was also a native of Allentown, and for many years engaged in the real-estate business in this place.

The early education of our' subject was acquired in the Allentown Academy. Later he was graduated from the Highland Military Academy of Massachusetts, also from the Hudson River Institute and Claverack College of New York. With the desire to make the practice of law his life work, he began fitting himself for the profession in the law office of Hon. Robert E. Wright, Sr., and was admitted to the Bar in Lehigh County on the 4th of April, 1870.

~since then Mr. Kauffman has been engaged continuously in legal practice, and has steadily worked his way upward, until he now occupies an enviable position as an attorney. In- former years he also engaged extensively in real-estate dealings, but during the) last decade the greater part of his attention has been devoted to legal practice. He has aided materially in the growth of new industries, and was one of the original committee sent to Paterson to induce the Phoenix Manufacturing Company to locate its silk mill, the "Adelaide," at Allentown. It was his individual check of $1,500 given before any money was subscribed by the citizens as a pledge of their good faith that secured the signing of the con tract. It was also largely through his instrumentality that the Iowa Barb Wire Company and the Allentown Spinning Company located in this city. He is a Director in the Allentown Gas Company, the Allentown Spinning Company, the Bethlehem Silk Company, and for a number of years was a Director in the Allentown National Bank.

Among the other enterprises in which Mr. Kauffman is interested may be mentioned the Allentown Steam Heating and Power Company, of which he is Treasurer, and the Lehigh Valley Trust an d Safe Deposit Company, of which he is trust officer. He was one of the promoters and Directors of the Lehigh Valley Traction Company, and afterward was associated with the parties who were instrumental in consolidating its rival, the Allentown & Bethlehem Rapid Transit Company, and its underlying corporations, with the Traction Company. Besides his connection with other business enterprises, he is Director in the following corporations:

Allentown & Lehigh Valley Traction Company, Lehigh Valley Traction Company, Bethlehem & Allentown Street Railway Company, Bethlehem & South Bethlehem Electric Railway Company, Allentown Passenger Railway Company, Manhattan Park and Hotel Company, and the Catasauqua & Northern Electric Railway Company.

For many years Mr. Kauffman has been active in the Republican Party, and is one of its most influential members in this part of the state. His counsel has frequently been sought by its leaders, and he has done a large amount of work to advance its interests. He is an easy, graceful and logical speaker, and by his strong and cogent reasoning makes his principles and personality felt, whether it be at the hustings or before a court or jury. He has served as Councilman, but has otherwise refused to accept office. While in Europe, however, he was nominated by the Republican State Committee of 189 I as a delegate to the proposed constitutional convention.

In military affairs Mr. Kauffman has also taken considerable interest. He was commissioned by Governor Hoyt as Paymaster and Inspector of the Fourth Regiment, N. G. P., with the rank of Captain, and afterward as Aide-de-Camp to Gen. J. F. Hartranft, Division Commander of the National Guards of Pennsylvania, with the rank of Major. Socially he belongs to the I independent t Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic fraternity, being a Past Eminent Commander of Allen Commandery No. 20, K. T. He was the second President of the Livingston Club of Allentown, which is one of the finest in the state outside of Philadelphia.

In October, 1875, Mr. Kauffman married Miss Arabelle, daughter' of Stephen Balliet, formerly one of the most prominent iron-ore and furnace operators in the Lehigh Valley. The family is descended from French Huguenots, who settled in this country prior to the Revolutionary War. 1\1rs. Kauffman belongs to the Order of the Daughters of the Revolution. By her union with our subject have been born two daughters, Leila 1\1. find Adele B. 1\11'. Kauffman is certainly a public-spirited and progressive citizen, and his efforts have aided not a little in the promotion of ~.he best interests of Allen town. He well deserves representation III This volume, and with pleasure we present to our readers this record of his life.

R PETER STECKEL is one of the progressive and prominent business men of Allen_ town, and the interests with which is connected add greatly to the prosperity and enterprise of the city. He was born in Catasauqua, Lehigh County, Pa.. September 15, 1849, and is a son of Robert Steckel, a native of South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County. The father was a farmer and followed that pursuit during the greater part of his life. In 1874, however, he abandoned agricultural pursuits and removed to Allentown, where he entered the hardware business, with which he was connected for several years as a member of the firm of M. S. Young & Co., his death occurred in September, 1886, in the sixty-third year of his age. He was a successful business man, and as the result of his sagacity and well directed efforts won a handsome compet0ncc. He was a prominent citizen, and in 1873-74 represented his district In the State Legislature, having been elected on the Democratic ticket. With Zion's Reformed Church he held membership and to its support contributed liberally. He was one of the building committee at the time the present fine house of worship was erected. The best interests of the community ever found in him a friend, and at his death the county lost a valued citizen.

The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Hannah Frederick. She was also horn in South Whitehall Township, and was a daughter of George Frederick, of Catasauqua. A devoted Christian lady, her life was full of good deeds, and all who knew her held her in the highest regard for her sterling worth and many excellences of character. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Peter Steckel, was also born in Lehigh County, and was one of the pioneer settlers of this section of the Keystone State.

Under the parental roof Mr. Steckel of this sketch was reared to manhood, received a good education, and was trained to habits of industry and enterprise. With the family he came to Allentown, and upon his father's death succeeded to his interest in the hardware business as a member of the firm of M. S. Young- & Co. For several years he carried on operations along that line, and the store received It liberal patronage, but on the 1st of June, 1893, he sold out. Since that time he has devoted the greater part of his attention to tile banking business and to agricultural interests. He owns a most excellent farm of one hundred and sixty-one acres, under a high state of cultivation, and has it well stocked with a high grade of mules and cattle, making a specialty of the breeding of that stock. Upon his place is a fine barn, a good dwelling, all necessary outbuildings and the other improvements which are found upon a model farm of tile nineteenth century. For the past five years Mr. Steckel has also been a Director in the Allentown National Bank. He is a man of good judgment, whose conclusions are the result of earnest and careful deliberation.

In 1874 Mr. Steckel was united in marriage-e with Miss Rebecca A., daughter of Charles Henneger, of South Whitehall. Their union has been blessed with one daughter, Esther' A. Their' home is a fine brick residence at No. 239 North Seventh Street, and in it hospitality reigns supreme. The parents are both members of St. John's Lutheran Church, and in social circles they hold a prominent position. In his political views Mr. Steckel is a stanch Democrat. He has been a member of the Select Council for the past foul' years, as representative from the Fifth Ward, and his present term will not expire until 1896. He takes quite an active part in political affairs, and is a worthy exponent of the principles of Democracy. He is a careful business man, and the prosperity which has come to him is largely the reward of his own labors.

 

 

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;
 

 

 

 

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