stances, and his effects came to be sold, Mr. Shoemaker, the owner of the mill, urged young Charles, then only sixteen or seventeen years old, to buy the team and wagons, offering to be surety for him or advance him money to pay for them. This offer, so generously made by his kind patron, was gladly accepted, and he began life where his father had. Shortly after reaching his majority, the real estate being also offered for sale, he was encouraged by the same kind friends to buy that likewise. This put him into all the business his father had followed, and he pursued it with so much industry, energy and honesty, that he soon began to pay off incumbrances and grow rich, notwithstanding a generous and confiding disposition often subjected him to losses in trusting the honest but unfortunate poor. This kindly benevolent trait of character, which made him sympathize with worthy persons struggling against the adversities of life, and never allowed him to forget his early friends, is one of the golden memories that cling to his name. He always felt a warm regard for the Shoemaker family in later life, when he had become rich and able to reciprocate their former favors. An incident of his philanthropic nature is related something like this. A physician, by some new treatment, had cured his wife of a diseased member, whereupon, knowing of a customer in Philadelphia afflicted in the same way, he told the doctor to call on that person and tender like treatment, and further to say that "Charles Bosler will pay the bill." The physician did so, curing the patient, and Mr. Bosler redeemed his word, although the person healed owed him a large sum of money, which, in consequence of a fire, he could not pay.

Mr. Bosler was a man of lively, cheerful disposition, and everybody liked him, which no doubt accounted for a measure of his success in business. He was justly denominated a successful man, having no capital but industrious habits, integrity, and a strong will to start upon, and leaving at his death a large estate honestly accumulated. He voted the Republican ticket, and once was run for County Treasurer, but not being on the strong side failed of election.

In person Charles Bosler was of medium height, dark com

plexion, and enjoyed good health till near the time of his death, which resulted suddenly, from apoplexy, while seated in his rocking-chair. His remains lie buried in Friends' cemetery, Abington. His widow survives him.

DANIEL HIESTER.

THE HIESTER FAMILY.

Our fathers! where are they,

With all they called their own?-Doddridge.

It is doubtful if there be any more distinguished name in Pennsylvania annals than that of Hiester. Daniel, son of John and Catharine Hiester, was born January 1st, 1713, in the village of Elsoff, in domains of the Count of Witzenstein, province of Westphalia, now belonging to the Empire of Germany. In the year 1737 he and his brother Joseph came to America, having been preceded by their elder brother John in 1732. Daniel settled in Goshenhoppen, then Philadelphia, now Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He had four sons and a daughter, the last of whom married Dr. Hahn. His son, Daniel, Jr., took a very active part in the affairs of his country during the Revolutionary war, as appears by the following ex

tract:

"October 21st, 1777, he was appointed one of the commissioners to seize personal effects of traitors. November 8th, 1777, appointed one of the commissioners to collect clothing. May 6th, 1778, one of the agents for forfeited estates. May 26th, 1782, a Brigadier General of the Pennsylvania militia. October 15th, 1784, one of the Councilors of Montgomery county. June 6th, 1785, appointed on the Board of Property. May 22d, 1787, a commissioner in the territorial dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut. July 19th, 1787, a commissioner for adjusting claims of Connecticut settlers in Pennsylvania."*

After the war General Daniel Hiester was the first representative in Congress, under the present Constitution, from Berks

*Pennsylvania Archives.

county, of which he had in the meantime become a citizen. In 1796 he removed to Maryland, where he was again elected repeatedly to the same office from the district composed of Washington, Frederick and Allegheny counties, until the time of his decease, which occurred in Washington city during the session of 1801-2.

His older brother, John, moved to Chester county when a young man, was Major General of the militia of the district, and elected to the Tenth Congress from that county in 1808. Afterwards he moved to Pottstown, Montgomery county, and was President of the first Town Council. His son Daniel was Prothonotary of Chester county for a number of years, and was elected to the Eleventh Congress from there in 1809, serving during the two following sessions. Another son of Major General John Hiester was Samuel, a physician, who practiced a number of years in Pottstown, and afterwards resided, till the time of his death, in Chester county, near Pottstown. John R. Hiester, now residing in Pottstown, is a son of Dr. Samuel Hiester.

As a fitting sequel we add a general sketch of

THE HIESTER FAMILY.

The name of Hiester is so extensively connected with the general and State governments that a brief sketch of the whole family may not be uninteresting. Their remote ancestors were of Silesian origin. From that country they were distributed throughout Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Switzerland, and the countries bordering on the river Rhine. The immediate ancestors of the present race of that name in this country emigrated from Witzenstein, in Westphalia, and arrived in America in the early part of the eighteenth century (1737). They consisted of three brothers, Daniel, John, and Joseph, who, in the first place, all took up their residence at Goshenhoppen, then Philadelphia, now Montgomery county. Here Daniel at once purchased a farm, which was somewhat improved. Afterwards. exploring, and becoming better acquainted with the country, they united in purchasing from the proprietary government between two and three thousand acres of land in Bern township, now Berks county.

Here John and Joseph settled, while Daniel remained at the old homestead. Having thus, with the characteristic prudence of that primitive day, first secured the means of supporting families, they soon formed matrimonial alliances with American women, and sought in the pursuit of agriculture the fruits of enterprise and honest labor. As they had been induced to leave their native country by the vassalage of an oppressive government, they naturally cherished a lofty spirit of freedom. Accordingly, when the Revolutionary war broke out they were among the first to enroll themselves in the list of "Associaters." The efficient services of this class of citizen-soldiers, which were organized by electing two Brigadier Generals at Lancaster on the 4th of July, 1776 (afterwards rendered in the campaigns of New Jersey and the lower part of Pennsylvania), are well known matters of history. Daniel of Montgomery, John of Chester, and Gabriel of Berks, the three eldest sons of Daniel the emigrant, entered the service as field officers, the two former with the rank of Colonel and the latter with that of Major. William, the fourth and youngest son of Daniel, also enrolled, but, on account of his extreme youth and the infirmity of his parents, did not serve more than one campaign.

Joseph Hiester, afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania, the only son of John the emigrant, entered the service as Captain in "the flying camp," was made prisoner at the battle of Long Island, and confined on board the notorious Jersey prison ship. He was subsequently exchanged and promoted to the rank of Colonel. After the war he and his two cousins, Daniel and John, were elected to the rank of Major General of their respective districts. The popularity gained by these men, their devotion to country, and the public spirit always evinced by them during the Revolutionary war, never forsook them. After the return of peace they all enjoyed, by the suffrages of the people, a large share in the councils of the State and general

government.

Joseph Hiester was elected a member of the convention which met in Philadelphia in November, 1787, to consider, ratify or reject the present Constitution of the United States; and in 1789 he was a member of the convention which formed

the second Constitution of this State.

Under that Constitu

tion he and Gabriel Hiester, who had also been a member of the convention which formed the first State Constitution, were repeatedly elected to the Legislature, the latter continuing either in the Senate or House of Representatives uninterruptedly for nearly thirty years.

General Joseph Hiester, after the removal of Daniel to Maryland, represented his district, composed in part of Berks county, in Congress. About the same time (1807) that General John Hiester was chosen a member of the same body from Chester county, Joseph was re-elected for a series of years, until he resigned in 1820, when he was elected Governor of the State.

The genealogy in the male line of the whole Hiester family may thus be given. The eldest of the emigrant brothers, John, moved to Berks county. He was born in Germany in 1707, and died in 1757. His son (second generation), Governor Joseph Hiester, was born in 1752, and died in 1832, aged 80. Governor Joseph Hiester's son (third generation), John S., born in 1774 and died in 1849, left two sons of the fourth generation, Joseph M. and Frederick M. The former of these two had a son, Henry M. M., and the latter also a son, John, both of the last being of the fifth generation.

The second of the three emigrant brothers, Joseph Hiester, born in 1710 and died in 1772, left five sons, as follows: John, born in 1754 and died in 1820; John Christian; Daniel, born in 1761 and died in 1827; Joseph, born in 1768 and died in 1830; William, born in 1770 and died in 1828. These brothers (second generation) left sons respectively of the third generation, as follows: The first, John, left five, John, Daniel, Joseph, John Christian, and Jacob; the next, John Christian, left four, John, Isaac, Joseph, and Daniel; the third, Daniel, left nine, John, Joseph, Gabriel, Daniel, Thomas, Jacob, Samuel, David, and David again; the fourth, Joseph, left one only, Levi; the fifth, William, also left five, John B., William, Joseph, George, and Cyrus.

The third and youngest of the emigrant brothers, Daniel, the head of the family that remained at Goshenhoppen, has the following genealogy: He was born in Germany in 1713, and