Reading Times from Reading, Pennsylvania • Page 6

v. 6 Phenol is a liquid cleanser and disinfectant. It is to be used wherever scouring soap is used, but it does better and quicker work than soap. Put a little water and see ted up with goods than time. at finer the IF YOU WANT A I line of present SUIT made to your measure fit, style and workmanship guar anteed, it will pay you to give us a call We also have a fine line of OVERCOATINGS something to please everybody You may say: "I don't want a custom made suit." Then look through our department of which consists of Fancy Scotch Plaids and stripes, ranging in price from $5.50 to Also a large line Fall and Height Overcoats, consisting of plain and raglan shoulders Myers Heim, Tailors, Clothiers and Furnishers, 508 Penn Street.

THE BEADING JJAJLY TIMES AND. DISPATCH, READING, PEN2TA, 1 Pheniofl it; Cleanses and Disinfects how wonderfully quick it cleanses ani disinfects whatever it touches. Dirt and odor go out when Phenol ccmes in. Makes the sink and pans and pots bright and the floor white; banishes the odors of the cellar, drains, outhouses and closets instantly freshens and purifies the air of a sick room or a damp corner. Phenol is free from injurious substances.

It is in use generally at all the leading hotels and larger residences of New York and Philadelphia, and on the piers of Atlantic City. After working with it the hands are white and firm. At druggists and grocers in pint and quart bottles, 35 cents and 50 cents. The American Aromatic Disinfector Co. Philadelphia MERCHNT TAILORS 11 1 0 UR Merchant Tailoring Department was never fit KURA DERMA.

hi inw ni SI all sorts of skins are sure to be improved by KURA DERMA How do we know? Hundreds say so; that's a good reason. It will cure quickly, not sirnply relieve, but will cure Eczema, Ulcers, Tetter, Ringworm, Itch ing Scalp, Dandruft and Falling Hair; make your hair vigorous and strong, cure Pimples and Blackheads. We know what it will do, therefore guarantee it. Price 25c a bottle. Prepared only by DR.

A. ESENWEIN, SIXTH and FKANKMN STS Reading, Pa, I 5 CUN3. Guns. Guns. The largest assortment of guns, rifles, ammunition and gunners' outfits in the city BEST SMOKELESS LOADED SHELLS $2 Per Hundred HOFP BRO.

Hardware Dealers 403 Penn Street, Reading, Pa. PORTER, ALE BEER. AC Peter Barbey Son, LAGER BEER BREWERS READING. PA. Brewery Corner of North River and Hockley streets.

Office No. 420 Court street. Reading. Furniture, Carpets, Draperies, Bedding WHAT'S YOUR NEED? Whatever it is, rest assured that it can feacy an( we suPP'e 'n thk the Ajy 4 jf 1.11 I5cav wiuit ui hjiiu 111 inc. wuria.

1 a Hundreds of styles and prices can be seen of a single article. Nowhere can be such a jranJ assortment is here. "Money, savers for the people" is the name by which this house is known throughout the land. J. B.

Van Sciver Co. I CAMDEN, N. J. Five, minute by Ferry from Philadelphia Wn prepay freight on all goods purchased by our Reading customers I HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE BRIGHT FAMILY. CONTINUATION OF PRESIDENT GREEN'S PAPER BEFORE THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF BERKS.

PRIMOGENITURE. In the charter granted by Charles II. to WillianrPenn in 1681, it was provided that the common law of England should be in force in the province until altered by Penn, his successors or assigns or the Colonial Legislature. At the four days' session of the Provincial Assembly, held at Chester in 1684, a series of laws was enacted for the government of the province. Among these enae ments was a law in reference to intestate estates, which gave the widow one third of the personal property, and the interest of one third of the real estate of her deceased husband, after payment of debts, and the remaining two thirds to be divided equally to his children, except that the eldest son was to have a double portion.

The provision in reference to giving a double portion to the eldest son was reaffirmed by the legislature In 1693, and again In 1705 and continued to be the law of the commonwealth until 1794, when this relic of feudalism was abolished and the children of an intestate shared equally in the property of their deceased parents. It is well known that the sentiment of the German settlers was opposed to all forms of primogeniture, even to the limited extent of preferring the oldest son by giving him a double portion, and they generally managed to defeat this provision of the law by disposing of their estate by last making a will. In the will of Michael Brecht, the elder, there Is a recognition of the law Riving a preference to the eldest son, for to avoid all cavil, the testator gives his son Jacob five shillings beforehand "because he is my first born son." In the will of Pt'ter Bright, the fifth son of the emigrant, made in 179,1, when the law was still in force, there is a similar provision in which the testator "gives to Jacob twenty Spanish milled dollars, to be in full of his birthright as my oldest son," after which he. directs the remainder of his estate to be equally divided among all his children. THE NAME "BRIGHT." The original spelling of the family name was as is shown by the Lutheran records at Schriessheim in the Palatinate, in which the names of the ancestors of the emigrant for three consecutive generations are so written.

In addition to this, the emigrant always wrote his name "Brecht" as appears in all extant documents. In his application to be naturalized in 1744, in the deeds of lease and release of lot on the corner of Thomas and Callowhill streets, in the town of Reading, to his son Michael in 1761, in the writer's possession, as also in his last will and testament on file in the Register's office, the same spelling is preserved. His son Peter has also signed himself "Brecht" In his last will. It is for this reason that I have designated them in the preceding sketch as Michael Brecht the elder, and Peter Brecht. In the second generation of the Bright family in America, the sons of the emigrant retained the same spoiling In early life, as witness the marriage record of the Reformed church at Philadel phia in 1751, of his eldest son Jacob, the deeds of lease and release by Michael the elder to his son Michael, in Oc tober, 1761, above referred to.

and the early official assessment rolls of his sons John and David, and the signature of his son Peter to deeds executed by him in his lifetime, as well as his signature to his last will filed in the Register's ofilce at Reading in 1793. These all recognize Brecht as the original family name. When the change from Brecht to Bright was made is uncertain. It be gan, however, in the second generation. The first use of the word Bright I find In the signature of Michael, the third son.

to the administration account on the estate of Conrad Bower, whose widow he married, filed in 1768, which he signed Jointly with her. He there signs his name Michael Bright, and in the deed to him for a tannery and twelve acres of land In Alsace given to him as grantee by James Boone In 1775, he is likewise named Michael Bright. So In a deed to him from his son Jacob, for a lot in Reading in 1793 he is named as Michael Bright, and in all documents subsequent to 1778 signed by him. Including his last will in 1814, he signs his name Michael Bright, which after his father's death in 1794 is changed to Michael Bright. as he had a son by the same name.

He does not appear to have written his own name ns Michael, probably for the reason that his father used Brecht as the family name while he wrote Bright. His oldest brother Jacob, of Philadelphia, seems to have changed his spelling of the family name to Bright at an early day, as in a commission to him as captain in 1776, he is named as Captain Jacob Bright. In the third generation the use of Bright as the family name appears to have been generally adopted. The name Brecht has entirely disappeared. Why In anglicising the word Brecht.

It took the form Bright Is not clear. The word Brecht Is not to be found in the German lexicon. The nearest approach to It Is Prarht, signifying pomp, splendor, magnificence, and figuratively brightness. In its adjective form of praechtlg, we have the family name by a change of the first letter. Its meaning Is the same as the noun form, splendid, bright, and It Is frequently used In connection with Tag or Mor gen, signifying a fine, bright day or morning.

It Is not unlikely the Bright family of England may have been descended from the Brechts of Germany, and that this change In thp name was known to the emigrant's family. With this explanation we conclude the sketch of the FIRST GENERATION IN AMERICA, 1) Michael Brecht. 1706 1791, 2nd, 1728 Margareta Slmone, 1708 1778. The next generation is made up of the children of the emigrant, whose names and births, taken from the family registry above described, are as follows: Jacob Brecht, b. April, 17:19.

George Brecht, b. February, 1731. Michael Brecht. b. March 24.

1732. Katharine Brecht. b. April 6. 1734.

John Brecht, b. February 20, 1736. Peter Brecht. b. May 13.

1738. David Brecht, b. August 1740. Marie Brecht, b. August 1.

1742. Hi; rah Brecht, b. January 19, 1745. Christina Brecht, b. August 12, 1747.

The above ten children constitute the second generation of the Bright family In America, and so far as the facts relating to their biography and the names of their Immediate descendants have been learned, they are given In the or di'r of birth. (2) Jacob Bright, 1729 1802, was born In Heidelberg township, Lancaster county, was brought up on the farm and remained with his parents tilt he was uf age. We next find him In Philadelphia, where he engages In business and in 1751 marries Susanna Rit tenhouse, 1726 1808, of Roxboro. How a country lad In a remote part of Lancaster county should get to Philadelphia at that early day may be a matter of some surprise. But It must be borne In mind that Philadelphia was The Weak Man's Friend HINDIPO Greatest Nerve Tonic and Blood Builder Known It is Guaranteed to cure all forms of Nervous Diseases, such as Nervous Debility arising from Indiscretions of Youth, Loss of Memory, Locomotor Ataxia, Paresis, Fits, Dizziness, finally Insanity, Consumption and Death.

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Cor. 9th and Penn sole Agent the metropolis of the province. All the principal roads of the interior led directly to it. Its extensive shipping, bringing the products of the outside world to its port made it the great mart of commerce, and it supplied the western settlements with all they needed, not only in cotton and woollen goods, sugar, coffee and tobacco, but also in many of the luxuries of life. These articles required transportation and th ized.

It was found, however, that at least 60 families living In the southwestern part of the territory had not been Included In the lines of the new township, and the court was at once petitioned for relief. The petition contained 16 names, among them Squire Boone's. I'pon Its presentation to the court a commission was authorised to examine and report. The result was that In September uf the same year the township of Exeter was organized the survey of thi lands, which included 1,1,500 acres, having been made by Geo. Boone, Esq.

Mr. Montgomery, in his history of Berks county says that John F. Watson in a paper read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, May 17, 1853. was the first to combat the statement of Daniel Boone's nativity being in Bucks county. He was followed by work of teaming flour and grain to Phil a paper from Dr.

Peter G. Bertolette, of adelphia and returning with goods to supply the settlers was largely the business of the well to do farmer who made his annual or semi annual trips for that purpose. In these trips they were often accompanied by one or more members of. the family. That Michael Brecht, the elder, on such occasions took with him his oldest son Jacob may readily be believed, and what the young man saw familiarized him with the country he traversed as well as the people he met.

His early experience prepared him for his future settlement. Jacob Blight must have had considerable force of character, as we find him about the year 1770 In partnership with Christopher Peehin, a native of France, engaged In the coasting trade, shipping goods to and from Savannah and other Southern ports. After the War of the Revolution had opened he engaged in the service of the Continental Congress, then sitting at Philadelphia, and under a commission as captain he raised a company of 90 men, including non commissioned officers, whose roster Is given in vol. 13 Penna. Archives (2d series) page 574.

In this patriotic duty he was warmly assisted by his partner, who contributed largely to the expenses necessarily Incurred. As to his subsequent history we have little Information. He had seven children, Michael, George, William, Mary, Jacob, Susan and Michael 2d. (3) George Bright, 1731 1769, was also a native of Heidelberg township, Lancaster county; where the rest of his brothers and sisters were born and reared, and assisted his father In clearing the farm and bringing it under cultivation. He was of a roving and adventurous disposition, which did not allow him to do service at home after attaining his majority.

There is a general tradition in the family that he Joined Daniel Boone, the Kentucky pioneer. In his Incursions into that state, and that he was there killed by the Indians. Whether the tradition has a reliable basis may depend upon the probable acquaintance of the two in early life. They were nearly the same age. Bright having been born In 1731 and Boone In 1733.

In referring to the bidg raphles of Boone In the encyclopedias. In the city library, we discover no facts which favor such early acquaintance. Chambers' encyclopedia says Boone was born in Virginia In 1735. while Ap pleton states that his grandfather, Geo. Bonne, emigrated from England with his family In 1717 and settled at Bristol, Bucks county.

that his son, Squire Boone, the father of Daniel, also settled there; that Daniel was born in that county In 1735 and that Squire Bonne, with his family removed to the neighborhood of the Yadkin river in North Carolina In 1750. A third encyclopedia, the American, also says that the Boones first settled in Bucks county, where Daniel was born In 1735 and that the family of Squire Boone, the father of Dnnlel, went to North Carolina In 1750. In that year, if these accounts are true, Daniel was only 15 years of age, and there wag little probability that George Bright had any acquaintance with him or had even heard of him. Hut subsequent Investigation has proved that the previous accounts as to Daniel Boone's nativity are erron eous: that while the elder Boone left England with his family In 1717 he settled In Philadelphia, where the Friends, of which he was a prominent member, chiefly resided: that In the following year he removed to the neighborhood of Oley, then In Philadelphia county; that he took up a tract of land on Mon ocacy creek In 1718 and that his children settled In the immediate neighborhood. Of them, his son Squire Boone, the father of Daniel, owned the Hnnne farm In Exeter, having pur chased it In November, 1730, where his posited with the Pennsylvania Historical Society in 1865, In which he gives the result of extended conversations with the older members of the Boone family in Exeter, in which from the traditions of the family and other data it is clearly shown that Squire Boone settled in the part of Exeter, then Oley, near, the Friends' Meeting House and thut his son Daniel was born there in 1733.

The doctor has been for many years their family physician. Mr. Nicholas Jones has also contributed an exhaustive article, though somewhat diffuse, on the subject of the Bpone family, which was published In the Reading Times and Dispatch of October 29, 1879. He quotes moval his father bought of Erpf lot No 391 above described, for the consideration of 90. The deed is dated Januarv L.

.3, and is witnessed by Conrad Weiscr and Conrad Bower. Probably in the same year which by the act of the Provincial Assembly of LSI, commenced on the first of January 1752, N. 8., instead of the 25th of March' his son Michael moved to Reading and in compliance with the conditions of the patent puts up a building on the new lot to accommodate his business as a saddler as well as the present demands of a wife and family. So prosperous 's his business that in 1761 he is enabled to obtain the title from his father of the Erpf lot originally intended for him. and accordingly on October 2, 1761, Michael Brecht and Margaret his wife, execute a lease of said lot to their son Michael "to enable him to accent a grant of the reversion" and on the dav following they further execute a release to him to the reversion for the consideration of 100.

It Is prolmbie that much of this consideration had been previously paid, as in 1760, If tradi i tion is correct, Michael the son erected a large two story stone dwelling house largely from Dr. Bertolette's papers and on the lot with a front of 32 feet anil a relates a visit to the Boone farm in Exeter. It was then owned by James Lee, a surveyor and conveyancer, who said that Daniel Boone was born there; that his father Squire Boone had owned it 30 years: that he had bought It from RAlph Ashton in 1730 and had sold it ifpon his removal to North Carolina In 1750 to William Magrudge, by deed of April 11th of that year. Mr. Jones also recounts a conversation with Thomas Lincoln, of Exeter, who died about 175'J at the age of 87, In which he describes Daniel Boone's visit to Exeter in 17SS to see his relatives.

He was accom I panied by his wife Sarah and his son Nathan. They had traveled on horse i He was a person of large means and back from their home In Kentucky, and the Journey had taken three weeks. I'pon reading the evidence contained in the above papers there can be no doubt as to Berks county being the nativity of the Kentucky pioneer. It Is easy to see how George Bright might have become acquainted with Boone. Living less than 30 miles from each other, and Boone's uncle George being a practical surveyor, whose services were frequently required in the survey of the vacant land In that part of the province It Is quite likely th.it he was called upon by Michael Brecht In 1741 to make a survey of the tract of 78 acres on which he had settled.

In his mission to Heidelberg for this purpose George Boone, may have taken his nephew Daniel with him to assist in making the survey, as he was old enough to act in that capacity. Such a visit would have naturally brought about an acquaintance between young Boone and Bright which may have ripened into intimacy and thus fully account for George Bright subsequently Joining Boone's expedition Into Ken tucky In Ii69, which is fixed as the probable time of his death. That an early meeting of these congenial lads took place In 1741 and that It was kept up between them Is not history, but the surroundings are sufficient to account for the family tradition In regard to George Bright. It will be seen by reference to the will of his father, that the testator (1789) gives to the children of George the portion which would have come to their father, who was undoubtedly dead at the, time the will was made. Neither the names of his wife nor the birth or names of his children have been ascertained.

(4) Michael Bright, 1732 1814. the third son of the emigrant, besides assisting In the work on the father's farm, had learned the trade of a saddler, and In March. 1753, he attained his majority. The county of Berks had been organized the year before out of parts of Philadelphia, Lancaster and Chester counties, and the town of Reading had become the county seat. It was admirably located at the fords of the Schuylkill, where the greut Tulpehocken road crossed the river.

It had been regularly laid out by the Pennsjn 1748 and bid fair to become a thriving and Important town. Philip Erpf, a neighbor of Michael Brecht, In son Dunlel was horn October 22. 1733,, Heidelberg, had applied to the land of rt.A it th nrnnrli.tura In for a Inl fU'e of the proprietors In 1751 for a lot and at the age of 17 removed with his father's family to North Carolina In 1750. Perhaps the most conclusive evidence of Daniel's place of nativity will be found In the current history of Exeter township. In the spring of 1741 the Inhabitants of Oley.

having long suf fered Inconvenience for want of a township organization, applied for that pur pose to the court at Philadelphia. The petition was granted and the township of Oley was duly surveyed and organ on the west side of Callowhill street In the town of Reading, and had obtained a patent for it dated July 16, 1752, the consideration being the payment of an annual ground rent of seven shillings from March 1, 1752, and the building of a substantial dwelling house on the same, at leust 20 feet square, with a brick or stone chimney, within two years. The lot, 60 feet In front by 230 deep, was numbered In the general plan of the town 391, and was situate on the northwest corner of Callowhill and Thomas streets (Fifth and Washington) where the Farmers' Hotel now stands. The new town appeared to offer grent advantages to settlers, and as tha neighborhood of Hhaefferstown promised little prospect of success In his trade It was thought best that Michael the younger should remove thither, Ac cordlngly In anticipation of such re depth of 34 feet. Here he carried on his business as a saddler for a number of years.

In 1754 his oldest son Jacob was born. Sometime after the birth of Michael, his second son, in 1759, his wife died, and not being inclined to remain a widower, he paid court to Kitty Bower, the widow of Conrad Bower, whose maiden name 'was Huber or Hoover, as it is now spelled, and in 1767 they were married. Conrad Bower had died intestate In 1765. leaving a widow and six children. nacl ror many years kept the well known tavern on the north side of Penn Square adjoining on the east the "Old White Store" of Conrad Weiser, the noted Indian agent.

From Weiser he had bought for 50 the eastern moiety of lot No. 3. Just above where the present Second National Bank now stands, as early as 1752. and having previously purchased lot No. 4 from the proprietaries he owned a front of 90 feet, which he used in connection with his business.

The inn he conducted was probably the oldest in the town. He owned besides a number of lots in Reading, In addition to several tracts of land adjacent. As his real estate, which was valued at 3.500 was not partitioned till 1781, it Is probable that the widow Bower continued at the old stand the business which her husband had followed. I am Inclined to believe that she was the landlady of the establishment at the time she was married to Michael Bright In 1767, and that after their marriage the tavern was continued In Brlght's name until the Bower estate was niirtitinnpil in 17S1 nt the In. stance of Captain Jacob Bower, the oldest son.

This view will reconcile the tradition that the bulhUng erected In 1760 on the Callowhill street lot (No. 391) was not used as a hotel till 1817. and it accords with the fact that Michael Bright In a deed to him from James Boone for a tannery and tract of land In Alsace, now In Reading, dated March 25, 1775. and duly recorded. Is described as an Innkeeper, while In a release to him as guardian of John Soder.

dated May 24, 1704, he Is named as a saddler. The view above suggested Is also In accordance with the statement In a number of deeds of property granted to him or conveyed by him subsequent to 1781. In whi''h he Is Invariably railed a yeoman, which appears to have been the usual designation uf a person living In the town and farming land outside of the town limits. It is probable that after his second marriage he disposed of his saddlery business and rented his residence on Callowhill street to his successor. (To be Continued.) POPl'LATION OF OHIO AND GEORGIA Special to The Timer Washington, Nov.

14. The population of Georgia was announced today as follows: 1900. 2.216.331; 1X90, 1,837,353. Increase 378.978 or 20.6 per cent. The population In lSXO was 1.

542,180. Te census bureau today gave out the population of Ohio to be 4.157,545 as compared with 3,672,316 ten years ago, an Im rense of 4x.i,2l'. nr 13.2 per nt. Do You Need a Tonic? VVEDD'S Sarcprillut (Sartaparl I la Tablets) At iruftlMtt, iS a(. Frtt umptt bjr mall.

Wsdn Itftsrilltti C. FMIsstlsM, x3.