Person Page - 2141

     Peter M. Reed was born on 2 June 1786.¹ He married Catherine Flickinger on 24 February 1813.¹ Peter M. Reed died on 14 October 1861, at age 75.¹

     Catherine Flickinger was born on 21 March 1791.¹ She married Peter M. Reed on 24 February 1813.¹ Catherine Flickinger died on 2 February 1872, at age 80.¹

     John Alfred Strohecker was born on 27 July 1877, Klingerstown, Schuylkill County, PA.¹ He was the son of Moses W. Strohecker and Adeline Klinger.¹ John Alfred Strohecker married Mary Jane Wiest, daughter of Florenz Schadel Wiest and Lydia Ann Williard, circa 1897.^2,1,3 Emma Schweers and John Alfred Strohecker had a relationship, but no marriage records were found for them. There is some question about the identity of the mother of John's children. According to his obituary, he was survived by three daughters and a son (Moses). The daughters are named only by their husbands names (i.e., Mrs. Ralph Bowers, Mrs Chas. Ashman, and Mrs. Russell Cook). On the other hand, the obituary for his wife Mary J. (Wiest) Strohecker, who died only 3 years later, lists no surviving children.
According to the 1900 Census, John and Mary (Wiest) Strohecker were living in Tamaqua, Schuylkill County, and had been married about 3 years and had no children. This means that they married circa 1896 or 1897, when John about 19 or 20 years old.
One of the daughters mentioned in John's obituary, might be Rose or Rosie I. Strohecker, who married Ralph J. Bowers. A Rosie A. Strohecker (age 2) is listed in the 1910 Census as an "adopted child" living with John's parents, Moses and Lizzie Strohecker in Lykens Township. Dauphin County. That household included a Moses E. Strohecker, age 1, also listed as an adopted child.
Obituaries for both Rose Bowers and Moses E. Strohecker, however, list their parents as John Strohecker and Emma Scheers or Schweers. The other daughters referred to in John's obituary are likely Ella (Strohecker) Cook and Viola (Strohecker) Ashman Flail.
A possible explanation for this may be gleaned from a series of newspaper articles in 1909. In November 1909, John Strohecker and a woman named Emma Seitz, along with several other individuals, were arrested on charges of burglary and receiving stolen goods in connection with robberies at the Colebrook Supply Company and the state rifle range storehouse in Mt. Gretna, Lebanon County.^4,5,6,7,8,9 A newspaper article published in November, 1909 described the arrest of John and Emma Seitz as follows:
STATE POLICE ROUND UP PLUNDERING GANG
Troopers R. H. Gibson and James F. Ely, of the State Police, have arrested John Strohecker at Williamstown, Dauphin county, and Emma Seitz, of Beae Valley, Schuylkill county. Goods alleged to have been stolen were found in the woman's house in Bear Valley and on the person of Strohecker. State Constable Gibson states. The two were lodged in the Lebanon jail to await a hearing. These make a total of six persons arrested by the state constables on charges of robbing the store of the Colebrook Supply Company, and the state rifle range storehouse at Mt. Gretna.
The arrests were made in four counties, Lebanon, Dauphin, Lancaster and Schuylkill. The arrest of Edward Fisher was made in Lancaster or vicinity; Grant Fisher and Rudolph Bitner were arrested near Mt. Gretna; Daisy Seymour was arrested near Manheim.
A total of seventeen charges has been laid at the door of the six defendants.
When the Seitz woman was arrested the police found it necessary to take with them her three young children.
Republican and Herald (Pottsville, Pennsylvania), 16 Nov 1909, Tue, Page 1.
A few days later, another article shed some light on the children:
SECURED HIS SON AT PRISON
JAMES SEITZ CAME TO CITY FROM MT. HOPE.
Woman May Keep Baby Boy, But Girl Will Be Sent to the Almshouse.
John Seitz of Mt. Hope, this morning, at the county jail, secured possession of his son, George, who since the arrest of his mother, Emma Seitz, of Bear Valley. Schuylkill county, for complicity in the Colebrook store, and other robberies, spent the time in the county jail with his mother and the Strohecker children.
The boy will now join his elder sister at the Seitz home, where the father promises to take care of them. Since the separation of the Seitzes the boy lived with his mother and she did not want to give him up to has father, but the decision of Sheriff Gerhart to send him to the almshouse caused her to yield.
It is thought that on being sentenced, probably next Monday by Judge Ehrgood for the Colebrook affair, the woman will be permitted to keep the baby boy, but the four year old girl may be sent to the almshouse.
John Strohecker is the father of the girl and baby boy.
The Daily News (Lebanon, Pennsylvania), 13 Nov 1909, Sat, Page 1.
Another article offered some additional details:
Accompanying the Seitz woman to jail were three children, aged four, and eight years, respectively. The authorities were at a loss what to do with the little ones, and they are now in jail with their mother. Strohecker claims that he is married to the Seitz women and that the children are their offspring, but the constables deny that the couple are married, claiming that both separated from their legal wife and husband. The woman is said to be the daughter of Edwin Fisher, who, with his son, Grant, Rudolph Bitner and Daisy Seymour, were arrested several days ago in connection with the series of robberies that the State constables are ferreting out. Strohecker was wearing some stolen clothing when he was arrested on Thursday. He is a mine worker, and was taken into custody in a Dauphin county mine.^10,11,12 John and Emma, along with 3 of the co-defendants, entered guilty pleas in connection with the charges brought against them. On December 21, 1909, they were sentenced to between one and tens years in the state penitentiary. A newspaper account reported:
COURT METES OUT JUDGMENT.
PRISONERS CALLED THIS WEEK SENTENCED BY JUDGE EHRGOOD.
BURGLARS MUST GO BELOW
Three Men and Two Women Get Penitentiary Sentences--Minor Offenders Called--Complications Due to a New Law.
Judge Ehrgood today sentenced all but one of the Mt. Gretna and Colebrook band of burglars and associates in burglary or larceny to the penitentiary. In the party were four men and two women, Rudolph Bittner, John Strohecker, Edward Schweer, Grant Schweer and Emma Seitz and Daisy Seymour.
BITTNER'S SENTENCE LONGEST.
The sentences imposed were as follows: Rudolph Bittner, Daisy Seymour, Emma Seitz and John Strohhecker, all for terms ranging from not less than one year to not more than ten years, except in Bittner's case, in which the sentence is not less than two and one-half years nor more than ten years.
These sentences were imposed for the robbery of the State Rifle Range storehouse at Mt. Gretna.
In the case in which robbery of the Colebrook Supply Company's store was charged Bittner was given a duplicate of the above sentence, and the Seymour woman was given a duplicate of the sentence above named in her case. Both sentences run concurrently, dating from today, so that they are really equivalent to only one sentence.
ONE ASKS FOR MERCY.
In each case a fine of one dollar was also imposed. Strohecker, who made an appeal to court for mercy, denying that he took part in the burglaries, and affirming that he had never been in trouble before, was given a sentence of not less than one year nor more than three years on the charge of receiving stolen goods.
He said he was drunk when he accompanied the burglars to Colebrook. Emma Seitz was given the same sentence on the same charge, receiving stolen goods.
SENTENCES FOR THE SCHWEERS.
Edward Schweer was given a sentence of not less than nine months nor more than three years in the penitentiary.
His son, Grant Schweer, was the only one to escape the penitentiary, getting only six months in the county jail. He had been given a recommendation to the mercy of the Court by a jury. Most of the accused pleaded guilty and for that reason the Court was lenient with them.
The sentences were under the indeterminate sentence law. When prisoners so sentenced finish the minimum time in the sentences, they are usually released and are put on parole for the rest of the time up to the end of the maximum term. If they fall to reform and commit any further offenses they will have to serve out the rest of their sentence and fresh sentences for the fresh offences also.
LIMITS COURT'S POWERS.
Judge Ehrgood said he was limited in imposing sentence by the new law, which bases its maximum sentences on the terms of the old law. Clerk Bordlemay also expressed disapproval of the law, in an informal statement to the effect that a law limiting the sessions of the State Legislature to one in ten years would be a good thing.
. . . .
WOMAN SHOWS REPENTANCE.
When the Seitz woman was being taken out of court by Sheriff Gerhart she stepped before the bar and said to the Court: "I'm sorry it ever happened, Judge, but I guess It won't happen again."
There was genuine repentance in her tone and Judge Ehrgood gave a word or two of kindly advice before she left. The other woman said nothing. Both are young women, not more than thirty, and both seemed much distressed.
Lebanon Courier and Semi-Weekly Report (Lebanon, Pennsylvania), 21 Dec 1909, Tue, Page 2.^13,14 Records from the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia confirm that both John and Emma were received there on December 21, 1909, to begin serving their sentences. John was Prisoner # 5202 and Emma was # 5201. The convict reception register confirms that John was the son of Moses Strohecker of Gratz, born 27 Jul 1877, in Schuylkill County, and that John was married. It lists his occupation as carpenter. For Emma, it confirms that she was born 18 Dec 1883 in Lancaster County, that she was married and had five children living. Her husband was listed as John Seitz of Mt. Hope, Lancaster County, and confirms that her father (Edward Schweers) and brother were also in jail.
The 1910 Census shows John as a prisoner in the Penitentiary on April 15, 1910, the Census Date. It indicates that he had been married 11 years. Likewise it shows that Emma "Seitze" was also a prisoner and that she had been married 13 years.
It is not clear when John and Emma were released from prison, although they may have been released after serving one year. It seems that they must have stayed together at least for a while because they had at least several more children together, and baptized them at Christ Lutheran Church in Schuylkill Have, Schuylkill County, PA.
The baptismal records suggest that she and John, who were not married, were living as husband and wife. Emma's surname was sometimes listed as "Strohecker." Sometime, probably in the early 1920's, Emma married John F. Carr and John must have returned to living with Mary J. (Weist) Strohecker.^15,16,17 In 1930, John and Mary were again living together in a household that included Mary's mother Lydia Weist. In 1940, they were living alone.^18,19 He died on 7 February 1941, Warne Hospital, Pottsville, Schuylkill County, PA, at age 63.¹ He was buried on 12 February 1941, at Zion (Klinger's) Church Cemetery, Erdman, Dauphin County, PA.^1,20
Newspaper obituary:
John A. Strohecker
John A. Strohecker, 63, an employee of the P. P. & L. Company, died in the Warne Hospital, Pottsville, last Friday evening from injuries sustained the Wednesday evening previous when he fell at his home and fractured his skull. He has been a resident of the west end of the county and of Hallton for about 12 years. He was a member of the Lutheran Church.
To survive besides his wife the former Mary Weist there are the following children: Mrs. Ralph Bowers, Mount Carbon; Mrs. Chas. Ashman, Mrs. Russell Cook, Pottsville; Moses, Reading; also four sisters, Mrs. Chas. Davis, Tremont; Mrs. Irvin Paul, Pottsville; Mrs. Norman Harner and Mrs. Edgar Straub, Valley View.
The funeral was held Wednesday forenoon with short services at home followed by services in Klingerstown Church, Rev. Sulzbach officiating. Funeral director H. L. Snyder had charge.
The pall bearers were Joseph Frank, Thomas H. Richards, Robert Albee, Charles Weand, Charles Hein and George Warm.
The West Schuylkill Press and Pine Grove Herald (Tremont, Pennsylvania), 14 Feb 1941, Fri, Page 4.⁹

     Mary Jane Wiest was born on 26 January 1877, Klingerstown, Schuylkill County, PA.¹ She was the daughter of Florenz Schadel Wiest and Lydia Ann Williard.² Mary Jane Wiest married John Alfred Strohecker, son of Moses W. Strohecker and Adeline Klinger, circa 1897.^1,3,4 Mary Jane Wiest died on 3 August 1944, Tremont, Schuylkill County, PA, at age 67.^1,5
Newspaper obituary:
MRS. MARY STROHECKER
Mrs. Mary Strohecker died at her home on North Pine Street, Tremont, at eight o'clock last evening, after an illness which kept her bedfast for the past five weeks.
The widow of the late John Strohecker, who died three years ago, she came from Pine Grove after her husband's death to make her home in Tremont. She is the last member of her family.
Her closest survivor is Mrs. Chas. Davis, a sister-in-law, who lives directly across the street from the Strohecker home.
Henry L. Snyder of Pine Grove is the undertaker in charge of the funeral arrangements. Funeral services will be held from the Snyder funeral home in Pine Grove on Tuesday at 10 o'clock, and burial will be made at the Klinger's Church cemetery at Erdman. Friends may call at the funeral home on Monday evening.
The West Schuylkill Press and Pine Grove Herald (Tremont, Pennsylvania), 04 Aug 1944, Fri, Page 1.⁶
She was buried at Zion (Klinger's) Lutheran Church Cemetery, Erdman, Dauphin County, PA.^6,1