History of Centre and Clinton County, Pennsylvania, 1893



John  Anspach Biography

John Anspach, of Potter township, was descended from one of the most distinguished families of Franconia, in Germany. His ancestors resided in the city of Anspach, and the name of the family is associated with the leading events of their times in the history of Franconia. The castle of Anspach, situated on the river of the same name, is still in good condition.

John Adam Anspach (father of John Anspach) left Germany with two brothers for America; one died at sea, the other was Maj. Anspach, who served under Gen. Lafayette in the closing year of the Revolution (see a notice of him in Graham's Magazine of November, 1849).

John Adam settled in Philadelphia, entered into the mercantile business, and purchased a large estate in Berks County. He and his family, excepting John, were carried off by yellow fever in 1793, His estate passed into the hands of neglectful trustees, and John was left penniless at the age of nineteen.

Possessed with a robust physical organization, too proud to complain, and with full confidence in his own resources, he removed to Loop, in Penn's valley, purchased a tract of unimproved land, and went to work with a determined and hopeful mind. Here he married Catherine R., eldest daughter of George Reinhart, and raised a large family.

By industry he had acquired a handsome property, but a destructive fire, consumed his property, and business losses compelled him to send forth his numerous family to commence the struggle of life with no other fortune than good religious training, and such an education as the best schools of that time afforded.

His oldest son, Rev. John George Anspach, was born Sept. 18, 1801. He resides in Mifflinsburg, Pa., and has been fifty three years in the ministry (Lutheran), and his name is a household word in Buffalo, Penn's, and Brush valleys.

Rebecca, his oldest daughter, died in Illinois some years ago; Jacob is still living in Huntingdon County, Pa.; Elizabeth (Mrs. Murray) lives near Bellefonte; Anna (Mrs. Workinger) died some years ago in Iowa; Lydia (Mrs. Bottorf) is living in Boalsburg; John and William Anspach reside in Philadelphia; Frederick R. Anspach, D.D., author of the "Sepulchres of the Departed," etc., an eloquent preacher and a delightful author, died in Baltimore in September, 1867; Catherine (Mrs. P. K. Landis) resides in Philadelphia.

Source: History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania; John Blair Linn; Philadelphia; Louis H. Everts; 1883.












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