History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 1887



Krause Family - JAMES BARBER KRAUSE Biography

James Barber Krause, son of Rev. Abraham and Lavina (Barber) Krause, was born at Aaronsburg, Center county, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1854. He was educated in the public schools of the several charges at which his father was stationed in the itineracy, and at Central Pennsylvania College, New Berlin, Pennsylvania, graduating from that institution in the class of '70. He taught in the public schools of Anthony. Eldred and Loyalsock townships, in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, in the meantime studying law in the office of Hon. Oliver H. Reighard, a distinguished member of the Lycoming county bar, and was admitted to practice before the courts of Lycoming county, March, 1c''78, and later admitted to the bar of the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, and the District and Circuit Courts of the United States. Upon his admission to the bar, Mr. Krause entered into a copartnership with James S. Lewars, Esq., under the style of Krause & Lewars, which, after a period of five years, was dissolved by Mr. Lewars retiring to enter upon an active business career. Being conversant with both the German and English languages, Mr. Krause early acquired a lucrative practice at the bar. Taking an active interest in politics, he was for a number of years secretary and later chairman (luring several active and exciting campaigns of the Republican county committee. He always declined the importunities of his friends to become a candidate for public office, but served a number of terms as solicitor of the Board of Education and of the Poor Board of the city of Williamsport.

In connection with his extensive law practice, Mr. Krause has successfully carried out several large business enterprises of a semi-public nature, notably: The purchase of the " Packer Farm," lying north of the city of Williamsport, in 1889, for the sum of one hundred thousand dollars. This tract of land containing four hundred acres was immediately plotted, substantial streets and beautiful winding drives built, and the new suburb became " Beautiful Vallamont." In 1890 he promoted the " junction," the " South Side " and the " Center and West End," and the Vallamont Passenger Railway Companies, now merged and operated as the Vallamont Traction Company, now leased and oper ated by the Lycoming Improvement Company as part of the city system. In 1900 Mr. Krause became president of the Williamsport and North Branch Telephone Company, an independent company, which installed an extensive plant covering the city of Williamsport and the county of Lycoming, now leased and operated by the United Telegraph and Telephone Company. He is also general solicitor and a director of the Pennsylvania Grit Publishing Company, and a member of the Board of Health of the city of Williamsport.

Mr. Krause is an active and hard-working member of the Masonic fraternity. He is a past master of Ivy Lodge, No. 397, F. & A. M.; past commander of Baldwin Commandery No. 22, Knights Templar, stationed at Williamsport, Pennsylvania; past commander-in-chief of Williamsport Consistory Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and past officer of lodge, council and chapter of said Rite; honorary member of Supreme Council, thirty-third degree, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States, and president of the board of trustees of the Howard Memorial Cathedral, A. A. S. R., at Williamsport.

On May 11, 1882, Mr. Krause married Margaret Jane Champion, (laughter of Mark Adams and Anna Marie (Kauder) Champion. (See sketch of " Champion Family.") To Mr. and Mrs. Krause have been born a son, Mark Champion Krause, July 3, 1883, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, who graduated at the Williamsport High School, class of " '03," and now (1905) a member of the class of " '06 " at Cornell University; and a daughter, Anna Marie Krause, August 30, 1894, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Rev. Abraham Krause (father) was born at Middle Creek, Snyder county, now Union county, Pennsylvania, June 27, 1823, and died at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1893, after a long and useful career in the itinerant ministry of the Evangelical Association of America. He served charges in his church at Baltimore, York, Williamsport, and many other places throughout central Pennsylvania and Maryland. The ancestors of James B. Krause, Esq., on both sides, were closely identified with the Evangelical Association from its foundation by the Rev. Jacob Albright in 1800. The Rev. Abraham Krause and Lavina Barber were married at New Berlin, Union county, Pennsylvania, February 8, 1843, and to them were born five children, viz

(1) Sarah Jane, born at New Berlin, Pennsylvania, March 31, 1850, and died at York, Pennsylvania, March 30, 1903; married Noah C. Goodling, a prominent business man of York, Pennsylvania, and to them were born two daughters: Clara, wife of Atly Gotwald, and Mame, wife of James B. Weitzel.

(2) James B. (see sketch above).

(3) Mary Alice, born at Margaretta, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1853; married Rev. G. H. Schleh, and has a (laughter, Elizabeth Schleh.

(4) Anna Caroline, born at Baltimore, Maryland, May 11, 1858: married Henry C. Jack, of Chicago, Illinois, and has a daughter, Louise C.

(5.) Emma Catharine, born at Baltimore, Maryland, August 4, 1864.

The Rev. Abraham Krause (father) was the son of Daniel and Hannah (Walters) Krause; the family name being written " Kraus " and " Krauss " by different branches of the family. Daniel Kraus was the son of Christian Kraus, and was born at the Middle Creek " homestead," then Northumberland county, now Union county, about 1783, and died at the " homestead " farm in 1854. He married Hannah Walters, whose people came from Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. She was born about 1794, and died at the home of her son Charles, at Kautz, Union county, Pennsylvania, in 1877. The children of Daniel and Hannah (Walters) Krause were, Abraham, Jacob, Elias, Charles, Simon and Salome. They were all born at the Middle Creek " homestead," which is still in the possession of a descendant.

Christian Kraus (great-grandfather) came from the Tulepohocken Valley, Berks county, Pennsylvania, to Middle Creek township, sometime toward the close of the Eighteenth century, and took up a tract of land containing four hundred acres, which at his death was divided among his four sons, John, Henry, Philip and Daniel Kraus. Family tradition relates that the ancestors of Christian Kraus came from the Palatine (the Rhine provinces of Germany) in the first half of the Eighteenth century. Settling first in the Lehigh Valley, later removing to the Tulepohocken Valley in Berks county, Pennsylvania. This branch of the family being descended from one of the two brothers, John Kraus and Jacob Kraus, who landed at the port of Philadelphia from the good ship Speedwell, August 17, 1727.

Lavina Barber (mother) was born at New Berlin, Union county, Pennsylvania, December 4, 1827, and died at Williamsport, December 3, 1896. She was the daughter of the Rev. James and Mary (Maise) Barber. Her father, Rev. James Barber, was born in Manor township. Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1796, and died at New Berlin, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1867. He entered the ministry of the Evangelical Association of America in 1817, and rose to be president of the general conference : an office afterwards merged into a bishopric. He was a man of large frame, commanding appearance, excellent voice, and a preacher of more than ordinary power and ability. The Rev. James Barber was held in high esteem by his church and is numbered among " The Fathers."

Closely related to the Barbers was the Rev. Abraham Eyer, the great Mennonite preacher, who came to Northumberland county, now Union county, from Lancaster county in 1773. He was a man of small stature, whom the people said " God gave strength to thrash rowdy church disturbers." He and his family wore the " plain garb " and were noted for their great piety.

Mary (Maise) Barber (grandmother), born at New Berlin, Pennsylvania, in 1805, died at the same place, 1870, was the daughter of Michael and Anna Barber Maise. Michael Maise, also written " Miesse," his widowed mother, and brother John came from Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, to Dry Valley, Snyder county, now Union county, about 1796, and died at his Dry Valley home in 1842. He was a well-to-do farmer and a " local preacher," who was intimately associated with the Rev. Jacob Albright, the founder of the church now widely known as the Evangelical Association of America, and out of which the United Evangelical Church was organized, after the great schism of 1900. Michael Maise was sorely persecuted for his adherence to and public support of the new sect. In 1810, the " Albrights," as the followers of the Rev. Jacob Albright were dubbed, held a camp-meeting in a grove on the Maise farm, 'the first German camp-meeting held upon American soil.

The hardy fore bearers of these pious men and women formed part of the immigration to Pennsylvania from the German Palatine, being driven from their Rhenish homes by religious intolerance. In the founding of the church now widely known as the Evangelical Association they were not schismatics, but aimed to revive the spiritual element in the church-to return to the Evangelical beliefs of the " Fathers," a protest against the formalism prevailing in the churches at the beginning of the Nineteenth century. Jacob Albright, the founder's, attitude toward the orthodox church, being similar to that of John Wesley's toward the Church of England. Among their Pennsylvania German neighbors these seceders were spoken of as " die bekehrte lait," " the converted," to distinguish them from " die kirche leit," " the church people."


Source: Genealogical and Personal History of Lycoming County, John W. Jordan, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1906.










Krause Genealogy Resources



Krause Ancestry Resources