Montgomery County PA Obituaries and Death Notices

Daniel Kolb Cassel

Obituary: Saturday, February 26, 1898: "The Germantown Guide":

DEATH OF A GENEALOGIST.

Daniel Kolb Cassel, well known as a Mennonite historian and genealogist, died last Saturday at his home, 4333 Germantown avenue, of paralysis. Mr. Cassel was born April 22, 1820, in Upper Salford township, Montgomery county, and was a descendant of Hupert Kassel, a weaver, who came to this country from Germany about 1715, and settled in Germantown. On February 16, 1845, Mr. Cassel was married to Elizabeth Kolb, daughter of the Rev. Jacob Kolb, of Harleysville. In February, 1895, Mr. and Mrs. Cassel celebrated their golden wedding. Mr. Cassel's best works include "History of the Mennonites," printed in German and in English; "The Cassel Family," " The Kolb or Kulp Family," and "The Rittenhouse Family," each of the latter genealogical compilations. His "History of the Mennonites" traces that people carefully from the time of his ancestor, William Rittenhouse, the first Mennonite bishop in America. He was always active in Sunday-school work and as a bibliophile was well known. Among his books is a volume of a full Polyglot Testament in twelve languages, printed at Nuremberg in 1599. But one other copy of the book, it is said, is in existence in this country. Mr. Cassel was a member of the Montgomery County Historical Society. He was chairman of the Rittenhouse Genealogical Committee, a shareholder and member of Bethel College, and a life member of the American Archaeological and Asiatic Association of Iowa. His wife and three sons survive. The funeral services were held on Wednesday after noon at the Mennonite Church, Main and Herman streets. The services were conducted by the Rev. N. B. Grubb, who was assisted by the Rev. Silas N. Grubb, pastor of the church, the Rev. L. O. Shimmel, and the Rev. G. N. Falkenstein, of the Brethren Church. The interment was made in the churchyard and the pall-bearers were Messrs. R. H. Cassel, William T. Collis, William W. Dutton, Edmund J. Oliver, Wesley I. Bean and George A. Stiles.

Contributed by Sara Hemp

Edgar F. Donough

Edgar F. Donough Died At Glenside Wednesday

Edgar F. Donough of Glenside, brother of Druggist Charles Donough, Sixth and Cumberland streets, died suddenly at his home last evening. He is survived by his wife, Ella; one daughter, Mrs. Russell McElween and three brothers, Charles F., John J. and Robert Donough. . [Lebanon Daily News, Thursday Evening, November 5, 1931, Page 15 - Transcribed by Nancy Piper]

Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
August 11 1824

Died at Norristown on the 16th ult., Mr. John Goodwin, late of Arbington township, Montgomery county, in the 84th year of his age. The deceased was one of the worthies of the revolutionary war. He was frequently promoted to public trust, and discharged his duty to general satisfaction. He was crier of the several courts of Montgomery county, from the time they were first organized to the day of his death, a period of 10 years.

John Newell

Anti Masonic Star (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
December 8 1830

On Tuesday evening last, John Newell, in attempting to step from a canal boat on shore at Norristown, fell into the water and was drowned. He was a stranger in that vicinity, but his remains were decently interred on the subsequent day.

Rev. J. Grier Ralston

The Indiana Democrat (Indiana, Pennsylvania)
November 1880

Rev. J. Grier Ralston, D. D., LL.D., founder and principal of the Oakland female institute in Norristown, died in that city yesterday morning, aged seventy-five years. He was the third son of Samuel Ralston, of Chester county, where he was born in 1815. He was graduated from Washington college and Princeton theological seminary. He was an Indian missionary, but failing health induced him to resign, and afterward he came principal of the female seminary at Oxford, Chester county. He founded the Oakland female institute in Norristonw in 1845. It became under his management one of the leading institutions of its kind in this part of the country. Over three thousand pupils have been educated there.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
April 14 1845

Suicide - A young man named G. W. Sharpless, a native of Norristown, Pa., committed suicide by hanging himself in a barn at Norfolk on Thursday last. He had been engaged in the manufacture of lime for some time, and was considerably embarrassed, in his pecuniary affairs, which is thought to have been the cause of the rash act.

Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
March 10, 1824

On Wednesday morning the 25th ult., Mr. Samuel Smith was found in the public road in Hereford township, frozen to death. He formerly resided near Sumneytown, Montgomery county. - Reading Chron.

Charles Thompson

Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
August 25, 1824

Died on Monday evening the 16th inst., at his residence in Lower Merion township, Montgomery county, the venerable and much respected Charles Thompson, in the 95th year of his age. He was one of the most virtuous, steadfast, energetic and useful patriots of the revolution. Few names connected with the history of American independence deserve more honor than his, in reference both to his public and private merits. He enjoyed, as sole secretary of the revolutionary congress, the highest confidence of that body and of the country, and the personal friendship of the best and greatest of the Americans. He stood among them like the personification of probity, firmness and regularity. He possessed a mind naturally strong and perspicacious, which he enriched with various learning, ancient and modern, that became a constant source of gratification and employment to him in his retirement. The chief object of his old age was to prepare himself for the future life, and his friends and relatives have every reason to believe, that as a truly earnest, pious and practical Christian, he has gained the crown which he so perseveringly and worthily sought. - Frank. Gaz.

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