Klein Biographies from "History of Lehigh County PA"

"History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania" by C. R. Roberts, 1914. Available at Bethlehem Public Library, Bethlehem, PA.

• Pg. 679 KLEIN FAMILY
  Philip Wendel Klein, the ancestor of this family, was a native of German, and emigrated to America on the ship Phoenix, arriving at Philadelphia on October 20, 1744. He settled in Weisenberg township, on a farm about a mile northeast of Seipstown. As early as 1746 his name appears in this section, and on Dec. 5, 1753, he secured a warrant for land, which he sold to his son John Jacob, on Nov. 10 1761. Philip Wendel Klein was one of the organizers of the Lutheran congregation at Ziegel church, where his name appears in 1750. His sons were: John Adam, John Jacob, Lorentz, and Peter.
  
  John Adam Kline bought in 1761, from Peter Krimt, a property about a mile above Lyon Valley, which he sold in 1773 to Adam Baer, and removed from the township. John Jacob Kline sold the homestead on April 1, 1769, to Marks Pontius and removed to Salisbury township.
  
  Lorentz Kline, the third son of Philip Wendel, was born Feb. 15, 1735. He married Eva Stettler, daughter of Christopher and Margaret Stettler, and about 1767 removed from Weisenberg township to Salisbury township, where he became the owner of 300 acres of land along the Little Lehigh. He died July 6, 1819. His wife was born Dec. 25, 1740, and died May 21, 1821. They had these children: Anna Margaret, born 1763; Christopher, born 1765; Elizabeth, born 1767; Peter, born 1769; Catherine, born 1772; Henry, born 1775; and Magdalena, born 1779.
  
  Elizabeth Klein, the second daughter, born Oct. 28, 1767, married John Bogert, and died Dec. 18, 1867, aged 100 years, 1 month, and 21 days. Peter Klein, the second son, was born June 11, 1769, and died April 22, 1858. He
  
  (Page 680) married Anna Maria Bogert, who was born Aug. 26, 1776, and Died Dec. 1, 1843.
  
  Christopher Kline, eldest son of Lorenz (sic), was born in Weisenberg township, June 3, 1765. His sponsors at baptism were his Stettler grandparents. He cultivated the land owned by his father, who survived him, until his accidental death by the discharge of his gun on Nov. 12, 1809. He married Maria Elizabeth Bogert, who was born Oct. 14, 1774, and died April 12, 1861. Their children were Lorentz, born Aug. 17, 1794; Hanna, born Aug. 9, 1797; Salome, born June 11, 1800; Elizabeth, born May 15, 1806, died Sept. 16, 1830; and Reuben, born Feb. 23, 1809, died Nov. 19, 1897, who married Judith Wieand.
  
  Lorentz Kline, eldest son of Christopher married Lydia Kemmerer, who was born April 17, 1804, and died Sept. 24, 1879. He was a prosperous farmer and became the owner of three farms. His death occurred May 13, 1882. He had six children: Edwin; Helena(Mrs. John Heinley); Tilghman K., born June 14, 1829, died June 20, 1899; Lydia (Mrs. William Lerch); Mary A. (Mrs. John Hottenstein); and Benjamin F.
  
  Peter Kline, second son of Lorentz, was born June 11, 1769, and died April 22, 1858. He married Anna Maria Bogert, who was born Aug. 26, 1776, and died Dec. 1, 1843. He built a stone house on his farm in Salisbury, which still stands. His son, Peter, was born Jan. 14, 1801, and died May 10, 1874. He married Anna M. Ritter, born Jan. 14, 1807, died March 29, 1893. Peter Kline, Jr. owned two farms, each over 70 acres, one of which is now owned by Hess Bros. He was a farmer all his life and active in the Salisbury Lutheran congregation, where he was a deacon and elder.
  
  TILGHMAN P. KLINE, son of Peter, Jr., was born in Salisbury, Nov. 8, 1835. He was educated in the local schools and has all his life farmed the Kline homestead. He has served two years as elder and two years as trustee in the Salisbury Lutheran congregation and has served as township supervisor from 1876 to 1878, and again from 1909 to 1914, three years as assistant assessor, and three years as school director, as a staunch Democrat. He married, Aug. 10, 1862, Rebecca, daughter of John Michael and Anna (Bortz) Schoudt, and they had two children: Elenora J., married to Victor A. Reinhard, and Amanda A. R. Mr. Reinhard was born Dec. 4, 1865 and died Dec. 22, 1894, leaving two children: Carrie R., and Raymond E.
  
  Tilghman K. Kline was the owner of 490 acres of land in Salisbury, embracing the greater part of what is now the Twelfth ward, Allentown. He was a director of the Second National Bank, and of the Allentown and Coopers Turnpike Co. He was never married.
  
  Edwin Kline, eldest son of Lorentz and Lydia (Kemmerer) Kline, was born in Salisbury township, and in his youth attended the public schools, but completed his education in New Jersey. He then returned to the farm and rendering his father his assistance until he was twenty-five years of age. He married, in 1848, Miss Elemina Seider, daughter of Charles and Lydia (Engleman) Seider. A son, Marcus C. L. Kline, was born to them, March 26, 1855; and Emma Lydia, died in infancy.
  
  Edwin Kline removed to Emaus in 1848, locating on a farm of 150 acres, belonging to his father, where he continued to reside for twenty years. He then removed to Allentown, and installed his family in a house on Hamilton street, near Tenth. He completed the erection of a very comfortable home, in 1873, at 1038 Hamilton street, which he occupied the remainder of his life. When he removed to Allentown, he rented his farm on shares and retired from active business life. He was deeply interested in city and national politics, and did all in his power for the advancement of Democratic principles. He was a gentleman of pleasing manner and kindly disposition. He was an attendant of the Lutheran Church.
  
  MARCUS C.L. KLINE, was born March 26, 1855 in Salisbury township, Lehigh county. He attended the borough schools of Emaus in that county and was graduated from Muhlenberg College, Allentown, on June 26, 1874; became a full-fledged lawyer on June 5, 1876, and was elected city solicitor of Allentown in April, 1877. He served with exceptional ability as district attorney of Lehigh county from January, 1887, to January 1890. He was chairman of the Democratic committee of Lehigh county from 1895 to 1899, inclusive, and served as the Democratic congressman from the Lehigh-Berks district in the Fifty-eighth Congress, having relinquished all claim to a further nomination for the time being, so that the rotation agreement with Berks county might be carried out and Congressman Rothermel from that county have the terms agreed upon.
  
  Mr. Kline was prominently identified with the financial affairs of Lehigh county, was a director of the Second National Bank; president of the Lehigh Valley Trust and Safe Deposit Co., and president and founder of the Allentown Trust Co.
  
  Mr. Kline passed his boyhood days on the old homestead and attended the public schools; then
  
  Pg.681 entered Muhlenberg College; graduated in the class of '74. He entered the office of Judge Edwin Albright, studying for two years, and in June, 1876, was admitted to the bar. In 1880, he became city solicitor; in 1886, district attorney; in 1890, was for three years sheriff's solicitor.
  
  In politics he was a Democrat, often serving as a delegate to conventions, and was an alternate to the national convention in Chicago, which nominated Grover Cleveland. He was one of the most prominent lawyers of the Allentown bar, and enjoyed the confidence, respect and regard of the court and of his associates throughout the many years of his extensive practice. He was engaged in many important cases, but whether the issue was large or small, he never swerved from his practice of fair and honorable dealing, with the court, his colleagues, his antagonists, or his clients, and has left a clean and enviable record. He worked his way upward by real merit and earnest effort. He was a member of Barger Lodge, No. 333, F. & A. M.
  
  Hon. Marcus C. L. Kline married, Oct. 4, 1881, Miss Clara M. Keller, of Allentown, Pa. Their children are Edwin K. Kline and Althea Lucile (Mrs. Claude Shankweiler).
  
  EDWIN K. KLINE, only son of Marcus C. L. and Clara M. (Keller) Kline, was born Jan. 20, 1883, at Allentown. He received his education in the local public schools, Muhlenberg College and the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1906. He was admitted to the Lehigh county bar, in 1906, to practice in the several courts of the county. He became associated with his father and they enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, until the father's decease, since which time he has continued business alone.
  
  Edwin K. Kline has served as a director of the Allentown Trust Co. since 1911. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a member of Barger Lodge, F. & A. M., and the B.P.O.E. The family attend Christ Lutheran church, of Allentown. He married, June 5, 1907, Marguerite, daughter of George O. and Sallie I. (Brobst) Albright. They have two children: Edwin K., Jr., and Ethel A.
  
  
  
  Peter Kline, youngest son of Philip Wendel, was born April 27, 1741, and died December 22, 1819. He married, in 1763, Margaret, daughter of Christopher and Margaret Stettler. She was born Dec. 13, 1741, and died Feb. 26, 1815. Peter Kline bought 260 acres of land from Philip Kleinert, in the southern part of Weisenberg township. A miller by trade, he erected a mill on the property about 1780, which he sold, with part of his farm, in 1803, to his son Lorentz. Peter Kline had these children: Margaret, born 1768; Lorentz; Jacob; Jonathan; Henry; Maria, wife of Michael Acker; and Mrs. George Smith. Lorentz Kline was born Nov. 12, 1773, and married Magdalena Knauss. They had no children. He was the owner of Kline's Mill for many years and died June 15, 1868.
  
  Jacob Kline settled about 1806 upon a farm purchased by his father in Lowhill township. He was born Feb. 5, 1781, and died Feb. 11, 1857. He married, in 1803, Susanna Gross, a daughter of Peter Gross, Esq., of Whitehall township. Mrs. Kline was born Aug. 3, 1785, and died Oct. 14, 1872. They are buried at Unionville. Jacob Kline and his wife had fourteen children: Jacob, Maria, Jonathan, Charles, Joseph, Sarah, Catharine, Hettie, Samuel, David, Hannah, Susan, Solomon, and Mary. Maria married Hon. David Laury; Sarah married James Neuhard; Catharine married Reuben Neuhard; Hettie married Daniel Nagle, and moved to Ohio; Hannah married Ephraim T. Long; Susan married Josiah Scheirer, and Mary married Charles Deshler.
  
  Charles Kline was born in 1811 and died in 1898, in Weisenberg township, where he owned a farm of 170 acres. He married Lovina, daughter of Christian Unger. They had three children: William F., of Maxatawny township, Berks county; Sarah S., wife of Dr. Fred C. Seiberling, of Allentown, and Louisa L., wife of Elias Lichtenwalner.
  
  Joseph Kline was born in Lowhill township Dec. 24, 1813. He was educated in the local schools and in a private school in New Jersey, after which he learned the milling trade, and in 1848 rebuilt the mill at Lyon Valley, which he operated seventeen years. He planned and built the first threshing machine in the county and invented a machine for cleaning grain and a washing machine, both of which were patented and are now in use. He was also an adept at wood-carving. In 1865, he removed to Allentown, where he died at his residence, 921 Hamilton street, on Dec. 16, 1901. He married Anna, daughter of Joseph Wetherhold, who was born Oct. 5, 1819, and died Feb. 16, 1906. They had five children, three of whom grew to maturity: Emeline, married to John Bower; Maria, married Henry Faust; and Henry A. Kline.
  
  HENRY A. KLINE, son of Joseph and Anna (Weatherhold) Kline, was a native of Lehigh county and was born June 6, 1844. He pursued his preliminary studies at the public schools in the neighborhood of his home, and completed his education by a course in Franklin and Marshall College, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The knowledge
  
  Pg. 682 thus acquired thoroughly qualified him for the position of teacher, in which capacity he served in the public schools of Lehigh, Carbon, and Luzerne counties for the long period of twenty-two years, and since his resignation from that position he had been a teacher of music in Allentown until his death on Oct. 7, 1906. Prof. Kline moved from Slatington, where he had been teaching since 1867, to Mauch Chunk, in 1872. There he continued to teach until 1879, then accepted a similar position at Plymouth and in 1881 he removed to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he continued his profession with pronounced success until his removal to Philadelphia in 1895. Two years later he settled in Allentown, where he gained a high position in the musical circles. He was the director and proprietor of the Lehigh School of Music, of Allentown, which taught the various branches and instruments according to the latest and best methods. Mr. Kline has had numerous brass bands, orchestras, mandolin clubs, and male choruses under his direction in Allentown and the suburbs. He was the director of a Philharmonic orchestra which during its time gave numerous successful concerts; and Mr. Kline held the position of organist and choirmaster in several of the leading churches. From 1896 to 1898 he was supervisor of music in the public schools of South Bethlehem, where his efforts were most successful......Mr. Kline was married December 2, 1869, to Amanda Isabella Kuntz, who was born December 3, 1849, daughter of Henry and Violetta (Kern) Kuntz, of Slatington, Pennsylvania, mentioned hereinafter. Mr. and Mrs. Kline were the parents of six children: three of whom were deceased: Herbert Spencer, William Clayton, and Bessie Kuntz. Those living are: Henry J., a graduate from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1892; he married Margaret Eloise Berdan, of Paterson, New Jersey, and one child. Margaret Eloise, has been born unto them. Mabel, who married Walter J. Groves, of Bethlehem, Pa., and they have three children, Margaret Isabella, Eleanor Kline, and Henry Kuntz Groves; and Anna Violet Elizabeth Kline. Mr. Kline and his family attended the Episcopal Church of the Mediator.
  
  Jonathan Kline, youngest son of Peter and Margaret Kline,was born June 18, 1783, and died Aug. 29, 1868. He owned a tract of 200 acres near Kline's Mill and married Maria Weiler, who was born Oct. 2, 1790, and died Feb. 23, 1869. They have five children: Lizzie, wife of Thomas Shalter; Anna, wife of Sem Grim; Lucetta, wife of Rev. Samuel Hess; Mary, wife of William Kern, and James F. Kline. Lucetta Kline was born Nov. 30, 1816, and died Dec. 15, 1893. She married, Feb. 18, 1840, Rev. Samuel Hess, of Hellertown, who was born Dec. 25, 1804., and died Nov. 23, 1875. They had two sons, Jeremiah S., and Milton J. Jeremiah S. Hess married Tillie Henninger, and has four children: Herbert H., Clara, Mary L., and Samuel.
  
  Hon. James F. Kline was born in Weisenberg township, August 3, 1828. He was educated in the local schools and at schools at Gwynedd, Line Lexington, and Easton. His first employment was as clerk with Pretz, Kern, & Co., of Allentown. The fire of June 1, 1848, destroyed his father's two store buildings and he supervised the erection of the new structures. He then purchased the store of Frank Kern and in 1849 became a partner with Franklin Hersh, but sold out a year later to Daniel Clader. In 1850, with William Kern, he opened a general store at 729 Hamilton street, Allentown. In 1855, he built the Kline homestead at Orefield, where he resided from 1855 to 1899, during a great part of which time he was an iron-ore operator, employing as many as 150 people. He was a member of the Allentown Borough Council in 1854; mercantile appraiser; justice of the peace of South Whitehall, commissioned April 10, 1860; school director for six years; twice jury commissioner; and elected a Democratic member of the state legislature for three terms. He was a member of the Jordan Lutheran church, where he was deacon and treasurer and was a member of Lehigh Lodge, No. 326, F. & A. M. He died Feb. 10, 1899. Mr. Kline married, in 1850, Lydia, daughter of Joseph and Lydia (Guth) Kern, who died Aug. 9, 1884. They had four children: Dr. M. J. Kline; Jonas F. Kline, Esq., prothonotary of Lehigh county from 1887 to 1890, who died Feb.8, 1891; Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Solon C. B. Fogel, of Allentown, and Maggie, wife of Edwin J. Titlow, of Trexlertown.
  
  DR. MOULTON J. KLINE, of Hoffmansville, was born in Allentown, March 8, 1855. His parents moved to South Whitehall township when he was a child, where he attended the township schools. He was graduated from Muhlenberg College in 1876 and from the University of Pennsylvania in 1879. In the same year he located at Hoffmansville, where he built up a large practice, and resides in the homestead built by his father in 1855. He was the physician-surgeon for the Lehigh county home from 1879 until 1892 and also served as pension surgeon for the government under the first administration of President Cleveland. Dr. Kline is a member of the Lehigh County Medical Society and ably served South Whitehall township as school director. During his administration a modern schoolhouse was built and the standard of education was advanced. He is a member of Lehigh Lodge, No. 326, F. & A. M.; Allen Chapter No. 203, R. A. M. and Allen Commandery No. 20, K. T. He and family are members of Jordan Lutheran church. Dr. Kline married in 1876 Eliza M. C. Balliet,
  
  Pg. 684 daughter of Horace Balliet. They have these children: Katie, wife of Charles S. Wolfe, of Allentown; Mabel, wife of Dr. William J. Lowright, of Center Valley; Gertrude, wife of A. V. Weaver; Joseph C., of Allentown, and Mary A. who resides at home.
  
  
  
  Andrew Kline was born in Weisenberg township in 1805, and died on his farm in 1868. His farm, consisting of 106 acres, was located near Werley's Corner, and was later owned by H. W. Kline, a grandson. Mr. Kline was married to Leah Werley, a daughter of Nicholas Werley. He was a Lutheran member of the Weisenberg church, where he and his wife are buried. Their children were: Mary, who married Jonas Kressley; John; Fianna; Peter; Sarah and Polly, twins, the latter of whom married William Kistler; Daniel W.; and Jacob, of Fleetwood.
  
  John Klein, son of Andrew, was born on the homestead. He succeeded his father to the homestead and continued farming it until his death. He was a Democrat in politics, served as school director of Weisenberg and was a member of the Lutheran Church of that place. He married Louisa Weiss, a daughter of Henry Weiss, and they had two children: Henry W. and Tevillia who married W. F. Brobst, a merchant at Lynnville.
  
  Peter Kline, a son of Andrew, was a farmer in Greenwich township, near Grimville, and made a specialty of bee-keeping. In 1888 lightening destroyed his barn, including a part of the year's crops. Mr. Kline was of a quiet, modest disposition, and he and his family were members of the Reformed congregation of Grimville church. His wife was Mary Hertzog, and they had these children: Katie, who married Benjamin Levan; Charles E., a railway mail clerk, residing at Harrisburg; and Ida.
  
  

(Additional descendants of this line, biographies found in this text but not transcribed here, are

• Daniel W. Kline b. 1843; m. Maria Steininger
• Henry W. Kline b. 1872, m. Minerva Rauch
• Daniel Kline, m. Rebecca Mohr
• Amandas Kline b. 1836 (son of Daniel & Rebecca Mohr Kline; m. Amelia Schantz
• Rev. Harry James Kline b. 1869(son of Amandas & Amelia Schantz Kline) m. Ella J. Yeakel
• William A. Kline (son of Amanda & Amelia Schantz Kline) m. May W. Body
• Wayne A. Kline (son of Amanda & Amelia Schantz Kline) m. Estella A. Walter
• Reuben Kline m. Julia Wieand
• Charles B. Kline (son of reuben & Julia Wieand Kline) m. sarah Lichtenwalner
• George R. Kline (son of Charles B. & Sarah Lichtenwalner Kline) m. Sabilla Lichtenwalner (dau. of George & Sarah Lichtenwalner)