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BIOGRAPHY:
Abraham Merckel (or Merkel) was born in Macungie township, Northampton (now Lehigh )
Co., Pa., about 1767, and is a descendant of an old family of French origin. He was a
farmer, and in 1785 and 1786 was assessed for 100 acres of land, two horses and three
cattle. In 1785 he paid a federal tax of £1 8s 6d, and in 1786 the amount was £1,1s
6d. The tax lists o f his native county bear his name as a taxable until 1805. In 1806 he
is assessed as a reside nt of Albany township, Berks county, where he owned a tract on
which he lived. The farm is now owned by Jacob Schroeder; a big hill on this farm for many
years was known as "Merkel's Hill," now "Donat's Hill." It was at this
place that his father-in-law, Jacob Donat, had previously settled. Abraham Merckel was an
industrious and honest citizen. He was a tall and well-built man, standing over six feet,
and was possessed of great strength and endurance. He wa s a wheelwright by trade. He met
a tragic end. During the summer of 1825 there was a drought in the upper end of Berks
county.
Water had become scarce on the southern side of the Blue mountains, while on the opposite
side there was an abundance of rain and water. Therefore Abraham Merckel took his grain to
a mill on the opposite side of the mountain, and on the return trip fell into the hands of
a band of roughs, one of whom cruelly murdered him. On the slope of the mountain in West
Penn township, Schuylkill county (on the road from Jacksonville to Tamaqua), which he had
to pass, there was an old hostelry around which many stories of robbery, and even the
murder of peddlers and cattle dealers centered. That the place was notorious was evidenced
by the frequent reference to it in the recollections of the older residents of the
section. It was abandoned over thirty years ago, and only crumbling walls and an old we ll
half filled with stones and rubbish mark the site of the once busy and widely known
stopping place. While passing the hotel Mr. Merckel was requested to stop off, which he
did. He found a number of men playing cards and also, undoubtedly, drinking. One of the
card players , a man named Jacob Hawkenstein, commenced quarreling with Mr. Merckel, who
told Hawkenstei n it would be to his benefit to keep his peace. Hawkenstein, in confab
with other men during that day, had made a threat that he would kill someone before the
day was over. When Mr. Merckel was loosening his horse, which was tied at a tree near a
fence, he was stabbed with a knife by Hawkenstein, who had secreted himself behind the
fence, and died of his wounds. Hawke nstein thereafter led a secluded and miserable
existence among the rocks, dens and hollow tre es of the Blue mountains, where he died
alone and despised of all men. His skeleton was foun d more than a year after his death by
a band of hunters. Mr. Merckel is buried in an unmarke d grave at the New Bethel Church in
Albany township. He died in the late summer of 1826.
Abraham Merckel married Susanna Donat, who was born Nov. 6, 1779, and died Jan. 25, 1864,
aged eighty-four years, two months, nineteen days. Her father, Jacob Donat, was a native
of Germany . Four children were born to Abraham and Susanna (Donat) Merckel, namely:
Abraham was the father of James K. Merkel and is mentioned farther on; Elizabeth, born March 24, 1813, died
unmarried March 15, 1894, aged eighty years, eleven months, twenty-one days, and is buried
at New Jerusalem Church; Catharine, born Jan. 3, 1816, died unmarried Nov. 20, 1879, aged
sixty-three years, ten months, seventeen days, and is buried at Jerusalem Church; Joseph,
who spelled his name Markley, married Esther Fisher, and lived in Reading until 1876, when
he moved to St. Cloud, Minn. At a meeting of the Orphans' Court, April 6, 1827, according
to the record s in Vol. IX, page 206, Elizabeth Merkel, daughter of the late Abraham
Merckel, of Albany township, Berks county, petitioned the
court as a minor above fourteen years of age, asking that John Shollenberger be appointed
her guardian. Henry Ruppert appeared as a friend of Catharine Merkel and Joseph Merkel,
minor children of Abraham Merckel, deceased, and William Sweye r was appointed guardian
for Catharine, and John Shollenberger for Joseph.
Abraham Merkel, e ldest child of Abraham, was born about 1805-1806, and died in June,
1849, aged about forty-th ree years. His death occurred in the hay field, from the effects
of drinking much cold sprin g water when overheated, and he is buried at New Bethel
Church, in Albany township. He wa s a tall man over six feet, and was strong and an
excellent worker. Abraham Merkel married Maria (Polly) Kroninger, who was born Sept. 8,
1808 and died Dec. 23, 1878, aged seventy years , three months, fifteen days. Children as
follows were born to their union: Anna m. John Came ron, of Sagon, Northumberland Co.,
Pa.; Catharine m. Jonathon Machmer, who was noted as a sin ger, and they conducted the
Upper Bern Hotel a number of years; Abraham, born Jan. 13, 1832 , died Feb. 14, 1908, m.
in 1859 Leah Follweiler (1835-1901), and they had a family of seven children; Sarah Jane
(m. Adam Berk, and died leaving a son, Wm. H., who has his home with his aunts, Louisa and
Clara Merkel), Astor (m. Ida Kline), Rosa Alice (m. Francis Allsbach, de ceased), Cordelia
(m. Alfred Allsbach, and died leaving a daughter, Leah M. ), Louisa P. (a p opular school
teacher of Albany township), Clara (is unmarried and lives on the homestead wit h her
sister Louisa), and John A. (m. Emma E. Nester, and has two children, Elsie M. and Lea h
L.); Susanna m. Ferdinand Machmer and later a Mr. Baum, of Hamburg; Aaron m. Valeria Mille
r and they live at Conshohocken, Pa.; Caroline m. William Machmer, who met a tragic death
i n Michigan; Rebecca m. Michael Schaeffer, of Tower City, Pa; Sarah m. James DeLong, of
Reading; James K. is mentioned farther on. Caroline and Susanna both lived and died in
Michigan.
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