The Late Samuel B. Romberger
Samuel B. Romberger, was born in Lykens Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 9 August 1845. He was a son of Daniel Romberger and Hannah [Bergstresser] Romberger.
Daniel Romberger, father of Samuel B. Romberger, was born in Lykens Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 19 February 1816. He was brought up as a farmer, and was married in his native place. He settled on a farm in Washington Township in 1854, and later located on a farm in Berrysburg, where he died 29 July 1882. His wife died in Elizabethville in 1889
Samuel B. Romberger was of German descent on his father’s side, and on his mother’s side Scotch-Irish. He attended school in his native place until he was nine years old, when his family moved to Washington Township. His education was finished in the common schools there. In his seventeenth year he began an apprenticeship at tanning with Isaiah Matters, at Uniontown [Pillow], Pennsylvania. He served three years during which time he received $175, which was $40 in excess of the contract. He worked at his trade a year and a half in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. He then formed a township with Reuben Weiser, and established a tanyard at Green Briar, Northumberland County, and continues in business there two and a half years, at the end of this time he bought the tanyard known as Stine’s Plant, above Gratz. He operated this plant for fourteen years, having sold the one at Green Briar. IN the spring of 1883, Mr. Romberger disposed of his property in Lykens Township and located at Elizabethville, where he at first operated a tannery, but later relinquished the tanning and dealt in hides and tallow. In 1892 he took into partnership two of his sons and soon the firm had branches at Carlisle, Pottstown, Wilkes-Barre, Tyrone, and Shamokin and in 1910 a new one started at Harrisburg under the name of S. B. Romberger‘s Sons Company Mr. Romberger was active outside of his own business, for he was a sincere promoter of the growth and prosperity of his town. He and his brother John Romberger purchased the land between Callowhill Street and Church Street and laid it out in lots and sold them, as a natural result the town began to grow.
Mr. Romberger was President of the Lykens Valley Mutual Insurance Company for more than thirty years, one of its organizers, and for five years Vice President of the First National Bank. He helped organize the Maple Grove Cemetery Association, and for fifteen years was a director for the Lykens Valley Telephone and Telegraph Company and for years was prominent in the affairs of the Water Company, He was a consistent member of the Evangelical Church. His children are:
Daniel W. Romberger;
Penrose C. Romberger;
Ira P. Romberger;
Elba Romberger; and
Ella Romberger.
He died Friday, 11 March 1922, aged 76 years, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. A. W. Krebs, 1838 North Second Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
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From: “Who’s Who in Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania,” Lykens-Williams Valley History-Directory and Pictorial Review, by J. Allen Barrett, published in 1922.
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