A tale of two Pottstown women
Packing up the house uncovers forgotten bits of the past
Moving after almost 40 years in one house is, for the most part, not a pleasant experience. But there were a few bright spots in my recent move, such as rediscovering forgotten files containing interesting documents and photographs. In celebration of their rediscovery, two of these items comprise this month’s look back at history.
They include identified photos of two women who lived in Pottstown during the 19th century: a young woman who was a descendant of some of the oldest families in the Pottstown area, and the other, of matronly age and stature, an immigrant.
The ingénue in the Somiesky portrait is Elizabeth Rutter Hobart. Born during the dog days of summer, July 25, 1874, in Pottstown, she was a daughter of William Mintzer Hobart and his wife, Elizabeth W. Rutter.
It is her lineage that makes young Elizabeth interesting as she is a direct descendant of several of the oldest and most important
families in the Pottstown area. Through her father and mother, she is a many times great-granddaughter of Pottstown’s founder, John Potts Sr.
In addition, her father is a direct descendant of Thomas Rutter, the stalwart blacksmith who settled in the Pine Forge area in 1715 to become the Pennsylvania’s first manufacturer of iron.
Her mother’s paternal grandfather was the longlived Jesse Ives. Born in 1771 in what is now Pottstown, Ives was a successful business man and respected citizen who was the town’s second burgess. A devout Quaker, he was also an abolitionist and in his late 80s was active in the Underground Railroad, a very loosely organized network of people who provided shelter and aid to runaway slaves. When the United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, making it illegal to aid runaways, this activity became very risky.
Ives died on Nov. 28, 1860. In his obituary, the Pottstown’s newspaper noted not only his “vigorous intellect and retentive memory” but also that he “lived and died a humble and consistent member of the Society of Friends.” He is buried in the Potts Family Cemetery on Chestnut Street.
In 1806 Ives built a large stone house on the east side of Hanover Street, between Queen and South streets, that was the home of three more generations of his family. Eventually the house was the home of William and Elizabeth Rutter Mintzer. The Mintzers and their children shared the home with Elizabeth’s parents and after their death its ownership passed to the Mintzers.
Although her photograph depicts a very attractive young woman, it seemed as the 20th century dawned Elizabeth was destined for spinsterhood. However, nine years later, in 1909, at what was then the ripe old age of 33, she married 38-year-old John L.W. Mifflin from Lancaster County. At some point, the couple moved to Highland Park, a small town on the east bank of the Raritan River in Middlesex County, N.J. They were still living there in 1940.
It seems that Elizabeth led an average middle-class life, which, just like most of us, was in no way remarkable. However, because of her lineage, her photograph is an interesting link to Pottstown’s distant past.
Sometime in the early 1870s a matronly Gertrude Selinger visited Thomas Taylor’s studio at 233 High St. and had her picture taken. In contrast to Elizabeth Hobart, whose family had lived in the Pottstown area since the early part of the 18th century, Mrs. Selinger was an immigrant. Born in Gross Ostheim Bavaria on Jan. 3, 1830, she was a daughter of Francis Xavier Hoefling and his wife, Frances.
She probably came to the United States in 1852. The records of St. Michel’s and Zion’s Church in Philadelphia show that on Sept. 8, 1853, she married John Selinger, a native of Hochstetta, Germany, who was 17 years her senior. It also appears that she made the long trek from Bavaria to Philadelphia alone as, in reading her obituary, it seems the rest of her family remained in Bavaria. So here is a 22-year-old woman leaving home, probably never to see it or her family again, and traveling thousands of miles to a strange country where she married a much older man. Courage? Absolutely.
The Selingers moved to Pottstown in the early 1850s, where John became the owner of a hotel and restaurant on High Street. The family prospered; in 1860 Selinger valued his real property at a scant $100, but a decade later that number had gone up to $10,000.
The Selingers had three children, a daughter, Walburga, who died in 1882, and two sons, Joseph and John A. Joseph moved to Erie and John A. remained in Pottstown. His parents obviously put a high value on education as a he graduated from The Hill School and then the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1878.
Devout Catholics, the Selingers were charter members of St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1856. John Selinger died May 26, 1883, a year after the death of their daughter.
Gertrude Selinger soldiered on for another 23 years, dying from a stroke on March 9, 1909, at her home, 215 Beech St. She was buried with her husband and daughter in the old St. Aloysius Cemetery on East High Street.
Her obituary on the front page of The Ledger referred to her as a “highly esteemed resident of this town.” The immigrant from Bavaria had made her mark in her adopted home. Her life ended in the same year that Elizabeth Hobart Mifflin’s married life began. Were they acquainted? Again, it can’t be said for sure, but in a small town everybody at least knew who everybody else was.