My Genealogy Hound

CHESTER ARTHUR KRATZ, formerly an educator, and now occupying a responsible position in the custom house in Philadelphia, is a representative of a German family which was planted in America in colonial days.

The founder of the American branch of the Kratz family was John Valentine Kratz, youngest son of John Philip Kratz. He was born in the Palatinate in 1707, and in 1727 emigrated to America, sailing in the ship “Friendship,” October 16th. He settled in Salford township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county, where he purchased about three hundred acres of land. He became a farmer by occupation. In the then sparsely settled region, with many others, members of the Mennonite church who had been persecuted in the fatherland on account of their religious belief, he established a church of that denomination. His death occurred in 1780, when the colonists were yet battling to throw off the yoke of Great Britain, and was their sincere sympathizer and aider to the last. His descendants say that he married Ann Clemens, daughter of Gerhart Clemens, who was born in Europe in 1680, and who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1709, settling in Montgomery county, where he purchased a thousand acres of land. He died in 1745. The children of John Valentine Kratz, the immigrant, were as follows: John, Michael, Gerhart, Philip, Abraham, Isaac, Anna, Valentine, and Isaac (2d).

Valentine Kratz, son of John Valentine Kratz, was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, May 16, 1747, and died July 28, 1834. He was a farmer, and lived upon a farm of one hundred and fifty acres inherited from his father. He was a member of the Mennonite church. His wife was Mary Rosenberger, and they were the parents of nine children, among whom was Abraham Kratz, born in 1785. He lived the life of a farmer in Skippack township. He married Elizabeth Cassel, and they became the parents of eight children, among whom was John C. Kratz. The last named was born in Montgomery county, October 23, 1814. He was educated in the neighborhood schools, and was a farmer throughout his life, residing for many years in Lower Providence township. He took active interest in the affairs of the community. With his family he was a member of the Mennonite church. He married Catherine Z. Gotwals, and they were the grandparents of Chester Arthur Kratz, whose descent from the immigrant, John Valentine Kratz, has been traced in the foregoing.

John Gotwals Kratz, son of John C. and Catherine Z. (Gotwals) Kratz, was born in Perkiomen township, Montgomery county, October 28, 1842. He was educated in the common schools and has been a farmer the greater part of his life. He was a lad of nineteen when the Rebellion broke out, and his patriotism impelled him to volunteer in the cause of his country, and he performed the full measure of a soldier’s duty to the end of the war. He enlisted in September, 1862, in Company K, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. For the first six months his regiment performed the arduous and important duty of guarding the Relay House and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad between Baltimore and Washington, a line of prime importance for the transportation of reinforcements and supplies to the Army of the Potomac, and which was for this reason a principal object of attack by the rebels. Relieved from this duty, young Kratz marched with his regiment to historic Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, and subsequently joined the grand army under Grant. He fought gallantly in the battles of Mine Run, Locust Grove, Beverly Station, and in the dreadful series of engagements in the Wilderness. In one of the latter he received a severe gunshot wound in the right forearm which incapacitated him from military duty, and he was sent to the hospital, where he was invalided for eight months. After his recovery he rejoined his regiment, with which he served until the rebel army surrendered, and he was honorably discharged in June, 1865. He is a prominent member of Josiah White Post, G. A. R., of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Since he was old enough to vote he has been an ardent Republican, thoroughly believing in the progressive principles of the party. He married Eleanor E. Deeds, born in Lower Providence township, September 23, 1841, only daughter of Jesse and Catherine (Dengler) Deeds. He is a member of Trinity Reformed church of Collegeville, and his wife belongs to St. James’s church (Protestant Episcopal) at Evansburg.

Chester Arthur Kratz, son of John Gotwals and Eleanor E. (Deeds) Kratz, was born in Lower Providence township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, November 20, 1873. He received a thorough education in the public schools of the village, meantime engaged with farm labors during the spring and summer months. This township was the first in the county to adopt the graded course of study, and young Kratz took full advantage of his opportunities, and with such success that at graduation he was chosen as valedictorian of the class. He at once engaged in teaching in the public schools of the county, and with the means so earned defrayed his expenses at night schools, and later at the West Chester Normal School and Ursinus College. He gave entire satisfaction as a teacher, being widely known and recognized as able, conscientious and progressive, and would undoubtedly have attained greater distinction in the profession had he not relinquished it. In December, 1898, however, he was appointed to a responsible clerical position in the office of the United States collector of customs at the port of Philadelphia, winning the same through a competitive examination under the civil service rules, and he is thus engaged at the present time.

Mr. Kratz has from his student days been connected with the principal literary and educational societies in his part of the state, and has been primarily instrumental in the organization of a number of them. He was the first president of the Highland Literary Society, which until a few years ago flourished in Lower Providence. He has also held official position in the Methacton Literary Society in Lower Providence, and the Crescent Literary Society in Upper Providence. He is a member of the Lower Providence Alumni Association, having served as its president, and of the Montgomery County Alumni Association, an organization of the graduates of all the public schools in the county, including the various borough high schools; in the body last named he has held various offices, including those of vice-president and president, and has been a member of the board of managers from the inception. He is also a member of the Sons of Veterans, and of the Royal Arcanum.

Mr. Kratz was married at Providence Manor, Arcola, Pennsylvania, to Miss Kathryn M. Horton, and of this marriage was born a son, Francis Horton Kratz, in Philadelphia, August 14, 1904.

Mrs. Kratz received her education in the public schools of Lower Providence, in which she completed the graded course, graduating with honor. She is a daughter of J. Frank Horton (deceased), and his wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Plush. Her father was a miller, and operated the mill on the place in Lower Providence where once lived John James Audubon, the distinguished ornithologist. Mr. Horton was a member of the Masonic brotherhood.