Bernard Lauth^[1]

1820 - 1894

• Born	23 Aug 1820	Obersteinbach, Alsace
  Gender	Male
  Died	25 Jun 1894	Centre County , PA   [2]
  Buried	St. Bernard's Catholic Cem., Howard Twp, Centre, PA   [2]
  Person ID	I10117	Johnson Hindin Tree
  Last Modified	13 Jan 2013

  
  

  Married	20 May 1814	Obersteinbach, Alsace
  Family ID	F4185	Group Sheet

  
  

  Father	Bernard Lauth,   b. 1793, Obersteinbach, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France ,   d. 29 Sep 1853, Birmingham Twp., Chester Co., Pennsylvania
  Mother	Catharina Barbara Dauenhauer,   b. 17 Jan 1798, Nothweiler, Pfalz, Germany ,   d. 1 May 1869, Birmingham Twp., Chester Co., Pennsylvania
  Married	1814 20 May	Obersteinbach, Alsace
  Family ID	F3777	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth Wilhelm,   b. 30 Sep 1821, Roeschwoog, Alsace ,   d. 27 May 1902, Centre County , PA
  Married	Between 1839 and 1840	Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA
  Children	1. Bernard Charles Lauth,   b. 21 Sep 1840, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA ,   d. 15 Sep 1916, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA   2. John N. Lauth,   b. 14 Dec 1842, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA ,   d. 4 Apr 1906, Guadalajara, Mexico   3. (Mary) Louisa Lauth,   b. Dec 1845, PA ,   d. 16 Feb 1941, Margate City, Atlantic, NJ   4. (Mary) Caroline Lauth,   b. 1849, PA ,   d. 1921, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA   5. Elizabeth C. Lauth,   b. 1851, PA ,   d. 1903   6. Josephine P. Lauth,   b. Feb 1853, OH ,   d. 9 May 1936, Buffalo, Erie, NY   7. Lucinda A. Lauth,   b. Feb 1859, PA ,   d. 19 Oct 1940
  Family ID	F4186	Group Sheet

  
  

• Notes

  The following biography was published in the "Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. Chicago: J. H. Beers (1898) (pp. 58-59) and was transcribed and available on http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre (2012): BERNARD LAUTH (deceased) was an inventor of note, and for a period one of Centre county's most successful iron manufacturers. He was a genius in the mechanical line, and his inventions crowned him with glory and pecuniary success. He was a broad-gauged, public-spirited business man, who spent several hundred thousand dollars in improvements to develop the iron interests of the country. Mr. Lauth was lineally descended from Dr. William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was beheaded in 1645 by an arbitrary decree of Parliament during the troublous times in the latter years of the reign of Charles I. Archbishop Laud's widow, with eleven sons, migrated to Alsace, and the name of the family, through the idiom of the German language, changed to that of Lauth. Here in this province, August 23, 1820, our subject was born. He came with his parents and grandparents to America, arriving at Pittsburg, Penn., in the spring of 1831. The worldly possessions of the family at this time did not exceed ten dollars. The father went to work at fifty cents a day, and Bernard, not yet having completed his eleventh year, went to work in Dr. Peter Shoenberger's iron works at one dollar per week. He commenced at the lowest round in the business ladder, pulling up the furnace door, he passed through every stage until he became a boss roller, and was enabled to earn as high as twenty-eight dollars per day. At these works he remained seven years and was then employed as boss roller at the works of Hoke & Hartman on the east side of the river, with which concern he remained until 1844. In 1847 he commenced business for himself at Zanesville, Ohio, and in company with others built a rolling-mill. He was at Zanesville some five years, when he removed to East Birmingham, Pittsburg, and in connection with his brother built a rolling-mill; this enterprise developed into the immense "American Iron Works" of Lauth & Jones, until the former retired and the firm became Jones & Locklin. While thus engaged in 1857 Mr. Lauth made his invention for the manufacture of cold-rolled shafting. The one- half of the shafting used in the great Centennial building at Philadelphia, in 1876, was rolled at these works. Mr. Lauth sold his right to Jones & Laughlins for one hundred thousand dollars, and then went to England. While there he made his second important invention, which he patented in the United States-for rolling plates-Lauth's three high-plate rolls. He had his family with him in Europe for four years, in order to give his children good educations. Mr. Lauth's third invention was a continuous mill for rolling band iron of every description, for hoops, bands, etc. Its value may be judged from the fact that he sold a half-interest in it to the Bethlehem Iron Company for seventy-five thousand dollars and a royalty of fifty cents per ton. Mr. Lauth made his fourth invention in 1866; it was for straightening and angling beam iron mostly cold. On his return from Europe he became engaged in business at Reading, Penn., where he built a sheet-mill for rolling sheets and plates, which was finished just as the war closed. In 1871 he removed from Reading to Howard, and took hold of the iron works there which were in a dilapidated condition. He remodeled and renewed them almost entirely, built new and handsome dwelling houses, erected a beautiful Catholic chapel, and with a new rolling-mill erected in 1882, had one of the best iron works in Centre county. They consisted then of rolling-mills, two charcoal blast furnaces and forge, puddling furnace, etc., and in the premises known as the Howard Iron Works there were 612 acres of land, and 528 acres of ore land appurtenant. Upward of two hundred thousand dollars was expended in improvements, and the works gave employment to over two hundred men. He was a most active and energetic business man, and kept pace with the advancing world in which he moved. He was greatly interested in politics, but took no active part, never having any desire to old public position. He was a Republican. His death occurred at his country home near Howard June 25, 1894; for several years he had been failing in health, and when the end came it came peacefully, for he died in his chair and as though just falling into a sleep. He possessed a tender heart, was ever willing and ready to do anything that would help his neighbor. By faith he was a Roman Catholic, and was consistent in his belief. He was one of eight children, the others being: John N., Catherine, Magdalene, Barbara, Josephine, Mary and Caroline, all of whom are now dead excepting the last named. In 1840, Mr. Lauth was married to Miss Elizabeth Wilhelm, and their children are: (1) Bernard C., born September 21, 1840, married Magdalene Berg, of Pittsburg; (2) John N., born December 14, 1842, married (first) a Mrs. Smith of Pittsburg, and (second) a Mrs. Dr. Knoor. (3) Mrs. M.L. Comerford, who makes her home with her mother, and has three children-Mary Louise; Arthur A. and Bernard L. (4) Mrs. Caroline Comerford, a resident of Pittsburg, who has three children-William B., Elizabeth and Caroline. (5) Mrs. Elizabeth C. Greth, of Reading, Penn., the mother of five sons and one daughter-Charles B., Bernard, Philip, Harrold, Robert, and Louise (who died at four years of age). (6) Mrs. Josephine Wilhelm, of Buffalo, N.Y., whose children are Grace, Walter, Louis, Paul and Elizabeth. (7) Mrs. Cameron Burnside, of Philadelphia, who has one daughter-Rachel. Mrs. Elizabeth (Wilhelm) Lauth is a native of the village of Roeschwoog, near the river Rhine, Alsace, then a province of France, born September 30, 1821; she is the daughter of Mathias and Magdalene (Huck) Wilhelm. When she was six years of age her parents, with their family, came to America, being forty- seven days on the ocean en route. They located at Pittsburg, Penn., where the father for many years was engaged in the hotel business, keeping a tavern first on Third street, called the "Sun," and subsequently one on Penn Ave., where he died. His children were: Mathias, Elizabeth, Magdalene Francis, Catherine(1), Mary, Caroline, Catherine (2) Josephine and Jacob. Mrs. Lauth is now passing the evening of her life in her commodious and comfortable home near Howard, enjoying the fruits of a well-spent life.

  
  

• Sources

  [S858] GEDCOM file imported on 28 Apr 2012. [S886] "Tombstone Inscriptions of Centre County".