(The Children of Levi & Elizabeth Schultz)
An Amazing Family of Schultzes
by Andrew S. Berkey
Eight brothers and sisters, all Perkiomen graduates, with outstanding
records of achievement and success. On commencement day in June, 1924,
a farmer's widow from Upper Hanover Township walked into the Perkiomen
chapel and took her place along with the parents and friends of the school
graduating class. Mrs. Levi G. Schulz was on hand to see her youngest son,
Lloyd, receive his diploma - just as she had been present when her other
seven children received their diplomas from Perkiomen!
While the exercises were taking place, Elizabeth Schultz's thoughts must
have gone back to that day 21 years before when she and her husband attended
their first Perkiomen commencement together - that time it had been their
son, Eugene. From 1903 to 1924, how many mornings had she bid goodbye
to one or the other of her children as they left the house to clamber
up on the milk wagon for the 30-minute ride to the school - 2,000, 3,000
mornings?
And then her thoughts must have wandered up to New Haven, Connecticut,
where another son, Alfred, was receiving his doctor's degree from Yale
University that very same day. The choice had been a difficult one to
make, but Alfred readily understood her reluctance to miss this last,
significant event at Perkiomen.
One farm, 120 acres, and this family saw each of eight children through
several years at Perkiomen, four of the eight through college, and two
of the four on through graduate school! Obviously, this was an
extraordinary family and a surpassingly fine farm.
More than two centuries earlier, three orphan boys, Christopher, George
and Melchior Schultz migrated from Silesia to Pennsylvania. They built
their own log house and cleared their own fields, and this farm was
handed down from generation to generation - George to Abraham to Isaac
to Abraham and then to Levi and Elizabeth. And along with the fertile
fields and the tidy buildings came an uncommon affinity for education.
[Footnote on Silesia: Once part of Austria and then Prussia, Silesia
was heavily influenced by German culture. The bulk of the region is
now part of Poland.]
For example, there was great-great-grandfather Abraham, largely self
educated, who taught in the local school between farm chores for more
than 20 years and served as a Representative in the General Assembly
of the Commonwealth. There was great-grandfather Isaac, an academy
graduate, who wrote superb letters in Latin, translated numerous German
documents into English, authored several histories, taught school - and
withal operated the ancestral farm.
It would be impossible to enumerate here the accomplishments of all the
sons and daughters that left this farm over the years. Suffice it to
say that they were all reared in a home pervaded with an atmosphere
of learning, erudition and discipline.
Back to those eight Schultz Perkiomenites from one family:
Eugene - graduated from Perkiomen in 1903 and went to the University
of Wisconsin to study plant diseases. He obtained his Bachelor and
Master of Science degrees at Wisconsin and his doctorate at Columbia
University. In 1912, Dr. Schultz joined the U. S. Department of
Agriculture and was assigned to the Agricultural Research Center,
Aroostook County, Maine. For the past 44 years, Dr. Schultz has spent
his summers in Maine and his winters at the Beltsville, Maryland
Research laboratories specializing in the study of potato pathology.
The result of this study? More than 50 published scientific treatises,
better than 100-percent increase in the Maine potato yield and the
Superior Service Award from the Department of Agriculture, along with
a host of other honors. In 1919 Dr. Schultz married Salina S. Gerhard
(Perkiomen, 1898), and there are two children, Eugene A. and Alma, both
college educated.
Carrie - graduated from Perkiomen in 1906, returned to the farm to
help the family move those other youngsters along the way and expired
in 1918 after a tragic illness.
Geneva - graduated from Perkiomen in 1906. taught in the public
schools, married farmer Jacob N. Reiff, raised and college-educated
two fine daughters (both of who have husbands with Perkiomen affiliations)
and is currently the secretary of the local Perkiomen alumni group.
Daisy - graduated from Perkiomen in 1909, received a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Oberlin College, taught languages in the Sussex, New Jersey
High School and then returned home to help care for the younger members of
the family. In 1933 she married Dr. Earle Martin, and husband and wife
currently operate the Martin Laboratones in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
There is one son. Paul, graduate of Cornell with a doctorate from the
University of Michigan.
Wayne - graduated from Perkiomen in 1913, returned to the family farm
which he continues to operate to this day Over the years he has established
one of the finest purebred dairy herds in the East, being one of the first
farmers to win the coveted Progressive Breeders Award of the International
Holstein-Friesian Association.
Mr. Schultz operates the farm under the registered name "Scholtop"
(Schultz) and in 1945 posted a production record for what was, in the words
of the Association, "probably the highest score ever made for a herd of 20
or more purebred registered Holsteins in the State of Pennsylvania and
perhaps in the United States. Mr. Schultz married Blanche Bobb and there
are three children, all enrolled in the local schools.
Alfred - graduated from Perkiomen in 1914, received a Bachelor of Science
degree in chemistry from Lehigh University in 1918, served in the army
during World War I, and then went on to Yale UMversiry, where he received
his doctorate in 1924. In 1924-25 he held a postdoctoral fellowship at
Rochester University and then took a position with the Fleischmann
Laboratories as Research Chemist and Head of the Fermentation Division.
The result of this study? More than 50 research publications and at least
27 patents produced in collaboration with his associates in less than
25 years. Dr. Schultz is currently residing in New York City.
Norman - graduated from Perkiomen in 1917, returned to the family farm to
help brother Wayne, married Helen Coburn, now operates a farm outside of
Chester, Pennsylvania. As might be expected, he produced a splendid herd of
purebred Holsteins, and a number of years ago farmer Schultz and the farm
were the subject of a feature article on the "ideal one-man farm."
Lloyd - graduated from Perkiomen in 1924, received his bachelor's degree
from Pennsylvania State University four years later, took a position with
Pennsylvania Power & Light Company, rose rapidly to the executive level as
Commercial Sales Director and is currently in the investment securities
business, associated with the Allentown office of Lewis C. Dick Company.
Mr. Schultz is quite active in civic and community affairs. In 1938 he was
elected to the Perkiomen Board of Trustees, received the school's highest
award in 1941 - the Perldomen Key, and has been Treasurer of the Board
since 1950. In 1935, Mr. Schultz married Dorothy G. Davies.
And there we are - eight amazing Schultzes from one family. Perkiomen is
more than proud of these sons and daughters - and one of these days we'll
do an article on those 37 other amazing Schultzes who have passed through
these halls in the last 60 years.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following note from Editor Eleanor Roberts accompanied the above
article in the original publication:
Andrew Berky, Trustee of Perkiomen School and Director of the
Schwenkfelder Library and Museum, married into this famous Schultz family
and attends many of their reunions and family affairs. He is in a good
position to collect the facts for this article and has done so in a
masterly way. He asked the editor to re-write but she has refused,
believing this to be factual, intimate and personal and done in the fashion
which was wanted. We are happy to present this article under the byline of
Andrew S. Berky, son of Mabel Schultz Berky, husband of Lucy Reiff Berky -
daughter of Ceneva Schultz Reiff, himself the father of three young
Berkys who have plenty of Schultz in them !
by Andrew S. Berkey
Eight brothers and sisters, all Perkiomen graduates, with outstanding
records of achievement and success. On commencement day in June, 1924,
a farmer's widow from Upper Hanover Township walked into the Perkiomen
chapel and took her place along with the parents and friends of the school
graduating class. Mrs. Levi G. Schulz was on hand to see her youngest son,
Lloyd, receive his diploma - just as she had been present when her other
seven children received their diplomas from Perkiomen!
While the exercises were taking place, Elizabeth Schultz's thoughts must
have gone back to that day 21 years before when she and her husband attended
their first Perkiomen commencement together - that time it had been their
son, Eugene. From 1903 to 1924, how many mornings had she bid goodbye
to one or the other of her children as they left the house to clamber
up on the milk wagon for the 30-minute ride to the school - 2,000, 3,000
mornings?
And then her thoughts must have wandered up to New Haven, Connecticut,
where another son, Alfred, was receiving his doctor's degree from Yale
University that very same day. The choice had been a difficult one to
make, but Alfred readily understood her reluctance to miss this last,
significant event at Perkiomen.
One farm, 120 acres, and this family saw each of eight children through
several years at Perkiomen, four of the eight through college, and two
of the four on through graduate school! Obviously, this was an
extraordinary family and a surpassingly fine farm.
More than two centuries earlier, three orphan boys, Christopher, George
and Melchior Schultz migrated from Silesia to Pennsylvania. They built
their own log house and cleared their own fields, and this farm was
handed down from generation to generation - George to Abraham to Isaac
to Abraham and then to Levi and Elizabeth. And along with the fertile
fields and the tidy buildings came an uncommon affinity for education.
[Footnote on Silesia: Once part of Austria and then Prussia, Silesia
was heavily influenced by German culture. The bulk of the region is
now part of Poland.]
For example, there was great-great-grandfather Abraham, largely self
educated, who taught in the local school between farm chores for more
than 20 years and served as a Representative in the General Assembly
of the Commonwealth. There was great-grandfather Isaac, an academy
graduate, who wrote superb letters in Latin, translated numerous German
documents into English, authored several histories, taught school - and
withal operated the ancestral farm.
It would be impossible to enumerate here the accomplishments of all the
sons and daughters that left this farm over the years. Suffice it to
say that they were all reared in a home pervaded with an atmosphere
of learning, erudition and discipline.
Back to those eight Schultz Perkiomenites from one family:
Eugene - graduated from Perkiomen in 1903 and went to the University
of Wisconsin to study plant diseases. He obtained his Bachelor and
Master of Science degrees at Wisconsin and his doctorate at Columbia
University. In 1912, Dr. Schultz joined the U. S. Department of
Agriculture and was assigned to the Agricultural Research Center,
Aroostook County, Maine. For the past 44 years, Dr. Schultz has spent
his summers in Maine and his winters at the Beltsville, Maryland
Research laboratories specializing in the study of potato pathology.
The result of this study? More than 50 published scientific treatises,
better than 100-percent increase in the Maine potato yield and the
Superior Service Award from the Department of Agriculture, along with
a host of other honors. In 1919 Dr. Schultz married Salina S. Gerhard
(Perkiomen, 1898), and there are two children, Eugene A. and Alma, both
college educated.
Carrie - graduated from Perkiomen in 1906, returned to the farm to
help the family move those other youngsters along the way and expired
in 1918 after a tragic illness.
Geneva - graduated from Perkiomen in 1906. taught in the public
schools, married farmer Jacob N. Reiff, raised and college-educated
two fine daughters (both of who have husbands with Perkiomen affiliations)
and is currently the secretary of the local Perkiomen alumni group.
Daisy - graduated from Perkiomen in 1909, received a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Oberlin College, taught languages in the Sussex, New Jersey
High School and then returned home to help care for the younger members of
the family. In 1933 she married Dr. Earle Martin, and husband and wife
currently operate the Martin Laboratones in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
There is one son. Paul, graduate of Cornell with a doctorate from the
University of Michigan.
Wayne - graduated from Perkiomen in 1913, returned to the family farm
which he continues to operate to this day Over the years he has established
one of the finest purebred dairy herds in the East, being one of the first
farmers to win the coveted Progressive Breeders Award of the International
Holstein-Friesian Association.
Mr. Schultz operates the farm under the registered name "Scholtop"
(Schultz) and in 1945 posted a production record for what was, in the words
of the Association, "probably the highest score ever made for a herd of 20
or more purebred registered Holsteins in the State of Pennsylvania and
perhaps in the United States. Mr. Schultz married Blanche Bobb and there
are three children, all enrolled in the local schools.
Alfred - graduated from Perkiomen in 1914, received a Bachelor of Science
degree in chemistry from Lehigh University in 1918, served in the army
during World War I, and then went on to Yale UMversiry, where he received
his doctorate in 1924. In 1924-25 he held a postdoctoral fellowship at
Rochester University and then took a position with the Fleischmann
Laboratories as Research Chemist and Head of the Fermentation Division.
The result of this study? More than 50 research publications and at least
27 patents produced in collaboration with his associates in less than
25 years. Dr. Schultz is currently residing in New York City.
Norman - graduated from Perkiomen in 1917, returned to the family farm to
help brother Wayne, married Helen Coburn, now operates a farm outside of
Chester, Pennsylvania. As might be expected, he produced a splendid herd of
purebred Holsteins, and a number of years ago farmer Schultz and the farm
were the subject of a feature article on the "ideal one-man farm."
Lloyd - graduated from Perkiomen in 1924, received his bachelor's degree
from Pennsylvania State University four years later, took a position with
Pennsylvania Power & Light Company, rose rapidly to the executive level as
Commercial Sales Director and is currently in the investment securities
business, associated with the Allentown office of Lewis C. Dick Company.
Mr. Schultz is quite active in civic and community affairs. In 1938 he was
elected to the Perkiomen Board of Trustees, received the school's highest
award in 1941 - the Perldomen Key, and has been Treasurer of the Board
since 1950. In 1935, Mr. Schultz married Dorothy G. Davies.
And there we are - eight amazing Schultzes from one family. Perkiomen is
more than proud of these sons and daughters - and one of these days we'll
do an article on those 37 other amazing Schultzes who have passed through
these halls in the last 60 years.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following note from Editor Eleanor Roberts accompanied the above
article in the original publication:
Andrew Berky, Trustee of Perkiomen School and Director of the
Schwenkfelder Library and Museum, married into this famous Schultz family
and attends many of their reunions and family affairs. He is in a good
position to collect the facts for this article and has done so in a
masterly way. He asked the editor to re-write but she has refused,
believing this to be factual, intimate and personal and done in the fashion
which was wanted. We are happy to present this article under the byline of
Andrew S. Berky, son of Mabel Schultz Berky, husband of Lucy Reiff Berky -
daughter of Ceneva Schultz Reiff, himself the father of three young
Berkys who have plenty of Schultz in them !
__________________________________________________________________________
http://www.cohp.org/writers/AndyMartin/AlfredSchultz/AmazingFamilyofSchultzes.pdf
AmazingFamilyofSchultzes.pdf
