Rev. John Casper Bucher 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
- Born: 18 Jun 1804, Lower Paxton Twp., Dauphin, PA 2 3 4 6 8 10
- Christened: Linglestown: Wenrich Church, Dauphin, PA
- Marriage (1): Anna Eliza Frey on 6 Oct 1828 1
- Died: 15 Nov 1888, Lewisburg, Union, PA at age 84 1 7 10 11
- Buried: 20 Nov 1888, Harrisburg: Harrisburg Cemetery, Dauphin, PA 1 7 10
Another name for John was John C. Boocher.12
Noted events in his life were:
1. Occupation: Reformed Clergyman from 1828 to 1887. The congregations he served:
1828-1830: Cavetown and Leitersburg, Washington Co., MD
1830-1842: Middletown, Jefferson and Burkittsville, Frederick Co., MD
1830-1842: Lovettsville, VA
1842-1847: Reading, PA
1847-1854: Mercersburg, PA
1854-1858: Carlisle, Cumberland Co., PA
1858-1861: Mifflinburg, Union Co,. PA
1864-1868: Pottsville, PA
1868-1868: Williamsport and Philadelphia, PA
The record books of his ministry are on microfilm at the Family History Library, Film #940437 Item 6: Contents: Baptisms, 1828-1887 -- Marriages, 1829 - 1870 -- Funerals, 1828 - 1882 --- Communicants, Confirmations, Ordinations and Installations.
2. Census in 1850 in Peters Twp., Franklin, PA. 12 John C. Boocher, minister of the gospel, 45, was living with daughter Mary, 19; John H., student, 17; Joseph, student, 15; Henry, 14; Lydia, 11; Ann, 9; Ellen R., 7; Emma, 4. Also in the home: Henry Frey, 71; Catharine Wolfe, 64. Everyone was born in Pennsylvania.
3. Census in 1860 in Mifflinburg, Union, PA. 6 John C. Bucher, occupation "Reform Clergymen", age 56, is living with his children: Mary E., 28; John, 26, druggist; Mary, 25; Lydia C., 20; Anna, 18; Ellen R., 16; Emma, 14; and John, 2. Also in the home is Catherine Wolf, 64. All were born in Pennsylvania except Mary E., John, Lydia C., and Anna in Maryland, and the infant John in Illinois. John C. has no real estate and his possessions were worth $800. The post office was Mifflinsburg.
Since John C.'s wife died in 1847, the infant John born about 1858 in Illinois is probably a grandson.
4. Census in 1870 in Lewisburg, Union, PA. 13 John Bucher, 60, clergyman, was living with Mary, 30; and Ellen, 24. His real estate was worth $5,000 and personal estate $500. He and Ellen were born in Pennsylvania, Mary in Maryland. The post office was Lewisburg.
5. Newspaper: Philadelphia Inquirer, 5 Jul 1876, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. 14 A TERRIBLE MISHAP.
AN EXPLOSION IN A DOWNTOWN DRUG STORE RESULTS IN THE KILLING OF FOUR MEN OUTRIGHT. - MORE VICTIMS OF FOURTH OF JULY PATRIOTISM.
One of the most singular and terrific explosions that has occurred in Philadelphia in years sent a thrill of horror through the lower wards of the city yesterday afternoon, it resulting in the death of four men and the wounding of another. The locality of this terrible and shocking mishap was in Dr. Bucher's drug store, at the northwest corner of Passyunk road and Moore street.
It seems that at an early hour in the afternoon, Dr. Henry F. Bucher, the proprietor of the establishment, and a drug clerk by the name of Bernard Kauseman, were engaged in the laboratory in the rear of the store manufacturing pyrotechnics for a private display of fireworks. Among other articles upon which they were engaged was a large quantity of colored fires. While compounding these the whole mass suddenly exploded with a startling force.
John H. Bucher, a brother of the proprietor, was standing engaged in watching the process of manufacture, and these three men received the full strength of the exploding combustibles. The flesh was literally torn from their bodies, which were hurled violently beneath the counter with such force as to break the boards. J. C. Bucher, the father of the doctor, was also watching his son at work, but, fortunately for himself, he stood some distance away, and had time to escape by a side door with only a slight burn upon one of his hands.
A resident in the vicinity by the name of William Young was entering the store to make a purchase when the explosion occurred, and he was blown into the street through a bulk window and thrown against a tree box with great violence. He clung to this box for a few minutes until some persons rushed to his assistance and carried him into an adjoining house, where he expired soon after. His body received a number of deep cuts from the broken glass, and the severance of a main artery in the right leg produced death.
The explosion fired the building, which was a three-story double brick, and in a short time it and its contents were completely destroyed, the charred walls only remaining. The loss by the disaster will amount to about $5000. A second alarm of fire was sent to the department, as the high wind that prevailed endangered the surrounding property. The flames were confined to the building in which they originated.
Mrs. Bucher, who at the time of the explosion was sitting in the second story of the dwelling part of the house, in the rear, was in great danger of death from fire and smoke. She was rescued by two citizens, who took her out of a window by the aid of a ladder.
Dr. Bucher's body was so terribly mutilated as to be utterly unrecognizable, and had it not been for the finding of a fused watch case in the pocket of his vest, his remains could not have been identified. He leaves a wife but no children. The clerk resided on Passyunk road, below Moore street, and was a widower with two children.
His charred remains were not discovered until last night. Young's home was the first house on Moore street, west of Passyunk road.
The scene of the occurrence was visited by hundreds of people during the afternoon and last night, and the accident itself was the topic that engaged universal public attention in the down town wards.
6. Census in 1880 in Lewisburg, Union, PA. 15 Joseph C. Bucher, minister, 76, was living with daughter Mary, 45; Ellen, 32; and granddaughter Ellen Barber, 9. Everyone and their parents were born in Pennsylvania.
7. Book: History of Western Maryland, 1882. 16
The Reformed Church in the United States is the American representative of the Reformed Church of Germany and Switzerland. It derives its origin from the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Among its founders and early leaders were Zwingle, Calvin, and Ursinus. Its confession of faith is the Heidelberg Catechism.
The earliest German Reformed Churches in Pennsylvania were founded about the year 1720. During the colonial period they were closely connected with the church in the Fatherland, and were supplied with ministers mainly through the zeal and liberality of the Synods of Holland. Subsequently a number of the most intelligent American ministers undertook to prepare young men for the pastoral office, and this method of perpetuating the ministry was continued until the establishment of the Theological Seminary.
After several unsuccessful attempts an institution for the instruction of candidates for the ministry was opened on the 11th of March, 1825. at Carlisle, Pa. This was done in consequence of a proposition from the trustees of Dickinson College, then under the care of the Presbyterian Church, to furnish rooms for the seminary, on condition that the Professor of Theology should teach history and German in the college. Rev. Lewis Mayer, D.D., was the first professor. The first class of students numbered five, of whom Rev. John G. Fritchey, of Lancaster, is the sole survivor.
Soon afterwards Rev. James R. Reily, one of the most zealous friends of the seminary, visited Germany to solicit contributions toward an enterprise that was so intimately related to the welfare of emigrants from the Fatherland. He was very kindly received especially in Holland, Prussia, and Switzerland, and collected $6700, in money and books. One of the most liberal contributors was His Majesty. Frederick William III., King of Prussia, and many volumes presented by him are still in the library of the seminary. About the same time Rev. J. C. Beecher, of Shepherdstown, Va., succeeded in this country in collecting a handsome sum for the endowment of the seminary, and thus, it is said, saved it from financial ruin.
The first notice of building a house of worship for the Reformed people in this section is in a minute of a "meeting of the subscribers for the building of a Reformed church in Cavetown, held on Saturday, Nov. 11, 1826," when five trustees were elected, viz.: William Kreps, George Colliflower, Daniel Huyett, Henry Lyday, and Jacob Lambert, who were to have the oversight in the building of the house. They determined to build of brick, size fifty feet long by forty-five feed wide. At this time Rev. Henry Kroh was the pastor, and the congregation had no connection elsewhere. The corner-stone was laid Aug. 8, 1827, and has inscribed on it "Christ's Church," and on another stone in the front above the pulpit window "German Refd Church." In the meanwhile the pastor, Rev. Henry Kroh, was called to another field of labor, but the work of building went on, and in the following year (1828) Rev. J. C. Bucher had taken charge, and the church was so far finished that in the month of October, 1828, it was consecrated, at which time the pastor was assisted by his predecessor, Rev. Henry Kroh, Rev. James R. Riley, Rev. Martin Brunner, and Rev. Jacob Beecher. The church was now completed, and the congregation was fully organized and entered on its mission and work. Rev. J. C. Bucher was a faithful and energetic pastor, and it is a matter of record that he, "aided by my Lutheran colleague," as he says, "was instrumental in organizing the first temperance society in Washington County, and in all of Western Maryland." He says "it occasioned a very severe struggle and sore trial, but was attended with good success and usefulness." The ministry of Rev. J. C. Bucher came to a close in February, 1830, and brief as it was, a great work was done for morals and religion. During this year the congregation was attached to those of Waynesboro and Salem, in Pennsylvania, and Leitersburg, in Maryland, and now had settled over it as Pastor Rev. G. W. Glessner, and as early as May 23, 1831, a record is made of a baptism he performed.
8. Obituary: Centre Democrat on 25 Oct 1888 in Bellefonte, Centre, PA. 7 Rev. J. C. Bucher, D.D., father of Judge Bucher, died at his home in Lewisburg, Nov 15, 1888 after a brief illness of paralysis. Dr. Bucher was 85 years of age and was ordained 60 years ago. He was, with one exception, the oldest living minister of the Reformed Church in the United States. Interment at Harriburg on Tuesday this week.
9. Book: Abbott-Adlum-Green Families, 1957. 1
REV. JOHN CASPER BUCHER was born at Linglestown, Dauphin Co., Pa., June 18, 1804. He was educated at the Harrisburg Academy, Harrisburg, Pa., and at the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in the United States, Carlisle, Pa. After the merger of Marshall College, located at Mercersburg, Pa., with Franklin College at Lancaster, Pa., he served on the Franklin and Marshall College Board from 1852 to 1853 and from 1859 to 1867. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Franklin and Marshall College in 1870.
Dr. Bucher was a prominent clergyman in the German Reformed Church. He held pastorates at Cavetown, Md.; Middle- town, Md., from 1830 to 1842; Reading, Pa., from 1842 to 1849; at Mercersburg, Pa., from 1849 to 1854; at Carlisle, Pa., from 1854 to 1858; at Mifflinburg, Pa., from 1858 to 1861; and, at Pottsville, Pa., from 1864 to 1868. He died at Lewisburg, Pa., November 15, 1888, aged 84 years. He was buried at Harrisburg, Pa., where his wife had been buried approximately forty years earlier.
John Casper Bucher married Anna Eliza Frey on the 6th of October, 1828. She was born September 28, 1806, and died December 17, 1847. The following children were born to Rev, and Mrs. John Casper Bucher:
Sons
John Howe, b. Jan. 1, 1832; d. July 4, 1876
Joseph Casper, b. Jan. 28, 1834; d. Oct. 17, 1908; m. Mary Ellen Walls, Nov. 20, 1861
Henry P., b. June 23, 1836; d. July 4, 1876; m. Annie Keller, Jan. 5, 1864
Daughters
Mary Elizabeth, b. June 30, 1830; d. 1919
Lydia C., b. Oct. 3, 1838; d. 1921; in. Rev. Henry Anspach, June 27, 1865
Anna S., b. Jan. 12, 1841; d. 1871; m. J. Wilson Barber, Oct. 13, 1869
Ellen R., b. May 20, 1843; unmarried
Emma Susan, b. Oct. 9, 1845; d. 1925; m. John R. Hoffman, Jan. 7, 1869
Only five of Rev. Bucher's children survived him. Two sons who were living in Philadelphia died as the result of a serious accident, July 1876. Mary Elizabeth and Ellen R. were buried at Lewisburg, Pa. Mary Elizabeth never married.
SOURCES FOR REV. JOHN CASPER BUCHER
History of Frederick County, Md.: pp. 465, 476, 485.
Index Register, German Reformed Church, Frederick, Md., Vol. I, p. 550.
Biographical Annals of Deceased Residents of the West Branch Susquehanna Valley: ?
Obituary Records, Franklin & Marshall College Library, Lancaster: Vol. I, pp. 127-128; Vol. II, pp. 252-253.
Photograph; History of Christ Reformed Church, Cavetown, Md., 1921, pp. 74-76; Maryland Room, Pratt Library, Baltimore, Md.: WX 9581 C 3 C4.
John married Anna Eliza Frey, daughter of Henry Frey and Mary, on 6 Oct 1828.1 (Anna Eliza Frey was born on 28 Sep 1806 in , , PA,1 17 died on 17 Dec 1847 in Mercersburg, Franklin, PA 1 17 and was buried in Harrisburg: Harrisburg Cemetery, Dauphin, PA 1 17.)
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