BIO: Theodore H. CREMER, Huntingdon County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Denise Phillips

Copyright 2006.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm 
**********************************************************
__________________________________________________________________  

Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, 
Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. 
Runk & Co., 1897, pages 68-69.
__________________________________________________________________ 

  THEODORE H. CREMER, deceased, was a son of Abraham and Maria Magdalena 
(Haller) Cremer; he was born at York, Pa., March 16, 1817.  The Cremer 
family - originally Kremmer - is traditionally said to be of Huguenot 
origin, and were among the many exiles from France in those days of 
religious persecution to which America owes so much of her best blood.  They 
were a wealthy family, but more devoted to their faith than to their own 
possessions.  Adam Kremmer and his wife, Elizabeth, emigrated from the 
province of Alsace to America, crossing the sea in the merchant ship 
Philadelphia, and arriving at the port of Philadelphia, September 10, 1731.  
The settled first in Lancaster county and afterwards in Kreutz Creek Valley, 
York county, Pa., where they spent the remainder of their lives.  They are 
buried in the Kreutz Creek Valley Churchyard, where a tombstone said to be 
that of Hans Adam Kremmer may still be seen.  Among original lists of 
passenger now on file in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, at 
Harrisburg, according to the act of 1727, Col. Rec. III, are found the names 
of Hans Adam Kremmer, his wife Elizabeth, Eve, Maria, Christina, Adam and 
Catherine, and the husband of Catherine Kremmer, Hans Martin Shultz.  Under 
the same act, all males above the age of sixteen were required to take the 
oath of allegiance, and on the list of those who had complied with this 
requirement are found the names of Hans Adam Kremmer and Hans Martin Shultz.
  Brought up in York, Pa., before the establishment of common schools, 
Theodore H. Cremer enjoyed the intellectual training afforded by the best 
private schools of the town, and by the York County Academy, then under the 
charge of Rev. Stephen Boyer.  He then read law, first in the office of 
Robert J. Fisher, Esq., York, Pa., in 1837; and afterwards, in 1838-39, at 
Williamsport, Pa., under James Armstrong, Esq.  In December, 1839, Mr. 
Cremer became clerk in the prothonotary's office at Huntingdon, Pa., under 
James Steel, Esq., with whom he continued to study law until he was 
admitted, in the fall of 1840, to the law school at Carlisle, Pa., where he 
graduated with the class of 1841.  On the 3d day of August, in the same 
year, he was admitted to the York county bar, and on the 10th of the same 
month, to that of Huntingdon county.  From that time until his death, 
October 25, 1893, Theodore H. Cremer was a resident of Huntingdon.
  In addition to his legal record, Mr. Cremer has also a literary history.  
Thrown even in boyhood upon his own resources, he acquired the art of 
printing at the Sherman printing house, in Philadelphia.  In Williamsport he 
was editor of the West Branch Republican, of that town; he afterwards edited 
the Huntingdon County Republican, published at Huntingdon.  In 1885 he wrote 
a series of sketches, entitled "Huntingdon as it was Fifty Years Ago," which 
were published in the Huntingdon Local News, and attracted much attention.  
Mr. Cremer was twice prothonotary, being elected in 1848 and 1851.  In 1855 
he was chief burgess.  In 1856 he was elected district attorney, without 
opposition.  He has also served in the Huntingdon school board.
  Theodore H. Cremer was twice married.  The first marriage, June 15, 1843, 
was with Mary Jane, daughter of Robert and Eliza (McFarland) Graham, of 
Cumberland county.  Their only child of this union was George, born June 25, 
1845; he married Tamzon Massey Franklin, October 10, 1877, and now resides 
in Philadelphia.  The second wife of Mr. Cremer was Margaretta, daughter of 
Isaac and Jane Dorland; they were married September 17, 1850.  Of their 
eight children, four are living:  Franklin, of Huntingdon; Edgar S., of 
Saxton, Pa.; Miss Mary H., of Huntingdon; and John D., of Washington, D. C.  
Mrs. Theodore H. Cremer was born May 25, 1820.  She survives her husband, 
and resides in Huntingdon.