Biographical Sketch of William ACKENBACH (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris <jMcDmorris@comcast.net>. Copyright. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************* Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp.774-5. "WILLIAM ACKENBACH, of Charlestown township, stands in the front rank of the progressive farmers of Chester county. He is a son of Jacob and Margaret (Blank) Ackenbach, and was born in Beiten, Prussia, February 26, 1842. The Ackenbach family has been resident of Prussia for several generations, where its members have always been accounted quiet and industrious people. "Jacob Ackenbach was a shepherd in Beiten, where he spent his life. He was industrious like all of his ancestors, and left a son, Jacob Ackenbach, who married and was the father of Jacob Ackenbach, whose son William is the sub- ject of this sketch. Jacob Ackenbach was reared to habits of industry and economy, and followed well in the footsteps of his father before him. He married Margaret Blank, and to their union were born eight children, four sons and four daughters. "William Ackenbach received his education in the excellent public schools of Prussia, and after performing the required military service of his native country, engaged in farming, which he followed in various parts of the present great German empire until 1867. In that year he left Hesse, one of the most important States of Germany, and on March 24th landed at New York city, which he left a few days later to engage in farming at Germantown, near Philadelphia, this State. "Within a year he left Germantown and went to New Jersey, in which State he remained but a short time, and then came back to Pennsylvania, where he set- tled in Montgomery county. There he was successful in farming, and after nine years spent in different townships, he rented a farm near North Wales, that county, which he tilled with very profitable results for nearly four years. At the end of that time, in 1880, he came to the Chester valley in this county, where he rented a farm then owned by John Wilson. On it he spent six years, and by industry, economy and good management, so increased his savings that he was enabled to purchase his present farm of one hundred and twenty-four acres of land, near the village of Charlestown, in Charles- town township. His farm is fertile and well watered, has substantial build- ings of all kinds, good fences, and is so carefully and scientifically cultivated as to retain its fertility, while yielding large and remunerative crops. Perceiving the want of Philadelphia for an increase of its milk and butter supply, he established a dairy, which is now one of the largest dairies in the township. "On January 3, 1873, Mr. Ackenbach married Anna Harrah, a daughter of William and Martha (Rogers) Harrah, of Montgomery county. To Mr. and Mrs. Ackenbach have been born three children, two sons and one daughter: Edgar, now attend- ing Chester Springs academy; Leo, a student at the same academy; and Edith. "In politics Mr. Achenbach (sic) has always been a strong democrat, and believes in the principles of democracy as taught by Jefferson and practiced by Jackson and Cleveland. His family are members of Pikeland Evangelical Lutheran church. William Ackenbach possesses those sterling traits of the great German race which have made it famous alike in war and peace. Indus- trious, honorable and economical, he has risen from the position of a penni- less stranger in this county, to that of one of the most prosperous farmers and well respected citizens of Charlestown township."