Balthas Getchey and Anna Barbara Keck

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Husband Balthas Getchey ¹

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           Born: 10 Feb 1821 - Durwangen, Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany 2
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         Father: Balthas Getchey (1773-1837) 2
         Mother: Elizabeth Hauser (      -      ) 2

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       Marriage: 1849 2

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Wife Anna Barbara Keck ²

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Children

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1 M Frank Lucas Getchey ²

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           Born: 
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           Died: Bef 1890
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2 F Anna M. Getchey ²

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           Died: Bef 1890
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3 M Jacob F. Getchey ²

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         Spouse: Jennie Frew (      -      ) 2
           Marr: 3 Mar 1879 2

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4 F Elizabeth Catharine Getchey ²

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         Spouse: Edmund P. Campbell (      -      ) 2
           Marr: 28 Nov 1877 2

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5 F Lucy E. Getchey ²

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            AKA: Lucy L. Getchey 1
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         Spouse: George L. Croushore (      -      ) 3
           Marr: 27 Mar 1884 3

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General Notes: Husband - Balthas Getchey

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He was reared and educated in Germany, where he learned the trade of cabinet-making in Wurtemberg, and at the age of nineteen went to Switzerland and worked at his trade there until he was twenty-one, when he was compelled to return home to arrange for German militia. He was drafted, paid four hundred guilders, or about one hundred and sixty dollars for a substitute, after which he returned to Switzerland and remained until 1844, when he started with companions down the Rhine to Rotterdam, thence to Havre, France, where they took a vessel for America. After being on the ocean for forty-two days he was landed at New York. He soon worked his way to Westmoreland County, and after working at his trade at various points settled at West Newton in 1849 and commenced to carry on the cabinet-making and furniture business. In 1845 he, with his brother, Jacob F., began drilling a salt well and succeeded in finding some salt water and also struck a quantity of gas which they utilized for a number of years in boiling the salt water. He was thus the first man to use natural gas in that part of the country for manufacturing purposes. Politically he was a democrat and served his borough as councilman and school director. He was a member of the Lutheran church, was treasurer of the board of trustees, and for more than thirty-seven years was identified with West Newton Lodge, No. 440, I. O. of O. F., and never received one cent for relief; was its treasurer beginning in 1876 and was a member of the Encampment branch of same order and its treasurer when instituted at West Newton. [HBCWC 1890, 295]

1 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 288, 295.

2 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 295.

3 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 288.