ISRAEL WEIRICH. Late in the last century the ancestors of the Weirich family came from Germany, and located in eastern Pennsylvania. There, in Lebanon county, in 1804, Jacob Weirich, the father of subject, was born, and there passed the first few years of his life. At an early age he accompanied his parents westward, settling with them on the original Weirich homestead in Washington county, where the remainder of his long life was spent. The county was then little more than a wilderness, not yet having given evidence of those varied resources which have since made it so famous. The story of his boyhood is that of almost any youth in similar circumstances. In early manhood he was married to Susan, daughter of Fredrick Foster, of Washington, Penn. With small means, but full of confidence and with bright hopes for the future, the young couple entered upon what proved to be a long and happy married life. Of the five children born to them four survive: Israel, Elizabeth (Mrs. William Ely), Mary (Mrs. Simon Ashbrook) and Susan (Mrs. James Mountz). The youngest daughter, Amanda (Mrs. William Morton), died in 1882 from the effects of blood poisoning. In the spring of 1885, while still active and apparently hale and strong, Mr. Weirich was stricken with paralysis, from the effects of which he died August 12, same year, at the advanced age of eighty-one years. In his life Mr. Weirich, though singularly quiet and unobtrusive, was yet a man of broad views and unselfish aims, ever ready with moral and financial support for any enterprise which had for its object the advancement or good of the community. In his occupation he had, from small beginnings, reached independence and prosperity through perseverance, industry and frugality, coupled with that surest method--strict integrity. Always living up to those principles which later in life he openly avowed by uniting with the East Buffalo Presbyterian Church, he was ever recognized as upright and straightforward in business transactions, a kind, indulgent husband and father, and an esteemed neighbor and friend. Regarding his political views, Mr. Weirich was formerly a Whig, afterward a Republican, but always refrained from participating actively in political affairs. His widow, Mrs. Susan Weirich, a lady wonderfully strong and active for her age, still survives and resides in Washington, Pennsylvania. Israel Weirich, the subject of our sketch, is the oldest child and only son born to Jacob and Susan (Foster) Weirich. Born and raised upon his father's farm, he has followed agricultural pursuits all his life, and his energy, foresight and constant attention to duty have been rewarded with a measure of success beyond the average. Mr. Weirich's boyhood days would hardly accord with the popular idea of the early life of an only son. The practical side of the gospel of work was among his first lessons. A part of each winter at the district school composed the sum of his school education; and while yet very young he assumed the management of the major portion of his father's increasing interests at the sacrifice of opportunities for a more liberal education, a course which he regretted ever afterward. His loss in this respect, however, was a gain in the dearer school of experience, the lessons of which were constantly turned to practical account in his after life. On March 30, 1859, Mr. Weirich was united in marriage with Sarah, daughter of James and Sarah Thompson, of Buffalo township, and immediately settled upon and took charge of his father's farm in the same township. Three years later he removed to his present home in Canton township, a farm of 225 acres, which he has since been constantly improving until it is one of the most complete and desirable in the county. In 1887 the old homestead, which had originally been one of the old taverns in the days of the stage coach, was removed and replaced by an elegant modern structure, beautifully situated and complete in all its appointments. A large family-seven sons and two daughters-have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Weirich, all yet living with the exception of one daughter who died in childhood. Though his sense of duty compelled him to forego his earlier educational advantages, through the influence of extended travel, constant reading and his lively interest in all public affairs, Mr. Weirich is a man of liberal ideas and broad views. Profiting by his own experience and fully realizing the benefits of a liberal education, he has sent four sons to Washington and Jefferson College, and his daughter to the Washington Female Seminary. In politics Mr. Weirich is a Republican, though not a strong partisan. He never allowed party lines to restrain him from casting his vote on what he considered the side of justice and right, in favor of whatever political party it might be. He has been a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church; was for many years a ruling elder in the East Buffalo Church, and was one of the founders of, and is a ruling elder in, the Third Presbyterian Church of Washington, Pennsylvania. Always cautious and prone to weigh well any enterprise before entering into it, it was his practice, when a course was resolved on, to pursue it with an energy characteristic of his German extraction, and with results which demonstrated his belief in the truth of the maxim: " Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well." While good fortune has so uniformly followed him in his various undertaking, Mr. Weirich has ever been ready to extend a helping hand to those who have been less fortunate in this world's affairs. His acts of charity, however, have always been performed in a quiet, undemonstrative manner, rendered the more so by his invariable habit of dispersing them widely and without regard to sect or creed. If, however, his charities have been extended in any one direction more than another, it has been with a view to the relief and uplifting of the colored race in the South. Ever a friend of the negroes, with a full realization of their present condition, gained directly by travel and observation in the South, and with a firm belief in a bright future for the race, he has been constant with sympathy and financial support for their cause.

Text taken from page 516 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed May 1997 by George & Mary Ann Plance of Gainesville, FL as part of the Beers Project. Published June 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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