Bios: Philip Ginder (Ginther/Ginter) 1820-1907:

Carbon County File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Dan Wilson. dan.wilson@asu.edu

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PHILIP GINDER (Ginther/Ginter) 1820-1907

Grandson of the discoverer of Anthracite.

Ginder, Philip (Ginther/Ginter), was one of Carbon county's grand old men and one of the most interesting personalities in eastern Pennsylvania.

He was a grandson of the Philip Ginder who came to America from Holland about the year 1745, and who achieved lasting fame by his accidental discovery of anthracite coal on Sharp mountain, near Summit Hill, in 1791. Mr. Ginder's maternal grandfather was Philip Daubenspeck, who served as a soldier under Washington during the Revolutionary War.

Philip Ginder, the pioneer, had two sons, Philip and Jacob. Philip Ginder, the subject of this sketch, was born August 16, 1820, and was one of the eleven children of Jacob Ginder, who, in the year 1825, came to Mahoning Valley from West Penn township, Schuylkill County, where he followed the business of making mill stones and also conducted a farm.

At the age of sixteen Mr. Ginder was apprenticed to learn the carpenter trade, which vocation he followed for many years.

Among the more important buildings he helped to construct was Carbon County�s first court house. He subsequently became a boat builder, and ranked as the best on the Lehigh Canal.

He became well-to-do, but met with a severe reversal through the flood of 1862, which wrought great havoc along the Lehigh, sweeping away his lumber and boat yards at Penn Haven, and the boats in course of construction, as well as his home at Weissport, causing a loss amounting to thousands of dollars.

Undaunted by his misfortune, and still being in the prime of life, he immediately began to recoup his losses by helping to build the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroads into the heart of the coal regions, and later served successively as roadmaster for both corporations, retiring from active service about the year 1890.

On December 5, 1847, Mr. Ginder was united in marriage to Rebecca, daughter of Peter Steckel, of Egypt, Lehigh county.

The following children were born to them:

Carlotta, widow of Thomas Brodhead of Philadelphia;

Sarah E., deceased, who was married to G. W. Miller, Sr., of Weatherly;

John, deceased; Washington, of Philadelphia;

Rosa R., wife of Frank Snyder, of East Mauch Chunk;

Eliza J., wife of John Maltman, of Vineland, N. J.;

Emma M., wife of J. W. Slocum, of Philadelphia;

David P., of Rockport;

Thomas, deceased;

Grant De W., of New York,

Helen M. Schlauch, of Allentown.

The family lived for many years at Rockport, Carbon county.

Mr. Ginder spent his declining years at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Frank Snyder, retaining his mental and physical vigor in a remarkable degree to the end.

He took pardonable pride in the fact that one of his grandfathers was the discoverer of the mineral which transformed Carbon county from a wilderness to a community teeming with industry and happy homes, as well as adding so largely to the material well-being and comfort of millions of his fellow men, while the other helped to free the country from foreign tyranny and oppression.

Mr. Ginder departed this life on January 24, 1912 in the ninety-second year of his age. His wife died May 8, 1907, aged 79 years.