“Few women have shown the capacity of Mrs. Leisenring, who in addition to performing her duties with credit, has taken a leading part in the uplift movement in Pennsylvania, and has in addition reared a fine family of sons and daughters to noble positions in the world.” — Factory news report, Reading Eagle, 20 May 1914

 

Anna (Weiser) Leisenring (1851-1942) was a rarity in nineteenth century America. Strong, proud and not easily ruffled, she was a woman with genuine power—and she knew how to wield it.

By the early twentieth century, she had become equally as famous as her husband, Thomas B. Leisenring (1838-1887), a Lehigh Valley newspaper editor and respected veteran of the American Civil War.

Lineage and Birth

Born at her family’s home at 22 North 8th Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 18 August 1851, Anna Weiser was known to her family and friends as “Annie.” A descendant of one of the Keystone State’s most famous pioneers—Conrad Weiser (1696-1760), the emigrant from Astaat, Germany who negotiated all of the major treaties that were signed between the Iroquois Nations and Pennsylvania’s 88 colonial settlers between 1731 and 1758—she was also a granddaughter of Pennsylvania’s renowned craftsman Martin Weiser. According to Lehigh County historian Charles Rhoads Roberts:

For three generations descendants of Conrad Weiser have been prominent in the affairs of Lehigh county and the city of Allentown. Martin Weiser, a veteran of the War of 1812, was a lineal descendant of Conrad. Martin was one of the best known men in the county, having been one of the first makers of what are now known as ‘Grandfather’s clocks. Many of the specimens of his skill in this line are still to be found in the rural districts of the county….

Annie’s father was Martin Weiser’s only son, Nelson Weiser (1823-1876), a former clerk of the Pennsylvania Senate who went on to become a newspaper publisher and then a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives during the American Civil War. Per Roberts:

Nelson early in life became a cigar-maker [during the 1940s], but abandoned the trade to engage in business and politics. He was the political lieutenant of Major William Fry and when the latter was elected to the state senate, Mr. Weiser became clerk of the senate, a position he filled for several sessions. He served, as a Democrat, as a member of the State House of Representatives during the sessions of 1863, 1864 and 1865. In 1858 Mr. Weiser entered the newspaper business when he became a part owner of the Republikaner, the German Democratic weekly. In 1866 the firm of Harlacher & Weiser secured control of the Lehigh Valley Daily News, a morning publication which had been launched on the turbulent sea of journalism several months previous by J. Peter Correll, of Easton. Mr. Weiser remained in the newspaper profession until 1874, when he retired from active life, dying April 20, 1876, after a busy career. Mr. Weiser also served for many years as common councilman from the Fifth ward and was for several terms chairman of that body. He was also one of the organizers of the old Allentown Passenger Railway Company, and drew up the charter for the organization, which Governor Geary declared was the “most sweeping document that was ever granted to a railway corporation.” The Governor had summoned Mr. Weiser to Harrisburg and asked him whether the people of Allentown wanted a company with a charter like that. Mr. Weiser informed him that no objection had been made to it and the Governor affixed his signature with the remark: “Why, the Allentown Passenger Railway Company can run its tracks through every street and alley of Allentown if it wishes to do so. It can run locomotives over them.”

Annie Weiser’s mother was Elemina R. (Massey) Weiser (1822-1906), a daughter of Massachusetts native Dr. Joseph Fox Massey, a veteran of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Formative Years

As the older sister of Mary Catherine (1854-1947), Sarah Matilda (1859-1862), and Charles William Weiser (1863-1924), Annie Weiser spent her formative years of the 1850s with her siblings in Allentown. During this time, their father was appointed to the Democratic Central Committee, and was employed as a transcribing clerk for the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1855 and 1856 and as a member of the Board of Revenue Commissioners in Harrisburg in 1857. In 1858, he became a newspaper publisher when his firm Harlacher & Weiser acquired the Republikaner.

The happy Weiser home was shaken during the early 1860s, however, by the untimely death of Annie’s youngest sister, who had not yet reached the age of three when she was laid to rest at Allentown’s Union-West Cemetery after passing away on 2 March 1862.

Around this same time, Annie’s father, Nelson Weiser, was continuing to ramp up his involvement in Democratic Party politics. A member of the Copperhead County Ticket in Lehigh County, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, a position he held from the middle of the American Civil War (1863) through the early part of the Reconstruction era (1866).

Educated initially in the local schools, Annie Weiser and her younger sister, Mary Catherine, attended the Allentown Academy and the Allentown College for Women (now Cedar Crest College). As a 17-year-old (circa 1868), Annie found work as a public school educator, teaching students in her hometown’s 5th Ward in what later became known (during the 1940s) as the Herbst Building. Her father, who had departed from the Pennsylvania House by this time, was serving as a member of Allentown’s Common Council.

Marriage and Children

Still residing at home with her parents and surviving siblings when the federal census taker arrived at their 5th Ward home in Allentown in July of 1870, Annie Weiser began her own family before the decade ended after marrying Captain Thomas Benton Leisenring, who had returned from the Civil War in January 1866 after serving as the final commanding officer of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s G Company.

Their first child, Mary K. Leisenring, was born and buried sometime before June 1880 when the federal census was taken at their Allentown home. Their surviving children were: Abigail E. Leisenring (1875-1965), who went on to wed John S. Correll, a painter who later became the editor of the Easton Sunday Call; Annie S. Leisenring (1877-1882); Louise A. Leisenring (1879-1945), who went on to become the first woman in Lehigh County to operate a linotype machine and then served her community for a quarter of a century thereafter as a court probation officer; George H. Thomas Leisenring (1881-1943), who rose to prominence as member of both the Grand Army of the Republic and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War; and Peter Weiser Leisenring (1884-1970), who later became the business manager for Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper.

By 1880, Annie Leisenring was living with her husband at their home at 455 Linden Street in Allentown’s 5th Ward. The household at this time also included their children Abbie (aged 5), Annie S. (aged 2), and Louisa, who had just been born in August of 1879. Also living with the family was a sixteen-year-old servant, Isadora Groman. According to the Seventh Annual Report of the Insurance Commissioner of the State of Pennsylvania and other sources, Annie’s husband, Thomas B. Leisenring, was employed during this time as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Allen Mutual Fire Insurance Company in Allentown.

Their stability and happiness were short-lived, however, dampened by the untimely death of another child—their daughter, Annie S. Leisenring, who was laid to rest at Allentown’s Linden Street Cemetery after passing away in 1882. Compounding the family’s grief, Annie E. (Weiser) Leisenring was forced to become a working, single mother before that decade’s end due to yet another untimely death—that of her husband in 1887, which resulted from a “softening of the brain,” according to U.S. Civil War Pension records.

As Thomas Leisenring’s widow, Annie Leisenring was awarded a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension. Beginning at the rate of $20 per month on 22 June 1887, that pension was subsequently increased to $25 per month on 8 October 1917 and to $30 per month on 1 May 1920.

Professional and Civic Activities

Post-war, Annie (Weiser) Leisenring became an active, charter member of the Grand Army of the Republic, eventually becoming commander of the Department of Pennsylvania, Ladies of the G. A. R.—a post which enabled her to play a major role in the quality of life improvements made for Pennsylvania’s Civil War veterans.

Turn of the Century

In 1900, the Reading Eagle reported that Annie Leisenring had advised Berks County commissioners regarding legal requirements for fire escape installation and maintenance at industrial establishments. In 1905, the Harrisburg Telegraph reported that she had “turned back to the schools many underaged children working in factories.” In 1906 and 1909, respectively, Allentown newspapers reported on her inspection of the Atlas Portland Cement Company and her successful efforts to condemn an unsafe elevator in a building at Seventh and Turner Streets in Allentown.

Fighting to end the employment of underage girls in industrial locations under her area of supervision, Annie E. Leisenring’s successful prosecution of offending employers was reported in the 1911 Harrisburg Telegraph as follows:

Mahanoy City, Pa., Sept. 8. Admitting that he employed girls under the legal age and otherwise violated the child labor law, Isadora Janowitz, a shirt manufacturer, was heavily fined by Justice Kelley here yesterday. Deputy Factory Inspector Annie Leisenring prosecuted the case, and is on the trail of a dozen other offenders in this county.

In June 1913, The Allentown Leader reported on her attempts to relieve the suffering of boys and girls at a local children’s home:

ORDERED TO THE COUNTY
Judge Remarks That the Salvation Army Home, Whose Children Used to Sing on the Square, Was a Refuge For Tramps Case Brought by Associated Charities.

On complaint of the Board of Associated Charities of this city that the Day Nursery and Children’s Home, Wigand Shenkenberger superintendent, is being conducted in an improper manner, the Court heard testimony this morning. At noon the hearing was continued until 3 o’clock this afternoon, when Judge Trexler will give further instructions.

District Attorney Rupp and former Mayor James L. Schaadt represented the Associated Charities and former District Attorney Lichtenwalner appeared for Mr. Shenkenberger. Some damaging testimony was given. The decision was that the children be removed to the County Home.

Dr. Fred Bausch, the first witness, testified that he had been called to the institution to examine several inmates of the home which the Associated Charities were about to place in charge of the Children’s Aid Society of Philadelphia. He found the children suffering from Hungarian itch, an infectious disease, and that he found them in an uncleanly condition and not well nursed or clothed. The Physician stated that the disease may last for weeks or months, according to the condition of the patient, but that with proper care it could be cured in a short time. An ointment was prescribed, but no one called for it at the doctor’s office, according to his testimony. Dr. William Troxell, the next witness, stated that he had been at the institution with Dr. Bausch and he corroborated his testimony.

Miss Lucy J. Collins, general secretary of the Associated Charities, testified that she had gone to the Day Nursery to see the children which the board had decided to place in charge of the Children’s Aid Society. The children, who were brought from school when she asked to see them, were in anything but a cleanly condition and that a woman attendant at the nursery was dirty. It was also brought out that the children’s underwear was ragged and dirty. It was stated that Mrs. Elda DeBelle, president of the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the nursery, called at the home to look after some matters and that she was told by the superintendent that the institution could be conducted without her help. Several of the children confined to the home are charges of the Board of Poor Directors and the nursery receives $1 per week for their keeping. One of the witnesses testified that several of the children who are suffering with itch were in a healthy condition when they were placed in charge of the nursery, and that their arms and ears were crusted with dirt. Mrs. Sarah Fairfield, who had two sons at the home, stated that she had taken clothing there for her children, but they were never given to them to wear. One of the boys had suffered from eczema, but “had been cured before entering the institution.” She said she called at the home in the dead of winter and that her boys were in the yard with only thin clothing on their backs and no underwear.

Deputy Factory Inspector Mrs. Annie Leisenring testified that she had visited the nursery in her official capacity and that she found the children very dirty and the things in a bad condition generally. Mrs. Leisenring stated that when she asked the superintendent why the children were not given proper care and the nursery kept in a cleanly condition, she was given an evasive answer, [and noted] the superintendent’s five children were much better clothed than the other inmates of the home.

Alderman Scholl of the First Ward, who was called next, testified that prior to occupying the present building, the nursery was established in a structure which he rented and that when it was vacated three large wagon loads of dirt and filth were removed.

Mr. Gangloff of Reading, who has several children in the home, stated that he sent money to the superintendent at times for the support of the children, but that he did not pay regularly. His wife stated that she was unable to care for the support of her children on account of a disease from which she is suffering. Recently, she stated, she called at the nursery after being discharged from a hospital, where she underwent an operation, and that she found her youngest child’s head covered with a scab and that she removed a large number of lice from its head.

A letter sent to Superintendent Shenkenberger by Bromley Wharton … of the Board of Charities of Pennsylvania, after he had inspected the Institution was presented, in evidence by the prosecution. In the communication the nursery was condemned in the severest terms.

Superintendent Shenkenberger took the stand in his own defense, and he stated that the institution was [constituted] under a charter granted by the Court to the Christian Volunteers and was compelled to exist entirely from contributions from charitably inclined people.

[He then went on to delineate the difficult medical conditions of several of the children assigned to his care, including at least one he described as “feeble minded,” and that he was in financial difficulties because he had personally not earned much money from work “during the past three months and that he and his wife and five children received their board and lodging from the funds” of another children’s home elsewhere in Pennsylvania.]

In May 1914, the Reading Eagle reported on her planned inspection tour of Reading bakeries on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:

Mrs. Annie E. Leisenring, recently assigned by the Department of Factory Inspection to inspect the bake shops and the textile establishments of Reading, is one of the most experienced of the whole of the capable force of Dr. John Price Jackson, state commissioner of industry and labor.

Few women have shown the capacity of Mrs. Leisenring, who in addition to performing her duties with credit, has taken a leading part in the uplift movement in Pennsylvania, and has in addition reared a fine family of sons and daughters to noble positions in the world.

Mrs. Leisenring is the widow of Captain Thomas B. Leisenring, who during the Civil War was commander of Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, the celebrated regiment commanded by Colonel Good and General Gobin, of which many Berks soldiers were members.

Descendant of Conrad Weiser.
Mrs. Leisenring is a lineal descendant of the sixth generation of Conrad Weiser, the great colonial pioneer, whose fame is indelibly connected with the history of Berks County.

She was appointed a factory inspector in 1893, and with the exception of Captain Baker, of Corry, is the senior of the force. She early made a reputation for efficiency, and has a peculiar ability to perform duties where women are employed. She is slow to invoke the law, but woe betide the refractory owner of factory or building who defies the law. She prosecuted several notable cases early in her career, representing the commonwealth with honor and dignity, and winning all her cases. Now the good intended by the department is so well known that she no longer has any trouble.

Mrs. Leisenring has done most of her work in the counties of Eastern Pennsylvania, but on occasions has been delegated to various sections, so that she is known in every section of the state. She has covered every phase of inspection work, including industries, mercantile establishments, apartment houses, bakeries, hotels, lodge halls and schools other than public schools.

Praises Eagle Plant.
Nowhere has she been received with more courtesy than in newspaper offices, for which there is a double reason. In the first place, Mrs. Leisenring says the newspapers are quick to adopt sanitary regulations, even in advance of the law. And then Mrs. Leisenring has always been identified with newspapers. Her father, Nelson Weiser, was an editor. Her husband was an editor. Her brother, Charles W. Weiser, is editor of the Allentown Democrat. One son, George H. Thomas Leisenring, is an artistic printer, working on the Allentown Chronicle. Her younger son, Peter W. Leisenring, is business manager of the Allentown Morning Call. Her elder daughter is the wife of Editor Correll, of the Easton Sentinel, and her younger daughter, Miss Louise Leisenring, is a skilled linotype operator. Somehow or other the rumor has circulated around Allentown that Mrs. Leisenring has said that the plant of ‘The Reading Eagle’ is the ideal print shop.

Mrs. Leisenring’s elder son, George H. Thomas Leisenring, by virtue of inheritance, is one of Allentown’s few members in Allentown of the Loyal Legion. As such, he makes an annual pilgrimage to pay the respects of the family and the memory of his distinguished father to General Gregg, at Reading.

Mrs. Leisenring’s official duties have led her to see the good that can be accomplished by organization in the line of civic advancement, and she is active in the Child Helping conference, the Playgrounds Association, the Social Center and the Parent-Teacher Association. She has besides done much to advance everything concerning the welfare of children and industrial workers. She is also, as the widow of a soldier, a leading member of the Ladies of the G.A.R., and takes a warm interest in the proper observance of Memorial Day.

Some years ago Mrs. Leisenring served as an inspector of factories in Berks County and she is well and favorably known in that territory.

In November 1916, during a speech before colleagues attending the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Fourth Annual Welfare and Efficiency Conference in Harrisburg, she advocated for improved English language training for women as a way to help reduce factory-related injuries:

Mr. Chairman, I think that is a problem that not only concerns the manufacturer, but the inspectors as well. Now in my home town we have a number of large cigar factories employing non-English speaking women. This year there are something like sixteen hundred in all. For the past two years our school board has conducted a school for foreigners and this year we have been successful in getting about forty women to attend that school, and we hope to be able to induce more to do so. There are registered this year possibly – I don’t have the correct figures at hand – eighty men and sixty women, but this is the first year that we have been able to induce women to attend. This is conducted by our Public School Board and there are four teachers under a supervisory principal, James Gallagher, one of the best instructors we have in Allentown, and in a conference with him just the morning before I left he was very enthusiastic over the work.

In January 1917, the Reading Eagle reported on Annie Leisenring’s background in a similar fashion to its 1914 coverage of her, noting her retirement that year:

After service of almost 25 years, Mrs. Annie E. Leisenring, of this city, the oldest of the factory inspectors of Pennsylvania in the length of time she has been on the force, has, by direction of Gov. Brumbaugh, been placed on the state’s roll of honor, going on the retired list at half pay. The law provides for retirement at half salary after 20 years of service, but Mrs. Leisenring continued at her work for two reasons, because she herself loved the work and because the authorities of the department were anxious that she should. The announcement of the governor came in the shape of a letter from his private secretary, W. H. Ball, and simultaneously there came a letter from Lewis R. Palmer, the acting commissioner of labor and industry, congratulating Mrs. Leisenring both on the honor that has been conferred on her and on the noble work she has done for the commonwealth and humanity.

Served Since 1893.
Mrs. Leisenring was appointed a deputy factory inspector in June 1893, where there were only the chief and 11 inspectors like herself, and she has seen the department grow to the present splendid organization of more than 300, which is the pride of the country. When the old factory inspection department was absorbed by the Department of Labor and Industry she continued as an inspector in the new department. She has not only seen the growth of the work, but she helped to build the department, in which her word, advice and influence were second to none. Her first district included Berks, Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties, and she covered assignments in Carbon, Schuylkill and Lebanon, besides being called into conference in every section of Pennsylvania. In the start she covered all industries, but he past several years she devoted her energies chiefly to the inspection of bake shops and the enforcement of the child labor laws. Her inspections often numbered as many as 1,200 a year.

Widow of Civil War Officer.
Mrs. Leisenring was a school teacher before she was married, and she always took a great interest in welfare work, in which she is one of the pioneers, as well as one of the greatest authorities in this country. She was one of the organizers of the Lehigh Valley child helping conference and is a prominent member both of the national safety council and of Lehigh Valley Local No. 5, the largest safety local in America.

She was also one of the organizers of the Allentown Red Cross Society and is a member of the Ladies of the Grand Army, of which she is a department officer; a member of the Lehigh County Historical Society, and by appointment of Judge Groman a member and secretary of the Lehigh county board of visitors to the penal and charitable institutions. She helped to organize the Parent-Teachers’ Association, of Allentown, and is president of the Herbst branch, is vice president of the Allentown Playgrounds Association, and is also a member of and active in St. John’s Lutheran Church, and the ladies’ auxiliaries of Muhlenberg College and the Allentown Hospital.

Mrs. Leisenring is the widow of Capt. Thomas B. Leisenring, who was commander of Co. G, of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War, and besides all her official and unofficial labors accomplished something much more – placed her four children in honorable positions in the world.

A Descendant of Conrad Weiser.
She is a descendant in the sixth generation of Conrad Weiser, the celebrated worker and law-giver among the Indians during the Revolutionary War and before, and a daughter of Nelson Weiser, who was a newspaper editor of Allentown. Printers’ ink seems to flow in the family blood. One son, Peter W. Leisenring, is manager of the Morning Call, and her other son, G. Thomas Leisenring, is a printer. Her older daughter Abbie, is the wife of John Correll, one of the editors of the Easton Sunday Call, and her younger daughter, Miss Louise Leisenring, who was formerly a newspaper worker, is now secretary of Allentown’s Associated Charities. Her only brother, Charles W. Weiser, is editor of the Allentown Democrat and the Evening Item.

Possessed Wonderful Tact.
In addition to being an authority on factory inspection and labor laws, Mrs. Leisenring has a wonderful tact in going about the work, and has the complete confidence of industrial managers and employees. It has happened time and again when a man inspector ordered something done, perhaps a little abruptly, that the employer of the place hit would say: ‘I’m going to see Mrs. Leisenring about this.’ Such was her tact and way of doing things that after she had explained the necessity for the enforcement of the law, it became a pleasure to do it.

Never Idle.
While retired from active work, she will be far from idle, for her various interests will keep her engaged, and she couldn’t be idle, for it is contrary to her nature, and although the duties will hereafter not be onerous she still, as one of the state’s honor roll, will be subject to the call of the Department of Labor and Industry. As the Nestor of them all, it is understood her connection with the department will be largely advisory and supervisory.

In spite of her long term of service and great accomplishments, Mrs. Leisenring is still a comparatively young woman, on the sunny side of 60. Her work, her character and achievements, all stamp her as one of the most remarkable women of her time, with many valuable years before her, of which she will be sure to make good use.

Though retired, Annie Leisenring continued to remain a force for good. The Allentown Leader reported that, just before Christmas that same year, she sought to minimize the overtime hours which had long impacted women and girls each holiday season:

SHOPPING NIGHTS ARE AGREED UPON

Stores are to be open evenings for Christmas shopping, beginning Wednesday, Dec. 19, and including Monday, Dec. 24, according to the resolution of the merchants’ bureau of the Chamber of Commerce. In this connection there was a meeting of the members of the merchants’ committee with Mrs. Annie Leisenring, inspector of the department of labor and industry. Mrs. Leisenring attended a meeting of labor inspectors that was held in Scranton Thursday. At this meeting it was decided that the labor law should be construed to mean that it was permissible that female employes [sic] could work two hours over time on any three days of the seven consecutive days, preceding Christmas, providing, of course, that no employe [sic] should work over 54 hours a week. The rule is also that girls under 21 years of age shall not work after 8 o’clock, and that girls under 16 shall not work after the hour of 8 o’clock. The law further states that girls under 16 years of age shall not work more than 51 hours a week.

Death and Interment

After a long and full life that most nineteenth century American women could never have imagined living, Annie Leisenring gradually faded away. Admitted to Allentown’s Sacred Heart Hospital due to a protracted illness, she died there at the age of 92 on December 5, 1942. She was interred at the Linden Street Cemetery in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.

Described in her obituary as “one of Allentown’s best known residents,” Annie (Weiser) Leisenring was preceded in death by her brother, Charles W. Weiser. Known to family and friends as “Bud,” he was laid to rest at Allentown’s Union-West End Cemetery after passing away on November 2, 1924. Both were survived by their unmarried sister, Mary Catherine Weiser, who was interred at Union-West End Cemetery after her death at the age of 93 on November 14, 1947 at the Easton Hospital in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Like their older sister, Annie, both Weiser siblings had also achieved a measure of fame during their lifetimes. Mary Catherine Weiser, the salutatorian of the 1871 graduating class of the Allentown College for Women (now Cedar Crest College), had become the head of the lace department at the Zollinger and Harned Co. department store in Allentown, a position she held for 40 years, while Charles William Weiser had achieved nationwide prominence as a political pundit and editor of Allentown’s Morning Call and Democrat newspapers.

 

Sources:

1. “Allentown Woman on the Roll of Honor: Gov. Brumbaugh Retires Mrs. Anna S. Leisenring, Factory Inspector, with Half Pay.” Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Eagle, 20 January 1918.

2. “Allentown Woman to Come to Reading to Inspect Bake Shops and Textile Establishments: Mrs. Annie Leisenring Is Lineal Descendant of Conrad Weiser, the Great Colonial Pioneer Who Lived Near Womelsdorf. Was First Appointed to Factory Inspection Service in 1893.” Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Eagle, 20 May 1914.

3. “Anna Jones Mengel: EASD Teacher 35 Years.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: Morning Call, 15 June 1994.

4. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, Vol. I. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.

5. “’Bud’ Weiser Dies” (death of Charles W. Weiser). Scranton, Pennsylvania: The Scranton Republican, 3 November 1924.

6. “Copperhead County Ticket” (Nelson Weiser’s run for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives). Allentown, Pennsylvania: Der Lecha Caunty Patriot, 16 September 1863.

7. “Couple and 4 Children, Evicted, Are Housed in Hospital and Mission” (report of Louise Leisenring’s work as a court probation officer). Allentown, Pennsylvania: Morning Call, 5 August 1943.

8. “Der Common-Council” (notice of Nelson Weiser’s service). Allentown, Pennsylvania: Der Lecha Caunty Patriot, 31 March 1868.

9. “End of a Life of Service” (obituary of Louise Leisenring). Allentown, Pennsylvania: Morning Call, 3 April 1945.

10. “Firma-Wechsel” (“Company Change”; notice regarding the change of ownership of the Republikaner newspaper from Nelson Weiser’s firm to another). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvanische Staats Zeitung, 26 March 1874.

11. “G. T. Leisenring Dies of Heart Ailment.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: Morning Call, 5 August 1943.

12. “G. Thomas Leisenring Is a Candidate for S. of U.V. Commander.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, 20 June 1932.

13. “House of Representatives” (notice of Nelson Weiser’s membership), in “Pennsylvania Legislature.” Bedford, Pennsylvania: The Bedford Gazette, 20 November 1863.

14. Lecture Presentation by Annie E. Leisenring, in “Addresses and Discussions: Fourth Annual Welfare and Efficiency Conference, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, November 21, 22, 23, 1916.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Monthly Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, William Stanley Ray, State Printer, March 1917.

15. Leisenring, Abigail E. and John S. Correll, Thomas B. and Annie Leisenring, and John P. and Rebecca Correll, in Marriage License Docket. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Lehigh County Orphans Court, 1907.

16. Leisenring, Annie, in U.S. Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War. Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania: 1890.

17. Leisenring, Annie E., in United States Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards (Certificate No.: 240043). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1887-1920.

18. Leisenring, Martin W. and Thomas B. and Thomas R., in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.

19. Leisenring, Peter W. and Helen M. Yoder, Thomas B. and Annie Leisenring, and Peter B. and Mary Yoder in Marriage License Docket. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Lehigh County Orphans Court, 1910.

20. Leisenring, Peter Weiser, in World War I and World War II Draft Registration Cards and U.S. Passport Applications (1924). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1918, 1924 and 1942.

21. Leisenring, T.B., in Seventh Annual Report of the Insurance Commissioner of the State of Pennsylvania, “Part I: Fire and Marine Insurance.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Lane S. Hart, State Printer, 1880.

22. “Mary C. Weiser Dies, Aged 93 years; Was Cedar Crest’s Oldest Graduate.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: Morning Call, 15 November 1947.

23. “Members of the House” (notice of Nelson Weiser’s membership), in “Pennsylvania Legislature.” Clearfield, Pennsylvania: Raftsman’s Journal, 4 November 1863.

24. “Members of the House” (notice of Nelson Weiser’s membership), in “The State Legislature.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Evening Telegraph, 13 October 1866.

25. “Neuer Tabak Stohr in Allentaun: Nelson Weiser” (notice of Nelson Weiser’s opening of a tobacco store). Allentown and Northampton, Pennsylvania: Der Lecha Caunty Patriot and Northampton Demokrat, 11 March and 1 April 1846.

26. “Ordered to County: Judge Remarks That the Salvation Army Home, Whose Children Used to Sing on the Square, Was a Refuge For Tramps Case Brought by Associated Charities.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 23 June 1913.

27. “Revenue Commissioners” (notice of Nelson Weiser’s membership), in “Local Intelligence.” Towanda, Pennsylvania: Bradford Reporter, 19 February 1857.

28. Roberts, Charles Rhoads and Rev. John Baer Stoudt, et. al. History of Lehigh County Pennsylvania and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Its Families, Vol. III. Allentown, Pennsylvania Lehigh Valley Publishing Company, 1914.

29. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.

30. Shankweiler, Fred. L. Men of Allentown. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1917.

32. “Shopping Nights Are Agreed Upon.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 17 December 1917.

33. Snyder, Laurie. “The Leisenring Family—Leading by Example,” in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story, July 2019.

34. “State Central Committee” (notice of Nelson Weiser’s membership). Ebensburg, Pennsylvania: Democrat and Sentinel, 25 July 1855.

35. Stern, Leon, Curtis A. Williams, et. al. A Study of Behavior Problems of Public School Children in Allentown and in the Juvenile Court of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania (description of Louise Leisenring’s work as a female probation officer). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania Committee on Penal Affairs or the Public Charities Association, 1930.

36. “Transcribing Clerks” (notice of Nelson Weiser’s election), in “The Legislature” (1855) and in “Pennsylvania Legislature” (1856). Towanda, Pennsylvania: Bradford Reporter, 13 January 1855 and 12 January 1856.

37. U.S. Census: 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940. Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania: U.S. National Archives.

38. “Violate Child Labor Law: One Employer Heavily Fined and Others to Be Arrested. Special to The Telegraph.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, 8 September 1911.