Theodore R. Schwalm1

M, #18602, b. 12 May 1906, d. 29 September 1991
  • Last Edited: 29 Jan 2020
  • Theodore R. Schwalm is also referred to as Raymond Theodore Schwalm in some sources.2,3
  • He was born on 12 May 1906, on the Shadle Farm in Deep Creek Valley, Hegins Township, Schuylkill County, PA.1,4,2,5,3
  • He was the son of Samuel Emanuel Schwalm and Ellen Vesta Geist.1
  • Some sources record that Theodore R. Schwalm was born on 21 July 1906.2
  • He was baptized on 21 August 1906, Frieden's Reformed Church, Hegins, Schuylkill County, PA; Name listed as "Raymond Theodore."2
  • He married Edna May Moore, daughter of Samuel Moore and Sylvia (?), on 12 June 1926.6,7
  • Theodore R. Schwalm died on 29 September 1991, St. Joseph's Hospital, Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA, at age 85.8,5
  • Newspaper obituary:
    Theodore R. Schwalm
    Theodore R. Schwalm, 85, of Masonic Homes, Elizabethtown, formerly of 530 Kensington Road, Lancaster, died Sunday afternoon at St. Joseph Hospital, Lancaster, after a brief illness.
    Born in Hegins, he was a son of the late Samuel and Ellen Geist Schwalm. He grew up in the Hegins area.
    Formerly an employee of Hamilton Watch Co., in 1947 he began his own business in his home, which developed into an international company, the Schwalm Watch Dial Co., which made watch components.
    Active in Hamilton Park United Church of Christ, Lancaster, he held many offices in the church. He was active on the national level of the UCC. He was a member of the Elks 143, was past master of Lodge 143, F&AM, and a 32nd degree Mason, and a member of the Council and Commandry Lodge of Perfection and Consistory.
    A past president of the board of directors of Ursinus College, he received the doctor of humanities degree from Ursinus. He served on the board of Lancaster YMCA, was chairman of the Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority and Lancaster City Housing Authority. He was a member of Historical Society of Lancaster and Smithsonian Association, Washington, D.C.
    Mr. Schwalm was a member of Sphinx Club, a past member of the Pirates, the 24 Carat Club of New York City, a former member of Hamilton Club, a member of National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, and was active in the Clock Museum of Columbia.
    He headed Columbia's bicentennial celebration, and was president and of Neighborhood Services of Lancaster.
    He was on the national board of the National Conference of Christian and Jews, which honored him in 1974 for his community activities, and in 1967 when he was the organization's "Man of the Year."
    He was a graduate of Stevens Trade School and was active with its alumni association. In 1947, he received the Stevens Trade School Alumni Award. He has served on the board of trustees of Stevens Trade School and was a member of Lancaster City School Board.
    He served as president of Lancaster Rotary Club, was a member of the Lancaster Boys Club.
    His wife, the former Edna Moore, died in December. He was also preceded in death by a daughter.
    Surviving are two grandchildren.
    Memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday from Hamilton Park UCC. Interment will be in Riverview Burial Park, Lancaster. Kearney A. Snyder Funeral Home, Lancaster, is in charge of arrangements.
    Pottsville Republican, 01 Oct 1991, Tue, Page 2.9
  • He was buried at Riverview Burial Park, Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA.8
  • According to a newspaper report, the company that Theodore founded in Lancaster, PA, in 1936, was sold in 2002 and was moved to Tulsa, OK. The paper stated:
    Schwalm leaving area
    Theo R. Schwalm Inc., which produced watch dials here for more than 50 years, is moving out of Lancaster.
    Oklahoma-based custom-watch-dial maker S&S Time Corp. said Monday it is purchasing the local business and plans to relocate Schwalm to Tulsa, Okla., by July 1. Financial terms of the agreement were not released.
    "We are so excited about this opportunity," S&S Time President Vi Smith Schulmeier said in a prepared statement. Schwalm is a very old name in the dial business, being the originator of custom medallion dials in the United States. We have been dealing with the people at Schwalm since we started in the custom watch business.
    We have the room and are ready for the increased business that this purchase will bring, she said.
    Schwalm was sold in 1999 by then-owner John Richard Dick Gockley of Lancaster to Medallion Watch LLC of Michigan. Medallion chose to keep the business in Lancaster.
    Founded in 1946 by the late Theodore R. Schwalm, the company supplied watch dials for Hamilton and Timex watches. At its peak in the 1960s and 1970s, Schwalm employed about 250 people and produced up to 5 million watch dials a year.
    In recent years, Schwalm evolved into a producer of specialty dials in limited quantities and employed fewer than 50 people at 510 Second St.
    The impending sale makes Schwalm the latest watch-related company to close or leave Lancaster, a city considered the hub of American watchmaking in the 1950s and 1960s.
    The citys' most famous manufacturer, Hamilton Watch Co., closed its Lancaster factory in 1992, a century after it opened.
    Lancaster New Era (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 19 Jun 2002, Wed, Page 53.10

Child of Theodore R. Schwalm and Edna May Moore

Citations

  1. [S74] Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, Johannes Schwalm The Hessian (Millville, PA 1976: Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, 1976), p. 143. Hereinafter cited as Johannes Schwalm The Hessian.
  2. [S292] Glenn P. Schwalm, compiler, Combined Records of Frieden's Evangelical Lutheran Church and Frieden's Reformed Church of Hegins, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania (Apollo, PA: Closson Press for Schuylkill Roots, 1998), p. 83. Hereinafter cited as Frieden's Church Records.
  3. [S1151] Pennsylvania Birth Certificates, 1906-1913, online www.ancestry.com (Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records Reel: 267), Certificate Number: 57397; https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll. Hereinafter cited as Pennsylvania Birth Certificates, 1906-1913.
  4. [S236] Schwalm Ruth C., "Three Founding Members Receive Director Emeritus Status on J.S.H.A., Inc. Board of Directors," Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, vol. 4, no. 3 (1991): p. 76. Hereinafter cited as "Three Founding Members."
  5. [S200] Social Security Administration, Social Security Death Index, Social Security Number: 196-09-9818; https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll. Hereinafter cited as SSDI.
  6. [S74] Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, Johannes Schwalm The Hessian, p. 144.
  7. [S236] "Three Founding Members," Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 79.
  8. [S1194] Donald C. Reed, Descendants of Johannes Schwalm and Allied Families., CD-ROM (Lancaster, PA: Donald C. Reed, 2011), Descendants of Johannes Schwalm, p. 58. Hereinafter cited as Descendants of Johannes Schwalm vol 2.
  9. [S108] Newspaper Obituary, for Theodore R. Schwalm, Pottsville Republican, 01 Oct 1991, Tue, Page 2.
  10. [S107] Newspaper Article, "Schwalm leaving area," Lancaster New Era (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 19 Jun 2002, Wed, Page 53.

Edna May Moore1,2

F, #18603, b. 8 July 1906, d. 30 December 1990
  • Last Edited: 29 Jan 2020
  • Edna May Moore was born on 8 July 1906, Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA.4
  • She was the daughter of Samuel Moore and Sylvia (?)3
  • Edna May Moore married Theodore R. Schwalm, son of Samuel Emanuel Schwalm and Ellen Vesta Geist, on 12 June 1926.5,4
  • Edna May Moore died on 30 December 1990, St. Joseph's Hospital, Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA, at age 84.1,6
  • Newspaper obituary:
    Edna Schwalm, 84, lived in Lancaster
    Edna M. Schwalm, 84, formerly of 530 Kensington Road, now of Masonic Homes, Elizabethtown, died at St. Joseph Hospital Sunday at 8:30 a. m., after a six-week illness. She was the wife of Dr. Theodore R. Schwalm, with whom she observed their 64th wedding anniversary on June 12.
    Born in Lancaster, she was a daughter of the late Samuel and Sylvia Moore.
    She was a member of Hamilton Park United Church of Christ, the Womens Guild and the Friendly Circle of the Church.
    She was past worthy matron of the James Buchanan Chapter, Order of Eastern Star and a member of the Order of Amaranth. She had been past president of the Womens Committee of the Bethany Childrens Homes, Womelsdorf, and she served as a Gray Lady at St. Joseph Hospital for many years.
    Surviving besides her husband are two granddaughters and four great-grandchildren.
    Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 31 Dec 1990, Mon, Page 20.3
  • She was buried at Riverview Burial Park, Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA.7

Child of Edna May Moore and Theodore R. Schwalm

Citations

  1. [S74] Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, Johannes Schwalm The Hessian (Millville, PA 1976: Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, 1976), p. 143. Hereinafter cited as Johannes Schwalm The Hessian.
  2. [S1207] United States Selective Service System, online www.ancestry.com, United States Selective Service System (The National Archives in St. Louis, Missouri; St. Louis), downloaded 2011, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll
  3. [S108] Newspaper Obituary, for Edna M. Schwalm, Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 31 Dec 1990, Mon, Page 20.
  4. [S236] Schwalm Ruth C., "Three Founding Members Receive Director Emeritus Status on J.S.H.A., Inc. Board of Directors," Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, vol. 4, no. 3 (1991): p. 79. Hereinafter cited as "Three Founding Members."
  5. [S74] Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, Johannes Schwalm The Hessian, p. 144.
  6. [S236] "Three Founding Members," Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 76, 79.
  7. [S1194] Donald C. Reed, Descendants of Johannes Schwalm and Allied Families., CD-ROM (Lancaster, PA: Donald C. Reed, 2011), Descendants of Johannes Schwalm, p. 59. Hereinafter cited as Descendants of Johannes Schwalm vol 2.

Maryellen Schwalm1

F, #18604, b. 13 June 1928, d. April 1978
  • Last Edited: 29 Jan 2020
  • Maryellen Schwalm was born on 13 June 1928, Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA.3,4
  • She was the daughter of Theodore R. Schwalm and Edna May Moore.2
  • Maryellen Schwalm died in April 1978, at age 49.5,4
  • Newspaper obituary:
    Mrs. John R. Gockley Dies in 50th Year
    Maryellen Gockley, 49, of 434 Atkins Ave., died today at 6:20 a.m. at her home after a lengthy illness. She was the wife of John R. Gockley.
    Mrs. Gockley was a member of Hamilton Park United Church of Christ and James Buchanan Order of Eastern Star.
    Born in Lancaster, she was a daughter of Theodore R. and Edna Moore Schwalm, Lanaster. She is survived, in addition to her husband and parents, by two daughters, Susan D wife of Steven Brown, Lancaster, and Lisa A., at home.
    Lancaster New Era (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 18 Apr 1978, Tue, Page 3.1

Children of Maryellen Schwalm and John Richard Gockley

Citations

  1. [S108] Newspaper Obituary, for Maryellen Gockley, Lancaster New Era (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 18 Apr 1978, Tue, Page 3.
  2. [S74] Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, Johannes Schwalm The Hessian (Millville, PA 1976: Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, 1976), p. 144. Hereinafter cited as Johannes Schwalm The Hessian.
  3. [S941] 1940 US Census, Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; Roll: T627_3533; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 36-99.
  4. [S1140] Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, online www.ancestry.com,.
  5. [S236] Schwalm Ruth C., "Three Founding Members Receive Director Emeritus Status on J.S.H.A., Inc. Board of Directors," Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, vol. 4, no. 3 (1991): p. 76. Hereinafter cited as "Three Founding Members."
  6. [S1062] Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1967 (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Department of Health), No. 34255. Hereinafter cited as Pennsylvania, Death Certificates.