Colehouse, James H.

"JAMES H. COLEHOUSE, retired, P.O. Littlestown, was born October 18, 1823, a son of Henry and Mary (Knouff) Colehouse, the former a native of Germany and the latter of this county. Henry was a shoe-maker by trade, but during the many years he lived in Adams County he followed farming, owning eighty acres adjoining Littlestown, where he lived. He died in 1878, aged eighty-two years; his wife died some years before, aged eighty years. They were parents of five children. Our subject learned the trade of a shoe-maker with his father, with whom he remained until his twenty-fourth year. He was married, October 22, 1846, to Susan Bittinger, who was born June 18, 1826, a daughter of Frederick Bittinger. In 1847, in company with William Yount, he engaged in the boot and shoe business, and continued it until 1860. He then opened a general store, which he conducted four years, when he sold out and became interested in the grain and produce trade for three years; then engaged in buying and shipping hay, and finally returned to the general store, and in the spring of 1885 sold his interest to his partner and son-in-law, George S. Kump, and retired. He is now principally employed in building on and improving his real estate in the borough. He is a Republican, and has held the offices of burgess, councilman, etc. Mr. Colehouse was a charter member and stockholder in the Littlestown Savings Institution, and a director several years; also an original stockholder and director in the Littlestown Railroad. To this enterprise he contributed $400, and on the erection of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church building he donated $500. He and his wife are members of the above named church. They have a family of three children: Rufus A., born September 2, 1847 (married to Margaret C. Young); William H., born January 8, 1855 (married to Rebecca Mehring); and Mary C., born February 28, 1858 (married to George S. Kump). "