Judge Koch, who since January 1, 1912, has sat upon the Schuylkill county bench, came to the bar of that county in 1881, and although politically a member of the minority party, he so impressed his personality upon the citizens of the county that he won the popular verdict at the polls in 1889. A thoroughly learned and able lawyer, he made an excellent district attorney, and has proved a wise, just and upright judge. He comes from a family early associated with the history of Eastern Pennsylvania, and for half a century before the erection of Schuylkill county they were raising and grinding grain within its present borders. From a history of Schuylkill county and from other sources the following family facts are gleaned.
Henry Koch, the great-great-grandfather of Richard Henry Koch, took an active part in the French and Indian War. He left a family of eight children, one of whom, William Koch, was born April 1, 1747, at New Hanover, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he spent his early youth. Later he lived in Oley township, Berks county, moving to Brunswick township (then in Berks, but now in Schuylkill county) about the year 1780, and locating near the present site of the village of McKeansburg, East Brunswick township. William Koch was twice married, his second wife, Maria Margaret (Neufang) Koch, being the mother of Henry Koch, the paternal grandfather of Judge Koch. Maria M. Neufang's father, Baltzer (Balthaser) Neufang, was twice married. On March 6, 1756, the Indians murdered his first wife and their son on their plantation, which adjoined the one on a part of which the "Seven Stars Hotel" now stands. Maria M. sprang from the second marriage, and was born on April 27, 1766. William Koch died on his farm in East Brunswick township, May 3, 1832.
Henry Koch was born on the old homestead in East Brunswick township, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1791, and died at New Ringgold, Pennsylvania, March 19, 1867. He spent his life in the vicinity of his birthplace, and was a prosperous farmer, miller and merchant. He married Susanna Bock, the only daughter of Balthaser Bock, who came to this country from Prussia with his father, Johannes Bock, and family in the ship "Good Intent," landing in Philadelphia, October 23, 1754. He was born on March 30, 1746, in Alde Hassen, in the Countship of Hanau. Balthaser Bock served with the Continental army in the Revolutionary War.
Henry Koch had ten children, of whom Daniel was the eldest. Daniel Koch was born at what is now known as Kunkle's Mill, East Brunswick township, the mill having been erected by his father, his birth occurring on December 24, 1816. On October 24, 1839, he was united in marriage with Mary Ann Beck, who represented an old family in this section of Pennsylvania. Her grandfather was a gunsmith, by reason of which he was exempted from the performance of military duty during the Revolutionary War. Mary Ann (Beck) Koch was born January 24, 1818, and died August 26, 1888. Eleven children were born to the marriage of Daniel and Mary Ann Koch, namely, Harriet, Francis D., Allen, Jeremiah, Albert В., Sarah, Richard Henry, Emanuel, Arenius, Kate and Ambrose Ellsworth. Ten of the number lived to maturity, Albert B. having died in childhood. Francis D., the oldest son, served throughout the Civil War, and Allen served for more than three years. The father and his third son served together during the emergency call when the State was invaded by the Confederate army. Daniel Koch, with three of his sons and three of his brothers, volunteered and served in the Union armies in the Civil War.
Excepting about a year spent in a store in Philadelphia, when a boy of sixteen, Daniel Koch lived in the vicinity of his birthplace until 1844, when he removed to Middleport and engaged in mercantile business. Prior to 1844 he was engaged in farming, milling, huckstering, or the mercantile business. In 1857 he moved to Auburn and resumed farming operations, his earlier life work. In 1866 he purchased a flouring mill at Monocacy, Berks county, Pennsylvania, but sold it soon afterwards, and the following year purchased a similar property at Fleetwood, in the same county, where he established the family home. He continued to operate his milling business until 1882, after which time he lived in retirement until his death, January 7, 1903. He was an ardent Republican, and active in the councils of his party. He was the Whig candidate for the office of sheriff of Schuylkill county in 1854, but was defeated by a very small majority. He was elected as a representative in the State Legislature in 1860.
Such were the antecedents of Judge Koch, a twentieth century representative of the family in the county to which his ancestors came a century and a half ago.
Richard Henry Koch was born at Middleport, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, April 2, 1852. He was educated in the public schools, and enrolled as a student at the State Normal School at Kutztown, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1868. He was graduated from that institution in 1871, with the first honors in his class. For two years he engaged in teaching in Schuylkill and Lehigh counties, and then returned to his alma mater, where he taught mathematics and civil government for six years, and was engaged as instructor and lecturer at teachers' institutes in a number of adjacent counties. In June, 1879, he resigned his chair at the normal school to take up the study of law, becoming a student under Francis W. Hughes, of Pottsville, then one of the leading lawyers of Pennsylvania. Mr. Koch was admitted to the courts of Schuylkill county, May 2, 1881, was later admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the State, and in 1890 to the Supreme Court of the United States. He built up a large clientele and won high professional standing. From 1887 until 1890 he served as assistant district attorney, and in the fall of 1889 he was elected district attorney, a fine endorsement from his native county, for Schuylkill was then a Democratic stronghold. He was a most efficient prosecutor, and at the expiration of his term in 1892 he was nominated by the Republican party as judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but the county went strongly Democratic for Grover Cleveland for president, and notwithstanding Mr. Koch's popularity and his vigorous campaigning quality he went down with the ticket.
On the death of Judge Weidman of the county bench, in September, 1897, Governor Hastings appointed Mr. Koch to fill the vacancy. Judge Koch was nominated to succeed himself in 1898, but the anti-Quay sentiment in that year was so strong that in Schuylkill county every Democratic candidate was elected. In 1907 he was persuaded to again become a candidate for judge, but he was defeated through illegal ballot box manipulation, and during his absence from home in the summer of 1911 certain lawyers circulated a petition to have his name placed on the primary ballot for the judicial nomination, and he was once more nominated by the popular vote of the Republicans. In the election that subsequently ensued he was elected by a large majority over his two competitors, for a term of ten years from the first day of January, 1912, when the oath of office was administered to him. So acceptably did he discharge the duties of his office that in 1921 he defeated his competitor for nomination by a combined majority of 7886 votes, being nominated on every ticket, namely, the Democratic, Republican, Prohibition and Socialist, and at the ensuing election he received 42,970 votes with only eleven scattering votes against him.
Until assuming the duties of his office, Judge Koch had important business and corporate interests. During the years 1896 and 1897 he was president and general manager of the company operating the local trolley road, but relinquished this position in January, 1898, because of his judicial duties. He opened the Schuylkill Haven division of that road on the same day that he took his oath of office as judge, October 11, 1897. For several years he was president of the Rapid Transit Company, and of the Lookout Mountain Inclined Plane at Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was the first president and general manager of the Cumberland & Western Electric Railway Company in Western Maryland, and was also for a time connected with the Wilmington and New Castle trolley line. He financed the building of the Shamokin Extension Electric railway, of which company he is the president. He was also president of the Danville & Bloomsburg Street Railway Company until its acquisition and merger by another company.
In politics an ardent Republican, the young lawyer early became a leader of the party in his county, serving as chairman of the county committee in 1883-1884. He was a vigorous campaigner, eloquent and popular, as well as a careful thorough organizer. He has always taken an active interest in civic affairs, and has been connected with different State institutions. He has been a member of the Patriotic Sons of America since 1871, is one of the charter members of the Pottsville Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a Mason of high standing. For more than eighteen years he was a director of the Centennial and Memorial Association of Valley Forge, which was established for the purpose of preserving General Washington's headquarters at this historically sacred spot, but upon the acquisition of the headquarters by the State the association was dissolved. Judge Koch was for years a trustee of the Pottsville Hospital, and for a long time was a member of the board of trustees of the Keystone State Normal School, located at Kutztown, Pennsylvania, resigning that office in 1919. He has been a member of the Pottsville Club since 1892, was for more than six years its president, and during his incumbency the club acquired its present beautiful quarters on Manhantongo street. For more than a generation the famous Third Brigade Band of Pottsville has had its most ardent and persistent supporter in him. For some time he has been president of the board of trustees of the Second Presbyterian Church.
Judge Koch married, September 30, 1884, Annie S. Phillips, whose father, Captain William Phillips, was fatally wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor during the Civil War and subsequently died. Judge and Mrs. Koch have four children: Roscoe Richard, who is practicing law at Pottsville; Helen Elizabeth, the wife of Dr. Joel T. Boone, surgeon in the United States navy; Marshall McKinley, a mechanical engineer, Denver, Colorado; and Mary Marjorie, the wife of John Parke Hood, a civil and mining engineer, Pottsville. The family home is at Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
The World War found this family well represented in behalf of our country. Dr. Boone, a son-in-law, went to France with the United States Marines, 2nd Division, and by his conduct there won the Distinguished Service Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor. He is now medical officer on the Presidential Yacht, "Mayflower." Mr. Hood, the other son-in-law, was overseas with the 87th Division, and Marshall McKinley Koch was transferred from the Quartermasters' Department of the army to the Bureau of Standards, Washington. Judge Koch and his son Roscoe R. were very active in conducting Liberty Loan campaigns and similar drives at home, and Judge Koch was a four minute man.
Frank M. Eastman. Courts and Lawyers of Pennsylvania: A History, 1623-1923. New York: American Historical Society, Inc. 1922, pp. 160-163.
Contributed by: Nancy.