DAVID HERR BARTHOLOMEW, proprietor of the Lancaster Planing Mill Co., and one of the leading business men of Lancaster, has been identified with the industrial interests of that city through his business career, and has been no small factor in the development of many lines of commerce.

Mr. Bartholomew was born Jan. 4, 1848, near Strasburg, PA, son of Matthew and Hester Ann Herr Bartholomew, both of Lancaster county. The father was a millwright and followed that trade all his life, dying at the age of fifty-seven, in 1863. The mother died in 1851, aged thirty three. They were laid away in Strasburg cemetery. Their children were as follows: Amanda ( deceased) was the wife of Robert E. Bunch; Mary C. married (first) Jonathan Holt, and (second) William Fichthorn, of Reading, Benjamin F. lives in Lancaster; John died in infancy, and David H. was the youngest.

David Herr Bartholomew had the educational advantages afforded by the common schools of Lancaster, and at the age of seventeen was prepared to enter upon his apprenticeship to the machinist trade. He was employed in a cotton mill in Lancaster for four years, and then embarked in the saw mill business and became a manufacturer of cigar box lumber, associating himself with his uncle, David B. Bartholomew; this partnership continued until the death of the latter, in 1885, when Mr. .Bartholomew engaged in the same line upon his own account, and still continues it, at present individually; formerly there were three members of the firm known as the Lancaster Planing Mill Co., David H. Bartholomew, John W. Holinan and Frank Spicer, Jr. The first location was across the street from the present site, but in 1896 Mr. Bartholomew sold that and purchased the valuable property and business which he has so ably managed ever since. The large brick structure now occupied was built by the firm of Wilson & Bradbury in 1870 and covers two acres of ground. It is well equipped , and the establishment gives employment to forty men, the output being sash, doors, blinds and general mill work.

Mr. Bartholomew is an excellent man of business, and thorough in his management of the large concern with which he has so long been identified. Under his ownership the business has been much enlarged, and is now one of the leading lines of industry in the city. In politics he is a Republican, and fraternally he is connected with the I. 0. 0. F., K. of  P., A. 0. U . W. and Royal Arcanum. For eight years he served with usefulness in the city council, his administration being honest and clean. Mr. Bartholomew is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

In 1872, in Lancaster, Mr. Bartholomew married Miss Elizabeth Eckman born in Lancaster, daughter of Henry and Anna (Hoak) Eckman, the former of whom was for many years a shoemaker in Lancaster county. His father was a well-known resident of the county; he was for many years afflicted with blindness, but it is related of him that so thoroughly did he recall localities that he was able not only to harness his horse himself, but to drive without accident to any part of the county he desired. To Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew have been born the following children: Anna, who died at the age of eight years: David B., who is a carpenter but now is employed by the Pennsylvania Railway Company, married Alice M. Raub: Miss. Mary A., at home; Henry M., who married Hannah Hunter, and is an architect in Lancaster; Miss Amy C., Guy C.,

From The Biographicals of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania pgs. 913

From typed copy from Merrit Bartholomew to Emma G. (Bartholomew) Cooper, her cousin. A penned note says that D. H. Bartholomew's representation of Amer. Cigar Box Lumber Co. was after the planing mill was gone.

From Duane Bartholomew

"I have a newspaper clipping of the 57th anniversary of Memorial Pres. Sunday School honoring Grandfather for 74 years of church and SS attendance stating: David Herr Bartholomew helped organize Memorial Presb. SS out of which grew the church and was one of its first teachers. He attended 12,675 religous services in 74 years starting SS at the age of 4. He rose in prominence in the church until his long list of titles includes honored service as elder, commissioner to the Synod, commissioner to the General Assembly, trustee, SS Superintendent, teacher, leader of the Mens Bible Class, and clerk of the Sessions of the Church. He probably attended more sessions of the Westminster Presbytery than any elder within its bounds. His attendance record was: 3,675 SS sessions, 4,200 church services,4,800 midweek and special services.

In addition he succeeded his uncle in the planing mill business. He was representative of the American Cigar Box Lumber Co. of New York and covered counties of York Lebanon, Berks, Lancaster, and upper Montgomery. He also served several terms in City Council and as a member of the Finance and Sheet committiees. He was a member of the F.L.T. Lodge #67 of Lancaster and while in his teens was a member of a military drill team who used wooden rifles."