Aaron Balliet (1813-1895)
Aaron Balliet was born in North Whitehall Township on March 7, 1813 (Roberts et al. 1914: 48) to Stephen Balliet and Susan Ibrie. [1] He was educated in North Whitehall Township (Roberts et al. 1914: 48). Aaron Balliet was descended from Paulus Balliet who emigrated from Alsace and landed in America in 1736 [2]. In 1845, her married Sarah Dengler and had 8 children, 6 of which survived to adulthood. He remarried in 1867 to Catherine Housman. He held local posts such as justice of the peace and school director and also was an active member of the German Reformed Church of Unionville. [3]
Coplay Iron-Works
Aaron Balliet along with his brother in-law Benjamin Levan (1806-1886) and father built and operated the Coplay iron furnaces (Roberts et al. 1914: 48). They formed Stephen Balliet & Co. in the summer of 1853 and started out with 12 acres of land on the West bank of Coplay Creek. The same year the land was acquired, the base of the furnace was finished along with houses for workers. By 1854,the stack of the furnace was built. In 1854, Stephen Balliet Sr. died and the company admitted new partners and became the Lehigh Valley Iron Company which consisted of 40 corporations and was worth $200,000.[4]
References
Roberts, Charles Rhoads, John Baer Stoudt, Thomas H. Krick, and William J. Dietrich. 1914. History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Its Families. Allentown, Pa.: Lehigh Valley publishing Company, Limited. https://books.google.com/books?id=mzQPAQAAMAAJ&dq=lehigh%20furnace&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false.