Leisenring/Wentz family anthracite coal companies.

This section of the Penn Virginia Corporation archive contains the records of a group of anthracite coal mining and related companies founded by John Leisenring (1819-1884), his son-in-law Dr. John Shriver Wentz, and their descendants, who were also the founders of Penn Virginia.

John Leisenring, a Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, civil and mining engineer, began forming a series of anthracite coal mining partnerships and companies in 1854. He was joined in these ventures by his sons-in-law, John S. Wentz and Mahlon S. Kemmerer, as well as other family members and close associates. These operations were scattered across the Eastern and Western Middle Anthracite Coal Fields. Each mine was operated by a separate firm, and each firm was launched with the profits of its predecessor whenever an advantageous site could be bought or leased. The firms were kept independent, so that the failure of one would not drag down the others, a pattern common among independent operators in the anthracite industry. Collectively, the Leisenring/Wentz companies ranked among the top fifteen anthracite producers.

The first such operation was at Eckley, conducted as Sharpe, Leisenring & Co. (1854-1860); Sharpe, Weiss & Co. (1860-1874); and John Leisenring & Co. (1874-1885). The Eckley project led to the development of mines at nearby Upper Lehigh. The Leisenring family controlled both the Nescopec Coal Company (1864-1930), which owned the land, and the Upper Lehigh Coal Company (1865-1922), which conducted the mining operations.

After the death of John Leisenring, the companies were controlled by the brothers-in-law E.B. Leisenring, John Leisenring, Jr., John S. Wentz, and Mahlon S. Kemmerer. Among the new mining ventures formed were the Silver Brook Coal Company (1885-1920); J. S. Wentz & Co. (1885-1916) at Hazle Brook; Leisenring & Co. (1888-1904) at Minersville; and the Midvalley Coal Company (1889-1923) at Wilburton.

After 1900, J. S. Wentz formed additional companies on his own account, including the Maryd Coal Company (1903-1923), named for his wife, Mary D. Leisenring; the Raven Run Coal Company (1919-1935); the Lykens Valley Coal Corporation (1919-1923); the Raven Run Colliery Company (1920-1928); and the Girardville Mining Company (1921-1928).

The partnership of J. S. Wentz & Co. was incorporated as the J. S. Wentz Company in 1916. It was renamed the Hazle Brook Coal Company in December 1922, and all of the other Wentz anthracite mining companies were merged into it in February 1923. The anthracite industry began to decline during the 1920s, and the family decided to liquidate its traditional holdings. The Hazle Brook Coal company was sold to the Markle interest in 1928, becoming a subsidiary of their Jeddo-Highland Coal Company.