From youth John Samuel Krause has been interested in and actively identified with the development of Bethlehem, and there has been no movement for the betterment of conditions in the city of his birth but has had his support. Now president of the leading financial institution of the city, the First National Bank, his influence, counsel and personal aid are as freely given as when he was less able to accomplish the good he craved for Bethlehem. He is a man of strong business ability, but were he of less talent he would still be among the leaders, for he possesses that greatest of all talents, the ability to work with untiring zeal, and that quality has been one of the greatest contributing factors in his rise to the topmost rounds of business success.

J. Samuel Krause was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1848, and now, at the age of seventy, is a resident and influential businessman of that city. He was educated in the Moravian Parochial School, now known as the Preparatory School, and when schooldays were over, he began at the age of sixteen to learn the machinist's trade at the old Bethlehem Iron Works. He continued a machinist until the age of twenty-two, then, in 1870, entered into a partnership with Owen A. Luckenbach, and as Luckenbach & Krause they established a retail hardware business. They operated very successfully as a partnership for nineteen years, 1870-1889, then Mr. Luckenbach retired, and Mr. Krause continued alone until 1909, when the business was incorporated as the J. S. Krause Hardware Company, and moved to its present location. No. 41 South Main Street, the old store being but a short distance away at No. 25 South Main Street. He is president of the company, for which nearly half a century ago he laid the foundation, with some doubts and misgivings as to the fate of his venture into mercantile life.

Other business interests have claimed Mr. Krause's attention, and he holds an influential position in several corporations of great importance in the business world. Notable among them is the First National Bank, of which he was long a director, then vice-president, 1904-1915, and since the latter year, its able president. He is also a director of the Thomas Iron Company, of the Guerber Engineering Company, and was president of the Upper and Lower Saucon Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He is a member of the Bethlehem Bridge Commission, appointed by the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission. While he is a loyal Republican, political office has held no attraction for him. In the church of his choice, the Moravian, he takes a deep interest and fills a position once held by his honored father, that of treasurer. He is interested also in the management of the Widows Society, an insurance order of the Moravian church for the benefit of widows and orphans of the congregation. He is also a member of lodge, chapter, council and commandery of the Masonic order, and holds membership of the Knights Templar with Hugh de Payen Commandery, of Easton. His friends are many, and in both business and social life his standing has always been of the highest. Honor and uprightness have attended him all through life, and the success which is his has been fairly earned and richly deserved.

Mr. Krause married, February 28, 1871, Frances C. Luckenbach, born February 22, 1851, tenth child of William and Elizabeth (Rice) Luckenbach, a direct descendant of Adam and Eva (Spies) Luckenbach, who came to Pennsylvania from Germany in 1740.