Son of Johan F. STETTER, married Eva Ann GOSS in 2 sep 1891. He was a fish peddler in Lancaster County, PA.
H. FRANK STETTER, FISH DEALER, DIES
H. Frank Stetter, eight-three, 36 Coral St., a Lancaster fish dealer for 75 years, died early Thursday at his home after a short illness.
Mr. Stetter retired from active participation in the family fish market at 217 Fairview St. and in the Central market, several years ago, turning over the business to his son, Walter, was well known to several generations of Lancaster shoppers and for many years took pride in being the first man to wear a straw hat each Spring.
STARTED AT NINE
Mr. Stetter started in the fish business when he was nine years old, catching his wares in local streams and peddling house to house with a wheelbarrow. His first permanent fish market was at Frant and Water Streets, the former Kreiner fish market, over 50 years ago.
In his youth, he was an active sportsman, appearing in a number of boxing matches staged at Penn Square.
He was born at Lancaster, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Stetter. He was a member of St. Luke's Evangelical and Reformed Church.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Daisy Haines Stetter, and these children: Clarence E.; Walter E.; Bertha E., wife of Herbert Schmid, all of Lancaster; Ray N., Brownsville, Texas; Mrs. Sarah Riley, and Norman L., Lancaster; Edna M., wife of Earl Camp, Philadelphia; Woodrow W., and Nancy Jane, wife of Albert Ranzinger, of Lancaster. Also a brother, Edward, Royersford, 33 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.
STETTER -- Entered into rest in this city on November 8, 1951, Frank Stetter, husband of Daisy Haines Stetter of 36 Coral St., in his 84th year. The relatives and friends are invited to attend the funeral without further notice from The Funeral Home of Fred F. Groff, lnc., No. 234 W. Orange St., on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock. Interment in Millersville Mennonite Cemetery. Friends may call at Groff's Friday evening between 7 and 9 o'clock.
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, Friday 9 Nov 1951
I KNOW A STORY
His father, the fish man, was sign of spring
By Woodrow Stetter
Special to the Sunday News
About this time every year, I think of my father, Frank Stetter, "the old fish man." It seemed like every early spring he would get out his straw hat and head downtown, and frequently he would get his picture taken by a newspaper photographer as he stood looking at the temperature on the thermometer in front of the newspaper office. They would always acknowledge him in the article as the man with the first straw hat of the season.
Finally I said to him one time, "Pop, I think you go down there every year just to get your picture in the paper." In response, I'd always get a great big grin but never an admission of guilt.
Everyone in the area seemed to know my dad, "the fish man" with the big red mustache. He started in the business as a boy of 9, working for a neighbor on Water Street; eventually having the business himself; and keeping it in the family for more than 100 years, through my brother, Walt, and his two boys.
My father worked himself till he was 79 or 80, peddling every day and at market Tuesday and Fridays. He had a stand on the open market on East King Street before the Central Market was built.
When I was a small boy he would occasionally take me to market, and today when I go to market I can still hear him shout in the market door from his stand in the alley, "Fresh fish! Shad-o-shad!" Also, when I was a small boy, he would take me along in his horse and wagon from which he peddled his fish at that time. He would even set me on the horse's back sometimes, when he unhitched him, and walked him in the barn at the rear of our home at Coral and First streets.
My dad peddled the county every day but Friday - that was his city day - and how I knew that! Every Friday morning, as I was sitting in class at Pearl Street Elementary School, I would hear the horn blowing, and I knew Pop was coming.
Besides blowing the horn, he had a few jingles he chanted: "Smitty with a hook, Smitty with a line, Smitty went fishing and only caught nine." Another one was "Here comes the fish man, bring out the dishpan, Porgies five a pound." I cannot truly say whether he used these on his route or not, but he certainly sang them to me.
As the years went by, Pop eventually peddled his routes, first with a little pea-green Model T, and then with a small Model-A Ford, his last vehicle into retirement.
Besides the fish business, my father was an enterprising person, doing quite a bit of farming. As my older siblings, most old enough to be my parents, were growing up, they often lived on farms.
Pop would buy a home in the city; live there a few years; then sell it at a profit and buy a farm, doing the same with this in a few years. This went on continually till I was born on a farm at Wabank and Charles roads (there is an apartment complex on it now at Hershey Avenue). We only lived there a few months and then moved back to town at Coral and First streets, where he spent the rest of his life. I always tell people I must have settled him down when I was born.
There was one other thing my dad was good at and made money from. He would buy old rundown horses for five bucks, fatten them up, groom them and sell them for $100. And even after his farming days, he always had a lot he gardened out in Bausman where my sister and I did a lot of picking and peddling produce for him in the neighborhood.
My Pop was a tough cookie and a hard worker all his life. I often marveled at the flimsy suit coat, with a sweater underneath, that he wore on the bitterest cold days, peddling in a truck with very little heat in it.
He plied his trade for so many, many long years that I almost feel certain he's still out there somewhere shouting, "Fresh fish! Shad-o-shad!"
The author
Woodrow W. "Woody" Stetter of Lancaster is the youngest son of the 13 children of Frank Stetter, about whom this story was written. (Three other children died at birth.)
Retired from the Lancaster Post Office, where he was a letter carrier, Stetter also repaired watches at home. A native of Lancaster, Stetter played a variety of sports when he was young. He still bowls in a league once a week. A 1936 graduate of Lancaster Boys High School, he has been writing poetry since his school days. He enjoys woodworking, and has been visiting sick people and shut-ins for many years.
He and his wife, M. Jean Stetter, have five children and three grandchildren. Stetter is a member of Community United Methodist Church, where he teaches adult Sunday school.
H. FRANK STETTER, FISH DEALER, DIES
H. Frank Stetter, eight-three, 36 Coral St., a Lancaster fish dealer for 75 years, died early Thursday at his home after a short illness.
Mr. Stetter retired from active participation in the family fish market at 217 Fairview St. and in the Central market, several years ago, turning over the business to his son, Walter, was well known to several generations of Lancaster shoppers and for many years took pride in being the first man to wear a straw hat each Spring.
STARTED AT NINE
Mr. Stetter started in the fish business when he was nine years old, catching his wares in local streams and peddling house to house with a wheelbarrow. His first permanent fish market was at Frant and Water Streets, the former Kreiner fish market, over 50 years ago.
In his youth, he was an active sportsman, appearing in a number of boxing matches staged at Penn Square.
He was born at Lancaster, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Stetter. He was a member of St. Luke's Evangelical and Reformed Church.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Daisy Haines Stetter, and these children: Clarence E.; Walter E.; Bertha E., wife of Herbert Schmid, all of Lancaster; Ray N., Brownsville, Texas; Mrs. Sarah Riley, and Norman L., Lancaster; Edna M., wife of Earl Camp, Philadelphia; Woodrow W., and Nancy Jane, wife of Albert Ranzinger, of Lancaster. Also a brother, Edward, Royersford, 33 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.
STETTER -- Entered into rest in this city on November 8, 1951, Frank Stetter, husband of Daisy Haines Stetter of 36 Coral St., in his 84th year. The relatives and friends are invited to attend the funeral without further notice from The Funeral Home of Fred F. Groff, lnc., No. 234 W. Orange St., on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock. Interment in Millersville Mennonite Cemetery. Friends may call at Groff's Friday evening between 7 and 9 o'clock.
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, Friday 9 Nov 1951
I KNOW A STORY
His father, the fish man, was sign of spring
By Woodrow Stetter
Special to the Sunday News
About this time every year, I think of my father, Frank Stetter, "the old fish man." It seemed like every early spring he would get out his straw hat and head downtown, and frequently he would get his picture taken by a newspaper photographer as he stood looking at the temperature on the thermometer in front of the newspaper office. They would always acknowledge him in the article as the man with the first straw hat of the season.
Finally I said to him one time, "Pop, I think you go down there every year just to get your picture in the paper." In response, I'd always get a great big grin but never an admission of guilt.
Everyone in the area seemed to know my dad, "the fish man" with the big red mustache. He started in the business as a boy of 9, working for a neighbor on Water Street; eventually having the business himself; and keeping it in the family for more than 100 years, through my brother, Walt, and his two boys.
My father worked himself till he was 79 or 80, peddling every day and at market Tuesday and Fridays. He had a stand on the open market on East King Street before the Central Market was built.
When I was a small boy he would occasionally take me to market, and today when I go to market I can still hear him shout in the market door from his stand in the alley, "Fresh fish! Shad-o-shad!" Also, when I was a small boy, he would take me along in his horse and wagon from which he peddled his fish at that time. He would even set me on the horse's back sometimes, when he unhitched him, and walked him in the barn at the rear of our home at Coral and First streets.
My dad peddled the county every day but Friday - that was his city day - and how I knew that! Every Friday morning, as I was sitting in class at Pearl Street Elementary School, I would hear the horn blowing, and I knew Pop was coming.
Besides blowing the horn, he had a few jingles he chanted: "Smitty with a hook, Smitty with a line, Smitty went fishing and only caught nine." Another one was "Here comes the fish man, bring out the dishpan, Porgies five a pound." I cannot truly say whether he used these on his route or not, but he certainly sang them to me.
As the years went by, Pop eventually peddled his routes, first with a little pea-green Model T, and then with a small Model-A Ford, his last vehicle into retirement.
Besides the fish business, my father was an enterprising person, doing quite a bit of farming. As my older siblings, most old enough to be my parents, were growing up, they often lived on farms.
Pop would buy a home in the city; live there a few years; then sell it at a profit and buy a farm, doing the same with this in a few years. This went on continually till I was born on a farm at Wabank and Charles roads (there is an apartment complex on it now at Hershey Avenue). We only lived there a few months and then moved back to town at Coral and First streets, where he spent the rest of his life. I always tell people I must have settled him down when I was born.
There was one other thing my dad was good at and made money from. He would buy old rundown horses for five bucks, fatten them up, groom them and sell them for $100. And even after his farming days, he always had a lot he gardened out in Bausman where my sister and I did a lot of picking and peddling produce for him in the neighborhood.
My Pop was a tough cookie and a hard worker all his life. I often marveled at the flimsy suit coat, with a sweater underneath, that he wore on the bitterest cold days, peddling in a truck with very little heat in it.
He plied his trade for so many, many long years that I almost feel certain he's still out there somewhere shouting, "Fresh fish! Shad-o-shad!"
The author
Woodrow W. "Woody" Stetter of Lancaster is the youngest son of the 13 children of Frank Stetter, about whom this story was written. (Three other children died at birth.)
Retired from the Lancaster Post Office, where he was a letter carrier, Stetter also repaired watches at home. A native of Lancaster, Stetter played a variety of sports when he was young. He still bowls in a league once a week. A 1936 graduate of Lancaster Boys High School, he has been writing poetry since his school days. He enjoys woodworking, and has been visiting sick people and shut-ins for many years.
He and his wife, M. Jean Stetter, have five children and three grandchildren. Stetter is a member of Community United Methodist Church, where he teaches adult Sunday school.
Son of Johan F. STETTER, married Eva Ann GOSS in 2 sep 1891. He was a fish peddler in Lancaster County, PA.
H. FRANK STETTER, FISH DEALER, DIES
H. Frank Stetter, eight-three, 36 Coral St., a Lancaster fish dealer for 75 years, died early Thursday at his home after a short illness.
Mr. Stetter retired from active participation in the family fish market at 217 Fairview St. and in the Central market, several years ago, turning over the business to his son, Walter, was well known to several generations of Lancaster shoppers and for many years took pride in being the first man to wear a straw hat each Spring.
STARTED AT NINE
Mr. Stetter started in the fish business when he was nine years old, catching his wares in local streams and peddling house to house with a wheelbarrow. His first permanent fish market was at Frant and Water Streets, the former Kreiner fish market, over 50 years ago.
In his youth, he was an active sportsman, appearing in a number of boxing matches staged at Penn Square.
He was born at Lancaster, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Stetter. He was a member of St. Luke's Evangelical and Reformed Church.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Daisy Haines Stetter, and these children: Clarence E.; Walter E.; Bertha E., wife of Herbert Schmid, all of Lancaster; Ray N., Brownsville, Texas; Mrs. Sarah Riley, and Norman L., Lancaster; Edna M., wife of Earl Camp, Philadelphia; Woodrow W., and Nancy Jane, wife of Albert Ranzinger, of Lancaster. Also a brother, Edward, Royersford, 33 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.
STETTER -- Entered into rest in this city on November 8, 1951, Frank Stetter, husband of Daisy Haines Stetter of 36 Coral St., in his 84th year. The relatives and friends are invited to attend the funeral without further notice from The Funeral Home of Fred F. Groff, lnc., No. 234 W. Orange St., on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock. Interment in Millersville Mennonite Cemetery. Friends may call at Groff's Friday evening between 7 and 9 o'clock.
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, Friday 9 Nov 1951
I KNOW A STORY
His father, the fish man, was sign of spring
By Woodrow Stetter
Special to the Sunday News
About this time every year, I think of my father, Frank Stetter, "the old fish man." It seemed like every early spring he would get out his straw hat and head downtown, and frequently he would get his picture taken by a newspaper photographer as he stood looking at the temperature on the thermometer in front of the newspaper office. They would always acknowledge him in the article as the man with the first straw hat of the season.
Finally I said to him one time, "Pop, I think you go down there every year just to get your picture in the paper." In response, I'd always get a great big grin but never an admission of guilt.
Everyone in the area seemed to know my dad, "the fish man" with the big red mustache. He started in the business as a boy of 9, working for a neighbor on Water Street; eventually having the business himself; and keeping it in the family for more than 100 years, through my brother, Walt, and his two boys.
My father worked himself till he was 79 or 80, peddling every day and at market Tuesday and Fridays. He had a stand on the open market on East King Street before the Central Market was built.
When I was a small boy he would occasionally take me to market, and today when I go to market I can still hear him shout in the market door from his stand in the alley, "Fresh fish! Shad-o-shad!" Also, when I was a small boy, he would take me along in his horse and wagon from which he peddled his fish at that time. He would even set me on the horse's back sometimes, when he unhitched him, and walked him in the barn at the rear of our home at Coral and First streets.
My dad peddled the county every day but Friday - that was his city day - and how I knew that! Every Friday morning, as I was sitting in class at Pearl Street Elementary School, I would hear the horn blowing, and I knew Pop was coming.
Besides blowing the horn, he had a few jingles he chanted: "Smitty with a hook, Smitty with a line, Smitty went fishing and only caught nine." Another one was "Here comes the fish man, bring out the dishpan, Porgies five a pound." I cannot truly say whether he used these on his route or not, but he certainly sang them to me.
As the years went by, Pop eventually peddled his routes, first with a little pea-green Model T, and then with a small Model-A Ford, his last vehicle into retirement.
Besides the fish business, my father was an enterprising person, doing quite a bit of farming. As my older siblings, most old enough to be my parents, were growing up, they often lived on farms.
Pop would buy a home in the city; live there a few years; then sell it at a profit and buy a farm, doing the same with this in a few years. This went on continually till I was born on a farm at Wabank and Charles roads (there is an apartment complex on it now at Hershey Avenue). We only lived there a few months and then moved back to town at Coral and First streets, where he spent the rest of his life. I always tell people I must have settled him down when I was born.
There was one other thing my dad was good at and made money from. He would buy old rundown horses for five bucks, fatten them up, groom them and sell them for $100. And even after his farming days, he always had a lot he gardened out in Bausman where my sister and I did a lot of picking and peddling produce for him in the neighborhood.
My Pop was a tough cookie and a hard worker all his life. I often marveled at the flimsy suit coat, with a sweater underneath, that he wore on the bitterest cold days, peddling in a truck with very little heat in it.
He plied his trade for so many, many long years that I almost feel certain he's still out there somewhere shouting, "Fresh fish! Shad-o-shad!"
The author
Woodrow W. "Woody" Stetter of Lancaster is the youngest son of the 13 children of Frank Stetter, about whom this story was written. (Three other children died at birth.)
Retired from the Lancaster Post Office, where he was a letter carrier, Stetter also repaired watches at home. A native of Lancaster, Stetter played a variety of sports when he was young. He still bowls in a league once a week. A 1936 graduate of Lancaster Boys High School, he has been writing poetry since his school days. He enjoys woodworking, and has been visiting sick people and shut-ins for many years.
He and his wife, M. Jean Stetter, have five children and three grandchildren. Stetter is a member of Community United Methodist Church, where he teaches adult Sunday school.
H. FRANK STETTER, FISH DEALER, DIES
H. Frank Stetter, eight-three, 36 Coral St., a Lancaster fish dealer for 75 years, died early Thursday at his home after a short illness.
Mr. Stetter retired from active participation in the family fish market at 217 Fairview St. and in the Central market, several years ago, turning over the business to his son, Walter, was well known to several generations of Lancaster shoppers and for many years took pride in being the first man to wear a straw hat each Spring.
STARTED AT NINE
Mr. Stetter started in the fish business when he was nine years old, catching his wares in local streams and peddling house to house with a wheelbarrow. His first permanent fish market was at Frant and Water Streets, the former Kreiner fish market, over 50 years ago.
In his youth, he was an active sportsman, appearing in a number of boxing matches staged at Penn Square.
He was born at Lancaster, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Stetter. He was a member of St. Luke's Evangelical and Reformed Church.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Daisy Haines Stetter, and these children: Clarence E.; Walter E.; Bertha E., wife of Herbert Schmid, all of Lancaster; Ray N., Brownsville, Texas; Mrs. Sarah Riley, and Norman L., Lancaster; Edna M., wife of Earl Camp, Philadelphia; Woodrow W., and Nancy Jane, wife of Albert Ranzinger, of Lancaster. Also a brother, Edward, Royersford, 33 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.
STETTER -- Entered into rest in this city on November 8, 1951, Frank Stetter, husband of Daisy Haines Stetter of 36 Coral St., in his 84th year. The relatives and friends are invited to attend the funeral without further notice from The Funeral Home of Fred F. Groff, lnc., No. 234 W. Orange St., on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock. Interment in Millersville Mennonite Cemetery. Friends may call at Groff's Friday evening between 7 and 9 o'clock.
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, Friday 9 Nov 1951
I KNOW A STORY
His father, the fish man, was sign of spring
By Woodrow Stetter
Special to the Sunday News
About this time every year, I think of my father, Frank Stetter, "the old fish man." It seemed like every early spring he would get out his straw hat and head downtown, and frequently he would get his picture taken by a newspaper photographer as he stood looking at the temperature on the thermometer in front of the newspaper office. They would always acknowledge him in the article as the man with the first straw hat of the season.
Finally I said to him one time, "Pop, I think you go down there every year just to get your picture in the paper." In response, I'd always get a great big grin but never an admission of guilt.
Everyone in the area seemed to know my dad, "the fish man" with the big red mustache. He started in the business as a boy of 9, working for a neighbor on Water Street; eventually having the business himself; and keeping it in the family for more than 100 years, through my brother, Walt, and his two boys.
My father worked himself till he was 79 or 80, peddling every day and at market Tuesday and Fridays. He had a stand on the open market on East King Street before the Central Market was built.
When I was a small boy he would occasionally take me to market, and today when I go to market I can still hear him shout in the market door from his stand in the alley, "Fresh fish! Shad-o-shad!" Also, when I was a small boy, he would take me along in his horse and wagon from which he peddled his fish at that time. He would even set me on the horse's back sometimes, when he unhitched him, and walked him in the barn at the rear of our home at Coral and First streets.
My dad peddled the county every day but Friday - that was his city day - and how I knew that! Every Friday morning, as I was sitting in class at Pearl Street Elementary School, I would hear the horn blowing, and I knew Pop was coming.
Besides blowing the horn, he had a few jingles he chanted: "Smitty with a hook, Smitty with a line, Smitty went fishing and only caught nine." Another one was "Here comes the fish man, bring out the dishpan, Porgies five a pound." I cannot truly say whether he used these on his route or not, but he certainly sang them to me.
As the years went by, Pop eventually peddled his routes, first with a little pea-green Model T, and then with a small Model-A Ford, his last vehicle into retirement.
Besides the fish business, my father was an enterprising person, doing quite a bit of farming. As my older siblings, most old enough to be my parents, were growing up, they often lived on farms.
Pop would buy a home in the city; live there a few years; then sell it at a profit and buy a farm, doing the same with this in a few years. This went on continually till I was born on a farm at Wabank and Charles roads (there is an apartment complex on it now at Hershey Avenue). We only lived there a few months and then moved back to town at Coral and First streets, where he spent the rest of his life. I always tell people I must have settled him down when I was born.
There was one other thing my dad was good at and made money from. He would buy old rundown horses for five bucks, fatten them up, groom them and sell them for $100. And even after his farming days, he always had a lot he gardened out in Bausman where my sister and I did a lot of picking and peddling produce for him in the neighborhood.
My Pop was a tough cookie and a hard worker all his life. I often marveled at the flimsy suit coat, with a sweater underneath, that he wore on the bitterest cold days, peddling in a truck with very little heat in it.
He plied his trade for so many, many long years that I almost feel certain he's still out there somewhere shouting, "Fresh fish! Shad-o-shad!"
The author
Woodrow W. "Woody" Stetter of Lancaster is the youngest son of the 13 children of Frank Stetter, about whom this story was written. (Three other children died at birth.)
Retired from the Lancaster Post Office, where he was a letter carrier, Stetter also repaired watches at home. A native of Lancaster, Stetter played a variety of sports when he was young. He still bowls in a league once a week. A 1936 graduate of Lancaster Boys High School, he has been writing poetry since his school days. He enjoys woodworking, and has been visiting sick people and shut-ins for many years.
He and his wife, M. Jean Stetter, have five children and three grandchildren. Stetter is a member of Community United Methodist Church, where he teaches adult Sunday school.
Family Members
Siblings
Children
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![]()
Harry Jeremiah Stetter
1892–1939
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![]()
Herbert Francis Stetter Jr
1894–1911
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![]()
Clarence Edward Stetter
1896–1976
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![]()
Walter Elvin Stetter
1898–1974
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![]()
Bertha Elizabeth Stetter Schmid
1900–1984
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![]()
LTC Raymond Nevin "Ray" Stetter
1902–1982
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![]()
Sarah M. Stetter Riley
1904–1984
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![]()
Norman Leighton Stetter Sr
1907–1973
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![]()
Edna Mary Stetter Kauffman
1907–1985
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![]()
Robert Fulton Stetter
1910–1991
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![]()
Woodrow Wilson Stetter
1918–2004
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Infant Stetter
1920–1920
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![]()
Nancy Jane Stetter Ranzinger
1923–2013
-
Frank Stetter
1925–1925
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