BIO:  Mrs. Avilla M. WOLFF, Franklin Township, Adams County, PA

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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania
Chicago:  Warner, Beers & Co., 1886
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Part III, History of Adams County, Page 415

MRS. AVILLA M. WOLFF, of Cashtown, is the widow of Rev. David W. Wolff, who in 
his day was one of the most prominent ministers of the gospel in Adams County.  
He was born near Carlisle, in Cumberland County, November 29, 1829.  When he was 
yet a child, his parents, Henry and Sarah Wolff, moved to the vicinity of New 
Chester, in Adams County.  Here David grew up with his brothers and sisters, 
early feeling within him the Divine call to the ministry.  Fearing himself 
mistaken, he frequently sought solitude in the woods near his home, there to 
pray for Divine guidance.  About this time his uncle, for whom he was named, 
begged him to come to Ohio, “to be made something of.”  David’s parents thinking 
this a good opportunity, he was sent, but remained only a short time.  “Go 
preach My Gospel” still sounded in his ears.  He returned home and took a 
preparatory course at New Oxford, then entered Marshall College at Mercersburg, 
Penn.  This college was moved to Lancaster, and combined with Franklin College, 
the new institution taking the name of Franklin and Marshall College, and from 
here he graduated in 1853.  He then took a theological course at the German 
Reformed Seminary, at Mercersburg.  He graduated in 1856, and was then licensed 
and ordained to preach by the Synod of the German Reformed Church.  His first 
labors were in Paradise charge, where he assisted his brother, Rev. George 
Wolff.  His first charge was at Danville, Penn., whither he removed in 1857; 
later he had charge of Catawissa, Schuylkill Haven, and then served as chaplain 
in the United States Army, during the civil war.  In 1866 he took the Conowago 
charge in Adams county, with his residence at Arendtsville.  December 27, 1870, 
he married Miss Avilla M. Mickley, a daughter of one of the first families in 
Adams County.  Her great-grandfather, Martin Nickley, purchased land in Adams 
County shortly after the Revolution.  He was a soldier during that struggle, and 
at that time residing near Germantown.  He had a son Daniel, whose son Charles, 
is the father of our subject.  Charles was born in Adams County, in May, 1820, 
and married, in May, 1842, Jane Green, whose father, John Green, was at that 
time proprietor of the Cashtown Hotel.  Mrs. Wolff is the only daughter, but 
there are two sons - Green and Lemuel.  Mrs. Wolff was educated at Palatinate 
College, Myerstown, Penn.  Four children:  Henry H. (deceased in infancy), John 
N., Mary C. and Sarah J., blessed their union.  Rev. Mr. Wolff died March 16, 
1876, at Carlisle, where he had gone to receive medical attention.  His charge 
at the time of his death was in Petersburg, Clarion County, having been 
stationed there in 1873.  He was a man of renown, just and true, leaving behind 
a name which is a source of pride to his children.