Bedford County PA Archives Biographies.....Eshelman, Albert B. 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Banja jbanja@msn.com May 2003


ALBERT B. ESHELMAN, a prominent farmer and lumber 
manufacturer of West Providence township, Pa., was born 
August 13, 1856, in the adjacent township of East 
Providence.  His parents, John W. and Hanna (Williams) 
Eshelman, the former of German descent, were both natives of 
East Providence.  His mother died soon after his birth.  She 
was his father's first wife.
  John W. Eshelman was a son of David Eshelman.  Left a 
widower, he subsequently married a second wife, and, 
removing to West Providence, settled on the Chambersburg 
pike road, at the Weaverling place.  During the progress of 
the Civil War he enlisted as a soldier; and, from the 
exposure and hardships to which he was subjected in camp and 
on the field, he died a short time after returning home, in 
1865.
  Albert B. Eshelman resided on the Weaverling estate with 
his father and step- mother until the death of the former.  
In the fall of 1865 he went to live with his maternal 
grandfather, Jeduthan Williams, in East Providence, and was 
there reared and educated.  On the first of September, 1877, 
he went to Everett, Bedford County, to work for an uncle, 
Jeremiah Baughman, a farmer in Black Valley, with whom he 
remained until March 10, 1878, when he started West, hoping 
in a new country to lay a substantial foundation for a 
future fortune.  In Marshall County, Iowa, he labored as a 
farm hand for a short time, and later on he was similarly 
occupied for a few months in Ogle County, Illinois.  
Returning in December, 1878, to Bedford County, he has since 
continued his residence here.  In 1880 Mr. Eshelman began 
farming for himself, the first two years renting land to 
cultivate.  In 1882 he purchased his present farm on Clear 
Ridge, containing one hundred and sixty-eight acres, which 
he has managed with good success.  Energetic and 
enterprising, he has also since February, 1895, engaged in 
the lumber business on his own account, operating a 
saw-mill, the lumber manufacturing industry proving very 
profitable.  For several years previous he had carried on 
lumbering as a contractor.
  Mr. Eshelman is a strong adherent of the Republican party. 
 Public-spirited, ever manifesting a lively interest in 
local affairs, he has filled many offices of trust, having 
served as Assessor of the township three years, as Road 
Supervisor one year, as Judge of Elections at various times, 
and as School Director, to which he was recently re-elected. 
 He is a self-made man, having through his own efforts 
steadily climbed the ladder of success, attaining a position 
among the leading men of the community in which he lives.
  On August 17, 1881, Mr. Eshelman married Mrs. Rebecca V. 
Sparks, widow of Philip W. Sparks, late an esteemed citizen 
of West Providence, Pa., who died in 1879.  Mr. and Mrs. 
Eshelman have five children, namely: Frances Irene, John W., 
Matilda B., Mary E., and Allen R.  Frances Irene is now the 
wife of John E. Williams, a farmer of Monroe township, Pa., 
to whom she was married a few weeks since, April 19, 1899.
  By her first marriage Mrs. Eshelman had three children, as 
follows: Laura V., who married, March 17, 1898, Herbert M. 
Jackson, of Fulton County, Pennsylvania; David E., who died 
December 24, 1883; and one child that died in infancy.  Mr. 
Eshelman and family are members of the Christian church of 
Clear Creek, Pa.


Source: Bedford Biographical Review, 1899, Bedford Co., Pa