BIOS: File 1 - Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Samuel T. Wiley, Philadelphia, 1892. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Typing and proofreading by subscribers to the RootsWeb PABLAIR mailing list, as noted on individual transcriptions. Copyright 2001. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _________________________________________ Biographies in File 1, listing the page where they appear in the book: Bushman, Thomas, page 225 Criswell, John T., page 228 Ferguson, Harry E., page 219 Gillam, James S., page 237 Guyer, Caleb, page 183 Homer, Matthias jr., page 227 Mackey, Martin H., page 235 Mathers, Rev. Joseph H., page 231 McFarlin, Daniel M., page 207 Miller, John H., page 220 Montgomery, C. Howard, page 221 O'Neil, John, page 222 Parker, David E., page 205 Parker, Hiram H., page 236 Ramey, David K., page 239 Ross, John D., page 226 Shollar, Capt. James S., page 223 Sprankle, John A., page 230 Waring, William G., page 456 Wilmore, John J., page 222 C. HOWARD MONTGOMERY, car accountant on the Bell's Gap & Clearfield & Jefferson Railroad, is a man of fine mental qualifications, and to his careful management much of the efficiency of the car service on that road is due. He is a son of Oswald C. and Gertrude L. (Lynch) Montgomery, and was born July 16, 1850, in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Montgomerys are of English descent, and for several generations were residents of the Empire State. Oswald C. Montgomery (father) was a native of Dutchess county, New York, being born at Rhinebeck-on-the-Hudson in 1822. About 1830 he removed to the city of Philadelphia. He was a bank teller by occupation. C. Howard Montgomery was principally reared in Philadelphia, and received his education in the superior schools of that city. At the early age of fifteen years he began business on his own account as a clerk in the dry goods house of Barcroft & Co., whose establishment at that time was located on Market street, Philadelphia. He remained with that firm for four years, when he resigned his position and went into the whaling service, serving first on the north Atlantic, and then in the south Atlantic ocean. He also made a trip to the Mediterranean sea, and after returning from that voyage became superintendent of ocean steamships for the Baltimore Storage & Lighterage Company at Baltimore, Maryland. After occupying that position for a period of three years, he was sent to Bellwood, this county, in 1887, as rodman in a surveying party, and in a short time after his arrival here was offered a position with the Bell's Gap & Clearfield & Jefferson Railroad Company to take charge of and organize their car department. The road had just received its first equipment of seven hundred and fifty cars, to which two hundred and fifty more were added a couple of years later. At that time one hundred cars each way was considered a big day's work, while three hundred both ways is now an ordinary day's work. Mr. Montgomery has now occupied this position for more than five years, rendering satisfaction to his official superiors and becoming familiar with railroading in all its branches. His official designation is car accountant, and he has six clerks under his charge. On March 9, 1881, Mr. Montgomery was wedded to Fannie H. Hickman, and to this union have been born two children, a daughter named Mary Oswald, and a son called Charles Berwind. In politics Mr. Montgomery is a republican, giving his party a hearty support on general questions, but inclined toward independent action on local issues. In religious belief he is an Episcopalian, as were most of his family. He is a man of clear perceptions, original ideas, and great breadth of view. He has introduced many original and practical methods into the management of his department, and is widely known in railroad circles throughout the Keystone State. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by Linda Black Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM CAPT. JAMES S. SHOLLAR, a contractor and builder of Williamsburg, who served in the Army of the Potomac throughout the late civil war, and during a part of that time commanded Co. B, 208th Pennsylvania infantry, is a son of Jacob N. and Judith (White) Shollar, and was born at Etna Furnace, Blair county, Pennsylvania, April 11, 1842. His paternal grandfather Shollar was a native of Prussia, and settled in Lancaster county, where he died; while his maternal grandfather White was born in Wales, and became a resident of Huntingdon county, where he died. Jacob N. Shollar, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Manheim, Lancaster county, in 1804, and learned the trade of gunsmith, which he followed to some extent during his life, but gave the most of his time to farming and stock raising. In early life he removed to Huntingdon, now Blair county, where he died at Franklin Forge, August 26, 1853, when in the forty-ninth year of his age. He was a democrat in politics and a Lutheran in religious belief. He married Judith White, of Huntingdon county, who was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and died February 8, 1882, at seventy-six years of age. To their union were born eight children, five sons and three daughters, of whom two sons and one daughter are still living: Mrs. Andrew Bice, of Frankstown; Martin V., of Williamsburg, and James S. James S. Shollar was reared at Williamsburg, received his education in the common schools, and worked on the canal until he was old enough to enter a carpenter shop. Before he had completed the trade of carpenter the late war came, and he left the bench for the tented field. He enlisted as a private on April 20, 1861, in Co. C, 3rd Pennsylvania infantry, and at the end of his three months' term of service enlisted for nine months in Co. B, 208th Pennsylvania infantry, was commissioned as its captain, and served as such from September 8, 1864, to June 1, 1865, when the regiment was mustered out of the service at Alexandria, Virginia. Captain Shollar was in the battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville, and led his company at Fort Steadman, capturing more prisoners than he had men in the fight, two and one-fourth to one. He commanded the left wing of his regiment at the capture of Petersburg, and was in command of the skirmish line on the morning of April 3, 1865, and as such was the first officer to enter the captured city, driving the last of the enemy across the Appomattox, saving the bridge which they attempted to destroy. The company entered the service one hundred and one strong, and was mustered out with but sixty-five men. His regiment was in the 3rd division, 9th army corps, commanded by Gen. John F. Hartranft. After the close of the war Captain Shollar returned to Williamsburg, where he has been engaged in contracting and building ever since. On December 27, 1863, he married Isabella, daughter of Samuel F. and Ann Cooper, of Williamsburg. Captain and Mrs. Shollar have six children: Guy M., railroad agent at Duncansville; Juniata, wife of Aaron Snyder, of Williamsburg; Archibald and Charles, twins, of whom the former wedded Lucy Brantner; Frederick J.; and Bessie N. In politics Captain Shollar is a republican. He is a member of R. N. Johnson Post, No. 474, Grand Army of the Republic, and has been prominent for over a quarter of a century as one of the useful citizens and leading business men of Williamsburg. He does a large and very successful contracting business, has erected nine churches within the last decade, and has built dwelling houses from the summit of the Alleghenies as far westward as Greensburg, Westmoreland county, and Connellsville, Fayette county; and eastward to Mifflintown, this State. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by Linda Black Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM DAVID K. RAMEY, whose active business life was extended over half a century, stands among the foremost citizens of his native county, and ranks with the largest lumber manufacturers in the State. He has lived a busy, enterprising, and useful life, and been eminently successful. For more than a quarter of a century he has been a resident of the city of Altoona, and is prominently identified with many of her public enterprises. He is the eldest son of Frederick and Martha (Keller) Ramey, and was born October 8, 1821, at Tyrone Forges, Blair county, Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Francis Ramey, was of French-German stock, and emigrated to America from Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, about 1788, settling in Pennsylvania. He came over in one of the sailing vessels of that day, and the trip occupied six months. His life in this country was brief, as he was accidentally drowned in the Juniata river, near Petersburg, Huntingdon county, in a short time after his arrival. Frederick Ramey, the father of David. K. Ramey, was a native of the province of Alsace-Lorraine, in the great German empire, but came to the United States with his parents in 1788, when only three or four years of age. At an early day he located at Tyrone Forges, then in Huntingdon county, now Blair county, Pennsylvania. He was a forgeman by trade, and became an expert widely known for his skill. In 1826 he removed to Sinking Valley, this county, locating on a farm he had purchased there, and continued to reside on the farm until his death, July 4, 1865, at which time he had attained the ripe old age of nearly four score years. He and his family were members of the Evangelical Lutheran church. In politics he was whig and later a republican. He served in the war of 1812 as a member of the force under the gallant Commodore Perry, on Lake Erie, and took part in that memorable conflict which was heralded to the world in Perry's famous dispatch, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." He married Martha Keller in 1807, and reared a family of ten children, four of whom-two sons and two daughters-still survive: Daniel K., a resident of the city of Hollidaysburg, since dead; Mary, who married William Beyer (now dead), and she now resides at Edgewood, Iowa; Solomon F., living in Altoona; Eliza, who became the wife of Michael Breidenbough, and lives in Antis township, this county; and David K., the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Ramey, wife of Frederick Ramey and mother of David K. Ramey, was a native of Pennsylvania, and a devoted member of the Lutheran church. She passed away peacefully on December 6, 1861, in the seventy-third year of her age,. David K. Ramey was reared principally on his father's farm, in Sinking Valley, this county, and educated in the common schools of his neighborhood, the school term being three to four months each year and very poorly conducted. At the age of eighteen he became an apprentice to the trades of carpenter and house builder, and worked at that business mostly in Hollidaysburg from early in 1840 to 1865, a little over a quarter of a century. During the latter part of this time he was extensively engaged in contracting and building. In 1865 he removed to the city of Altoona, then a borough with less than 10,000 inhabitants, and purchased a planing mill, which he successfully conducted for a period of nine years. He then leased the mill to other parties, who have had it ever since, though he still owns the property. In 1870 Mr. Ramey formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Thomas McCauley, now deceased, and purchased a large tract of timber land in Clearfield county, this State. A little later they bought a still larger body of timber land in the same county, and since that time Mr. Ramey has manufactured and marketed more than one hundred million feet of lumber. He now owns about thirty-three hundred acres of coal land in Clearfield county, on which are four coal mines in successful operation. These mines are leased to different coal companies. Mr. Ramey is also interested in large tracts of land in the States of Kentucky, Nebraska, and Kansas, besides owning considerable city property in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He is now mainly engaged in looking after his various real estate interests. On February 22, 1844, Mr. Ramey was wedded to Catherine Leamer, a daughter of Jacob Leamer, of Clearfield county, this State, since deceased. She died April 28, 1863, leaving six children, of whom five are yet living, two sons and three daughters: Frederick, residing in Altoona; Jennie, the wife of Harry B. Huff, of this city; Susan, who married T. Blair Patton, formerly postmaster of this city, but now general superintendent of the reformatory at Huntingdon, Huntingdon county; Samuel S.B., who is in the life insurance business in Altoona; and Catherine, who wedded William F. Wingard, and also resides in this city. In August, 1865, Mr. Ramey was again married, this time to Annie R. Knight, formerly of Maryland, and to this union was born a family of five children, one son and four daughters: David W.; Bertha, now the wife of William L. Pennock-(see his sketch); Misses Lorene, Alice, and Annie Rebecca. Politically Mr. Ramey is a republican and an uncompromising temperance man, and although he has served as a member of the city council at the urgent solicitation of friends, he takes no active part in politics, and cares nothing for official position. He has been a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church since 1839, and is one of the founders of the Second Lutheran church of this city. He is a stockholder and director in the electric street car line of Altoona, and was largely instrumental in the organization of that enterprise. He is also a stockholder and one of the directors, and was one of the organizers, of the Altoona Iron Company. He was one of the first to subscribe to and encourage the Altoona Hospital association, and has served as one of its directors since the founding of the same, and is at this time president of the board of directors of the Missionary institute, located at Selins Grove, Snyder county, Pennsylvania, and also a member of the board of directors of the theological seminary of the general synod of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and an earnest worker in and liberal giver to the enterprises of the church of his choice. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by Linda M. Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM HARRY E. FERGUSON, now serving as city treasurer of Altoona, and a member of the well-known firm of D. Ferguson & Son, general merchants, is a son of Daniel S. and Sarah J. (Elway) Ferguson, and was born in the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1863. The Fergusons are of Scotch-Irish extraction, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, William Ferguson, having been born in the Emerald Isle about 1791. He emigrated to America, settling in New Jersey, where he was married, and early in the fifties removed to Altoona, this county, where he resided until his death in 1863, at the age of seventy-three years. He married Mary McKeag, by whom he had a family of eleven children, among them being Daniel S. (father), who was born in New Jersey, but came to Altoona with his father's family in 1850, when the present city was only an insignificant village. He has resided here ever since, and during the last decade has been engaged in the general merchandise business. Previous to this he was in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for many years. He is a member of the Chestnut Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, a republican in politics, and is connected with Altoona Lodge, No. 473, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Sarah J. Elway, and to their union was born a family of four children. She was a native of Blair county, this State, and is now in the fifty-sixth year of her age, and a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Altoona. Harry E. Ferguson was reared in the city of Altoona, and received his education in the public schools here and at the Millersville State Normal school. After leaving school he accepted a position as clerk in a large mercantile establishment in Altoona, where he remained until 1882. He then formed a partnership with his father, under the style of D. Ferguson & Son, and purchased the entire stock of goods from his former employers and continued the business of the old firm. He was possessed of that enterprise, energy and capacity for details which is everywhere requisite for success, and for ten years the firm has done a thriving and prosperous business, and now has a large trade and carries a fine stock. In politics Mr. Ferguson is a stanch republican, giving his party an earnest and intelligent support on all leading questions. In 1890 he was elected on the republican ticket to the office of city treasurer of Altoona, and is now serving in that responsible position. He is a member of Mountain Lodge, No. 281, Free and Accepted Masons; Mountain Chapter, No. 189, Royal Arch Masons; Mountain Council, No. 9, Royal and Select Masons; and Mountain Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar. He is also a member of Lulu Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Philadelphia, and a thirty-second degree Mason, holding membership in the Pittsburg consistory. When only sixteen years of age he joined the volunteer fire department of Altoona and was an active member for five years, since which time he has been an honorary member of that organization, and has served as treasurer of the Excelsior Hose company during the last eight years. In fraternal circles and with the general public, Mr. Ferguson is extremely popular, and takes rank among the leading citizens of Blair county. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by Linda M. Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM HIRAM H. PARKER, one of the many enterprising and active business men of the Mountain City, and a member of the well-known building and contracting firm of Kline, Parker & Co., is a son of Robert and Mary (Robley) Parker, and was born September 17, 1848, in Germancy valley, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. The Parker family traces its lineage back to England, from one of whose old and popular counties David Parker (grandfather) came to this country. Trace has been lost of where and when he first settled, beyond the fact of his being in Pennsylvania prior to the revolutionary war, as he was a soldier in the American army during that great struggle for independence. After he was mustered out of the Continental service he became a resident of Centre county, but soon removed to Huntingdon county, where he died. He married, and of the sons born to him in his Centre county home, one was Robert Parker, the father of the subject of this sketch. Robert Parker was born in 1813, and at an early age removed from Centre to Huntingdon county, where he resided until 1855, when he went to Mifflin county, in which he remained for eight years. At the end of that time, in 1863, he returned to Huntingdon county, where he has resided ever since. He has always been engaged in farming and stock-raising. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics has always been a stanch republican, yet not an extremist. He married Mary Robley, a native of New York, and a member of the United Brethren church, who passed away on August 19, 1880, when in the sixty-fifth year of her age. Mr. and Mrs. Parker were the parents of nine children, six sons and three daughters. Hiram H. Parker passed the larger part of his boyhood and youth in Huntingdon county, and received a good English education in the common schools. From the school room he went to the carpenter's bench, and has followed carpentering more or less ever since, in connection with other lines of business. In 1880 he came to Altoona, where he worked at his trade until 1882, when he and his brother, David E., under the firm name of Parker Bros., commenced contracting, which they followed up to 1888. In that year they formed a partnership with John G. Kline, under the firm name of Kline, Parker & Co., and in addition to contracting and building, the new firm also engaged in the planing mill business and the handling of sand and lime and other of builders' supplies. They give employment to a large number of men, and have an extensive trade in each of their different lines of business. They have erected many houses, handle large quantities of builders' supplies, and own and operate a steam planing mill near Altoona, at Juniata, Pennsylvania. Altoona is well entitled to special mention as a great center, in Pennsylvania, of builders' supplies, and among the many able and progressive firms of the city in that line of business, the firm of Kline, Parker & Co. are justly accorded a prominent place. In 1873 Mr. Parker was wedded to Kate A., a daughter of Leonard Hostler, a resident of Sinking Valley, this county. This union has been blessed with two children: Jesse R. and Harry L., who are both at home with their parents. In politics Mr. Parker is a republican. He is a member of Castle No. 27, Knights of the Mystic Chain, and a member and ruling elder of the Church of God, of Altoona, which he became connected with in 1862. He is a pleasant and agreeable gentleman, and has by his own will and energy made his life a success. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by Linda Black Shillinger Lindastree@AOL.COM JOHN A. SPRANKLE, one of the oldest merchants and most highly respected citizens of Altoona, is a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Anderson) Sprankle, and was born in Morris township, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1829. One of the early settlers of Huntingdon county was John Sprankle, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He was born in Germany, and came to York county, which he soon left to settle in what is now Huntingdon, but was then Bedford county, where he had made his home in a section that was mostly in woods. He married, and of the children born to him in his forest home, one was Benjamin Sprankle (father), who was born in Morris township, that county, in 1806, on the farm on which he now resides. Like many a farmer's son of half a century ago, he commenced life with good health, but no money, but the lack of financial means did not prevent him from aspiring to business success, which he won after many years of hard labor and judicious management. He purchased his father's farm, which he improved and upon which he erected first-class buildings. He also purchased a valuable farm on Spruce creek, which he still owns, and for nearly fifty years conducted farming and stock raising upon rather an extended scale. He is the oldest man in Morris township, and nearing his eighty-fifth birthday, yet time has dealt kindly with him and left him healthy, active and well preserved physically and mentally for one of his advanced years. Mr. Sprankle is a member of the Reformed church, of Alexandria, and a republican in politics, and has held several of his township's offices. He married Elizabeth Anderson, a native of Black Lick, Cambria county, by whom he had ten children. Mrs. Sprankle was a member of the German Reformed church, and passed away in 1884, when in the seventy-fourth year of her age. John A. Sprankle passed his boyhood years on his father's farm, received his education in the common schools, and upon attaining his majority, in 1852, became a clerk in the mercantile store of Isett & Wigton, at Rockhill furnace, in his native county. One year later he came to Altoona, where he served in the general mercantile establishment of Alexander McCormick for seven years, and at the end of that time, in the spring of 1861, he embarked in the general mercantile business for himself. He opened a small store, gave his time and attention entirely to his patrons, and by judicious management, fair dealing and untiring industry, acquired a patronage and a volume of business that necessitated for its accommodation, in 1864, the erection of his present large mercantile establishment, on the corner on Ninth street and Eleventh avenue. He carries a large stock of general merchandise, and especially full lines of dry goods, notions, and boots and shoes. He selects his goods with a view to variety and excellence, and has thus secured the confidence of his patrons. In 1857 Mr. Sprankle married Eliza A. McKnight, who is a daughter of Robert McKnight, of Logan township, and a member of the First Presbyterian church of Altoona. John A. Sprankle has been very successful as a business man, and owns some valuable real estate in the city, among which are desirable properties on the corners of Lexington avenue, Chestnut avenue, and Green avenue, with Ninth street. His present tasteful residence, on the corner of Lexington avenue and Ninth street, when it was erected in 1872, was considered the handsomest dwelling on the line of the Pennsylvania railroad from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. Mr. Sprankle is a Blaine republican in politics, and has been a member of the First Presbyterian church for many years. Esteemed as a citizen, and respected as a business man, he is truly deserving of his good fortune in life, as he has always been faithful to his friends, honest in his dealings, and loyal to any cause in which he has ever been enlisted. Transcribed and submitted for Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by Linda M. Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM JOHN D. ROSS, M.D., The oldest physician in years of practice in Blair county, and one of the best known and most successful physicians in central Pennsylvania, and who has well performed the duties and honorably borne the responsibilities of good citizenship at Williamsburg for over half a century, is a son of John and Elizabeth (Dean) Ross, and was born at Indiana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1806. His paternal grandfather Ross was of that wonderful Scotch-Irish race from the north of Ireland, whose courage and whose rifles won the country from the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains from the sway of the red lords of the forest. He settled in what is now Juniata county, where he died. His son, John Ross (father), was born in 1776, learned the trade of carpenter, and removed to Indiana, this State, where he followed contracting until his death, which occurred June 8, 1846. He and Major John Huey built the first court house in Indiana county, in 1809. He married Elizabeth Dean, by whom he had nine children, of whom three are still living: Dr. Samuel M. Ross, of Altoona (see his sketch, which appears elsewhere in this volume); Joseph Ross, of Mahoning county, Ohio; and Dr. John D. Ross. John D. Ross received his education at Indiana academy, read medicine with the celebrated Dr. James M. Stewart, who was a practicing physician in Indiana county for over half a century. He then attended two courses of lectures at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated March 29, 1832. Immediately after graduation he opened an office at Water Street, Huntingdon county, this State, at which place he practiced for six years, and then, in 1838 - the year of the great flood in the Juniata valley - he came to Williamsburg as a wider field for the practice of his chosen profession. He soon built up an extensive practice, not only at Williamsburg, but for twenty miles or more in every direction from that place. This practice he held for over half a century, and was often called in difficult cases in many other parts of Blair county and in adjoining counties. He has always enjoyed the confidence of his patients, and commanded the respect of the public by his knowledge and skill as a physician. One, writing of him as a successful, earnest, and enthusiastic physician some years ago, said: "Dr. Ross will continue to fulfill his mission as a healer until nature falters weary by the way and ceases to feel the spur of ambition's call or humanity's appeal." On May 21, 1849, Dr. Ross married Hannah, daughter of William and Catharine Morrison, of Big Valley, Mifflin county. Dr. and Mrs. Ross have two children: Charles, who is now engaged in farming; and George, a marble dealer of Williamsburg. In politics Dr. Ross is a republican, and has often yielded to public demand to serve in township offices. He always gave general satisfaction as a public official, and his borough elected him continuously as auditor for twenty years. Dr. Ross has always aimed, and most successfully, too, to keep abreast of the rapid advancement of his profession. He was one of the founders of the Blair County Medical society, of which he has been repeatedly president, vice-president, and treasurer. In 1850 he became a member of the Pennsylvania State Medical society, of which he was first vice president in 1864, and during the succeeding year elected president of the same, and from which, in 1876, he was sent as a delegate to the National Medical congress, which was held in Philadelphia in September of the centennial year. In 1854 he was elected as a member of the American Medical association, and some years later became a member of the Juniata Valley Medical association, which embraces the leading physicians from the mouth of the river to the mountain. In his long years of active and fatiguing practice, in which he has ministered to as high as four generations in many families, he never lost a week of time from his professional labors. Success like his is practical and indisputable testimony of worth, yet his efforts for the good of his fellow men, and the weal and social and moral reputation of his borough and county have given Dr. Ross high place and honorable standing among the useful and highly respected citizens of Blair county. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by Linda Black Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM JOHN H. MILLER, a good business man and a prominent and successful merchant of Tyrone, is a son of William and Leah (Summey) Miller, and was born at Baileyville, Centre county, Pennsylvania, August 25, 1843. The Millers are of Scotch-Irish lineage, and the American branch of the family was founded by James Miller, the paternal grandfather of John H. Miller, and who came from Scotland to Chester county shortly after the close of the revolutionary war. His son, James C. Miller (grandfather), was born in 1787 and removed to Mifflin county, which he afterwards left to settle in Centre county, where he died in 1857. He was a farmer, a democrat, and a Presbyterian. He married Anna McCloskey, by whom he had eleven children, six sons and five daughters. One of these sons, William Miller (father), was born on December 31, 1815, at Millroy, Mifflin county, and was successively a resident of Centre and Huntingdon counties, in the latter of which he died December 21, 1872. He was a miller by trade, and in connection with milling was engaged to some extent in farming. He was a democrat in politics, had served for many years as a deacon in the Dunkard church, and married Leah Summey, by whom he had eight children, three sons and five daughters. Mrs. Miller (mother), aged seventy-five years, is still living in Huntingdon, this State. She is a daughter of Christian Summey, who was born in Lancaster county in 1784, and in 1869 went to the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, where he died at Woodstock, Shenandoah county, that State, in 1879, aged ninety-five years. He was a farmer and school teacher, a democrat in politics, and a member of the Reformed church, and married Mary Limebaugh, by whom he had eight children, who grew to maturity. John H. Miller was reared in Centre county, received his education in the common schools and Pine Grove academy, and then engaged in merchant milling at Pine Grove Mills. In 1868 he left that place and went to Mt. Union, Huntingdon county, where he operated the National steam mill for five years. He then embarked in merchandising, and conducted his combined mercantile and milling business until 1876, when he went to Petersburg, where he operated a mill until 1887. In that year he came to Tyrone and engaged in his present wholesale grain and flour and retail grocery business. He carries a full stock of everything in his combined lines of business, and has a very flattering trade. His establishment is on the corner of Tenth street and Washington avenue, and has been carefully fitted up to suit his business and for the convenience of his many patrons. Mr. Miller is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Tyrone, and Oak Hall Lodge, No. 783, Petersburg, Huntingdon county, and Tyrone Encampment, No. 279, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a past officer and a trustee, and the treasurer of his encampment, to whose financial affairs he gives as close attention and as intelligent supervision as he does to any of his own business enterprises. On December 19, 1865, Mr. Miller married Nancy K. Bottorf, of Pine Grove Mills, Centre county, and to their union have been born six children: William, who married Grace Chamberlain, and is engaged in business with his father; Blanche, John K., Charles O., Gertrude, and Jesse E. John H. Miller is a democrat in politics, and while a resident of Huntingdon county took an active part in political affairs, serving in 1884 and again in 1885 as chairman of the Democratic county committee. He has also been sent as a delegate to Democratic State conventions, and in other positions of trust and responsibility has rendered efficient service to his party. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by Linda Black Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM JOHN J. WILMORE, one of the older residents and business men of Tyrone, and proprietor of the Tyrone carriage and wagon works, is a son of James and Catherine (Helsel) Wilmore, and was born near Wilmore Station, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1825. The old and well-known Wilmore family of central Pennsylvania was founded during the first decade of the present century by Godfrey Wilmore, the paternal grandfather of the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch. He was born in or near the city of Cumberland, in western Maryland, and removed in 1805 to Cambria county, where he died in 1816. He was a farmer by occupation, and became a pioneer settler near the site of Wilmore Station, on the present Pennsylvania railroad, which was named in honor of him. He was a Catholic in religious faith, and an old-line whig in political opinion, and married Mary Higgins, by whom he had three sons and three daughters. His son, James Wilmore (father), was born in Cumberland, Maryland, in 1795, resided near Wilmore Station from 1805 to 1872, and then went to Pittsburg, where he died September 15, 1873. He was a Catholic, and a democrat, although formerly a whig. He was a farmer by occupation, and in 1822 married Catherine Helsel, who was born in 1796, and died in 1871. Mr. and Mrs. Wilmore had six children, two sons and four daughters. John J. Wilmore received his education in the schools of his neighborhood, and being a natural mechanic, took up wagon making and afterwards carriage building, both of which trades he mastered with but little assistance or instruction. He worked in Cambria county until 1862, when he came to Sinking Valley, where he remained two years. He then came to Tyrone, where he has followed carriage building and wagon making ever since, and is now operating the Tyrone carriage and wagon works, which is located on South Logan street. The main building is a two-story structure, 40x60 feet in dimensions, to which is attached a blacksmith shop, 25x36 feet. The plant is thoroughly equipped with all the necessary machinery, and Mr. Wilmore personally superintends all of the work from the construction of the finest carriage down to the operations of the repairing department. He selects his material with the greatest of care, and is rapidly building up a large trade for his useful wagons and excellent carriages. October 23, 1864, Mr. Wilmore married Elizabeth Daugherty, of Sinking Valley, and to their union have been born six children, of whom Catherine is the wife of Robert Chaplain, a farmer; Ellen, wife of Robert Bell, a coach painter of Hollidaysburg; Mary E., Joseph, and Francis. In politics John J. Wilmore is a democrat of the Jeffersonian type. He is one of the substantial citizens of his borough, and an influential member and active worker of St. Matthew's Catholic church of Tyrone. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb Archives by Linda Black Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM JOHN O'NEIL, a wholesale and retail stationer of Altoona, a director in the Fidelity bank, and manager of the Mountain City Electric Light Company, is the eldest son of James and Anna (Fullerton) O'Neil, and was born February 12, 1839, at Bellefonte, Centre county, Pennsylvania. The ancestors of Mr. O'Neil were natives of Ireland for unknown generations, and there James O'Neil (father) was born, in County Down, about 1813. After attaining manhood he emigrated to America and settled in Centre county, Pennsylvania, where he resided until 1840, when he removed to Hollidaysburg, this county, and lived here until his accidental death, in 1850, while running a train on the old Portage railroad. In politics he was a democrat, and in religion a Roman Catholic. He married Anna Fullerton, a native of Donegal, Ireland, by whom he had a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters: John, the subject of this sketch; James, deceased; Daniel, who served as a soldier in the civil war, and is now engaged in mining and stock-raising at Como, Colorado; Arthur Hill, engaged in the wholesale tobacco and cigar business at Livingstone, Montana; Frances Cecelia, married Anthony Bookberger, a contract teamster of the city of Altoona; Sarah J., who was a sister of mercy at Pittsburg, but is now deceased; and one who died in infancy. John O'Neil was reared in Blair county, and received his education principally in the common schools of Hollidaysburg, this county. He remained in that city until 1862, when he enlisted in Co. I, 137th Pennsylvania infantry. He served as corporal of that company for about ten months, and then re-enlisted in Co. B, 192nd infantry, as sergeant, and served until the close of the war, being mustered out of the service at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in September, 1865. In 1866 he removed to Altoona and embarked in the hotel business, which he successfully conducted until 1872, when he engaged in the wholesale and retail stationery trade. By good business management, energy, and enterprise, he has succeeded in making this venture a paying one, and now controls a good business. He is also a director of the Fidelity bank of Altoona, being one of the charter members of that organization. He is likewise manager and director of the Mountain City Electric Light Company, and served one year as its president, and occupied the position of president of the Altoona Natural Gas Company, demonstrating in the management of these various enterprises the possession of a high order of business and executive ability. On May 15, 1864, Mr. O'Neil was united by marriage with Mary Jane McCafferty, a daughter of Alexander McCafferty, of Blair county. To Mr. and Mrs. O'Neil was born a family of four children: James, who died in youth; Annie, living at home; John A., assisting his father in business; and one that died in infancy. In politics Mr. O'Neil follows the example of his father, and is an ardent member of the Democratic party, giving it a hearty support of National and State questions, but inclined to independence in local affairs. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church, and has been connected with that church all his life. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb Archives by Linda M. Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM JOHN T. CRISWELL, ex-justice of the peace, who has been successfully engaged in the general mercantile business at Bellwood since 1885, and is now a notary public at that place, is a son of Joseph and Bridget (McIntyre) Criswell, and was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, June 16, 1835. His paternal great-grandfather, George Criswell, was a native of Ireland, and settled, during the latter part of the eighteenth century, in Delaware county, where he passed the last years of his life. His son, Thomas Criswell (grandfather), was born in Delaware, and settled in Chester county, where he died at the ripe old age of ninety-eight years. Of his sons, Joseph Criswell (father) was born in 1809, near Fog Manor Presbyterian church, in Fallowfield township, Chester county, where he died in 1841. He was a tailor by trade, an old-line whig in politics, and a Presbyterian in church membership. He married Bridget McIntyre, a daughter of John McIntyre, of Chester county, and to them were born four children, two sons and two daughters: James A., a pattern maker of Philadelphia; Mary E., wife of Andrew A. Best, of near Philadelphia; John T.; and Lucinda Ann, who married William Kelley, of New London, Chester county, and died about 1883. Mrs. Criswell, who was born in 1793, survived her husband until July 5, 1879, when she was killed in a windstorm at Mifflintown, Juniata county. John T. Criswell spent his boyhood days in his native township, received his education in the common schools, and learned the trade of wagon maker, in Lancaster county, with Joseph B. Davis, and cast his first vote for Fremont in 1856. At the end of his four years' apprenticeship, in 1860, he engaged in the wagon making business at McCalisterville, Juniata county, for himself, which he followed until 1861, when he turned his attention to carpentering, and followed it until September 16, 1861. On that day he enlisted as a private in Co. D, 151st Pennsylvania infantry, and served until August 7, 1863, when he was honorably discharged from the Union service. He participated in the battles of Fairfax Courthouse, Second Bull Run, and Gettysburg, where he received two slight flesh wounds. Returning home from the army, he went to the oil regions of western Pennsylvania, where he followed his trade until 1864. Four years previous to quitting work in the oil regions he moved to Bellwood, where, on March 22, 1885, he embarked in his present general mercantile business, and then was elected justice of the peace. In 1858, Mr. Criswell married Elizabeth Geyer, who died in 1866, and left four children: Jackson H., now dead; Lucinda, deceased; Andrew A., who married Ann Thompson, and resides at Mifflintown, this State; Mary E., wife of Lewis Myers, of Bellwood, a conductor on the Pennsylvania & Northwestern railroad, and who is the father of four children. Mr. Criswell married for his second wife Katie Wilt, of Greenwood Township, Juniata county, by whom he had four children: George W.; Elizabeth, wife of John Patterson, of Perry county, who is a teacher in the common schools; Carrie A., of Thompsontown, Juniata county, this State; and Roxie R., now dead. Mrs. Katie Criswell passed away in 1879, and on September 30, 1881, he united in marriage with Mrs. Rachel (Estep) Ross, a native of Petersburg, Huntingdon county. Her grandfather was William Estep, who was born in Traugh Creek valley, Huntingdon county, and her father, Elijah, who was born in the same county, had a family of seven sons and four daughters, of whom two daughters and five sons are living. The sons, John, George, William, Elijah, and Thomas, are all good mechanics and blacksmiths. John has retired from active life, and they are all good citizens and stanch republicans. In politics Mr. Criswell is a republican, and has held various local offices. He was elected as a justice of the peace in 1886, and since the close of his term, in 1890, has been serving as a notary public. He is a member of Sandford Beyer Post, No. 426, Grand Army of the Republic, and has held membership for thirty-six years in Lodge No. 819, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Criswell has been successful in his mercantile business, and is highly respected as a man and a citizen. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb Archives by Linda Black Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM MARTIN H. MACKEY, of Altoona, is one of that substantial class of men so indispensable to the prosperity of any city or county, who owe honorable standing and remarkable success in business to their own unaided efforts. He is a son of John and Annie (Heatherington) Mackey, and was born at Milesburg, Centre county, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1832. His paternal grandfather, William Mackey, was a native of Scotland, and became one of the early settlers in Path valley, Franklin county. He and one of his brothers who had come with him to Franklin county served as soldiers in the American army during the war of 1812. He married, and his son, John Mackey (father), was born in 1802. He received such education as farmers' sons obtained during the first quarter of the present century. He learned the trade of carpenter, which he followed to some extent in Path valley until he was twenty-eight years of age (in 1830), when he removed to Centre county, where he remained until 1875. In that year he came to Altoona, where he lived a peaceful and retired life until his summons came to leave this earth, on August 17, 1886, when he was in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was an old-line whig and republican in politics, and a regular attendant of the Presbyterian church. During the late war he enlisted in a regiment of Pennsylvania infantry, was taken prisoner at Gettysburg, and remained in the hands of the Confederates for three months before he was exchanged. He married Annie Flack, a native of Centre county, who died in 1846, aged thirty-three years. They reared a family of two sons and three daughters. Martin H. Mackey grew to manhood in Centre county, and received his education in the common schools of Pennsylvania. At the close of his school days he learned the trade of carpenter, which he has followed, to some extent, ever since. In 1856 he went to Milesburg, in his native county, where he was engaged in the planing mill and contracting and building business until 1862. In August of that year he enlisted for three years as a sergeant of Co. F, 148th Pennsylvania infantry. He participated in all the battles in which his regiment took part, and served until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged. He returned home to again engage in peaceful pursuits, and followed the planing mill business and contracting and building until 1872, when he came to Altoona and engaged in the same lines of business and work, which he has successfully operated until the present time. October 6, 1857, Mr. Mackey married Sarah Swanger, of Mifflin county, and they have seven children; five sons and two daughters: John A., Harry L., Leroy B., Willis E., Edmund M., Edith G., and Maud M. M. H. Mackey is a strong republican, and has been serving for some time as a member of the school board of Altoona, and is a member of Fred C. Ward Post, No. 468, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a stockholder and director of the Fidelity bank, of this city, and has been for some time a stockholder in several other business enterprises. His planing mill and lumber plant is the oldest of its kind in the city, and has been gradually enlarged and improved until it has few equals and no superiors in the county. Mr. Mackey has his works supplied with the best and latest of wood working machinery, and so large and numerous are the orders that he constantly receives to fill, that he keeps a regular force of seventy-five men. He furnishes everything in the line of lumber supplies for building purposes, and has erected some of the finest buildings in the city of Altoona. His mills and yards are on Ninth avenue, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets. He keeps a large and carefully selected stock of all kinds of rough as well as all kinds of highly dressed lumber, besides sash, doors, windows, moulding, brackets, and everything else in the line of wood work-either useful or ornamental-used in the construction or adornment of buildings. The product of his works make an important item in the sum of the city's business, while he has been recognized for several years as a leading representative of the lumber trade of the county. Mr. Mackey is pleasant and easily approached, but never allows anything to draw his attention from his business. Without wealth or capital he commenced life, and by his energy and excellent management, has secured a competency. He is a man of good judgment and clear business insight, as is attested by the extensive business he controls, and the marked success that has attended his different enterprises Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb Archives by Linda M. Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM MATTHIAS HOMER, Jr., ticket receiver of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Altoona, and who was for several years a member of the wholesale mercantile house of M. Homer & Son, of Philadelphia, is a son of Matthias and Rebecca (Bowman) Homer, and was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1853. Mr. Homer was born June 19, 1813, in the great manufacturing city of Birmingham, in the northwestern part of Warwick county, England. At seventeen years of age he left Birmingham and came to Philadelphia, where he soon became a wholesale dealer in fancy goods and toys. He has prospered in his business, which he has conducted successfully for over half a century, and during all those long years has been known as an honest and fair dealing man. He is a republican in politics, and a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been a resident of Merchantville, New Jersey, for many years, although doing business in Philadelphia. He has always taken an active and useful part in the municipal affairs of Merchantville, of which he was a burgess for several years, and of whose town council he is now a member. He is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, and stands deservedly high as a citizen and man. He married, on January 1, 1852, Rebecca Bowman, a native of Philadelphia, and a member of the old Swedes Protestant Episcopal church in Southwark, Philadelphia, who died January 16, 1870, at forty-two years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Homer reared a family of three children, one son and two daughters. M. Homer, Jr., although born in Philadelphia, was reared at Merchantville, New Jersey, and received his education in the public schools of Merchantville and the graded schools of Philadelphia. Leaving school he engaged in the wholesale fancy goods and toy business with his father, with whom he remained until 1877, when he and his brother-in-law, Jacob L. Tripler, embarked in the beef and pork packing business at Norristown, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. They followed that line of business until 1881, when, on October 6th of that year, Mr. Homer became a clerk in the general office of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in Philadelphia. In a short time he was promoted to the position of ticket receiver at Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he remained sixteen months, and then was appointed to his present position of ticket receiver at Altoona, May 1, 1887. On June 6, 1886, Mr. Homer was married, by Friends' ceremony, to Ellen B. Bedell, daughter of Matilda S. and the late William Bedell, of Norristown, this State. To their union have been born, in Altoona, two children, both sons: Maurice Bedell, and Henry Lippincott. In politics Mr. Homer is a republican. He is a member of Trinity Lodge, No. 79, Free and Accepted Masons, of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and is a man of good business capacity, as is attested by his success in his own different business enterprises, and in the various responsible positions which he has held under the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb Archives by Linda M. Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM REV. JOSEPH H. MATHERS, a graduate of Princeton Theological seminary, is a man of fine natural ability and varied scholastic attainments, who for nearly a quarter of a century has been the popular and successful pastor of the Logan's Valley Presbyterian Church at Bellwood, this county. He is the second son of Hon. James and Jane (Hutchison) Mathers, and was born August 5, 1832, at Mifflintown, Juniata county, Pennsylvania. The Mathers are of Scotch-Irish stock. Joseph Mathers, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of the Cumberland valley, born and reared near Newville. He was a farmer by occupation, and settled at an early day in the picturesque Juniata valley, where he devoted his active years to agricultural pursuits, the creation of a home, and the careful training of his children. He died at his home in that valley about 1822. He married Eleanor Turner, by whom he had a family of six sons and two daughters. The youngest of these children was James Mathers (father), who was born January 21, 1803, near Newville, Cumberland county, this State, and died at Peru Mills, Juniata county, in 1850, aged forty-seven years. He received a classical education, completing his education under the tutorship of Rev. John Hutchison, whose daughter he afterward married, and for some years practiced surveying, and read law with Hon. Calvin Blythe, a prominent lawyer of Pennsylvania. On completing the prescribed course of reading he was admitted to the bar, and successfully practiced his profession until death removed him from the scenes of his earthly career. During his comparatively short career as a practicing lawyer he demonstrated the possession of great natural ability and fine legal acquirements. Before his earnest examination the knotty problems of law resolved themselves into first elements, and every point involved stood up singly, clothed only with its direct or remote bearing on the case. He was not specifically gifted in speech, but was an able counselor and a successful advocate. In politics he was a whig, and early became the leader of his party in Juniata county, and was later elected to the State senate from the senatorial district composed of Mifflin, Juniata, and Union counties. During his service in that body he took an active part in legislation and won considerable distinction. He was an elector on the Clay ticket in the presidential election in 1844, and was a man of good position, unimpeachable character and wide influence. His early death was deeply lamented, for his life foreshadowed a career of untold usefulness, and the ability to write his name prominently in the annals of his native State. He married Jane Hutchison, a daughter of the Rev. John Hutchison, and to their union was born a family of four children: John H., now deceased, who graduated from Jefferson college, Cannonsburg, this State, in 1849, at the age of nineteen, and became an able and successful lawyer of Sidney, Ohio; Joseph H., the subject of this sketch; James, who graduated from Jefferson college in 1852, was admitted to the bar at Dayton, Ohio, in 1855, and died in Pennsylvania at the early age of twenty-two years; and one who died in infancy. Rev. John Hutchison, maternal grandfather, was a native of Dauphin county, this State, and of old Scotch stock. He graduated from Dickinson college about the beginning of the present century, and later took a course in theology under the Rev. Dr. Charles Nesbit, president of Dickinson college. He was installed as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Mifflintown and Lost Creek in 1805, being the immediate successor of Rev. Matthew Brown, D.D., LL.D., who became distinguished in western Pennsylvania as an educator, and served as president of Washington college, and later held the same position in Jefferson college. Rev. Mr. Hutchison remained in this charge until his death, November 10, 1844, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He married Sarah Waugh, of Adams county, this State, by whom he had a family of twelve children. They all died during minority except three daughters, who married and also died comparatively young. He was an earnest and able preacher, a scholarly gentleman, and much beloved and revered by all who knew him. He made a lasting impression on his people and is yet kindly remembered. He prepared many young men for college, a number of whom afterward distinguished themselves in western Pennsylvania. In 1837 Mrs. Jane Mathers died, and James Mathers afterward united in marriage with Amelia Evans, a daughter of Gen. Lewis Evans, of Juniata county. By his second marriage he had a family of two sons and two daughters: Margaret, married Hon. Louis E. Atkinson, a member of the bar at Mifflintown, who is now serving his fifth term in the United States Congress as the representative of the Eighteenth Pennsylvania district; Louis E., deceased, who was for some time cashier of the Citizens' bank at Sidney, Ohio; Orlando O., now a resident of Juniata county; and Isabella, who married W. D. Davis, a prominent lawyer of Sidney, Ohio, who has been the candidate of his party for election to Congress from his district, but was not elected, because the district is overwhelmingly democratic. Rev. Joseph H. Mathers was graduated from the Jefferson college, at Cannonsburg, in 1850, and soon after entered Princeton Theological seminary, where he took a complete course in theology, being graduated from that famous institution in 1854. His first charge was in Richland county, Wisconsin, where he remained for a period of nine years. At the end of that time he returned to Pennsylvania and took charge of the Presbyterian church at McConnellsburg, Fulton county. After a successful pastorate at that place, covering nearly four years of active labor, he came, in 1868, to Blair county, and located at Bell's Mills, now Bellwood. Here he has remained during a period of twenty-four years, earnestly engaged in dispensing the word of life and ministering to the spiritual needs of an appreciative community. His church was formerly outside the borough limits, but the congregation now owns a fine brick church and parsonage in Bellwood, and the church has a membership of one hundred and fifty. His greatest success, however, cannot be told in figures, nor represented by brick structures. Its record exists in the hearts and lives of the people he has helped toward a realization of their desire for higher ideals and purer living. In 1870 Rev. Mr. Mathers visited Palestine, and then subsequently traveled through nearly all the countries of continental Europe. Rev. Mr. Mathers has been twice married. He first wedded Sarah E. Jacobs, of Mifflintown, this State, by whom he had one child, a son named James, who was a graduate from Princeton college in the class of 1890, and is now engaged in the study of law with Hon. Aug. S. Landis, of the city of Hollidaysburg. After the death of Mrs. Mathers, in 1869, Rev. Mr. Mathers united in marriage, in April, 1888, with Elizabeth Clarke, a daughter of Dr. Rowan Clarke, a practicing physician of Tyrone, this county. While always attentive to his ministerial duties, and wide-awake to the interests of his flock, Rev. Mr. Mathers is equally enterprising in other directions, and takes an active interest in the secular affairs of his town and county. He is president of the Bellwood bank, recently organized, and is connected with the building and loan associations of Bellwood, and other public enterprises of his locality. He is a democrat in politics, but broad and liberal in his views. He is a well-known friend of popular education, and has served as school director in Bellwood, and while in Wisconsin, served for two years as county superintendent of schools in Richland county. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb Archives by Linda Black Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM THOMAS BUSHMAN, senior partner in the planing mill firm of Bushman & Co., and a well known contractor and builder of Altoona, who served with distinction during the late civil war, is a son of William & Apalonia (Sanders) Bushman, and was born near Fairfield, Adams county, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1840. The Bushmans are descended from an ancestry that came from Germany at an early day and settled in Pennsylvania. Henry Bushman (grandfather) was born in Adams county about 1800, and died in that county at an advanced age. He grew to manhood among the early settlers of that section, becoming familiar with the hardships and privations incident to residence in a new country. He was a farmer by occupation, and passed a long and toilsome life in efforts to redeem his land from its natural state, and improve and cultivate his fertile fields. He married and reared a large family, among them being a son named William Bushman (father), who was also a native of Adams county, where he died March 10, 1892, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was a laborer by occupation, a stanch republican in politics, and a regular attendant and supporter of the Dunkard church. He married Apalonia Sanders, and to their union was born a family of eight children, the eldest of whom was Thomas, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Bushman (mother) was born in Adams county in 1816, and died at her home there in 1891, after a life spanning three-quarters of a century. Her mother, the maternal grandmother of Thomas Bushman, is still living at Fairfield, Adams county, and now lacks only six years of rounding out a full century. The Sanders family is also among those early settled in the county of Adams, and are well known in that part of Pennsylvania. Thomas Bushman passed his boyhood in Adams county, this State; attended the public schools of his neighborhood, receiving a good practical education, and after leaving school learned the trade of carpenter. When the great civil war began he had just reached his majority, and moved by that spirit of patriotism which created vast armies almost in a day, he enlisted early in 1861 in Co. K, 101st Pennsylvania infantry, and served until Lee's surrender at Appomattox dispelled the last vestige of that dream of a new empire which had haunted the southern mind for the space of two generations. He was made a prisoner of war at Plymouth, North Carolina, and for eleven months suffered all the privations and horrors that rendered the Confederate prison pens a reproach to civilization. He was confined successively at Andersonville, Georgia; Florence, South Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; but was finally exchanged, and, with his regiment, mustered out of service at Harrisburg, this State, on the 5th of June, 1865. He entered the service as first duty sergeant, was promoted to be orderly sergeant, and later was made adjutant of the regiment. When the war was ended, however, and there was no longer a question as to whether one flag or two should kiss the northern breezes as they swept toward the gulf, Mr. Bushman returned to his home in the old Keystone State and applied himself to the useful occupation in which he was engaged when the bugle blast first summoned him to the tented field. For a time he worked as a carpenter, but soon began business as a contractor and builder at Arendtsville, Adams county, where he remained until 1873, when he removed to Altoona and became foreman in the planing mill of William Stoke. In this position he served for a period of six years, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Noffsker, under the style of Bushman, Noffsker & Co., and began operating a planing mill, contracting and building on his own account. This firm soon became prosperous and did a large business, which was continued until 1891, when Mr. Noffsker withdrew, and the firm name was changed to Bushman & Co. Mr. Bushman has always been the leading spirit in this enterprise, and the business is now quite extensive, giving employment to a large number of men, and controlling, as contractors, many of the substantial improvements recently made in this city. On November 27, 1865, Mr. Bushman was united in marriage to Sallie A. Lower, a daughter of Conrad Lower, of Adams county, this State. She is a very pleasant, intelligent lady, and quite popular among her wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Politically Mr. Bushman is a straight, old-fashioned republican, always giving a prompt and stead support to the principles and policy to his party, but taking no active part in the heated contests usually engineered by the politicians. He has been elected and served three years as school director, one year of which time he was secretary of the board. He was a member of the First Evangelical Lutheran church of Altoona, in which he is an elder, and also holds membership in Stephen C. Potts Post No. 62, Grand Army of the Republic, being one of its past commanders, and of Altoona Lodge, No. 132, Improved Order of Heptasophs; also past arkow of this association. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb Archives by Linda M. Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM CALEB GUYER, who has had a varied business career, extending from farm work to the position of bank cashier, is a son of George and Mary (Simpson) Guyer, and was born May 25, 1826, in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. George Guyer (father) was a native of Pennsylvania, born January 18, 1775, and lived nearly all his life in Centre and Huntingdon counties, dying in the latter county July 31, 1860. He spent the greater part of his life in blowing furnaces for various firms. He was a whig in politics, and a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Mary Simpson, by whom he had a family of eight sons and two daughters: Rev. John, born February 13, 1808, married Ellen, daughter of General Greene, of Lewisburg, and died December 15, 1867; Andrew, born February 12, 1810, married Mary A. Rois, and was a farmer in Michigan, and died some years ago; Rev. George, born February 28, 1812, and died March 24, 1891, after sounding the tocsin of gospel truth for over half a century, and serving as presiding elder and delegate to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, being twice married - first to Jane Elder, of Half Moon, and after her death to Mrs. Jane Taylor, of Lock Haven; Rev. James, born June 3, 1817, and died August 12, 1846, having preached only four years; Catherine, married George Hubley, now a fruit grower of California; Simpson, born October 1, 1821, married Mariah Galbraith, of Bedford county, this State, and resides in Iowa; Jeremiah, born October 23, 1823, and deceased January 2, 1828; Caleb, the subject of this sketch; and Rev. A.W., born April 26, 1832, began preaching in 1853, and now lives at Martinsburg, this county. The mother of these children was born December 18, 1792, and died March 10, 1877. Caleb Guyer grew to manhood in Huntingdon county, and received a good practical education in the common schools of that county. After quitting the schoolroom, he engaged in farming, and followed that occupation until he was twenty-five years of age. He then embarked in the general mercantile business, which he conducted at Sinking Valley and Tyrone for a period of five years, when he sold out and entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Tyrone, as manager of the ticket, baggage and express departments. He served in this capacity until 1871, when he resigned and engaged in the banking business at Tyrone, as cashier of the Tyrone bank, of Tyrone, which position he occupied until 1891. He is a man of recognized business talents and considerable executive ability. In 1849, Mr. Guyer married Susan Grazier, a daughter of Michael Grazier, of Huntingdon county. They had issue as follows: Frank, now agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Tyrone, who married Wilamina Berlin, and after her death wedded Blanche Lever, of Half Moon; Mary, residing with her father; Emma, married F.G. Lane, professor of music at Bingham seminary; William, deceased; and Ella, living at home. Mrs. Susan Guyer died in 1865, and Mr. Guyer married again, this time wedding Emma J. Wirt, of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. To their union have been born two children: Carrie and Edwin. Politically, Mr. Guyer is a republican, and is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Tyrone, and for many years was active and prominent in the work of his church. He is a member of Tyrone Lodge, No. 494, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past master. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Judy Banja. DANIEL M. McFARLIN, one of the energetic and enterprising young business men of Altoona, is a son of Robert W. and Catherine McFarlin, and was born near Fort Littleton, Fulton county, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1858. His paternal grandfather, John McFarlin, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, where he followed farming, and also in Bedford and Fulton counties, until his death, in 1872, at eighty-six years of age. His son, Robert W. McFarlin (father), was a native of Fulton county, Pennsylvania, yet was reared at New Enterprise, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where he received his education. In 1854 he removed to Fulton county, but four years later returned to New Enterprise, where he remained but a short time, when he removed to Cross Roads, Bedford county. At the end of five years he left the latter place, came to near Duncansville, this county, where he remained five years, and then, in 1871, removed to his present home in Altoona. He is now in the sixty-sixth year of his age, has been principally engaged in farming and stock-raising during the active years of his life, and at the present time, while not incapacitated for agricultural pursuits, yet has withdrawn from business life. He is a democrat in politics, and a member of the German Baptist church, and married Catherine Launchbaugh, who was born in Germany, in 1830, came to this country with her parents in 1836, and is a member of the German Baptist church. They reared a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters. Daniel M. McFarlin was reared at New Enterprise, Cross Roads, and Duncansville, this State, and received his education in the common schools. Leaving school, he was variously employed for a few years, and in 1871 came with his father to Altoona, where he was engaged as a clerk in several stores for over twelve years. He then (1883) embarked in the general mercantile business, which he has followed successfully ever since. For his business establishment and residence he erected his present handsome three-story brick structure, 46 x 70 feet in dimensions, at the corner of Fourth avenue and Third street, in the midst of a flourishing community, and in a section of the city that is fast building up with fine private residences. He occupies three floors, 22 x 70 feet, with general merchandise. His large and carefully selected stock embraces first-class goods of every description in his line of business, including special departments of dry goods, groceries, provisions, boots, shoes, and notions. Mr. McFarlin makes a specialty of farm and garden produce, employs four courteous assistants, and runs a free grocery wagon to all parts of the city for the accommodation of his numerous patrons. On the 24th of May, 1883, Mr. McFarlin married Lizzie B. Dilling, a daughter of Isaac Dilling, of near Martinsburg, Pennsylvania. Daniel M. McFarlin is a republican, and a deacon and trustee of the German Baptist church of Altoona. He is pleasant and approachable, and justly popular as a citizen and business man. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb archives by Eileen. DAVID E. PARKER, a respected citizen and a member of the planning mill and contracting firm of Kline, Parker & Co., of Altoona, is a son of Robert S. and Mary C. (Robley) Parker, and was born within four miles of Mount Union, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1856. The ancestry of the Parker family is traced back to England, from which David Parker (grandfather) came to America prior to the revolutionary war, in which he served as a soldier in the Continental army. After peace had been declared and the independence of the thirteen colonies acknowledged by the mother country, he settled in Centre county, but in a short time removed to Huntingdon county, where he resided until his death, at seventy-two years of age. He married, and reared a family, and one of his sons, Robert S. Parker (father), was born in 1813. He went in early life from Centre to Huntingdon county, where he remained until 1856. In that year he went to Mifflin county, which he left six years later to return to Huntingdon county, in which he has remained ever since. He is a successful farmer and stock-raiser, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a stanch republican in politics. He married Mary C. Robley, who was born at Elizabeth, New Jersey, and was a consistent member of the United Brethren church. She died August 19, 1880, at sixty-five years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Parker were born nine children, six sons and three daughters. David E. Parker grew to manhood in Huntingdon county, and received a good English education in the common schools of his neighborhood. Leaving school, he learned the trade of carpenter, at which he worked in his native county for three years, and then, in 1879, came to Altoona, where he resided up to August, 1890, when he removed to Juniata, a suburb of Altoona. He continued to work at his trade until 1882, was then engaged in contracting up to December, 1888, when he formed a partnership with his brother, H.H. Parker, and John G. Kline (see their sketches), under the firm name of Kline, Parker & Co. This firm is engaged extensively in the planning mill and contracting business, and has a large trade in Altoona and many other cities of Pennsylvania. Their offices are located at Juniata, in Blair county, and on the corner of Sixth avenue and Fourth street, Altoona. They own and operate a planning mill at Juniata. They manufacture flooring, siding, mouldings, sash, doors and blinds, deal in rough lumber of every description, and make a specialty of verandas and stair-cases. On May 20, 1880, Mr. Parker married Alice Miller, daughter of George Miller, of Huntingdon county, and to their union have been born two children: Clara A. and Dora L. David E. Parker is a republican in politics, and while not lacking in a hearty support of his party, yet gives his time to his business and the personal supervision of the company's planning mill at Juniata. He thoroughly understands his work, and is a pleasant and courteous man. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb archives by Eileen JAMES S. GILLAM, a member of the mercantile firm of J. S. Gillam & Co., of Tyrone, is one of the survivors of the famous 149th Pennsylvania Bucktail regiment, which was in the first corps, Army of the Potomac. He is a son of James and Elizabeth (Stewart) Gillam, and was born at McAlevy's Fort, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, December 16, 1841. The Gillam family is of Scotch-Irish lineage, while the Stewarts are of Irish descent. James Gillam, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Maryland during the first year of the present century, and at eight years of age was brought by his father to Mill creek, Huntingdon county. From there he went, in 1820, to McAlevy's Fort, and thirty years later removed to the county seat, where he died in 1875. He was a farmer until 1846, when he engaged at Saulsberg, that county, in the general mercantile business, which he followed during the remaining years of his life. He was an old-line whig and republican in politics, and served for half a century as a class leader of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was an earnest, active and enthusiastic worker. In 1825 he married Elizabeth Stewart, who died in 1879, at seventy-six years of age. They reared a family a seven children: Sarah J., who died at twenty years of age; Louisa Foster, now dead; Mary Hieter, deceased; William F., of Mapleton, this State, who enlisted in the 182nd Pennsylvania infantry, was badly wounded in the right arm and lost his right forefinger by a shrapnel shell, at Cold Harbor, and was discharged on account of disability, at Findley hospital, Washington city, in September, 1864; Elizabeth Hess; and James S. James S. Gillam received his education in the common schools and Martinsburg academy, which educational institution he left in 1862 to enlist as a private, Co. I, 149th Pennsylvania infantry, that was known as one of the famous Bucktail regiments. He served in the Army of the Potomac, participated in fifteen battles and numerous skirmishes, and was honorably discharged at Elmira, New York, in June, 1865. He was in the thickest of the fight at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spottsylvania Courthouse, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, and the two contests at Hatcher's Run. After returning from the army, Mr. Gillam was employed in the internal revenue service in Huntingdon county, and then embarked in the general mercantile business in Clearfield county, where he remained until 1880, in which year he came to Tyrone. After remaining there for two years as a partner in the grocery business with J. C. Hoover & Co., he went to Bellefonte, this State, where he conducted a shoe store until 1891, when he returned to Tyrone, and since then has given his time to his wholesale grocery, grain and flour business. He is the senior member of the present firm of J. S. Gillam & Co., whose establishment is located on K street. They have a large and remunerative wholesale grocery trade, and handle all kinds of grain and many leading brands of flour. On February 2, 1871, Mr. Gillam married Gertrude E. Gettys, of Mapleton, Pennsylvania, and they have four children; Roy D., Charles M., Alwilda G., and Mary L. James S. Gillam is a republican, a well respected citizen, and a consistent member of the Presbyterian church of Bellefonte. He is a member, at Bellefonte, of Gregg Post, No. 195, Grand Army of the Republic; Camp No. 95, Union Veteran Legion; and Bellefonte Council, No. 1055, Royal Arcanum. He is also a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 300, Free and Accepted Masons, of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by Linda M. Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM WILLIAM G. WARING, a grandson of William Waring, the emigrant of 1821, and the elder brother of Robert Waring, was born near Hereford, England, in 1816, and came to Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1833. He was inclined toward literature and natural science, and taught different schools in Centre county from his seventeenth to this thirtieth year; when, on account of declining health, he abandoned teaching and became a nurseryman. He called together the first county teachers' institute, which met during the first week of October, 1850, in the old Oak Hall school house (since used as an Evangelical church) in Centre county, where Mr. Waring was teaching at the time. It consisted of about ten spirited teachers, who met and compared methods and experiences. The people were greatly interested, and the meeting was a success. The next institute was held at Howard, in the same county, in 1852. Full particulars of the Oak Hall school house institute are to be found in Vol. 1 of the Pennsylvania School Journal, for January, 1853, page 359. He called together the first county teacher's institute in the State, about 1846, and it continued its annual sessions until the institute was adopted as a part of the school system of Pennsylvania. He was equally active and influential in the agitation which resulted in establishing the office of county superintendent. From 1856 to 1861 he was engaged at the Farmers High school - now the State Agricultural college - in superintending the grounds and buildings, and the opening session. After the death of his wife and two sons, he removed to Tyrone, this county, where he had purchased some land for nursery purposes, in 1851. He had also built a small house here before the town was laid out, and when no other house stood within the present borough limits excepting a farm house at the big spring, where the residence of Hon. Samuel McCamant now stands. Mr. Waring has three sons, all residents of Tyrone, and since his travels in Europe, from 1867 to 1869, he has lived there in quiet seclusion, making amateur experiments in fruit and plant culture, and writing weekly for the agricultural columns of the New York Tribune, and occasionally for other periodicals. His eldest son, W. George, widely known as a chemist, metallurgist and mining engineer, is temporarily in New Mexico, conducting works for reducing silver ore. His second son, Edmund, is a fruit grower and house fitter, has a large family, and is a zealous advocate and exemplar of social improvement. Frank R., his youngest son, is an architect, a member of the planning mill firm of F.D. Beyer & Co., and a leader in social improvement and all good words and works. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair USGenWeb archives by Judy Banja.