BIOS: File 5 - 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 5, listing the page where they appear in the book: Ambrose, William A., page 389 Biehl, Jacob, page 460 Blair, George Dike, page 165 Elway, Henry, page 316 Evans, Henry J., M.D., page 178 Fair, Lemuel, page 387 Fouse, William A., page 315 Gray, Miles D., page 167 Hamlin, Rev. B.B., A.M., M.D., page 168 Hoelle, Martin, page 460 Isenberg, J.W., D.D.S., page 209 Kline, John G., page 244 La Porte, Adolph M., page 388 Ray, Daniel Pattee, page 245 Rhodes, Daniel G., page 390 Roberdeau, Gen. Daniel, page 164 Sparr Family, page 457 Thomson, McLeod W., page 393 Weiser, Conrad, page 167 Wilson, James Harvey, page 243 WILLIAM A. AMBROSE, a successful lawyer, and the junior member of the able and well known law firm of Neff, Hicks & Ambrose, of Altoona, is of Scotch-Irish extraction on the maternal side, and was born at Milton, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, October 26, 1854. Patrick Ambrose was a native of County Armagh, Ireland, and a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, who came to the United States in 1754, served as a non-commissioned officer in the revolutionary war, and died in 1793 at his home on Spruce Creek, Huntingdon county, where Alexander Ambrose, the grandfather of William A. Ambrose, was born in 1790. He was one of the most expert furnacemen in the state, "blew" nearly all the furnaces in Huntingdon county, and in 1857 came to Fostoria, where he died in 1879. He was a Methodist and a democrat, and had served as a justice of the peace. He was a hale and hearty man, who retained all his mental faculties unimpaired until his death, had excellent descriptive powers, which he used to great advantage in relating stories and events of the past, and when in the eighty-ninth year of his age his health and physical strength were such that he planted and cultivated a field of potatoes from which he gathered, unaided, a crop of over one hundred bushels. William A. Ambrose was reared at his grandfather's home, in Antis township, and after attending the common schools, entered the Pennsylvania State Normal school, of Lock Haven, Clinton county, from which excellent educational institution he was graduated in the class of 1880. Before entering the normal school, and during its vacations, he had taught five terms in the public schools of Blair and Clearfield counties, and immediately after graduation he became a law student in the office of Judge G. R. Barrett & Son, of Clearfield. He was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1883, and opened an office at Phillipsburg, but only remained a few months, when he came to the city of Altoona, where he has practiced his chosen profession successfully ever since. In 1884 he formed a law partnership with William L. Woodcock, which continued one year, when he withdrew to become a partner with Capt. Robert Johnson, in the real estate business, under the firm name of Ambrose & Johnson. Their partnership existed until August, 1890, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Ambrose became a partner with D. J. Neff and J. D. Hicks in the present firm of Neff, Hicks & Ambrose, which has one of the largest law practices of central Pennsylvania. On April 13, 1881, Mr. Ambrose was united in marriage with Mary E., daughter of James L. and Sarah J. McCoy, of Altoona. Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose have one daughter, named Florence. William A. Ambrose is a republican in politics, and a member of the Eighth avenue Methodist Episcopal church of Altoona. He has always been active in the best interests of his party and church, enjoys a good law practice, has served since 1885 as United States Commissioner for the western district of Pennsylvania, and is a stockholder and director of the Altoona, Clearfield, and Northern railroad. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Linda Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM JACOB BIEHL, a native of the old and a citizen of the new world, is the senior member of the firm of Biehl & Roehel, of Tyrone. He was born in Reihnprensen, Prussia, March 17, 1857, and is a son of Michael and Barbara (Singer) Biehl. Michael Biehl was a native and a life-long resident of Reihnprensen, where he died in 1880, at fifty-eight years of age. He was an industrious farmer, and wedded Barbara Singer, who died in the same year as her husband, whose junior she was in age by five years. They reared a family of children, of whom two sons and three daughters are living. Of these surviving children four came to America in 1881: John, a glass blower of Jeannette, Westmoreland county; Mary, widow of a Mr. Schueltz, and who now resides at Spiketown, Allegheny county; Anna, wife of Peter Bucheist, who is now employed in a rolling mill in Pittsburg; and Jacob. Jacob Biehl was reared in his native province, and received his education in the excellent public schools which Prussia has had in successful operation for the last half century. At twenty-four years of age he left his native country and came to Pennsylvania, where he was a resident of Elizabethtown, Lancaster county, for one year. At the end of that time he went to Pittsburg, where he was employed in a leading brewery until October, 1890, when he came to Tyrone and formed a partnership with Louis Roehel. They leased the plant of the Bavarian Brewing Company, which they have operated successfully ever since. The brewery has a capacity of two thousand barrels a year. It is located well for business, and the malt house and brewery buildings are substantial and well equipped throughout with first-class modern machinery. Under Mr. Biehl's energetic management the business has developed to its present large dimensions, and by his knowledge as a practical brewer, an article of beer has been produced for which an extensive demand exists, both at home and abroad. On May 7, 1884, Mr. Biehl was united in marriage with Mary Lippel, and to this union has been born a family of four children: Mamie, Jacob, jr., Charles, and Franklin. Jacob Biehl is a democrat in politics, and has firm faith in the principles of the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland. He is a member of St. Matthew's Catholic church of Tyrone, and possesses his full share of energy and patient industry, which are two of the distinguishing characteristics of the great German race. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Judy Banja GEORGE DIKE BLAIR, vice-president of the First National bank at Tyrone, and prominently identified with the iron industry of Pennsylvania, is the eldest living son of Thomas S. and Virginia Higbee (Dike) Blair, and was born April 29, 1851, in the city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. His great-great-grandfather was Captain Thomas Blair, a native of Scotland, who came to America at a very early day in company with several brothers. Of these brothers, Thomas and William settled in Huntingdon now Blair) county, while the others settled elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Prior to the revolutionary war Captain Blair was a resident of Path valley, and during that struggle he rendered great service in clearing the upper Juniata valley of Indians and tories, who were a source of much annoyance and danger to the inhabitants of those parts. After the close of the revolution he removed to what is now Blair county, settling at a point which soon became known as Blair's Gap, and which is in the present township of Frankstown. There Captain Blair, the patriot and soldier, passed the remainder of this life, dying September 10, 1808. He was a man of wonderful energy and good business sense, and as early as 1787 was numbered among the most prominent citizens of that section. He owned four hundred acres of land at Blair's Gap, and in 1794 was the proprietor of two saw mills, one grist mill, and two distilleries, besides owning slaves, horses, cattle, and other property. He early succeeded in having a pack-horse road cut through the gap that bears his name, and being a man of influence and action, was accepted as a leader in every enterprise undertaken in his neighborhood. He married and had a family of children, one of whom was Hon. John Blair (great-grandfather), who was born at Blair's Gap, this county. He also was prominent and influential, his standing and popularity being such that Blair township was named for him in 1839, and when Huntingdon county was divided, in 1846, the new county then formed was called Blair in his honor. For him also was named the town of Blairsville, in Indiana county. He early saw the need of his section for better facilities of transportation, and became a leading spirit in the movement which culminated in the construction of the Pennsylvania canal and Portage railroad. He was foremost in the agitation of that improvement, which did more for this section than all other agencies combined, and was equally active in furnishing capital to aid in its completion. All his active and useful life was passed among the people of this county, and in public-spirited efforts to build up and develop the various industrial and commercial interests of this section. He died at the old homestead, near Blair's Gap, January 1, 1832. Thomas Blair (grandfather) was born at Blair's Gap in 1793, and after obtaining a good English education, studied law, was admitted to the bar in Huntingdon county, where he practiced for a time, and then removed to Kittanning, Armstrong county. There he continued the practice of his profession until his death, in 1837, at the early age of thirty-nine years. He married Florinda Cust, and to their union were born two sons: John Cust and Thomas S. (father). After the death of her husband Mrs. Blair, with her two children, removed to Pittsburg. Thomas S. Blair (father) was born at Kittanning, Armstrong county, this State, November 20, 1825, but was reared principally in the city of Pittsburg. He entered Harvard college, and was graduated from that institution in the class of 1844. He subsequently engaged in the iron business at Pittsburg, and is still prominently identified with the iron and steel industry of that city. He was a member of the firm of Shoenberger, Blair & Co., and is a man who possesses considerable inventive genius. He has invented a number of improvement s in the various processes for the manufacture of iron, the most important perhaps being what is known as "Blair's direct process" for making iron. In 1847 Mr. Blair united in marriage with Virginia Dike, and the fruit of their union was a family of four children: John, deceased; George Dike, the subject of this sketch; Anna, who married Ross Johnston, now deceased, of the city of Pittsburg; and Thomas S., jr., who is a member of the Steel & Iron Improvement Company, of Pittsburg. George Dike Blair was principally reared in the city of Pittsburg, and was prepared for college at St. Paul's school, Concord, New Hampshire. He subsequently attended the University of Heidelberg, Germany, for three years. In the spring of 1872 he went to the city of Chicago as secretary and treasurer of the Excelsior Press Brick Manufacturing Company, but in 1874 resigned and came back to Pittsburg as manager of the Glenwood works of the Blair Iron & Steel Company. In 1876 he went to Huntingdon furnace as manager of that property, and remained in charge there until April 1, 1891, when he removed to Tyrone, this county, where he still resides. On August 21, 1880, Mr. Blair was united in marriage to Catherine Almeda Henderson, a daughter of Robert L. Henderson, of Huntington county. This union has proved a very happy one, and has been blessed by the birth of three children: Virginia, John Cust, and George, jr. Politically, Mr. Blair is a republican, but the many demands made upon him by large business interests leave neither time nor inclination to engage in practical politics. In all his business relations he has been very successful, and is now serving as vice-president of the First National bank of Tyrone, president of the Adams Iron Company, of Pittsburg, in which city he is largely interested in real estate, and rather as a matter of recreation than otherwise, owns, exercises, and breeds some fine trotting horses. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Ruth Curfman rcurfman@home.com HENRY ELWAY, A retired businessman and farmer, who saw active service in our Civil War, and whose residence is at No. 2507 Seventh Avenue, in the city of Altoona, is a son of James and Sarah (Prosser) Elway, and was born September 27, 1827, in Gloucestershire, in the west of England. His paternal grandfather, William Elway, came form England to the United States in 1831, and located in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he died in a short time from a fever contracted on his voyage to this country. James Elway (father) was born and reared in the west of England, where he lived until 1830, at which time he emigrated to America and located for a time in the city of Philadelphia. He later removed to Centre County, this state, and resided there until 1833, when he came to Blair County. He died in Altoona, on the 26th of August, 1862, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. He was a minister of the United Brethren Church, and did much to build up the interests of that denomination in these parts. He was a Whig and Republican in politics. He married Sarah Prosser in England, and to their union was born a family of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Mrs. Elway was born in 1808 and died in 1887. She was a member of the United Brethren Church, and greatly esteemed for her many womanly virtues and kindly acts. Her father was a native of Herfordshire, England, and died there at the remarkable age of one hundred and five years. Henry Elway was reared principally in Blair County, and obtained his education in the common schools here. After leaving school he engaged in farming and teaching for some years, and in 1858 moved into the city of Altoona and embarked in the mercantile business. He continued to operate in that line until 1863, when he sold out and enlisted for three months in Co. D, 46th Pennsylvania infantry. When his term of service had expired, he reenlisted for one year, and was made second lieutenant of Co. I, 205th Pennsylvania infantry. His company was attached to the second brigade, third division, ninth army corps, and did effective service on some of the most hotly contested fields of the great Civil War. On June 2, 1865, being the close of the war, Mr. Elway was discharged at Alexandria, Virginia, and, returning to Altoona, once more engaged in merchandising in this city. He became quite successful in business, and conducted his general store until 1876, when he sold out and purchased a farm in Allegheny Township. For some fourteen years he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, but in 1890 finally retired from all business, and is now spending the evening of his life in peace and quietude at his handsome home in Altoona, where he is surrounded by all necessities and comforts calculated to promote his happiness. In addition to his farm in Allegheny Township, he owns some valuable real estate in this city. On March 1, 1853, Mr. Elway united in marriage with Hannah Root, a daughter of Jacob Root, of Bellwood, this county. In religion Mr. Elway is a member of the United Brethren Church, and in his political convictions an ardent Republican. He has served the city in the capacity of assessor and as a member of the common council, and is a highly esteemed citizen. Transcribed and submitted to Blair County Pa USGenWeb Archives by denise HENRY J. EVANS, M. D., one of the younger members of the medical fraternity in Altoona, and a graduate of the Hahnemann Medical college, of Philadelphia, who has achieved success and position in his profession, is a son of John N. and Mary (Evans) Evans, and was born January 8, 1855, at Rhymmey, Monmouthshire, Wales. Nicholas Evans (grandfather) was born, lived and died in Wales. He was a carpenter by trade, married, and reared a large family. Among his sons was John N. Evans (father), who was born in Wales in 1825, and lived in his native land until he was thirty-six years of age. In 1861 he came to America with his family, and located that same year in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania. He resided there for some time, but later removed to Shamokin, Northumberland county, where he died in 1885, aged sixty years. He was a miner by occupation, and took an intelligent interest in, and actively promoted measures calculated to improve the conditions of the laboring classes of this country. In politics he was a republican, and a Latter-day Saint in religious belief. He married Mary Evans, by whom he had a family of eight children: Ann, Elizabeth, Henry J., Nicholas, Mary, Agnes, John A., and Susan. The latter three were born in America and the others in Wales. Henry J. Evans received his early education in the common schools of Pennsylvania, and later took a course of training in the Millersville State Normal school, and supplemented that by a course at Mt. Pleasant seminary, in Berks county. He then became a teacher, and followed that occupation for several years, during part of which time he served as principal of a graded school at Shamokin. When he was yet engaged in teaching, he began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. M. M. Harple, of Shamokin, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and in 1879 entered the Hahnemann Medical college, in Philadelphia, from which he graduated in March, 1881, with the degree of M. D. he soon after located at Tyrone, this county, where he opened an office, and was successfully engaged in the practice of medicine until December, 1881, when he removed to Altoona. In this city he has since resided, devoting his time principally to his profession, in which he has been very successful, but incidentally interested in coal mining in Cambria county, where his brother, Nicholas, acts as superintendent of the business. On November 8, 1881, Doctor Evans was united in marriage with Melissa Burley, a daughter of Jonathan Burley, of Tyrone, this county, where he was then practicing. To this union has been born one son and a daughter. The daughter is named Mary Boynton, and was born September 24, 1882, while the son is Henry Simpson, and his natal day May 28, 1884. Doctor Evans is a republican in politics, and a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has served for some time as a steward. He is also a member of Mountain Lodge, No. 281 Free and Accepted Masons. Doctor Evans is popular, both as a physician and as a citizen, and while attending to a large practice, at the same time takes an active interest in all matters connected with the public welfare. He is justly held in high esteem by a very large circle of friends and acquaintances, who concede his ability and skill as a physician, while they admire the pluck and energy with which he has made his way in the world in the face of many adverse circumstances. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Ruth Curfman rcurfman@home.com LEMUEL L. FAIR, the founder of Fair's addition to Juniata, on the north of Altoona, and who was a soldier in the Army of the Potomac, is a son of William and Mary (Cribbs) Fair, and was born in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, July 7, 1843. His paternal grandfather, Peter Fair, and his two brothers, John and Jacob, came from Germany to Philadelphia, which Peter soon left to reside a short time successfully in Blair and Westmoreland counties, after which he became one of the early settlers of what is now Black Lick township, in Indiana county, where he died in 1830, at seventy-seven years of age. He was a spy and scout during the last Indian troubles in Pennsylvania, and often gave notice to the frontier forts of threatened Indian attacks. He was one of the first jurors ever impaneled in Indiana county. His son, William Fair (father), was born in Black Lick township in 1798, and died there in 1885. He was a prosperous farmer, had been a useful member and officer of the Evangelical Lutheran church for over sixty years, and was an old-line whig and republican in politics. He was a stirring, energetic man, had held several of his township's offices, and married Mary Cribbs, a daughter of Jacob Cribbs, of German descent, who owned a farm and followed wagon making in Black Lick township, where he died in 1832, aged sixty-seven years. To Mr. and Mrs. Fair were born eleven children, six sons and five daughters, all of whom except two are now living. Mrs. Fair was born in 1805, has been a member of the Lutheran church for sixty-seven years, and is now residing with her son, the subject of this sketch. Lemuel L. Fair was reared on the farm, received his education in the schools of his native township, and was engaged in teaching, which he followed for some time. He went, in 1867, to Dakota county, Nebraska, where he was engaged in farming in the Missouri valley and in teaching until 1876, when he disposed of his property and returned to Indiana county to take care of his parents. After returning to his native county he purchased the home farm, which he tilled until 1887, when he sold it in order to purchase a farm near some city. After visiting several cities, he was most favorably impressed with Altoona, and accordingly purchased his present farm, just beyond the northern limits of the city. He has now laid out a part of his farm in town lots, in a plan known as Fair's addition to Juniata, which will be one day a part of Altoona. He has sold over one hundred and fifty of the lots, and circumstances seem to warrant that the entire number of those lots will soon be disposed of to those who are seeking city homes of their own. His farm is only twenty minutes' walk from the engine works in the northern part of Altoona. Mr. Fair still follows farming, and has a nice vineyard, which he intends to increase in size. On November 27, 1867, Mr. Fair married Mary, daughter of John Bridenbaugh, of Dakota county, Nebraska, and they have five children: John S., a student of Pennsylvania college; Mary V., attending Altoona High school; Elda May; H. Maud; and Philip W. In 1863 Mr. Fair enlisted as a private in Co. D., 206th Pennsylvania infantry, and served until June 1, 1864, when he was honorably discharged. He was in the battles of Fort Harrison and Spring Hill, besides many skirmishes. Lemuel L. Fair is a republican in politics, and has held several township offices. He owns, besides his farm, some valuable property in the village of Juniata. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church; Grange No. 889, Patrons of Husbandry; and Fred. C. Ward Post, No. 46, Grand Army of the Republic. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Linda Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM WILLIAM A. FOUSE, One of the substantial farmers of Huston Township, is a son of Frederick and Catherine (Acker) Fouse, and was born in Huston Township, Blair County, Pennsylvania, Christmas day, 1824. Nicholas Fouse, the paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Polse, Germany, and was among the pioneer settlers of Clover Creek settlement and Huston Township. He was a blacksmith by trade, but followed farming, and was a participant in several expeditions against the Indians. He was a Whig, and a member of the Reformed Church, and married a Miss Brumbaugh, by whom he had five children. His grandson, Frederick Fouse (father), was born in the Clover Creek settlement, of which he was a lifelong resident. He was a farmer by occupation, a Republican in politics, and in religious faith and church membership a member and deacon of the German Reformed Church. He served for many years as a justice of the peace, and died September 10, 1873, at the age of seventy-three years. He married Catherine Acker, who died October 30, 1844, at the age of forty-seven years and twenty days. They had eight children, five sons and three daughters: Margaret Nicodemus, now dead; Catherine Greaser (deceased); Elizabeth Boyd; Solomon (deceased); William A.; Jacob; John (deceased); and Paul, now dead. William A. Fouse was reared on the home farm, received his education in the schools of his neighborhood, and has always followed farming at the Clover Creek settlement. He owns a farm of two hundred and thirty acres, of which one hundred and sixty acres are in good state of cultivation. His farm, which has been well improved, is favorably located in regard to church, school, and market. Mr. Fouse is a Republican in political sentiment, has held the office of supervisor in his native township, and always gives his party a cordial support. He is a careful farmer, a good citizen, and a consistent member of the German Reformed Church. On May 31, 1845, William A. Fouse married Catherine Greaser. To their union have been born nine children, five sons and four daughters: Susan, wife of Henry Rhodes, a farmer of Roaring Spring; Margaret, who married Joseph Detwiler, a carpenter, of Huston Township; Elizabeth, wife of Martin Acker, who is engaged in farming; Jane; Reuben, of Duncansville, who married Anna Collins; George, now dead; Calvin; Samuel; and William. Transcribed and submitted to Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by denise MILES D. GRAY, who was a highly respected citizen and prosperous farmer of Tyrone township, was a son of John and Mary (Mattern) Gray, and was born in Half Moon valley, Centre county, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1828. His paternal grandfather, John Gray, sr., was a native of Union county, and settled in Half Moon valley, Centre county, where he died. He was a farmer by occupation, a whig in politics, and a Methodist in religious belief and church membership. He married a Miss Hartsock and reared a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters. One of these sons was John Gray, the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born in Half Moon valley, where he grew to manhood and lived until his death, in 1855. He was an extensive farmer for his day, and owned two good farms which were well stocked and in a high state of cultivation. In 1852 he erected a foundry, which he operated until his death. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a whig and republican in politics, and married Mary Mattern. Their children were: George, now deceased; Samuel, a farmer of Half Moon valley; John, a merchant of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; Miles D. (dead); Isaac (dead); Mrs. Catherine Love (dead); Mrs. Mary Thompson (dead); Mrs. Elizabeth Ebbs; Mrs. Margaret Hutchinson, of Warrior's Mark; and Harriet Dale, of Harrisburg. Miles D. Gray was reared in Half Moon valley on a farm, and received his education in the subscription and the early free schools of his native township. He followed farming for a few years, and in 1855 he and his brother Samuel succeeded their father, at his death, in possession of his foundry, which they operated for three years under the firm name of Gray Brothers. At the end of that time, in 1858, they traded the foundry for a farm in Centre county, which land is still in possession of the Gray family. In the spring of 1879 Mr. Gray removed to Sinking valley where he followed farming until his death, in 1884. He was a republican in politics, had served Patton township, Centre county, as a school director, and had been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church for many years. On April 24, 1855, he married Annie E. Wilson, and to their union were born six children, four sons and two daughters: Charles W., married Emma Ray, and is a member of the mercantile firm of Reed & Gray, of Tyrone, this State; Harvey M., married Addie McFerren, and is a merchant and dealer in agricultural implements; Samuel, who died in infancy; Anna M., at home; Bertha M., wife of Melville Lever, a clerk in the railroad freight department at Tyrone; and Budd, a student of the State Agricultural college in Centre county. Mrs. Gray, after her husband's death, came to Tyrone, where she has resided ever since. She was born August 3, 1834, and is a daughter of James Wilson (see sketch of James H. Wilson for full ancestral history), who was born May 9, 1784, in Adams county, came to Sinking valley in 1807, and died January 1, 1851. He married Martha Cresswell, a daughter of Matthew and Sarah (Leonard) Cresswell, who came from Stone valley, Huntingdon county, to Sinking valley, where they reared a family of eight children. James and Martha (Cresswell) Wilson were the parents of four sons and four daughters: Mrs. Harriet Ward; Charles S.(deceased); Matthew C., now dead; Mrs. Minerva Covode; James H. (see his sketch); Smith, of Hutchinson, Kansas; Mrs. Anna E. Gray; and Mrs. Sarah M. Hommer. Miles D. Gray died at his home in Sinking valley, January 23, 1884, and his remains are interred in Tyrone cemetery. He was much missed in a community where he was highly respected as a citizen and often sought by his friends for advice and counsel. He was faithful and true as a friend, and kind and affectionate as a husband and a father. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Ruth Curfman rcurfman@home.com REV. BENJAMIN B. HAMLIN, A.M., D.D., now presiding elder of the Altoona district of the Methodist Episcopal church, and who has served faithfully through sunshine and storm in the vineyard of his Divine Master for nearly half a century, is a son of John and Rachel (Baird) Hamlin, and was born at Kinzua, in Kinzua township, Warren county, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1828. His paternal grandfather, Rice Hamlin, resided for many years on Pine creek, in Lycoming county, and then removed to Lock Haven, Clinton county, where he died near the close of the eighteenth century. He was a lumberman, and married Elizabeth Wanzor, who lived to see her ninety-sixth birthday, which ripe old age only exceeded her mother's lifespan by one year. To Rice and Elizabeth Hamlin were born in their home near the Susquehanna river, nine children, five sons and four daughters: Jacob, Comfort, Rice, James, John, Mrs. Polly English, Mrs. Susan Le Bre, Mrs. Joanna Morrison, and Mrs. Sarah Campbell. The five sons were all remarkable men for heighth and fine physique. They were all consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They all removed, about the year 1820, to Warren county, Pennsylvania, and most of their descendants are scattered over various parts of the west. John Hamlin, one of these sons, and the father of Doctor Hamlin, was born near Lock Haven, in 1795. After his marriage, he and two of his brothers-in-law went to what is now Warren county, where they purchased a large tract of land, and founded the present flourishing village of Kinzua. They built a saw mill and a grist mill, and were engaged extensively in lumbering for twenty years. At the end of that time John Hamlin returned to Lock Haven, where he was engaged for some years in the manufacture of grain cradles. He died in 1876, when in the eighty-first year of his age, and left behind him the record of a busy, useful, and upright life. He was successively a democrat, whig, and republican in politics, and served acceptably for many years as a justice of the peace. He was a steward, trustee, and class leader of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was an active and efficient worker. He was perfectly honest and faithful to every trust reposed in him. In 1821 he married Rachel Baird. They reared a family of five children, four sons and one daughter: Rice, Rev. Benjamin B.; James, a prominent lawyer of Lewisburg, and district attorney of Union county when he died, at the early age of thirty-two years; Rev. William, who served during the late civil war as a soldier in a Pennsylvania company, and is now a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a member of the Central Pennsylvania conference; Fletcher, now dead; and Frances, the wife of William Gilday, and a resident of Williamsport, this State, who is an author and lecturer, and in addition to her published poem, Jockabed's Trust, and a religious volume, entitled Service and Reward, is now writing a work on Christian Science. Mrs. Rachel (Baird) Hamlin, who died in 1863, aged sixty-three years, was a daughter of Benjamin Baird, an early settler of the West Branch, on which he owned a large tract of land. He married Frances, a member of the Siggons family, which came from the north of Ireland, and a sister to Judge H. Siggons, of Broken Straw, Pennsylvania. She was familiarly known as Aunt Fanny Baird. She was a woman of great strength of mind and force of character, and was regarded as the founder of Methodism on the West Branch of the Susquehanna. Benjamin Baird, after his marriage to Frances Siggons, who was acquainted with General Washington, continued to reside on the West Branch until his death. They reared a family of six children: Benjamin; Rev. William, for some years editor of the organ of the Methodist Church South, in Baltimore; Mrs. Rachel Hamlin (mother); Mary; Mrs. Fanny Else; and Mrs. Lydia Gifford. Benjamin B. Hamlin was reared at Kinzua, and received his early education in that village. At seventeen years of age he entered Mifflinburg academy, Union county, Pennsylvania, which he attended for a short time, and after that obtained a very good education by self study and close and careful reading. He united with the Methodist Episcopal church at an early age, and later was licensed to preach. In the spring of 1848 he became a member of the Baltimore conference, and served successively the following charges: Milton, Lewisburg, Berwick, Williamsport, Liberty Valley, Lewisburg Station, High street and Strawbridge, in Baltimore city. Upon the expiration of his pastorate in Baltimore, he became pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Danville, Pennsylvania. In March, 1862, he was appointed presiding elder of the Bellefonte district, which then included nearly all of Lycoming and Elk, and a part of Tioga, Clinton, Centre, Clearfield, and Huntingdon counties. In March, 1866, he was appointed pastor of Mulberry Street church, of Williamsport, and three years later became presiding elder of the Juniata district. In 1873 he was stationed at Chambersburg, from 1874 to 1878 was presiding elder of the Harrisburg district, and then served as pastor of the First Methodist church of Altoona until 1881. During the next three years he served Ridge Avenue church, of Harrisburg, and then was pastor of the Carlisle Methodist Episcopal church until 1887. In that year he was stationed at Everett, in Bedford county, and in 1889 was appointed as presiding elder of the Altoona district, which position he still occupies. On October 18,1852, Doctor Hamlin married Rebecca B. Manley, in Stanton, Virginia. She was born near Plymouth, Massachusetts, and of Puritan ancestry. They have three children, one son and two daughters: Benjamin B., who married Cecelia Whiteman, of Philadelphia, and is engaged in the drug business in Harrisburg, Mary, wife of George H. Ashman, a dental surgeon and active business man of Philipsburg, this State; and Anna B., at home with her parents. Doctor Hamlin is a man of fine physique, standing fully six feet in height, and carrying well the weight of his nearly three-score and ten years. He is a close observer of men, has been a diligent student for over fifty years, and is well read upon all the important movements in the religious, the literary, and the scientific world. He is a man of pleasant address, a logical reasoner, and an entertaining and impressive speaker, who fearlessly denounces vice, folly and injustice. Doctor Hamlin served as a member of the general conference of his church in 1864, in 1872, and in 1876, and has just been elected to serve as a member of the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church of the United States, which will meet this year in the city of Omaha, Nebraska. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Ruth Curfman rcurfman@home.com MARTIN HOELLE, proprietor of the large brewery in Altoona, which occupies the square between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, on Fifteenth avenue, is a son of John and Kate (Seivert) Hoelle, and was born in Hohenzollern, Prussia, February 4, 1840. His parents were both natives of that place, and both died in that country - his father in 1881, aged seventy-two years, and his mother in January, 1889, aged eighty-four. His father was a blacksmith by trade, and a member of the Catholic church. Martin Hoelle grew to manhood in his native land, and was educated in the public schools there. After leaving school he served an apprenticeship at the machinist trade, and worked at that business in the Fatherland until 1865, when he emigrated to America and located in the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Here he has since resided. During the first six months of his residence in this city he worked at his trade in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and then embarked in the brewery business in a small way, becoming in time one of the largest operators in that line in central Pennsylvania. He has continued this business to the present time, and now owns a fine and thoroughly equipped brewery, extending from Thirteenth to Fourteenth street, on Fifteenth avenue, with a capacity of ten thousand barrels of beer per year. In 1886 he erected the large and beautiful brick building in which he now resides, located near the brewery. In November, 1866, Mr. Hoelle was married to Matilda Endress, of this city. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church, and in politics occupies an independent position. He served one term in the common council. He now owns considerable real estate in this city, although he came here a poor man, and may therefore be regarded as a self-made man, and entitled to all the credit which such an achievement deserves. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Judy Banja J. W. ISENBERG, D. D. S., a graduate from the Pennsylvania college of dental surgery, who has successfully practiced in the city of Altoona for more than a quarter of a century, winning distinction in his profession, and acquiring considerable property, is a son of Samuel and Susanna Isenberg, and was born November 4, 1841, at Williamsburg, Blair county, Pennsylvania. Samuel Isenberg (father) was of German descent, and was born in Huntingdon county, this State, in 1810. In 1837 he removed to Williamsburg with his family, where for many years he was engaged in the manufacture of shoes. He married Susanna Thompson, by whom he had a family of four children, of whom three are still living. He married the second time, Mrs. William Slonaker, by whom he had four children, all living. He died in 1880, at the advanced age of seventy years. John W. Isenberg was reared in the village of Williamsburg, and received a good practical English education in the public schools of that town. He remained at home working with his father until his twentieth year, at which time occurred the opening contest of our gigantic civil war, and catching inspiration from the spirit of patriotism that pervaded his locality, young Isenberg enlisted as a private in Co. A, 125th Pennsylvania infantry. He participated in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, where he was severely wounded, September 17, 1862, and remained in the hospital until his regiment was mustered out of service. He returned home, and in December, 1863, came to Altoona, and began the study of dentistry with Dr. W. S. Bittner. At the end of one year he became a partner with Dr. Bittner, and practiced with him until 1866, when he withdrew from the firm, and established himself in dental rooms of his own. Until 1870 Dr. Isenberg resided in the city of Altoona, but in that year he removed his family to El Dorado, in Logan township, where he purchased about thirty acres of land, upon which he erected a picturesque country residence, and found relaxation in superintending the cultivation of small fruits. In that department of horticulture he became authority, and did much to awaken a public interest in the small fruits, which can be most successfully grown in this latitude. For several years he was the Pennsylvania railroad agent and postmaster at El Dorado, and engaged extensively in the sale of agricultural implements, this business being superintended by his son, George L. Isenberg. The property at El Dorado was sold in 1883. In October, 1878, Dr. Isenberg went to Philadelphia, and attended a course of lectures at the Pennsylvania college of dental surgery, from which institution he graduated in February following with the degree of D. D. S. He had met with success in his profession from the start, and his business soon became extensive and profitable. He devoted his attention to dentistry, with little intermission, for a period of twenty years, when his health became impaired, and in 1883 he removed to Kent county, Delaware, where he purchased a farm, and located upon it, hoping the change to country life and outdoor exercise would restore his shattered constitution. In his hope he was not disappointed, and six years of farm life left him in condition to again take up the duties of his profession. In 1889 he returned to Altoona, and has since been actively engaged in the practice of dentistry in that city. He still owns the farm which he purchased in Delaware. In December, 1865, Dr. Isenberg was united in marriage to Selina F. Green, a daughter of Allen Green, of Huntingdon county. To them was born a family of four children, only three of whom are now living: George L. Isenberg, Anna E. Isenberg, and Emma S. Isenberg. Dr. Isenberg became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church when only thirteen years of age, and for many years has been identified with the active work of his denomination. He has served his church as steward, class-leader, and Sunday school superintendent, and has been instrumental in doing much good. He has long been known as among the most active and prominent workers in the cause of temperance, assisted in the organization of the Blair County Temperance union, and was its fiscal agent and a member of its executive committee for many years. He has labored diligently, early and late, by precept and example, to build up the cause and secure final victory for total abstinence. He has won high standing in his chosen profession, and enjoys the respect and esteem of all who know him. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Eileen JOHN G. KLINE, a member of the enterprising and successful contracting and building firm of Kline, Parker, & Co., of Altoona, and who served in the pioneer corps of General Thomas army at the great and decisive battle of Nashville, is a son of William and Ann (Gurdner) Kline, and was born in York county, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1840. His paternal grandfather John, came from Germany to the United States when a young man, and settled in York county, where he followed farming until 1847, when he died at the advanced age of eighty-five years. He married, and his son, William Kline (father), was born and reared amid the Bald Hills in York County, in which he died in 1849, when in the forty-first year of his age. He learned the trade of locksmith, and carried on the locksmith and coffee mill manufacturing business at New Market, in his native county, until his death. He was a member of the United Brethren church, and an old-line whig with abolition proclivities, and married Ann Gurdner, a native of York County, and a member of the United Brethren church. They reared a family of six children, one son and five daughters. Mrs. Kline died in Philadelphia in 1865, at the age of fifty-one years. John G. Kline was only nine years of age at the death of his father, and was then taken to Dauphin County, where he grew to manhood and received his education in the early common schools of Pennsylvania. Leaving school, he went to Harrisburg, where he secured the contract for carrying the mails from the post-office to the mail trains. At the end of one year he surrendered his contract, and spent three years in learning the trade of carpenter with Updegroce & Jones of Harrisburg. He then worked successively at the Eagle works, of Harrisburg, on the canal department of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Salem, Ohio, and Hollidaysburg, which he left in 1864 to join the pioneer corps of General Thomas' army. He was in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, after which he returned home, and in thirteen days, on January 28, 1865, enlisted for three years, or during the war, in Co. D, 192d Pennsylvania infantry. He served until August 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Harper's Ferry, and shortly afterwards went to Renova, Clinton county, where he engaged for three years in contracting and building. He then went to Huntingdon, this State, at which place he was superintendent of the Cottage planning mill for nine months. At the end of that time he came to Altoona and engaged in his present contracting, building and planning mill business. On July 3, 1863, John G. Kline married Martha Tompkins, daughter of George Tompkins, of Hollidaysburg. They have eight children, three sons and five daughters: Irene, Gertrude, Rachel, Mahala, George, John, Rosalinda, and Earl. In politics Mr. Kline is a firm supporter of the Republican party and it nominees, and has served as a member of the boards of health and trade of Altoona. He is a large stockholder in several building associations, owns fourteen houses in the city, and has been a member for some time of the National Mutual and Building association of New York city. He is also interested in coal and timberlands in Somerset county. He is a member of the firm of Kline, Parker & Co., and they do a large contracting building business, besides operating a large planning mill, where they employ several men. They have built a large number of houses in Altoona, besides doing much contracting and building elsewhere. Mr. Kline is a practical and skilled workman of wide experience in his line of business, in which he has always rendered good satisfaction to his numerous patrons. He has good facilities for doing first-class work, of which he makes a specialty. Success in most cases is the price of long persistent labor. Results are not accomplished in a few years, especially in an industry that has to build up to state or prosperity from a very moderated beginning, such as Mr. Kline had when he started in his present important line of business. Not easily elated by success, and never depressed by reverses, he has steadily and persistently worked for over a decade in establishing his present flourishing enterprise. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Tina Erb mtkaiy3@aol.com ADOLPHUS M. LA PORTE, a veteran soldier of the Army of the Potomac, and the present active and efficient superintendent of the Juniata Mining and Manufacturing Company, is a son of John and Mary A. (Jones) La Porte, and was born near Franklinville, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, September 16, 1844. The La Portes are of French ancestry, and the paternal grandfather of Mr. La Porte was a native of France. Adolphus M. La Porte attended the common schools of Franklin township and Millwood academy, of Shade Gap, Huntingdon county, until 1862, when he enlisted in Co. A, 125th Pennsylvania infantry, in which he served nine months. At the expiration of his term of service he re-enlisted, and served in Battery L, 2nd Pennsylvania artillery, until February 12, 1866, when he was honorably discharged from the Federal service at Philadelphia. He was in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor, and in all of the engagements in front of Petersburg, where his regiment was among the first to break ground in front of that stronghold of the Confederacy. He was wounded in the foot at Cold Harbor, and after returning home from the army attended Millwood academy for some time. He then (July, 1867,) became a clerk in the iron works office of Lyon, Shorb & Co., of Pennsylvania Furnace, with whom he remained until in August, 1874, having served in the meantime as a clerk and book-keeper in the office and superintendent of mines. In the fall of 1874 he received an appointment in the railway mail service, between New York city and Pittsburg, and had charge of a postal car from February, 1876, to the autumn of 1884, when he resigned to accept his present position as superintendent of the Juniata Mining and Manufacturing Company. On May 2, 1870, Mr. La Porte married Martha Diven, of Newville, Cumberland county, who died January 2, 1872, at the age of twenty-eight years, and left one child, a daughter, named Martha D., who is now attending the college at Bryn Mawr. Mr. La Porte was re-married on February 21, 1881, to Myra Porter, daughter of George B. Porter, of Alexandria. Since May, 1881, Mr. La Porte has been a resident of Tyrone, where he has a pleasant home. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and has been for several years an active member and a deacon of the First Presbyterian church of Tyrone. A. M. La Porte is a practiced and thorough business man, has made a first-class record as a mine superintendent, and is a man of prominence and influence in the community where he resides. Transcribed and submitted to Blair Cunty, PA, USGenWeb archives by Linda Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM DANIEL PATTEE RAY, deceased, was for many years a leading tanner in Blair County, and had been a prominent manufacturer in the city of Philadelphia prior to his location here. He was energetic and enterprising, and possessed of fine business ability. He was the youngest of eight children born to John and Elizabeth (Pattee) Watkins, and first saw the light on January 5, 1830, at Kearsage Gorge mountains, near Warren, New Hampshire. His mother dying when he was only two weeks old, he was regularly adopted by a Mr. Ray, whose name he assumed. His paternal grandfather was Capt. Jason Watkins, who was born near Warren, New Hampshire, September 26, 1765, where he died March 7, 1840. He was a farmer by occupation, and served in the war of 1812, holding a captain's commission. He married Sarah Waldin, June 19, 1788, and had a family of eleven children, all of whom were born at the old homestead, near Warren, New Hampshire. They were Mollie, born June 5, 1789, and died in 1824; Abner, born July 9, 1791, a lifelong resident of Warren, where he became prominent in political circles, and died April 21, 1843; Ruth, born December 13, 1795, and died April 18, 1837, having married a Mr. Moon, and had several sons, one of whom became consul to Algiers; Jacob W., born June 9, 1796, and deceased in September of that year; John W., father of the subject of this sketch; Abigail, born March 18, 1800, and died May 7, 1851; Jason, born May 24, 1802, and passed away the following year; Hannah, born November 15, 1804, and slept in death September 23, 1883, having married Col. William G. Flanders (a son of Moses Flanders, one of the early settlers of New Hampshire), who served as an officer in the militia of this State; Ebenezer, born July 13, 1806, and is now deceased; Jason (2), born July 24, 1809, and died in Missouri; and Elizabeth, who was born December 30, 1811, and departed this life April 7, 1844, at the old homestead in New Hampshire. John Watkins (father) was born at the old homestead near Warren, New Hampshire, crossed the continent in 1856, and located in California, where he died July 1, 1867. He was a farmer in New Hampshire, but devoted his attention to fruit growing in California. He was a whig in politics, and married Elizabeth Pattee, by whom he had a family of eight children: Sarah, married Rev. Stillman Border, a Universalist minister and geologist, who died Rockford, Massachusetts; Aura, died at Manchester, new Hampshire; Charles, deceased; John H., also dead; Malinda, married David Hall, of Manchester, New Hampshire, and is now dead; Keziah, married K. T. Emery, deceased, a merchant from Concord, New Hampshire; Mary, who became the wife of George W. Clark, of Philadelphia; and Daniel Pattee, the subject of this sketch. Daniel Pattee Ray was reared principally in the State of New Hampshire, and received a good common school education in the New England public schools. In the spring of 1844 he removed to the city of Philadelphia, where he engaged I the manufacture of leather belting. He conducted this business successfully until 1871, and during part of this time did an immense trade, operation a tannery at Altoona, this county, in connection with his belting business in Philadelphia. In 1871 he disposed of his interests in the latter city and removed to Tyrone, this county, where he continued to reside until his death, in March, 1881. After coming to Tyrone he erected a large plant, now known as the Bald Eagle tannery, and engaged in the tanning business exclusively. In 1873 this plant was destroyed by fire, but subsequently rebuilt by Mr. Ray. He continued to operate it until his death, when his two sons, John K. and Daniel P. Ray, assumed control of the business. The Bald eagle tannery has a capacity of one hundred and seventy-five hides per day, and runs three hundred days a year, manufacturing the celebrated brand of "Union" sole leather, both oak and hemlock tanned. It employs about forty men the year round, and turns out a superior article of leather, known in nearly every part of this country. In politics Mr. Ray was a republican, as are his sons, and during his residence in Philadelphia served in the common council of that city, being appointed on a number o important committees. He served as chairman of the committee appointed to receive General Sheridan on the occasion of his visit to Philadelphia. After coming to Tyrone, he served that borough burgess and school director, and was a member of the Masonic order. On August 1, 1852, Mr. Ray was united by marriage to Anna M. Keim, a daughter of John and Emily (Carr) Keim, of the city of Philadelphia, who still survives him and resides in a beautiful and comfortable home in Tyrone. To Mr. And Mrs. Ray was born a family of four children, two sons and two daughters: John K., born September 28, 1853, married Mariah M Cadwalader, and resides in Tyrone, where he is connected with the Bald Eagle tannery; Daniel P., born October 7, 1854, wedded first to Clara Cadwalader, who died July 4, 1886, after which he married Anna M. Piper, of Hollidaysburg, and in connection with his brother operates the tannery at Tyrone; Catherine E., now the wife of John W. Home, a book-keeper at Tyrone; and Emily, who married Charles N. Gray, a merchant of Tyrone. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Tina Erb mtkaiy3@aol.com DANIEL G. RHODES, a prosperous farmer and an influential citizen of North Woodbury township, is a son of Rev. Frederick and Nancy (Grabill) Rhodes, and was born at Fredericksburg, North Woodbury township, Pennsylvania, December 5, 1827. His paternal grandfather, Daniel Rhodes, was born in Maryland in 1779, and came in early life to Woodbury township, where he followed farming and distilling, and where he owned and operated a flouring mill near Fredericksburg. He was a democrat, and a member of the Mennonite church, and married Catherine Grub, by whom he had a family of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, of whom were: Paul, John, Nancy, Daniel, Rev. Frederick, Abram, Isaac, and Catherine. Rev. Frederick Rhodes (father) was born in 1799, near Fredericksburg, where he followed farming until his death, in 1872. He was a democrat, a minister of the Mennonite church, and married Nancy Grabill, by whom he had six children, three sons and three daughters: Daniel G., Samuel, Fannie, Catherine, Elizabeth, and John. Mrs. Rhodes was born in 1805, and died in 1883. Her father was a native of York county, who settled on a farm near Martinsburg. He was a democrat, and a member of the German Baptist church. He was twice married, and his second wife was Elizabeth Lower, of near Roaring Spring, in Taylor township. Daniel G. Rhodes grew to manhood on the home farm near Fredericksburg, received his education in the subscription and common schools, and engaged in farming, which he has followed ever since. His farm, which consists of one hundred acres of good land, is well improved, and lies east of Fredericksburg. He also owns a valuable and very desirable farm of one hundred and twenty-seven acres in Huston township. He is a democrat in politics, a consistent member of the German Baptist church, and an honorable, honest, and useful citizen in the community where he resides. On April 20, 1851, Mr. Rhodes married Anna Shriver, and to their union have been born twelve children, four sons and eight daughters: Nancy, wife of Daniel Snowberger, engaged in the foundry business at Martinsburg; Elizabeth, married C. L. King, a farmer of South Woodbury township, Bedford county; Rebecca, wife of M. S. Smith, a preceptor in the Huntingdon reformatory; Samuel, a farmer, who married Mattie Brown; Frederick (deceased); Mary, wife of George Loose, a farmer of Millerstown; Fannie, who married Levi H. Brumbaugh, a farmer; Annie, wife of Calvin Burket, who is engaged in farming; Levi, married Annie Brumbaugh, and is assisting his father in farming; John, who is managing his father's farm in Huston township, and married Elizabeth Stonerook; Minnie, wife of Levi Settle, of South Woodbury township, Bedford county; and Matilda, now dead. In farming Mr. Rhodes has met with good success, and by his own efforts and judicious management has acquired a competency. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Linda Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM GEN. DANIEL ROBERDEAU, whose name will be forever associated with the revolutionary history of the present territory of Blair county, was a son of Isaac and Mary (Cunyingham) Roberdeau, and was born in the island of St. Christopher, the West Indies, in 1727. Daniel Roberdeau came to Philadelphia, where he followed merchandising for some years, and was an early Mason with Franklin and Alexander Hamilton and others. He was a member of the assembly from 1756 to 1760, and in 1775 was elected colonel of the 2d battalion of Pennsylvania associators. He was chosen a member of the council of safety, and on July 4, 1776, was elected first brigadier-general of the Pennsylvania troops, and served during the remainder of that year under Washington in New Jersey. In February, 1777, he was elected as a member of the Continental Congress, to which he was twice re-elected, and served until 1779. In April, 1778, there being a scarcity of lead in the army, General Roberdeau received leave of absence from Congress to work the lead mine in Sinking valley, this county, where he was obliged to erect a stockade fort as a protection against the Indians. He erected this fort, which was named Fort Roberdeau, at his own expense, and much valuable information concerning the fort and lead mine is to be found in Hazard's Register, and Force's American Archives. In 1783 General Roberdeau went to England, where he spent a year, and while traveling in his coach across Blackheath he was surrounded by a party of highwaymen. He seized the leader, threw him down in the bottom of the carriage, and called on the coachman to drive on and fire right and left. He drove into London in this manner, with the robber's feet handing out of the carriage, and delivered him up to justice. After his return to the United States he resided at Alexandria, Virginia, until about 1794, when he removed to Winchester, that State, where his spirit took its flight from earth on January 5, 1795. General Roberdeau was a friend of George Whitefield, and an elder in the Presbyterian church. During the revolutionary war he owned a half interest in a privateer which captured a prize with $22,000 in silver, which he placed at the disposal of Congress. He married, and his elder son, Col. Isaac Roberdeau, was born in Philadelphia in 1763, and died in Georgetown, near Washington, in 1829. He was assistant engineer in laying out Washington city. He served as an engineer in building canals in this State, and surveyed the boundary line between the United States and Canada under the treaty of Ghent. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Ruth Curfman rcurfman@home.com SPARR FAMILY. Christian Sparr came from Germany about the year 1700, as near as can be ascertained. Of the number of his family we know nothing, except one son, Frederick, who was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and reared a family of seven children; Christian, born November 6, 1752; Catharine, born October 17, 1755; John, born August 30, 1758; Susan, born November 3, 1760; Frederick, born May 15, 1764; Margaret, born October 14, 1766; and George, born June 18, 1770. The above record was taken from a German Lutheran Bible, printed by John Andrew Endress, 1770, Newenberg, Kingdom of Bavaria, which has been handed down from one generation to another, and is in the possession of Christian D. Sparr, of Williamsburg, at the present time. George and Frederick located in Virginia, John remained in Chester county, and we are unable to give any record of the three daughters. Christian Sparr, son of Frederick Sparr, became a wagon-maker by trade, which occupation he followed for a number of years, and then turned his attention to farming. He was married to Mary Sifert, near Reading, Lancaster comity, about 1782, and afterward moved to Foutz's Valley, in Perry county, where they remained a few years, and then went to the vicinity of Boalsburg, Centre county, about the year 1815. Three years later, in 1818, they came to the vicinity of what was then Akestown, Huntingdon county, now Williamsburg, Blair county. Here he purchased from Adam Smith what is now known as the J. D. Hick farm, where he remained during life. His family consisted of seven children, five sons and two daughters: John, born, October 18, 1783, died November 16, 1853; Elizabeth, October 18, 1783, died August 8, 1824; Jacob, December 23, 1785, died November 26, 1877; Isaac, December 1, 1788, died July 8, 1847; Samuel, May 9, 1792, died March 14, 1867; David, September 13, 1795, died March 5, 1857; Margaret, October 27, 1797, died May 15, 1832. John Sparr, son of Christian Sparr, became a wagon-maker by trade, which occupation he followed a number of years, and then turned his attention to farming. He was married to Sarah Foutz, and reared a family of five children: Mary, Elizabeth, Isaac, Lewis, and John, all of whom are dead at this writing. He was married a second time, to Mrs. Susan Bar, formerly Susan Everhart, and to them were born three daughters: Catherine, Ellen, and Rachel. Ellen is dead, and Catharine lives in Boalsburg, Centre county, with her two daughters, Florence and Sallie Riley. Rachel lives at State College, Centre county, with her husband, Charles Shaffer, and family, two sons and three daughters, all grown to maturity. Elizabeth, daughter of Christian Sparr, married Edmund Jones, of Philadelphia, and reared a family of six children: John, Jehu, Mary, Edmund, Sarah, and Samuel, all of whom, to the best of tile writer's knowledge, are dead. Jacob Sparr was a farmer, and resided two miles cast of Boalsburg, in Centre county, from 1815 until his death, in 1877. He married Catharine Hoffman about 1805, and to them were born thirteen children: Samuel, Elizabeth, Polly, David, Peggy, Margaret, Susanah, and Nancy, who lived to maturity, the other five having died while in infancy. Elizabeth, married David Reed, and of their children only one is living, Sarah, who resides with her two aunts on her grandfather's homestead. David married Mary Jones, of Philadelphia, and after her death, Mrs. Rebecca Myers, and lives at Boalsburg. He had no children by either marriage. Peggy and Nancy live on the old homestead, pear Boalsburg, aged seventy-four and sixty-two years, respectively. Isaac Sparr succeeded his father as a farmer on the homestead, where he spent his life. He married Mrs. Eliza Hart about 1845, and to them was born one child, Anna Mary, who married J. D. Hicks, and at death left two children, Hattie and William B., who are the present owners of the old Sparr homestead of four generations ago. Samuel Sparr was a farmer, and purchased lands from A. Patterson and William Potter, one and one-fourth miles south of Williamsburg, where he ended life. He married Susan Dunlap, of Boalsburg, Centre county, February 22, 1819, and they had seven children: Mary Ann, Christian, Christian D., Daniel, Catharine, and Samuel. Mary Ann was born December, 1820, and died January 26, 1855. She married Jacob Kylor, April, 1841, and had three children: Rebecca Jane, Samuel, and Jacob. Jacob Kylor died March 30, 1847, and she married Christian Shinafelt in November, 1849, and to them were born two children: Catharine and Polly Ann. Rebecca Jane Kylor was born August 3, 1841, married Blair Woodcock in 1859, and they had three children: Adessa, Annie, and Johnnie. Blair Woodcock was killed at the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864. She then married Matthew Flaig, in 1866, and they had eight children: William, Dorothy, Julia, Lizzie, Harry, Samuel, John and James, and resides at Williamsburg. Adessa Woodcock married Harry K. Hammond in Altoona, and has six children. Annie Woodcock was born August 21, 1863, and married James P. Baker, of Carrolltown, Indiana county, resides in Dubois, Clearfield county, and they have two children, William and Foster. Samuel Kylor was born august 5, 1844; at the age of seventeen enlisted in the United States army and served four years, and then went to Iowa, where he married Mrs. Winnie Stone. Jacob Kyler was killed at the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, aged eighteen years. Christian Sparr died at the age of two years. Christian D. Sparr was born May 9, 1828, married Martha J. Dunlap, of Boalsburg, Centre county, November 1, 1850, and had seven children: Sarah, James, Levi, Anna, a son who died in infancy, Samuel and Jacob (twins). Martha Jane Sparr died January 15, 1871, and he married Catharine E. Enyeart, November 21, 1872, and resides near Williamsburg. Sarah Sparr was born January 2, 1852, and died October 8, 1861. James Sparr was born august 11, 1853, and married Mary E. Stephens, of Kansas, May 14, 1880, resides at Monett, Missouri, and has four children: James, Howard, Martha, and May. Levi Sparr was born June 17, 1855, and resides near Williamsburg. Anna Sparr was born January 22, 1857, married, October 18, 1883, Henry C. Burley, of Tyrone, and they have two children, Delia S. and Jacob H. Samuel Sparr (of Christian D.) was born September 3, 1863, married, July 7, 1885, Alice M. Howard, resides at Williamsburg, and has one child, Mary. Jacob Sparr, twin brother of Samuel, was born September 3, 1863, and died March 25, 1872. Daniel Sparr (of Samuel) was born July 1, 1832, and died October 12, 1834. Catharine Sparr was born March, 1836, married Joseph Kipe, about 1857, resides near Williamsburg, and they have five children: John A., Samuel S., Joseph H., Susan, and William. Samuel Sparr was born December 21, 1839, married Julia A. Bittle, and had four children, two dying in infancy, and Peter B. and Blair living to manhood. Julia A. Sparr died October 10, 1873. He afterward married Mary Ann Snively, and has five children by his second marriage: Florence, Steel, Melda, Celia, and Junie, and resides near Williamsburg. Peter B. Sparr was born December 30, 1864, married Mary A. McGraw, January 30, 1883, resides near Williamsburg, and had two children, Lawrence and an infant daughter, at the time of his death, January 14, 1892. Blair Sparr was born July 9, 1867, married Maggie Daniels August 22, 1888, resides near Williamsburg, and has two children, Orval and Grace. David Sparr, (fifth child) was a farmer by occupation, and was married to Catherine Boal, of Centre county, May 31,1821, and to them were born nine children : a dead-born son, March 22, 1822; Susannah, born April 15, 1823; William, June 16, 1824 ; Jesse, June 30, 1825; John, July 14, 1826; Isaac, February 14, 1828; dead-born son, January 25, 1829; Levi, May 18, 1830; Christian, January 18, 1832. Susannah died when small. William was married to Rachel M. Hess, December 11, 1849, and William died May 20, 1865. To William and Rachel were born six children: Mary C., born October 11, 1850; Elizabeth H., May 5, 1853; Lucy B., January 24, 1857; Rebecca, November 13, 1859; David B., May 29, 1860; John T., January 23, 1862. Isaac Sparr was born February 14, 1828, married Mary Ann Buckwalter, February 15, 1859. She died April 6, 1880, and he married Hattie Belle Hammond, September 26, 1882, resides near Williamsburg, and has three children: Hattie, Henry and Jessie. Christian Sparr was born January 18, 1832, married Catherine Snively October, 1853, has one child, Lizzie, and resides near James Creek, Huntingdon county. Lizzie Sparr was born April 6, 1855, married John Collins, and they are both dead. Their two children, Lizzie and Thomas, reside with their grandparents, Christian and Catherine Sparr. Margaret Sparr (sixth child) married Jeremiah Yerger, February 10, 1820, and has five children: David, Christian, Polly, Elizabeth, and Margarette. David Yerger was born January 23, 1821, married Mrs. Dunlap, of Somerset county, and resided there until his death. He had one daughter, Mary L., who resides with her mother at Myersdale. Christian Yerger was born August 19, 1823, married to Jane Toole, and has five children: Mary M., James, John, Ellen S., and Annie E., all of whom are unmarried, except John. Polly Yerger was born December 25, 1826, and died at the age of about twenty-five years. Elizabeth Yerger was born September 24, 1829, married Robert Thompson of Erie, and they have five children: Alice, Charles, Frank, Walter, and George. Margaret Yerger was born May 1, 1832, married Jacob Ropp, and went to Iowa, where she died May 15, 1852. This race of people has generally chosen the Lutheran faith, are republican in politics, and being of German descent, were naturally inclined to be farmers, and dealers in the finest draft horses of their time, and in this their superior judgment has always been commented on. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Judy Banja McLEOD W. THOMSON, of Altoona, who is regarded as an authority on engineering and the manufacture of steel, in the central part of the state, and now chief engineer of maintenance of way for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, is a son of Samuel and Mary (Kyner) Thomson, and was born in the Cumberland valley, in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1843. Among the elements of pioneer population in eastern and central Pennsylvania, the Scotch, while not so numerous as the Irish, German, or Scotch-Irish, yet were prominent in civil, military, and educational affairs. Among those Scots who came to the province of Penn prior to the revolutionary war was Alexander Thomson, the paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Alexander Thomson was born five miles out from Glasgow, Scotland, and married and reared, in his native country, a family of thirteen children. In 1773 he came, with eleven of his children, to Pennsylvania, and settled in Franklin county, by advice of Dr. Witherspoon, of Princeton college, with whom he was well acquainted. He was a Scotch Covenanter, and a man of influence in his community, where he was highly respected as a consistent Christian and a reliable man. He was a farmer, lived to an advanced age, and gave name to the village of Scotland, this state, in honor of his native country. Three or four of his sons served in the revolutionary war, and one of them, John Thomson (grandfather), purchased the home farm, on which he resided until his death. His son, Samuel Thomson (father), was born in 1803, and followed farming in the Cumberland valley until 1854, when he removed to Fayetteville, in his native county, and assumed charge of the Fayetteville Ladies' seminary, of which he was principal until his death, which occurred December, 1857, when in the fifty-fourth year of his age. He was a whig in politics, and an elder of the Reformed Presbyterian church, and a man of fine education, having studied under a celebrated private tutor. He also studied for some time with a view to entering the ministry, but afterwards was compelled to abandon his contemplated idea of a ministerial life. He married Mary Kyner, a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church, who was born in Franklin county, and passed away in May, 1882, aged seventy-five years. McLeod W. Thomson was reared in his native county, and at seventeen years of age entered Princeton college, from which he was graduated in the class of 1863. In October of that year he enlisted as a private in Co. H, 21st New Jersey infantry, and two months later was detailed as chief clerk of division, at the headquarters of the Sixth corps of the Army of the Potomac. After nine months service as chief clerk, he received an appointment as aid on the United States coast survey, on which he served for two years, and then entered the school of mines of Columbia college, from which he was graduated in 1867. Immediately upon his graduation he went to the Bessemer Steel works, of Troy, New York, where he spent a few months in closely studying the manufacture of steel, and then took charge of the steel manufacturing plant of the Collins Company, of Connecticut, which he successfully managed until 1870, when he accepted the position of auditor for the Selma, Rome & Dalton Railroad Company, of Alabama. At the end of two years he resigned, and came as far north as Cumberland, Maryland, where he organized a company which erected a steel works, of which he acted as manager until 1879. In March of the ensuing year he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and was engaged in surveys and construction of ways on the western division of the road until June, 1881. He was then transferred to Altoona, as assistant engineer of maintenance of way, and served as such until August 1, 1883, when he was appointed to his present position of chief engineer of maintenance of way. On April 20, 1871, Mr. Thomson was united in marriage with Emma Garver, daughter of Samuel Garver, of Corker Hill, Franklin county. To their union have been born three children: William Paton, Samuel G., and McLeod. In politics Mr. Thomson is a straight republican. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian church of Altoona, and has a pleasant and comfortable home in the Mountain city, where he is highly respected as a man and a citizen. He is easily approached, a fine looking man, and has become very popular in the county. Mr. Thomson has had large and valuable railway experience for one of his years, and has developed fine executive ability from the various and varied steel manufacturing enterprises which he has successfully managed. He is well known as an efficient engineer, and for his aptitude and success in bringing about a system and carrying on work by method. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Linda Shillinger LindasTree@AOL.COM CONRAD WEISER, one of the most noted agents of communication between the white men and the Indians, passed through the territory of Blair county in 1748. He was a native of Germany, who came to America in early life, and settled, with his father, in the present Schoharie county, New York, in 1713. They left England in 1712, and were seventeen months on their voyage. Young Weiser became a great favorite with the Iroquois Indians in the Schoharie and Mohawk valleys, with whom he spent much of his life. Late in 1714, the elder Weiser, and about thirty other families, who had settled in Schoharie, becoming dissatisfied with attempts to tax them, set out for Tulpehocken, in Pennsylvania, by way of the Susquehanna river, and settled there. But young Weiser was enamored of the free life of the savage. He was naturalized by them, and became thoroughly versed in the languages of the whole Six Nations, as the Iroquois confederacy in New York was called. He became confidential interpreter and special messenger for the province of Pennsylvania among the Indians, and assisted in many important treaties. The governor of Virginia commissioned him to visit the grand council at Onondaga, in 1737, and, with only a Dutchman and three Indians, he traversed the trackless forest for five hundred miles, for that purpose. He went on a similar mission from Philadelphia to Shamokin (Sunbury) in 1744. At Reading he established an Indian agency and trading-house. When the French on the frontier made hostile demonstrations, in 1755, he was commissioned a colonel of a volunteer regiment from Berks county; and, in 1758, he attended the great gathering of the Indian chiefs, in council with white commissioners, at Easton. Such was the affection of the Indians for Weiser that for many years after his death they were in the habit of visiting his grave and strewing flowers thereon. Mr. Weiser's daughter married Henry Melchoir, D.D., the founder of the Lutheran church in America. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Ruth Curfman rcurfman@home.com JAMES HARVEY WILSON, now resident of Tyrone, and who was for over a quarter of a century one of the prosperous and substantial farmer of Tyrone township, is a son of James and Martha (Cresswell) Wilson, and was born at Sinking Valley, Tyrone township, Blair County, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1830. James Wilson was a member of the Wilson family of Adams County, where he was born May 9, 1784. At twenty-three years of age, in 1807, he left his native county and came to the famous Sinking Valley, then in Huntingdon County, a pleasant and productive vale of limestone land lying between Canoe ridge and Brush mountain. He purchased a fine farm of two hundred acres of land near the present village of Sinking Valley. He was a surveyor by profession, and followed surveying and farming until his death, which occurred January 1, 1851, when nearing the close of the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was an old-line whig in politics, held the office of justice of the peace for twenty years, and was well informed on the political issues of his day. He was an active worker in church affairs and Sunday school matters, and served for many years as an elder of the old stone Presbyterian Church of Arch Spring, of whose Sunday school he had been superintendent for several terms. His life work was a labor of usefulness for the benefit and improvement of the community in which he resided for nearly half a century. In 1822 he married Martha Cresswell, and to them was born a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters: Harriet, born September 24, 1823 and died February 2, 1879, who married Thomas Crawford, and after his death in Sinking valley, in 1853 became the wife of Thomas Ward; Charles S., born March 31, 1825, and died in New York in 1890; Matthew C., born November 16, 1826,, and died in the city of Altoona in 1873; Minerva, born July 23, 1828, is the widow of Jacob Covode, and resides at Sharpsburg, Allegheny county; James H., born October 28, 1830; Smith born April 7, 1832, is now a resident of near Hutchinson, Kansas; Anna E. born August 3, 1834, and is the widow of Miles D. Gray, of Tyrone, whose sketch appears in this volume; and Sarah M., born December 4, 1836, and is the wife of John Hommer, who resides at Cambria Mills, in Cambria county. Mrs. Martha Wilson was born July 19, 1797, in Huntingdon County, and passed away at her home in Sinking valley, May 14, 1878, aged eighty-one years. She was a daughter of Matthew Cresswell, a farmer and Presbyterian of Stone valley, Huntingdon County, who married Sarah Leonard, and reared a family of twelve. James H. Wilson was reared in the beautiful Sinking valley, whose wonderful sinking run has been an object of wonder for more than a century. He received his education in the subscription and early common schools of his neighborhood, and engaged in farming, which he followed successfully until four years ago. He owned the home farm, which he sold in 1888, and came to Tyrone, where he has lived a retired life ever since. He is a firm republican, who believes that the prosperity of this great country will be best promoted when the administration of public affairs is in the hands of the party of Lincoln, Grant, and Harrison. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which faith he was reared, and to the teachings of which he has ever been true. On December 24, 1874, Mr. Wilson married E. Josephine Fleck, daughter of Adam W. and Mary A. Fleck, of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. James H. Wilson resides in a pleasant and well appointed home on Washington Avenue, where he and his amiable wife are happy to welcome their many friends. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Tina Erb mtkaiy3@aol.com