BIOS: File 9 - 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 9, listing the page where they appear in the book: Aukerman, Henry J., page 290 Barron, Rev. David H., D.D., page 299 Bowles, Prof. James B., page 297 Crawford, Col. Jesse R., page 304 Crum, Andrew J., page 296 Crumbaker, Harry E., D.D.S., page 293 Dern, Henry C., page 294 Hogue, James H., M.D., page 298 Kloss, David Shelley, page 285 Leisenring, Jacob Shindel, page 300 Liebegott, Christian, page 291 Metzker, William L., page 302 Over, David, page 305 Patterson, John K., page 303 Rhodes, Jacob A., page 292 Shelly, Philip, page 295 Trout, Thomas J., page 289 Walter, John W., M.D., page 292 Wilson, John F., page 306 Yon, David A., page 284 DAVID A. YON, a Union soldier of the late civil war and now actively engaged in the grocery and marble business in Altoona, is the son of William and Mary (Sherfey). Yon, and was born near Yellow Springs, Catharine township, Blair County, Pennsylvania, January 23, 1840. The Yons are of German descent and settled in northern Maryland during the last century. William Yon, the father of David A. Yon, was born in 1782, in Frederick, one of the mining and agricultural counties of northern Maryland, and came, in 1835, to this county, where he died at his home near Eldorado, in Logan township, in 1858, when in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was a prosperous farmer, a consistent member of the Dunkard church, and a strong republican in political opinion. He married Mary Sherfey, a native of Frederick County, Maryland, and a member of the Dunkard church, who died in 1878, at seventy-eight years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Yon reared a family of eleven children, three sons and eight daughters. David A. Yon was reared on the farm, and like the majority of farmers' sons of that day, received his education in the common schools. At eighteen years of age, in 1858, he left home to enter the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in whose service he remained, excepting one year spent as a soldier in the Union Army, until 1883, when he resigned his position to engage in his present grocery business in the Mountain City. His grocery store is well arranged, and he keeps in stock fancy, as well as staple family groceries, and all kinds of goods usually to be found in grocery houses. He has steadily increased his stock from year to year, and commands a good and remunerative trade in his part of the city, besides having many patrons from the surrounding country. Mr. Yon is also engaged in the marble business in Altoona, as a member of the firm of T.E. Moffit & Co. In 1879 David A. Yon married Sarah Riling, daughter of Levi Riling, of Logan township. They have three children, one son and two daughters: Scott I., Fannie M., and Clara R. In political affairs Mr. Yon is a republican, but is no extremist. In 1864 he enlisted as a private in Co., 188th Ohio infantry, and serviced until 1865, when he was honorably discharged from the Federal service at Columbus, Ohio, and returned home to resume his former employment on the Pennsylvania railroad. He is a member of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lodge No. 79, Knights of Pythias, and Lodge No. 473, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Yon is straightforward in his business transactions, endeavors to accommodate his patrons, and is well respected as a citizen. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net. DAVID SHELLEY KLOSS, cashier of the First National bank of Tyrone, and a man of recognized financial ability, is a son of Daniel and Margaret (Shelley) Kloss, and was born in Juniata County, Pennsylvania August 25, 1860. His paternal great-great-grandfather, Emile Kloss, came from one of the provinces of Germany, and settled at some time during the last century in what is now Leigh County, where he reared a family of children. His son, Daniel Kloss (great-grandfather), married and reared a family of twelve children, six sons and six daughters, all of whom married, reared large families, and lived to a good old age. In 1808 he settled in Union (now Snyder) County, where he purchased a farm on Middle Creek, married a second time, and lived there until his death. His eldest son, David Kloss (grandfather), was born near Kutztown, Berks County, and t twelve years of age came with his father to Union County. He afterward moved to Freeburg, that County, in 1819, where he purchased a flouring mill, and was also engaged in rafting grain on the Susquehanna River, in which latter employment he was, on several occasions, seriously hurt, but having a rugged constitution, and possessing great will power, he recovered to a great extent from his injuries. In 1883 he purchased a farm on the bank of the Juniata River. He was an old-line Whig and a strong Lutheran, and married Margaret Kantz, by whom he had eleven children, six sons and five daughters; David, who died young; Amelia, who died in two years after her marriage with Samuel Kingrich; Elizabeth, died in infancy; Gideon, who was a prominent merchant of Cairo, Ohio; Caroline, wife of Henry Kepner, a well known citizen of Port Royal, Pennsylvania; Charlotte, Widow of George Snyder, who was a prosperous clothing merchant of Mexico and Port Royal, where Mrs. Snyder still resides; Rebecca, wife of Rev. Daniel Kloss, pastor of the Congregational Church of Highland, Kansas; Rev. John, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church; and Henry, now retired from business, and a resident of Mexico, this State. Daniel Kloss, the fourth son, and father of David Shelley Kloss, as born near Freeburg, Snyder County, August 25, 1832. He received a good English education, and was engaged for several years at Vandyke, this State, in the general mercantile business. He gave most of his time and attention to farming and dealing in real estate, but within the last few years retired from all active pursuits, and is now living near Mexico, this State. He is a prohibitionist in politics, and is quite an aggressive advocate of the principles of his party. In religious belief he is a Lutheran, and has been for many years a ruling elder in the church of that religious denomination at Vandyke. He was married in November, 1859, to Margaret Shelley, and to them were born eight children: David Shelley; Nora E., wife of Rev. William E. Leisher, who is now pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Oakland, Maryland; Isadore; Charles F., now a student of Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, this State; and four who died in infancy. David S. Kloss was reared in his native county, and received his education in airy View Academy, of Port Royal, Pennsylvania. After the completion of his academic course he resolved upon entering into the business world, and in order to more fully qualify himself for a commercial pursuit, he entered Eastman's Business College, at Poughkeepsie, New York, from which institution he was graduated in January, 1882. In the fall of that year he became teller of the West End Savings bank, of Pittsburg, and served acceptably in that capacity until 1886, when he resigned in order to assume charge of the banking house of Parker & Co., of Mifflintown, Juniata County. At the end of three years' service he reorganized that banking house, and it became the First National bank of Mifflintown, of which he served as cashier until July, 1890, when he accepted his present position as cashier of the First National bank of Tyrone. On August 12, 1886, Mr. Kloss was united in marriage with Lizzie M. Esplen, of Pittsburg, and their union has been blessed with two children: Henry Esplen and Margaret Belle. D. S. Kloss is a member of the Young Men's Christian Association and the First Presbyterian church of Tyrone. He is a member and the treasurer of Tyrone Lodge, No. 494, Free and Accepted Masons, and Tyrone club, the leading social organization of that place. He is interested in several business enterprises of his borough, where his services have been valuable in adjusting and righting up disordered finances and confused books. He is treasurer of the Tyrone school board, and a stockholder and treasurer of the Tyrone Opera House Company, and the Home Electric Light Company. Mr. Kloss is a pleasant, courteous, gentleman, a well respected citizen, and a thoroughly qualified and eminently practical business man. In the history and development of Tyrone, as an industrial center of Pennsylvania, a most interesting chapter is that of the rise and progress of her banking institutions. Among these the First National bank is entitled to worthy mention, and its volume of business transactions is rapidly increasing under the conservative but safe financial methods of Mr. Kloss, who is an advocate of those sound conservative principles which alone can secure permanent success to any bank and perfect security to its depositors. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net THOMAS J. TROUT, one of the many successful businessmen of the city of Altoona, who has for the last decade represented several active and reliable insurance companies of the United Sates, and now has one of the leading fire agencies of Altoona, is a son of Thomas G. and Mary A. (Smith) Trout, and was born in Antis Township, Blair County, Pennsylvania, April 27, 1857. His paternal great-grandparents were natives of England, and settled in America during the latter part of the eighteenth century. Their son, John Trout (grandfather), was born on the vessel that brought his parents to this country. At an early age he became a resident of what is now Antis township, where he resided until his death. He cleared out a large farm, married, and reared a respectable and industrious family of children. His son, Thomas G. Trout, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born on the home farm in 1815, and received his education in the subscription schools of his neighborhood. At an early age he turned his attention entirely to agricultural pursuits, which he ha followed successfully ever since. Mr. Trout, who is now in his seventy-sixth year of his age, has a pleasant and comfortable home, and owns a very good and well improved farm of two hundred acres of land in Antis township, of which he has been a life-long resident. He married Mary A. Smith, who is a member of the Smith family of Bedford County, which is one of the industrious and thrifty Pennsylvania German families of this State. They have reared a family of six children, three sons and three daughters. Thomas J. Trout grew to manhood on the farm, and received his elementary education in the common schools. He pursued his academic studies at Bellwood, and in 1870 entered the Altoona Business college, from which commercial institution he was graduated in 1872. His first active employment in business life was as a retail cigar dealer, but he closed his establishment t the end of one year, and in 1873 became a clerk in the Altoona office of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He served in that capacity for a short time, and then went to Chicago, Illinois, where he was a teacher for several years in the West Chicago Commercial college. At the end of that time, not being desirous of remaining longer in the metropolis of the great west, he returned to his native State and opened and conducted an insurance office at Bedford, the county seat of Bedford County, where he remained for five years. In 1883 he came from Bedford to Altoona, where he established, in that year, his present large and successful insurance business. On February 22, 1872, Mr. Trout was united in marriage with Virginia H. Neall, of Philadelphia, and their union has been blessed with four children: Nellie, Virginia, Margaret, and Neall. Virginia died August 8, 1890, at the age of five years and nine months. Thomas J. Trout is a republican in politics, and a member of Lodge No. 79, Knights of Pythias, of Altoona. He is a member of the city board of trade of Altoona, secretary of the Working Men's and the Jefferson Building associations, and the representative of the Reading Trust Company for loaning money in Altoona. For nearly ten years Mr. Trout has conducted a large and continually increasing insurance business. Among the companies which he represents are: the Continental, of New York city; the Reading, of Reading, Pennsylvania; the Firemen's Fund, of California, Pennsylvania; Fire and Spring Garden Fire, of Philadelphia; Queen Insurance Company of New York; Connecticut, of Hartford, Connecticut; Firemen's, of Chicago; and the Traveler's Accident, of Hartford, Connecticut. Fire insurance of which Mr. Trout has made a specialty, is one of great importance to property owners, and closely concerns all branches of business. It offers an opportunity to the industrious and enterprising of preserving and securing the results of their labors when invested in buildings, and Mr. Trout, having control in Altoona of the business of some of the foremost fire insurance companies, is enabled to offer superior inducements and insure prompt adjustment of all losses that may occur. He is also agent for several steamship lines, and handles foreign drafts. He has prosecuted his present business with his usual characteristic energy, and his remarkable success has been accomplished by his own persistent efforts. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net HENRY J. AUKERMAN, a descendant of one of the old and substantial families of southwestern Pennsylvania, and the secretary of the Railroad Men's Christian association of Altoona, is a son of Joseph and Mary A. (Jeleson) Aukerman, and was born in Unity Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, February 8, 1852. His paternal grandfather, Lewis Aukerman, came from Germany, and settled in Unity Township, Westmoreland County, where he died in 1833, aged sixty-three years. He cleared out a large farm in a section of country that was then largely covered with heavy forests, and the present generation know but little of the hardships endured by the early settlers of central and western Pennsylvania. He married, reared a family of nine children, three sons and six daughters. One of the sons was Joseph Aukerman, the father of Henry J. Aukerman. Joseph Aukerman was born and reared on his father's farm, and after receiving a limited but practical education in the old subscription schools of this State, commenced life for himself on a small farm, which he tilled until his death, Mary 22, 1857, at thirty-five years of age. He married Mary A. Jeleson, of English-Irish descent, who died in Pittsburg, this State, February 26, 1879, aged fifty-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Aukerman reared a family of six children, two sons and four daughters. Henry J. Aukerman grew to manhood on the farm, and was carefully trained to good business habits. He attended the common schools of his native township, and then learned the trade of carpenter, which he continuously and successfully followed for twelve years in Altoona, where he worked during that time in the car building shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He left the employ of that company on March 1, 1882, to accept his present position as general secretary of the Railroad Men's Christian association of Altoona. On July 16, 1873, he wedded Elizabeth C. Detwiler, a daughter of Joseph Detwiler, of Altoona. To their union have been born four children, two sons and two daughters: Albert R., William M., Clara U., and Irene M. Henry J. Aukerman is a republican in politics, and a member of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which his wife and children are members. He is a man of good judgment, who is never carried away by excitement or hastened to take any step without a careful and dispassionate consideration of what is proper to do under the circumstances. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net CHRISTIAN LIEBEGOTT, a successful cabinet maker, furniture dealer, and undertaker of Duncansville, who commands a large trade in his line of business, is a son of Henry and Catherine (Yingling) Liebegott, and was born at Bergheim, Germany, November 29, 1857. Henry Liebegott was a native of Germany, and was born at Pleightanbaugh, that country, February 12, 1820, and afterward removed to Bergheim. In 1870 he left his native country and crossed the Atlantic in search of a home in the new world. Landing at New York, he soon settled at Martinsburg, this county, where he has ever since resided. He is a cabinet maker by trade, which he now follows at Martinsburg. He supports the Democratic party, and is an attendant of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 1847 he married Catherine Yingling, by whom he had four sons and one daughter, three living: George, married Annie Hicks, of Raring Spring, and is employed as foreman in one of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's carpenter shops in Altoona; Henry A., married Hannah Yingling, of Sharpsburg, and is one of the most extensive farmers in that vicinity; Catherine, wife of Gust Layman, of Altoona, who is in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; and Christian. Christian Liebegott served as an apprentice under his father and learned the trade of cabinet maker, which he has followed mainly ever since. At present he is resident at Duncansville, where he is engaged in cabinet making, and operates a large undertaking department. He also owns a large store in the same building with his undertaking department. His building is large and commodious, and he commands an excellent trade in his line of business. He was formerly situated in two rooms of the opera house building, which was recently destroyed by fire, by which he suffered a loss of about four thousand dollars. On December 29, 1881, Mr. Liebegott married Annetta Furrey, of Woodbury, Bedford County. To this union were born three sons and two daughters: George H., was born November 1, 1882; Minnie, who was born October 8, 1884; Letta M., was born May 12, 1887; Martin Luther, born November 25, 1889; and Harvey M., who was born February 22, 1891. He is a member of C. N. Hickok Encampment, No. 200, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Cove Lodge, No. 368, at Woodbury, Bedford County. He takes an active part in the Blair County Undertakers' association, of which he has been a member for several years. In religious affairs he leans to the faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which he is a regular attendant. Mr. Liebegott is a supporter of the Democratic party, and stands high as an energetic and reliable business man. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net JOHN W. WALTER, M.D., a courteous and skillful physician of Altoona, who has won well-deserved success, is a son of George W. and Eve (Waite) Walter, and was born in the village of Water Street, Morris township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1855. His paternal grandfather, Philip Walter, was a resident of Canoe Valley, Huntingdon County, where he died. He was a millwright by trade, and married and reared a family. His son, George W. Walter, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born June 18, 1823. He received his education in the schools of his neighborhood, and learned the trade of cabinet maker, which he followed for many years. He afterwards engaged in farming, but has now retired from active life, and resides in Altoona, Blair County. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and married Eve Waite, who is a daughter of John Waite. They have five children, three sons and two daughters; Clara L.; Dr. John W.; Philip Mentz, who married Ella Parker, and is now a resident of Altoona; Esther Ann, who married Charles Stehley, of the Mountain City; and Harry Clark, a blacksmith of Altoona, who married Mollie Ritchie. John W. Walter was reared in Huntingdon County, and received his education in the common schools, and Logan academy, of Bells Mills, Blair County. Leaving the academy, he served as principal of the Allegheny Grammar School, of Logan Township, Blair County, for several terms, and thus earned means sufficient to undertaken the study of medicine. He read with Doctor Graham, of Altoona, and then entered the Homeopathic Medical College, of Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated in March, 1883. After graduation he returned to Altoona, where he has remained until he present time in the successful practice of his chosen profession. Dr. John W. Walter is a democrat in politics, and has been a member of the United Brethren Church of Altoona for years. Doctor Walter stands deservedly high as a man and citizen, and while always interested in everything of public import, yet never neglects his practice, which is rapidly increasing. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net JACOB A. RHODES, one of the older residents, and a substantial farmer of Huston Township, is a son of Abraham and Lena (Bare) Rhodes, and was born at Enterprise, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in December, 1815. His paternal grandfather, Abraham Rhodes, Sr., was the son of Daniel Rhodes, who was a native of Franklin County, from which he came to near Fredericksburg, this county. Abraham Rhodes, Sr., was killed when only twenty-seven years of age by a tree falling on him in Morrison's Cove, at a place known by the name of he Burnt Cabins. He was a farmer by occupation, and a member of the Mennonite Church, and married and had two children, Abraham and Samuel. The elder son, Abraham Rhodes (father) as born in 1784, in Franklin county, and after his father's untimely death was chiefly reared by his grandfather, Daniel Rhodes, and later removed into what is now Huston Township. He purchased a track of six hundred acres of land, which was in the woods, and cleared out a very productive farm. He was a democrat and afterward a republican in politics, and died June 9, 1854, at seventy years of age. Mr. Rhodes as an active member of the Mennonite Church, and married Lena Bare, who died in 1835, leaving nine children, six sons and three daughters. After her death, Mr. Rhodes married Elizabeth Clapper for his second wife. Jacob A. Rhodes was reared in Huntingdon and Blair counties, received his education in the old subscription schools of that day, and engaged in farming, which he has steadily and successfully pursued up to the present time. He owns one hundred and fifty acres of his father's farm, and in addition to farming raises some stock. On April 7, 1857, Mr. Rhodes married Nancy Wolfkill, who was born in Huntingdon County in 1824. They have had three children: Emma, wife of Charles Stultz, who is engaged in farming with his father-in-law; Maggie, now dead; and Mary, who is engaged in the millinery business at Martinsburg. In politics Mr. Rhodes is a republican. He is a consistent member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and a well respected citizen of his community. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net HARRY E. CRUMBAKER, D.D.S., one of the rising young dentists of Altoona, who holds a diploma from the Vanderbilt University of Nashville, Tennessee, and ha been in successful practice since 1888, is a son of Levy B. and Barbara A. (Harpster) Crumbaker, and was born September 7, 1865, in Frankstown township, Blair County, Pennsylvania. The family is descended from old German stock, and was first planted in this county by Jesse Crumbaker (grandfather), who removed from Virginia to what is now Frankstown Township, about 1840, where he died in 1873, aged seventy-one years. He was a prosperous farmer, and owned and operated two fine farms in that township. He was a republican in politics, and a member of the Dunkard Church. He married, and reared a large family. Levi B. Crumbaker (father) was born in this county about 1838, and died at his home here in 1890, at the age of fifty-two years. He was a farmer by occupation, but for twenty years taught school during the winter months, becoming known as a very popular and successful teacher. In 1881 he retired from school teaching, and moved into the city of Altoona, where he lived until his death. He was a republican in politics, a member of the Second Evangelical Lutheran Church of Altoona, and was widely known as a kind-hearted, liberal-handed Christian gentleman, who had the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He married Barbara A. Harpster, and to them was born a family of six children. She was born in Frankstown Township, this county, and now resides in the city of Altoona, being in the fifty-third year of her age. She is a devoted member of the Second Evangelical Lutheran Church, and is greatly esteemed. Harry E. Crumbaker was reared partly on his father's farm in Frankstown Township, and partly in Altoona. His education was obtained in the public schools, and after completing his studies there he obtained a situation in the rolling mills in Altoona, where he was employed for five years. He then commenced to study dentistry in the office of Dr. N. P. Duffy, of Altoona, and later entered the Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee, and was graduated with honors from that institution in 1888, standing the third best general examination in the class of thirty-three. The same year he located in Altoona for the practice of dentistry, forming a partnership with Dr. J. S. Mardis, under the firm name of Mardis & Crumbaker. This firm existed until October 1891, when t was dissolved and Doctor Crumbaker succeeded to the business, remaining in the old office. He has won a good standing in his profession, and now does a large and prosperous business in fine dentistry. In his political affiliations, Dr. Crumbaker is a republican, but takes little part in active politics, preferring to devote his time and energies to his chosen profession, in which he has already won an enviable reputation. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net. HENRY C. DERN, senior partner in the firm of Dern & Pitcairn, proprietors of the daily and weekly Tribune, at Altoona, was born at Double Pipe Creek, Carroll County, Maryland, march 9, 1830, and his parents were Isaac and Susan (Koons) Dern. The Derns are of German descent, and have long been residents of Maryland. The father of Henry C. Dern was born in 1787. He learned the allied trades of cooper, carpenter and cabinet maker, and followed one or the other of these occupations most of his life. He served in the war of 1812, and was an ardent whig in politics, and a great admirer of the peerless whig leader, Henry Clay (for whom he named his won, the subject of this sketch). He was elected and served for many years as justice of the peace in Carroll County, and during the civil war was an enthusiastic friend of the Union cause. He died at Middleburg, Carroll county, Maryland, March 9, 1862, on his seventy-fifth birthday. During most of his life he was an active, influential member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and married Susan Koons, a native of Carroll County, by whom he had a family of six children. She was born in 1805, was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died in 1839, at the early age of thirty-four years. Henry Clay Dern was reared principally at Middleburg, Carroll County, Maryland, where he received a limited education in the schools of that day, frequently working during the summer months in his father's cooper shop. His youthful mind was early drawn toward the "art preservative of arts," and in his seventeenth year he left home and went to Westminster, the county seat of Carroll County, where he became an apprentice in the office of the Carroll County Democrat, a weekly paper, owned and edited at that time by Joseph M. Parke and J. T. H. Bringman. In that office he remained until he had acquired a pretty thorough knowledge of the printing business, when he removed to New Bloomfield, Perry County, Pennsylvania, and was for two years employed in the office of the Perry County Freeman. He afterward worked at his trade in the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore for some time, and in the fall of 1855 went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he secured a position in the composing room of the Cincinnati Commercial, upon which Murat Halsted was then a reporter. In less than a year Mr. Dern returned to Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, where he was married, and where he continued to live until May, 1858, when he removed to Altoona, this county, and purchased William M. Allison's half interest in the Altoona Tribune, the other half of the paper being owned by Ephraim B. McCrum: Under the firm name of McCrum & Dern these gentlemen continued the publication of that journal for a period of eighteen years, when, on January 20, 1876, Mr. McCrum retired, and Mr. Dern associated his nephew, Dr. Hugh Pitcairn, with himself in the publication of the Tribune. The style of the firm was then changed to Dern & Pitcairn, and has so remained to the present time. Doctor Pitcairn was at that time a resident of Altoona, but is now a practicing physician in the city of Harrisburg, so that the editorial and business management of the paper devolves upon Mr. Dern. On April 24, 1873, McCrum & Dern issued the first number of the Daily Tribune, which, after an existence of two years, was discontinued until January 28, 1878, when it was revived by Dern & Pitcairn, and has ever since appeared regularly. The weekly edition is still continued, is independent in politics, and has a circulation of two thousand copies; while the daily is a republican newspaper, with a circulation of nearly four thousand. Some years ago the proprietors erected a substantial three-story brick building on Twelfth Street, between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues, which was especially designed for a printing house, and has ever since been the home of the daily and weekly Tribune. On August 14, 1856, Mr. Dern was wedded to Miss Rebecca Witherow, a daughter of John Witherow, of Perry County, this State. To Mr. and Mrs. Dern has been born a family of nine children, six of whom are living, one son and five daughters: Annie L., who married W. E. Blanchard, of Altoona; Carrie E., wedded to William W. Murray, also of that city; Emma R., who married Joseph Ritchey, of the same place; Nellie, the wife of Frank Delo, who is also a resident of Altoona; Mary W. and Harry C., the latter two living at home with their parents. Politically Mr. Dern has been a republican since the organization of that party, and has done much as a journalist to strengthen and build up his party in central Pennsylvania. He has served in Altoona as school director for twelve years, and a member of the borough council for five years, and was one of the first members of the city council. He is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Altoona, and is now serving as a deacon and trustee of his church. He has long been a member of Mountain Lodge, No. 281, Free and Accepted Masons; Mountain Chapter, No. 10, royal Arch Masons; Mountain Council, No. 9, Royal and Select Masters; and Mountain Commandery, No. 9, Knights Templar. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net PHILIP SHELLY, a prosperous farmer of Woodbury township, is the fourth son and sixth child of Abraham and Barbara (Smith) Shelly, and was born in Mifflin, now Juniata County, February 4, 1810. His paternal grandfather, John Shelly, was a school teacher and a native of Juniata County, in which he died at an advanced age. Abraham Shelly (father) was a native of Schuylkill County, and at an early age went to Juniata County, from which he came, in 1819, to what is now Blair County, where he was among the early settlers of Woodbury Township. He was a weaver by trade, but gave his time after coming to this county to tilling the farm of two hundred acres which he had purchased in Woodbury township. He was a whig and republican in politics, and an active member and deacon of the German Baptist church; and died in 1848, at seventy-three years of age. In 1798, Mr. Shelly married Barbara Smith, who died January 2, 1863, aged eighty-eight years. To them were born seven children, four sons and three daughters: Jacob, Abraham, Sarah Brown, John, Mollie, Philip, and Barbara Longanecker. Of these children, all are dead except the subject of this sketch. Philip Shelly came with his parents, in 1819 to Woodbury township where he grew to manhood on his father's farm. He received his education in the common schools, and then engaged in farming and stock-raising, which he has followed successfully up to the present time. In November, 1836, he married Mary, daughter of Emanuel castle, of Dauphin County. To Mr. and Mrs. Shelly were born five children who grew up to maturity: Samuel, Levi, and Barbara, now dead; David, who married Nancy Snively, and is a merchant of Woodbury township; Daniel, married Sarah Snowberger, and has been engaged for some time in farming; Catherine, living with her father. Mrs. Shelly died September 19, 1882, aged seventy years. Philip Shelly is a republican in politics. He is a consistent member of the German Baptist Church, and a worthy and well respected citizen of his township. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net ANDREW J. CRUM, senior partner in the planing mill firm of Crum & McNeel, at Altoona, and an energetic business man, who for many years has been prominently identified with that business in this city, is a son of Nicholas and Minerva (Houck) Crum, and was born October 18, 1851, in Todd Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. The Crums are of German descent, but have been citizens of this country from early times. Henry Crum (grandfather) was a native of Maryland, but removed to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, becoming one of the earliest settlers of that county. He was a miller by trade, and lived in Huntingdon County until his death, at an advanced age. He married and reared a large family, among his sons being Nicholas Crum (father), who was born in Huntingdon County in 1809, and lived nearly all his active life in that county. Some eighteen months prior to is death he removed to Mifflin County, where he died in 1877, at the age of sixty-nine years. He was a republican in politics, a miller by occupation, and married Minerva Houck, by whom he had twelve children. She is a native of Huntingdon County, a member of the Lutheran Church, and now resides at Marklesburg, that county, in her seventy-second year. Andrew J. Crum grew to manhood in his native county, and received his education in the common schools there. In 1875 he went to the Pacific slope and spent three years in California, engaged in farming and fruit growing. He then returned to Huntingdon County, this State, where he farmed one year, after which he removed to Cambria County, and spent one year with the lumber firm of Plack & Glunt. In 1881 Mr. Crum came to Altoona; and two years later became a member of the Union Planning Mill company of this city. He was a partner in this company until 1889, when the business was reorganized, and the firm became Plack & Crum. At the end of a year Mr. Plack withdrew and the firm name was changed to Crum, Coll & Co. They did business for one year, and were succeeded by Glunt & Crum. In 1892 Mr. Glunt sold his interest to J. G. McNeel, and the firm name was again changed to Crum & McNeel. These men have a fine planing mill and a large business, employing from twenty to thirty-five men. On April 15, 1880, Mr. Crum was married to Sue B. Piper, a daughter of John Piper, of Huntingdon County. She is an intelligent and capable woman, and very popular among her many friends. Mr. Crum is a republican in politics, but takes no active part in the heated contests which mark our oft-recurring elections. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net PROF. JAMES B. BOWLES, one of those who have been largely instrumental in the advancement of the educational interests of the city of Altoona, during the latter quarter of the nineteenth century, is a son of Robert and Jane (Ross) Bowles, and was born at Concord, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, October 13, 1839. John Bowles (paternal grandfather) was born in Scotland, but before reaching the age of manhood, he crossed the dark Atlantic to find a home in the new world. He was one of the early settlers of Franklin County. Samuel Ross (material grandfather) was a native of the Emerald Isle, but at some time during his early life he came to America and located in Maryland, where he became a planter and slave owner, but afterwards gave freedom to his slaves and removed to Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where he died at a ripe old age. Robert Bowles (father) was born in Franklin County in 1796, where he learned the saddlers' trade, and in which business he was engaged until a few years prior to his death. During the latter part of his life he resided upon a farm in Fulton county, where he died at the age of fifty-two years. In 1817 he married Jane Ross, a native of Maryland. For sixty years of her life she had been a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died in 1871 at the advanced age of seventy-one years. James B. Bowles was reared in Fulton County, where he received a good academic education. Influenced with a desire for knowledge, he worked with unflinching zeal, and at the age of sixteen he began teaching, and has been engaged in that profession ever since. In the autumn of 1862 he enlisted in the civil war, and for nine months served as a private in Co. A, 125th Pennsylvania infantry, and at the expiration of that time received an honorable discharge at Harrisburg. He was twice drafted during the war, but was exonerated soon after being drafted the first time, as he was the only support of his mother; the second time he paid three hundred dollars, and was thus exempted. He was in several severe conflicts, one of which was the battle of Chancellorsville. In 1858 he removed to Altoona, and taught school in this county for four terms. In 1863 he began teaching in Altoona, where he has ever since been successfully engaged in that profession, and is now principal of Madison school, Eighth ward. On December 28, 1875, J. B. Bowles was united in marriage with Mary L. Beeler, daughter of Peter Beeler, of Sharpsburg, Maryland. To their union have been born four sons and one daughter: Ross, Crawford M., Kyle H., Chester W., and Jane E. In religious sentiment J. B. Bowles closely adheres to the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is a class leader. In politics he is a democrat, and has always been interested in the success of his party. He is also a member of Altoona Lodge, No. 473, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Fred C. Ward Post, No. 468, Grand Army of the Republic. Having taught in the city of Altoona for over a quarter of a century, he has witnessed the advancement of its educational interests from their infancy to their present prosperous condition. When he began teaching in Altoona there were only sixteen schools, now there are over one hundred schools. His whole life has been spent in teaching in the public schools of Pennsylvania. During his first term in the city of Altoona there were about one thousand pupils in the public schools, now there are about five thousand pupils. He visited Altoona in its infancy, September, 1853. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net JAMES H. HOGUE, M.D., one of the young and progressive physicians of Altoona, and a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Baltimore, Maryland, is a son of Joseph and Sarah Ann (Calwell) Hogue, and was born at Watsontown, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1860. His paternal ancestry is traced back to Scotland, where nearly two centuries ago a member of the Hogue family became wearied with the persecution which he suffered from the civil authorities of that country on account of his dissenting from the established religion of Great Britain, and in order to enjoy religious freedom came to the then province of New Jersey. He was the founder of the Hogue family of America, from whom Dr. Hogue is descended. One of his sons graduated from Princeton College, and afterwards removed to Pennsylvania, where one of his descendants, Joseph Hogue (father), was born in 1809, in Northumberland County. Joseph Hogue was reared and received his education in his native county, and then engaged in the general mercantile business, which he pursued for many years in Northumberland, Snyder, Montour and other counties. He was a whig and republican in politics, served as a postmaster for over thirty years, under the administration of both whigs and democrats, and died in 1868, aged fifty-nine years. He married Sarah Ann Calwell, who died in 1863, aged thirty-eight years. They had six children of whom four sons are living and two daughters died when young. The sons are: Daniel C., who served in the late war successively as a member of the 131st Pennsylvania infantry for nine months, the 28th regiment of emergency men for thirty days, and the 202d Pennsylvania infantry until the close of the war, and then returned to Watsontown, Northumberland county, where after being engaged for some time in the manufacturer of nails, he embarked in his present lumber business; Dr. Davis A. (see his sketch in this volume); Edmund B., a conductor on the Wilkesbarre & Western railroad; and Dr. James H. James H. Hogue was reared at Watsontown, where he received his education in the High school of that place. Leaving school, he commenced the study of medicine with his brother, Dr. Davis A. Hogue, of Watsontown, and after twelve months' reading became a student in the West Penn hospital of Pittsburg, where he remained for two years. During the time that he was studying in the hospital, he was also attending lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, Maryland, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1885. After graduation he opened an office for the practice of his profession at Du Bois, Clearfield county, where he remained but three months, and then went to Coalport, in the same county, at which place he practiced for two years. He then (1887) came to Altoona and formed a partnership with Dr. John Feltwell, which continued until May, 1891, since which time Doctor Hogue has been in partnership with no one. He is a general practitioner, but makes a specialty of diseases of women. His close study of the different complicated diseases that came under his observation in the Wet Penn hospital has been of great value to him in his successful treatment of many obstinate and chronic case that had baffled the skill of the ordinary physician. He gives his time to the profession, and has a good practice. He is a republican in politics, and a member of Coalport Lodge, No. 481, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Blair County Medical society; and the Pennsylvania State Medical society. On October 18, 1888, Doctor Hogue was united in marriage with Rose, daughter of George McDowell, a land owner of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, who resided upon one of his three large farms, which e kept constantly rented. To Dr. and Mrs. Hogue has been born one child, a son, Herbert McDowell. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net REV. DAVID H. BARRON, D.D., the esteemed pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Hollidaysburg, and the oldest pastor in continuous service of the Huntingdon presbytery, is a son of John and Jane C. Ferguson) Barron, and was born at Pine Grove Mills, Centre County, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1828. His paternal grandfather, John Barron, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and came in early life from his native county of Antrim, Ireland, to Centre County, this State where he followed farming as an occupation. His son, John Barron (father), was born in Centre County during the last year of the eighteenth century, and received a good education. He followed farming until 1852, when he removed to Muscatine County, Iowa, where he died in 1857, aged fifty-eight years. He was a prosperous farmer, a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and an old-time democrat. He married Jane C., daughter of Thomas Ferguson, of Scotch-Irish descent, and a native of county Antrim, who became one of the early settlers of Centre county, where Ferguson township was named for him. Mrs. Barron was born in Ferguson township, and reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, of which she became a member in early life. After her husband's death, in 1857, she removed to Cass county, Missouri, where she passed away in 1874, at three score and ten years of age. David H. Barron was reared in Centre County until he was thirteen years of age, when he went with his father to what is now Fulton County, where he remained until 1852. In that year he entered Jefferson college at Cannonsburg, in Washington County, from which well known institution of learning he was graduated in the class of 1855. Immediately upon graduation he entered the Allegheny Theological seminary, from which he was graduated in 1858. In the same year he was called to assume pastoral charge of the Presbyterian church at Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County, and then within the bounds of the Redstone presbytery. He remained with that people until 1861. On May 26th of that year he preached by invitation to the First Presbyterian church of Hollidaysburg, and on August 4, 1861, received a call from the last named congregation, which he accepted. He was dismissed in the usual way from the presbytery of Redstone to that of Huntingdon, and preached his first sermon in Hollidaysburg on the second Sabbath of September 1861. On Tuesday, November 12th, he was formally installed by Revs. G. W. Thompson, G. W. Zahnizer, David Sterrett, and D. X. Junkin, and has continued to faithfully and efficiently serve this people from that day until the present time, a period of over thirty year. On September 1, 1858, Dr. Barron married Mary J., daughter of James McCullough, of Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. His married life has been very pleasant, and to him and Mrs. Barron have been born four children, of whom one son and two daughters are living: James M., now book-keeper in the Baltimore office of the Diamond Match Company; Jane P., and Eliza M. In 1882 Washington and Jefferson college conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon Rev. Barron for his earnest, successful, and long continued efforts in the cause of Presbyterianism and Christianity. Dr. Barron has always been a democrat in political sentiment, and is a pleasant and courteous gentleman. He is a logical, earnest, and impressive speaker, whose efforts are well receive by his hearers. He was for three years a director of the Western Theological seminary in Allegheny, and was largely instrumental in founding the Ladies' seminary, of Hollidaysburg. Dr. Barron was also instrumental in securing the erection of the present beautiful and fine church edifice of the First Presbyterian church, and its neat and handsome parsonage. The corner stone of the main building of the church was laid September 9, 1869, and in the box deposited within it are sermons of Dr. Barron and other ministers. The church was not completed until the fall of 1871, and cost about sixty thousand dollars. The membership of the church is three hundred and thirty-one, while the Sabbath school has one hundred and seventy pupils. The church structure is a monument of the faith of the members of the church and their liberality, and to the persistent and untiring efforts of Dr. Barron. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net JACOB SHINDEL LIESENRING, a member of the Blair county bar, and who has, by force of energetic application to his profession, acquired a practice that ranks second to none in this section, is a son of Gideon and Louisa Henrietta (Shindel) Leisenring, and was born at Selinsgrove, Snyder County, Pennsylvania, April 2, 1847. The family is descended from old German stock, and was planted in America prior to 1750, by John Conrad Leisenring (great-great-grandfather), who emigrated from Heidelburg, Germany, and settled in what is now Montgomery, but was then Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. From there he soon after removed to White Hall, Lehigh County, where the original track of land purchased by him, and the mansion he erected thereon, are yet in the possession of his descendants. From him sprang Conrad Leisenring, who had among other children a son named Peter, born at White Hall, who grew to manhood, and about 1794 married, and had as his second child Gideon, the father of the subject of this sketch. Peter Leisenring (grandfather) removed to Northumberland County with his family early in 1803, where he resided until his death, about 1830. He was one of the prominent men of that county. His children, four in number, were all well provided for, and his son Gideon (father), in the division of his estate, came into possession of the old homestead, near Sunbury, a valuable piece of property. Gideon Leisenring was born at White Hall May 29, 1802, went with his father's family to Sunbury, where he grew to manhood and married Louisa Henrietta Shindel. He lived there until 1845, when he removed to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in several extensive business enterprises until he removed to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1858. He was a resident of the latter city at the commencement of the civil war, and was among the most pronounced and fearless advocates of the Union cause. His home was the resort and refuge, as he was the advisor and confidant, of the more timid loyalists, and he was amongst those to whose efforts is owing the fact that Maryland refused to secede from the Union. From his residence floated the first United States flag given to the breeze in Baltimore after the historic 19th of April 1861. At the close of the war he removed to Charlestown, Jefferson County, West Virginia, and engaged in business there. He continued a resident of that place until his death, in March, 18880, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. He was a man of intense activity and energy, and of a most positive and determined character - qualities which peculiarly marked him in the early days of the rebellion, in Baltimore, and in the reconstruction period, in Virginia. The wife of Gideon Leisenring, Louisa Henrietta Shindel, was a descendant of John Peter Shindel, a native of Erlenbach, Germany, from whence he emigrated to the United State and settled in what is now Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, about 1751, and there died May 29, 1784. On August 21, 1766, at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was born his son, John Peter, who served for a long period in the legislature of the State, and was one of the justices of that county for many years. He died September 17, 1829. His son, also named John Peter, was born at Lebanon October 3, 1787, and there married Susan McCullough about 1809. He became a minister of the gospel in the Evangelical Lutheran church, and won very considerable distinction as a pulpit orator. He spent most of his married life at Sunbury, this State, to which place he removed in 1812, and where he died October 26, 1853. He was familiarly known as "Father Shindel" throughout the Susquehanna valley, where he is yet held in tender recollection by many of the older citizens. His daughter, Louisa Henrietta, was born October 21, 1811, married Gideon Leisenring in 1828, and died at Selinsgrove March 27, 1853. She was a pure, earnest and noble Christian woman, and a most loving and affectionate wife and mother. Her death was deeply mourned in the community in which she had resided. Many of the descendants of both John Conrad Leisenring and John Peter Shindel are prominent in business and professional circles throughout the United States. Jacob Shindel Leisenring was reared partly at Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and partly in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. He was educated at the Missionary institute, Selinsgrove, and in the common schools of Baltimore. While yet a mere boy, he served for a time in the Union army, having enlisted in Co. G, 1st Pennsylvania independent battalion. At the close of the war he located at Charlestown, Jefferson county, West Virginia, where he read law with Hon. William H. Travers, and after finishing his course of reading, was admitted to the bar there in 1870. He at once removed to Tamaqua, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, where he became associated for a time with C. F. Shindel, a prominent member of the bar of that county. Early in 1872 he removed to Hazelton, Luzerne County, where he was admitted to the bar April 11, and was engaged in practice there until September of that year, when, having received the appointment of district attorney of a newly organized judicial district in the western part of Kansas, he removed to and located at Hays City, Ellis county, that State. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1873, locating at Altoona, this (Blair) County, in June of that year, where he has since resided in the practice o his profession, to which he has devoted the strictest attention, and as a result thereof he now enjoys the distinction of having, perhaps, the largest and most lucrative practice of any attorney in Blair County. He has been for years the solicitor of the First National bank of Altoona, and has the reputation of being an exceedingly safe counselor. His attention is almost exclusively directed to commercial law. On September 1, 1875, Mr. Leisenring was united in marriage with Anna M. Cherry, of the city of Altoona. To them have been born two children: Henrietta Sarah, who was born July 31, 1876; and Annie Lydia, born November 23, 1877, and who died July 27, 1878. Politically Mr. Leisenring is a stanch republican, and during his residence in West Virginia (when an active adherence to the principles of his party was not always safe), he took an active part in the politics of the State, but since locating at Altoona he has paid little attention to practical politics. He is the author of "Leisenring's Book of Forms," a valuable book to the general practitioner, and a recognized authority in its particular direction. He has long been a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he ha held a number of important positions, and is past commander of S. C. Potts Post, No. 62, department of Pennsylvania. In business methods Mr. Leisenring is determined and aggressive; in manner somewhat blunt and brusque, but no one stands higher in the estimation of his closer acquaintances, and in the opinion of his professional brethren, than he does. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net WILLIAM L. METZKER, one of the comfortably situated farmers of Huston township, is a son of Isaac and Anna (Lantz) Metzker, and was born in North Woodbury township, Blair County, Pennsylvania, November 21, 1833. The Metzker family is of German descent, and John Metzker, the paternal grandfather of William L. Metzker, was a native of Blair County, and died one and one-half miles east of Martinsburg, aged fifty-six years. He was a farmer, a democrat, and a member of the Brethren in Christ church. He married, and had a family of thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. His son, Isaac Metzker (father), was born in Blair county, and died in North Woodbury township, September 18, 1891, aged eighty-two years, seven months and eighteen days. He was a farmer, and a democrat, and served for several years as a deacon of the German Baptist church. He owned a farm of one hundred and twenty acres of land, and married Anna Lantz, by whom he had ten children, three sons and seven daughters. She died February 26, 1880, aged sixty-six years, six months and eighteen days. William L. Metzker was reared on a farm, and, like all farmers' sons of that day, received his education in the last of the subscription schools and the early free schools of Pennsylvania. He was carefully trained to farming and farm management, and leaving school, engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he has followed with good success up to the present time. In 1874 Mr. Metzker married Barbara Stoner, a daughter of John and Lydia (Brumbaugh) Stoner, of near Martinsburg. The brothers and sisters of William L. Metzker are as follows: John L. Metzker, born April 8, 1842; Samuel L. Metzker, born March 10, 1848, and died October 20, 1883; Rebecca Metzker, wife of Isaac Eversole, born February 7, 1836; Catharine Metzker, now the wife of John Kensinger, born April 23, 1838; Nancy Metzker, wife of John Hyping, born May 10, 1840; Virginia Metzker, wife of Christian Sturm, born February 5, 1844 - now dead; Eliza Metzker, wife of Samuel Hudson, born February 18, 1846; Anna Metzker, wife of Henry Graul, born November 4, 1852; Elizabeth Metzker, wife of George D. Paul, born November 1, 1854. In politics William L. Metzker is a democrat of the Jacksonian type. He owns, near Martinsburg, a very good farm of one hundred and eighteen acres of land, of which seventy-five acres are under cultivation. Mr. Metzker is a careful and successful farmer, and has given close attention to the improvement and development of his farm. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net JOHN K. PATTERSON, a well established and successful member of the Blair County Bar, and a substantial citizen and influential republican of Altoona, is a son of Thomas and Isabella (McConaghy) Patterson, and was born at Newry, in Blair township, Blair County, Pennsylvania, September 15, 1857. His father, Thomas Patterson, is of Irish descent, and was born in 1814 in the old and celebrated city of Dublin, once a great seat of learning and the capital of the now fallen kingdom of Ireland. He received his education in the schools of Ireland, which are noted for the thoroughness of the knowledge which they impart. Leaving school he followed farming, and was variously engaged in different kinds of work until 1854, when he sailed for the United States as being a wider field for individual effort and business success than that of his native land. Upon arriving in this country he came to Pennsylvania and settled at Newry, this county, where he has resided until the present time. He is a farmer by occupation, and owns a well improved farm of one hundred and fifty-nine acres, on which he has erected excellent farm buildings and a fine house. He ha given his time for several years to farming and fruit growing, in which agricultural pursuit he has met with good success. He is a republican in politics, and a member and elder in the Presbyterian church at Newry. He married Isabella McConaghy, who is a member of the Presbyterian church, and was born in 1820, near Dublin, in Dublin county, province of Leinster, Ireland. John K. Patterson spent his boyhood days and grew to manhood on his father's farm at the railroad village of Newry, in the far-famed and beautiful Juniata valley. He received his education in the common schools and the old Hollidaysburg academy, of this county, and after leaving school was employed for three years as a fireman on a train on the Pennsylvania railroad. He then engaged in teaching, which he followed for six years, and at the end of that time entered the law office of N. P. Mervine, of Altoona. After completing the required course of reading he was admitted to the bar of Blair County, June 20, 1887, and immediately opened an office in the city of Altoona, where he has already obtained a very good practice for the few years that he has been a resident of the Mountain City. In addition to the practice of law he gives considerable attention to real estate, in which he has dealt largely and successfully during the last five years. Mr. Patterson owns some very valuable property, and is one of the heaviest tax-payers of his city. On October 22, 1890, he united in marriage with Margaret Hegarty, daughter of Oliver Hegarty, a resident of Altoona. John K. Patterson is a member of the Third Presbyterian church, which was organized in Altoona, and of Portage Lodge, No. 220, Free and Accepted Masons. He is a stanch republican, and was a delegate to the State convention of his party which met, in 1890, at Harrisburg to nominate a candidate for governor. In that convention he supported General Hastings as being the man best fitted to fill the gubernatorial chair of the Commonwealth of the Keystone State, and as being the republican least liable to defeat in the great contest which afterward made Robert E. Pattison, the nominee of the Democratic party, governor of Pennsylvania. Mr. Patterson takes an interest in municipal a well as in political affairs, and after serving as president of the select council for two terms, he was elected by his fellow citizens as a member of the present common council. He is pleasant and courteous, but firm and determined withal, and has achieved enviable success both as a lawyer and a business man. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net COL. JESSE R. CRAWFORD, of Gaysport, ex-register and recorder of Mifflin county, and who was prominently identified for several year with the iron industry of Blair County, is a son of Capt. James and Rachel (Reynolds) Crawford, and was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, June 28, 1810. His paternal grandfather, James Crawford, was born in Ireland and settled in Juniata county, where he followed his trade of weaver until his death, in 1823. He was a democrat, and a member of the old seceder Presbyterian church, and married Anna Black, by whom he had six children: Samuel, Captain James, David, Esther, Jane, and one other. Capt. James Crawford (father) was born in County Derry, Ireland, and settled in what was Mifflin, but now Juniata county. He was a farmer by occupation, a democrat in politics, and a member of the old seceder Presbyterian church. He was commissioned captain in the State militia, and commanded a company which served along the southern shore of Lake Erie prior to Commodore Perry's great naval victory on the waters of that lake. Captain Crawford died at the age of eighty-three years. He married Rachel Reynolds, of Cecil County, Maryland, who died in 1827, aged thirty-eight years. She was a daughter of Jesse Reynolds, who was a native of Cecil County, Maryland, and removed to Juniata County where he died in 1830, aged sixty-eight years, and left a family of eight children: William, Mary, Rachel, Susan, Catherine, John, Hannah, and Benjamin. Jesse R. Crawford was reared in Mifflin county, where he received his education and resided in Mifflin County until 1851, when he removed to Hollidaysburg. The next year he came to Gaysport, which he left in 1866 to become superintendent of Mahoning furnace, at Lowellville, Ohio, which position he held for five years. He was then variously employed up to August 31, 1870, when he returned to Gaysport, and was a member, for two years, of the iron manufacturing firm of Crawford, Johnson & Co., which operated during that time a furnace in Freedom township, Gap furnace and Rebecca furnace in Huston township. In 1873, when Mr. Crawford withdrew from the above named firm, he established a foundry at Osceola, Clearfield County, which he operated for two years, and at the end of that time retired from active life. On April 24, 1835, Mr. Crawford married Margaret P. Wingate, of Mifflin county, and to their union have been born eight children. Jane B., who died in childhood; Maria M., widow of B. M. Johnston; Rachel R., married to James A. B. Melvin, a former merchant and present real estate dealer of Hollidaysburg; Mary E. widow of Samuel Slade; James R., who was a clerk for the Cambria Iron Company, and died October 16, 1865, from the effects of a blow received at the hands of an employee of the company; William W., married Annie E. Derno, and is a clerk in the railroad freight department at Altoona. In politics Colonel Crawford is a democrat. He has served is borough as school director as secretary and president, and has been a member of the common council. He was elected and served two terms, from 1840 to 1846, as clerk of the orphan court and recorder of deeds and register of wills in Mifflin county. During his official terms he was commissioned by Governor Porter as a notary public. In 1861 he was instrumental in raising a regiment of Pennsylvania infantry, of which he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, but as it was not called into active service he resigned. Col. Jesse R. Crawford is a member of the Presbyterian Church, a respected and popular citizen of his borough, and has been for some time enjoying the fruits of his many years of active business life. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net DAVID OVER, editor and senior proprietor of the Hollidaysburg Register, and a prominent and influential citizen of Blair County, a son of John and Catherine (Zollinger) Over, was born April 5, 1825, in Bedford, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The ancestry of the over family can be traced back to 1718, when two brothers of that name left their German home near the Rhine to locate in the new world. They settled near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and became the progenitors of a now numerous family, members of which served in our revolutionary struggle, the war of 1812, the war with Mexico, and the civil war, and have always been identified with good citizenship in the old Keystone State. John over (father) was born in Franklin County, this State, but removed to Bedford about 1820, and lived at that place until his death, in 1857, at the age of sixty-three year. His wife, Catherine Zollinger, was a native of Franklin County, and descended from German stock planted in America about 1720. She died in 1873, in the seventy-fourth year of her age. Her ancestor also served in the revolutionary war. John Over was a cigar maker and tobacconist by occupation, a whig in politics, and served as a soldier in the war of 1812. By his marriage with Catherine Zollinger he had a family of eight children. He and his wife were members of the German Reformed church. David over was reared at Bedford and received an education in the public schools of that village. After completing his studies and leaving school he served as apprenticeship at the printing business; but about that time came the excitement attending the war with Mexico, and young Over laid down his printer's stick, enlisted in Col. L, 2d Pennsylvania regiment, and marched away to the plains of Mexico to do battle in behalf of his country. He served during the war, and when the struggle was ended came back to Bedford, and, resuming the peaceful pursuits of civil life, in 1850 purchased and assumed editorial charge of the Bedford Inquirer. In 1856 he was elected treasurer of Bedford county on the American ticket, and discharged the duties of that position with satisfaction to the public. He successfully conducted the Inquirer until 1864, when he disposed of that journal, and during the next year took charge of the Lewistown Gazette, which he edited and published for one year. In 1868 he removed to Hollidaysburg, where he became editor and senior proprietor of the Hollidaysburg Register, and ha continued to occupy that position to the present time. In 1880 he was a delegate to the National republican convention at Chicago, and was one of the "immortal three hundred and six" who stood by General Grant in that convention. In 1886 Mr. Over was elected by his party friends as treasurer of Blair county, and in the management of that office again gave public satisfaction. In 1853 he was united by marriage to Elmira Farquhar, a daughter of William N. Farquhar, of Bedford. To them was born a family of six children, two sons and four daughters: Virginia, now the wife of S. C. McLanahan, of this county; Francis J., who married Annie Bailey, and is now postmaster of Hollidaysburg, and a partner with his father in the Register printing establishment; Julia, married Harry H. Gardner, cashier of the Second National bank of Altoona; Nellie, living at home wit her parent; William Henry (deceased), and Mary Elizabeth (deceased). In political circles Mr. Over has long taken an active and dealing part, and in the editorial management of his paper has helped to strengthen his party in this section of the State. He has also advocated and aided such public and private enterprises as tended to the development of the county, State, and nation. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net JOHN F. WILSON, the senior member of the substantial firm of Wilson & Isenberg, and one of the most energetic and successful business men of Tyrone, is a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Van Valzah) Wilson, and was born at Spring Mills, Centre County, Pennsylvania, December 6, 1845. His paternal grandfather, John Wilson, was a lifelong resident of Union county, where he died. His maternal grandfather, Dr. Robert Van Valzah, who was an able physician and a zealous Presbyterian, came in early life to Union county, where he married and died, leaving several children, of whom and among their descendants are to be numbered seven successful physicians. Peter Wilson, the father of John F. Wilson, was born on February 18, 1798, in Union county, and subsequently went to Spring Mills, Centre County, where he owned and operated a large tannery until his death, March 14, 1886. He owned several good farms, and was one of the wealthy and influential men of his section. He was a whig and republican in politics, and a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church, of whose Sunday school at Union, Pennsylvania he had been superintendent for over half a century. On January 18, 1827, he married Elizabeth Van Valzah, who died at Spring Mills, September 20, 1868, aged sixty-five years. Their children were: Dr. Robert V., born October 1, 1827, was graduated from Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, and practiced successfully in Clearfield County till his death, February 13, 1878; Nancy J. born march 12, 1830, and died May 12, 1879; Mary E., born January 28, 1832, and died January 17, 1874; Rev. James D., born April 3, 1836, graduated from Amherst college at twenty-two years of age, and died May 10, 1888; Rebecca E., born January 22, 1837, and died February 21, 1840; Margaret, born January 28, 1841 and died April 29, 1841; Sarah H., born October 1, 1843; and John F., born December 6, 1845. John F. Wilson received his education in Tuscarora academy and Wilson seminary, of Massachusetts, and then came to Tyrone, where, in 1872, he formed a mercantile partnership with J. F. Van Valzah, under the firm name of Van Valzah & Wilson. They commenced business in a room 20 x 120 feet in the Sneeringer block, which they filled with general merchandise, and soon afterward established a carpet department in a suitable room in the second story of the same building. This partnership continued successfully for nineteen years, when it came to an end by the death of Mr. Van Valzah. In July, 1891, Mr. Wilson formed a partnership with S. B. Isenberg, under the firm name of Wilson & Isenberg. They have one of the largest mercantile establishments of Tyrone, carry a heavy and choice stock of goods, and command a very extensive and remunerative trade. Their establishment is on Pennsylvania avenue, and ha been specially fitted up for the successful prosecution of their line of business. On September 5, 1872, Mr. Wilson married Mary E., daughter of Jacob and Anna Markley, of Columbia, Lancaster County. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have three children: John, born May 28, 1873; Thaddeus, born July 5, 1876; and Robert, born March 29, 1879. In politics John F. Wilson is a republican. He is a ruling elder of the First Presbyterian church of Tyrone, and a member of Tyrone Lodge, No. 494, Free and Accepted Masons; Mountain Chapter, No. 189, Royal Arch Masons; and Mountain Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar. Mr. Wilson is a man of fine personal appearance, pleasant, prompt, and active, and has been for the last twenty years one of the useful and representative business men of Tyrone. Transcribed and submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Cheryl Heny MHeny@Prodigy.net