OBIT: Henry A. McPIKE, 1909, native of Blair County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Patty Millich
<millich84@hotmail.com>

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/
_________________________________________ 

Veteran Editor is Near Other Shore 
Man Who Stated Cambria FREEMAN Dying in City of Washington

  H. A. McPike of Washington, D. C. and at one time editor of the 
Cambria FREEMAN is very ill at his home.  The veteran journalist is 84 
years of age and his right side is badly paralyzed. Mr. McPike has a 
great many friends among the older residents of Ebensburg who will be 
sorry to learn of his sad predicament.
  Mr. McPike was born in Hollidaysburg and learned his trade in that 
town.  He worked in Hollidaysburg, Johnstown, Altoona, Summit and 
Ebensburg.  When young he was a clerk in Johnstown and afterward 
operated a grocery store in Altoona.
  When the Pittsburg diocese was formed, Bishop O'Connor founded an 
academy at Summit.  This academy is now St. Michael's of Pittsburg.  
Summit was on the old Portage road and was a bustling town at that 
time.  H. A. McPike went there in 1855 and started a Catholic paper 
called the CRUSADER.  This paper was the forerunner of the Pittsburg 
CATHOLIC.
  In January, 1867, Mr. McPike came to Ebensburg and with the late 
Judge R. L. Johnston, started the DEMOCRAT and SENTINEL.  The name of 
this paper was afterward changed to the CAMBRIA FREEMAN. Mr. McPike 
edited this paper for many years.
  About May 1884 Mr. McPike sold THE FREEMAN to J. G. Hasson, whose 
first issue appeared May 9, 1884.  Mr. Hasson operated the paper until 
the present owner, Thomas A. Osborn, took charge.
  From Ebensburg Mr. McPike went to Altoona where he started the 
Altoona TIMES and operated it for a number of years.  He finally sold 
the paper, went to Washington and entered the government printing 
office where he has since been.
  In 1880 diphtheria caused the death of five of Mr. McPike's children 
in one week.  This was while he lived here.  His wife died some time 
later and he remarried.  George McPike and Martin McPike are living.

Cambria Freeman, Ebensburg, Pa., Friday, January 8, 1909

Editor McPike Dead 

  H. A. McPike, who along with the late Hon. R. L. Johnston, founded 
the CAMBRIA FREEMAN in 1886 died at his home in Washington D.C. on 
Friday, September 10th, aged 84 years
  Mr. McPike was born at the Foot of Plane No. 10 in Blair County, Pa., 
and sometime after his birth the family moved to Hollidaysburg where 
the deceased learned the printing trade in the BLAIR COUNTY RADICAL 
office.  In the early '50s, Summit, this county, at the head of the 
planes on the Old Portage Railroad was a promising town. A Catholic 
seminary was built and a Catholic newspaper, the CRUSADER, the 
forerunner of the Pittsburg CATHOLIC, was established with H. A. McPike 
as the publisher. The abandonment of the Old Portage Railroad when the 
PRR was built caused Summit to decay and the destruction of the 
seminary and the CRUSADER office by fire ended the publication of the 
paper and Mr. McPike, for a number of years after, followed other 
pursuits, residing for times in Johnstown, Hollidaysburg and Altoona.
  In January, 1867, the first issue of the CAMBRIA FREEMAN was issued 
with the late Hon. R. L. Johnston as editor and H. A. McPike as 
publisher and for seventeen years thereafter, Mr. McPike was a resident 
of Ebensburg and in a couple of years after the FREEMAN was established 
he became the sole proprietor.
  He is remembered in Ebensburg by the older people for his genial 
disposition, kindly ways and strict integrity.  In 1884 Mr. McPike sold 
the FREEMAN to Jas. G. Hasson and removed to Altoona where in company 
with several other gentlemen, he founded the Altoona DAILY TIMES.  Ten 
or twelve years ago he disposed of his interest in the Altoona TIMES 
and removed to Washington D. C., where he had since been employed by 
the government printing office.
  Mr. McPike was thrice married and is survived by his third wife and 
two sons, George, a son of his first wife, who resides in Altoona, and 
Martin J., son of his second wife, at home in Washington.  His remains 
were buried in Washington on Monday last.

[The dates of publication of the FREEMAN are as typed in the newspaper 
but seem to be incorrect]

Cambria Freeman, Ebensburg, Pa., Friday, September 17, 1909

McPIKE. - On Friday, September 10, 1909, at [unreadable] a.m., HENRY A. 
McPIKE.  
  Funeral from 812 First street northwest on Monday, September 13, at 
8:30 a.m.; thence to St. Aloysius' Church at 9 a.m.  Interment at Mount 
Olivet Cemetery.  Please omit flowers.  (Altoona and Pittsburg papers 
please copy.)

Washington Post, Washington, D.C., September 11, 1909