OBIT: Robert WARING, Esq., 1900, Snyder Township, Blair County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by SW Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _______________________________________________ ROBERT WARING, ESQ. A Pioneer Resident and Nearly a Half Century Prominent in this Community. After an illness extending over the past year, Robert Waring Esq., died of sarcoma, at 3.40 o'clock yesterday afternoon at his residence in Snyder township, adjacent to South Lincoln avenue of Tyrone borough. The funeral will take place at 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon from his late home where services will be conducted by his pastor, Rev. F. L. Bergstresser, of the First Lutheran church. Interment will be made in Grand View cemetery. Robert Waring, the son of William and Helen Roberts Waring, was born in the parish of Breinton, Herefordshire, England, April 22, 1821. When still in his boyhood, May 19, 1835, in company with his eldest sister, he left Herefordshire for America, and on arriving at New York city he became an apprentice at carpentering under his uncle, Edmund Waring. During his residence there he witnessed the terrible fire, December 16, 1835, which laid in ashes a large portion of New York city. April 26, 1836, he left the metropolis coming to Philipsburg where he worked for another uncle John Shaw, on a farm belonging to his grandfather, William Waring, Sr., who had come to America from England in the same year that the subject of this sketch was born. Robert continued at farm work, near Philipsburg and near Boalsburg, until 1843-44 when he visited England. After his return he became associated with his brother, William Griffith Waring, in the nursery business near Oak Hall, and ever after he continued in that line of activity. During the winter of 1844-45 he taught school also, at Shingletown. In 1845 Mr. Waring was united in marriage to Lucy Steele Wieland. They first lived at the Oak Hall nursery, but soon thereafter occupied a farm near Linden Hall, purchasing a plot there in 1847. In August 1851, the brothers established a branch nursery at Tyrone, and hither Robert came to take charge of it, remaining here thereafter. He was one of the pioneers of this community. He continued in charge of the Tyrone branch of the nursery until 1861. In 1865, from the purest patriotic motives he left his family of small children to fight for his adopted country, and in the Union army, on duty in the southwestern states, he served in Company F, Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer infantry. He was a member of Post 172, G. A. R., of Tyrone. A patriotic citizen and a man of perfect probity, he was also one of deep religious conviction, and he was a charter member of the First Lutheran church of Tyrone upon its establishment here, continuing a leading and active member of that church, in which he held various posts of responsibility, and for whose advancement he and his family have labored with an energy and influence that has had a large share in promoting its growth. Robert Waring was an intelligent public-spirited man in whom his fellow citizens deservedly reposed their fullest confidence. Thus he was called early and frequently by them to fill places of public trust. For thirty-one years, nearly a third of a century, he was justice of the peace of Snyder township, serving from 1863 to 1868, and again from 1870 to 1896. He was a commissioner of Blair county, 1864 - 1867, and jury commissioner of the county, 1868-1871. In Snyder township, he was a school director from 1856 to 1868, and also held other minor offices during the half century of his residence in the community. More than forty years ago he established the Tyrone cemetery and he continued in the management of the property until about a year ago when the Tyrone Grand View association became the owners and managers. While he had charge over 1000 burials were made in the cemetery. Mrs. Waring died in 1895. For fifty years they had shared life's joys and sorrows. Of the nine children which blessed their union, five died in infancy. The four surviving are Robert N., Newark, N. J.; Misses Lucy D. and May G., of Tyrone; and Rev. Luther H., of Scranton. Of his six brothers and sisters, four are still living, namely, William Griffith Waring, and Mrs. Catharine Eckley, of Tyrone; Mrs. Mary A. Lee, of Erie; and Rev. Edmund H. Waring of Oskaloosa, Iowa. Attaining the advanced age of 79 years, 5 months and 8 days, Robert Waring rounded out a life that can but remain a precious heritage to those who bear his name. With little schooling, he was always studious, and he became a man of deep and comprehensive knowledge. Possessed of a character well deserving emulation, he was esteemed as a model husband and father; a useful, patriotic and public-spirited citizen; and a devout, charitable Christian. Identified with Tyrone from its very beginning and throughout the years of its growth, his influence has ever been modestly, but intelligently and conscientiously directed for the real good of the community, and the impress of his exemplary character is indelibly stamped upon its life. Tyrone Standard, October 1, 1900