BIOGRAPHY: George HUNTLEY, Cambria County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lynne Canterbury and Diann Olsen. Portions of this book were transcribed by Clark Creery, Martha Humenik, Betty Mirovich and Sharon Ringler. USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ____________________________________________________________ From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 81-2 ____________________________________________________________ GEORGE HUNTLEY. -- The people of every race have some characteristics of which they are deservedly proud. The Frenchman has taste; the German, thrift; the Englishman, tenacity; the Irishman, keen wit; the Scotchman, sturdy habits. The native of New England, however, no matter what his race, has cause for greater pride than any of these. In his land the foremost men of America were born and bread. On his soil, and in his atmosphere, great men have grown, lived and died. Strength and hope must germinate in the heart of every one who feels himself so nearly akin to greatness, which is a heritage for self-gratulation. This heritage belongs to the subject of our sketch, George Huntley, a thriving hardware merchant of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, who was born in green Vermont, February 4, 1831, in Chelsea, the county seat of Orange county. He is a son of Selden and Dorothea (Spiller) Huntley. His grandfather was a native of England, who emigrated to America, and settled in Massachusetts. His father, who was a blacksmith by trade, was born in the state of New Hampshire, and lived there, and in the state of Vermont, all his life, dying in May, 1862, aged sixty-three years. The mother of Mr. Huntley was also a native of Vermont, and of their family of eight children five of those living reside in the same state. They are: Marinda, wife of John Conant, of Barre, Vermont; John, of Brookfield, Vermont; Erastus, a resident of Northfield, Vermont; Newcomb, of the same place; and Harriet, wife of Asa Harrington, also of Barre, Vermont. Two children, Sarah and Alma, are dead. The subject of this sketch married Miss Mary A., daughter of William Roberts. To this union have been born the following children: Alma, wife of W. R. Smith, of Aspinwall, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania; Carrie, wife of W. S. Humphreys, of Conemaugh, Cambria county, Pennsylvania; W. Selden, who lives in the state of Indiana; George W., deceased; Marinda and Leonard, who is his father's assistant in the store. Mr. Huntley was educated in the common schools of Vermont, and was reared upon the farm, following that occupation until he came to Ebensburg in the autumn of 1850. He at once entered into an apprenticeship to learn the trade of a tinner, and has followed it for a number of years exclusively, and since 1855 has continued it in connection with the hardware business. His storeroom is well filled with everything found in a first-class store of its kind. His business apartments include two stories of a building one hundred and fifty feet deep and twenty-four feet wide, with hour or five warehouses, thus affording unusual facilities for a large trade. Mr. Huntley is a prosperous, wide-awake business man. In addition, he owns a well-cultivated farm of fifty acres adjoining the borough of Ebensburg. He is a staunch republican, and the confidence of his fellow-townsmen in his good judgment and stability has been manifested by electing him to the offices of school director, councilman and burgess. Apropos of this it may be said that confidence in a New Englander is seldom misplaced. Mr. Huntley is a member of Summit Lodge, No. 312, F. and A. M., of Portage Chapter at Johnstown, and of the Orient Commandery at the same place.