BIOGRAPHY: John H. BENFORD, 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. 323-4 ____________________________________________________________ JOHN H. BENFORD is the son of David and Rebecca (Wagner) Benford, and was born July 18, 1832, at Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. His father was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and when a young man moved to Mt. Pleasant. Later, when the subject of this sketch was four or five years of age, his parents removed to Allegheny City, where they resided for about ten years, when they removed to Stoyestown, Somerset county, where the father lived until his death in 1891, at the age of eight-five years. He was a tanner by trade, and continued in this business until the close of his life. He was an honored member of the Lutheran church. Grandfather John Benford was a native of Pennsylvania, and died at Goshen, Elkhart county, Michigan, at the extreme age of one hundred years, lacking but three days. He was the father of twenty-two children by one wife, seventeen of whom grew to manhood and womanhood. By occupation he was a farmer. The Benfords are of Scotch-Irish descent. The name was originally Barnfield, and was so spelled in Scotland. Mother Rebecca Wagner Benford was born at Pottstown, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, September 7, 1806. She resides at Stoyestown, Somerset county. At the advanced age of ninety, she reads without the aid of glasses. Grandfather Jacob Wagner was a native of Germany. He embarked with his father on a sailing vessel bound for this country. His father died during the voyage and was buried at sea. He (grandfather Wagner) died at Schellsburg, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, aged ninety years, and his wife died at about the same age. John H. Benford was reared principally in Allegheny City, and was educated in the public schools. He learned the carpenter trade in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. At twenty years of age he engaged in contracting on his own account, and has continued in that business ever since. In 1861 he removed to Huntingdon county, where he resided until 1874, when he came to this city. He makes a specialty of heavy contract work, such as tipples, trestles, coal-bins, etc.; also house-work, and is one of the largest contractors in the city. Mr. Benford was married March 12, 1852, to Miss Isabella C., daughter of Frederick Garey, of Somerset county, Pennsylvania. Five sons and three daughters, born of this union, are living, as follows: Charles W., Mary F., married to O.V. Houtz, of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania; Carrie B., married to Frank Fitzsimmons, of Carleton, Thayer county, Nebraska; Harry C., assistant auditor for the Cambria Iron company; John G., carpenter; Jesse W., assistant in a rubber factory in San Francisco; Edna Pearl, at home. Three children are dead: William, died in infancy at the age of four months; Howard at five years; and Albert A., died at age of thirty-seven. Mr. and Mrs. Benford are members of the Methodist Episcopal church; the latter for fifty-one years. Mrs. Benford is president of the Children's Aid society, and active in church and benevolent work. Mr. Benford is also an influential member of several orders among them Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 300, F. and A. M., Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, of which he has been a member since 1862; Standing Stone Chapter, No. 201, R.A.M., of Huntingdon. In 1868 he was elected a life member of Mount Moriah Lodge; in 1887 an honorary member of the chapter. In 1890 he became a member of Oriental Commandery, Knights Templar, of this city, and in 1891 of the Mystic Shrine at Pittsburg. He has also been a member of the Royal Arcanum for fourteen years, and at one time was a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but withdrew from it. Mr. Benford has held some local offices, and was the first three-year councilman from the Seventh ward.