BIOGRAPHY: James COSTLOW, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 340-1
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JAMES COSTLOW, a respected citizen of Wilmore, and an ex-county commissioner of 
Cambria county, is the eldest son of Henry and Susan (Lingenfelter) Costlow, and 
was born in Blair county, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1822. His paternal great-
grandfather, James Costlow, was one of the brave little band that came with the 
noble Lafayette to America, when the colonial cause seemed almost hopeless, and 
fought on many a Revolutionary battlefield. After peace he remained in this 
country and settled in Lancaster county, where he died and left three children, 
one of whom was James, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch.
     James Costlow was bound out at five years of age and never saw any of his 
relatives from that day to this. When he became of sufficient age he learned the 
trade of tanner, and after his marriage came to that part of Bedford which is 
now Blair county, where he started a tannery which he operated up to the time of 
his death. His son, Henry Costlow, was born in 1797, in Blair county, and died 
in what is now Adams township, this county, in April, 1850. He was principally 
self-educated, having attended but for a short time the old subscription 
schools, whose terms were in winter and from two to three months in length. He 
followed farming and operated a distillery in Blair county up to 1835, in which 
year he came to what is now Adams township, where he purchased a farm and 
devoted the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits.
     Seven years after his death his children sold the farm. He was an old-line 
whig, held various township offices, and enjoyed the goodwill and respect of his 
neighbors. He was a Catholic, and married Susan Lingenfelter, who died in 
February, 1850. Their children. were: James; John, who lives near the old home 
farm in Blair county; David, a farmer of Adams township; Henry, who is a farmer 
and resides with his brother John; Mary, who resides with John; Rachel, now 
dead, who married John Shank, who was killed while serving as a Union soldier in 
the late Civil War, and Susan, who married Henry Kiper and is now deceased.
     James Costlow attended the early common schools when their annual term was 
but two months, and came, in 1835, with his father to Adams township, where he 
worked on the farm until it was sold in 1856, as previously mentioned. He then 
removed to Dunlo, and purchased a farm, which he sold in 1893 to remove to his 
present home in Summerhill township, where he is now living a retired life.
     In April, 1844, Mr. Costlow married Sarah Reynolds, a daughter of William 
Reynolds, of Westmoreland county. Mr. And Mrs. Costlow have eleven children: 
Rachel Ann, wife of John George, of Johnstown; Peter, a farmer of Adams 
township; John, now at Cresson; David; Jasper and James, Jr., who are residents 
of Johnstown; Margaret, wife of John M. Rhodes of near Dunlo; Thomas, living at 
Moxham, near Johnstown; Catherine, wife of George Eichensaher, of Dunlo, and 
Edward and Frederick, who are engaged in work for their father.
     During the late Civil War Mr. Costlow enlisted in 1864 in Company G, 
Eighteenth Pennsylvania cavalry, and served nine months, but Lee's surrender 
came before the regiment saw much active service. He is a member of Wilmore 
Catholic church, and in politics was originally an old-line whig, but when that 
party went to pieces he affiliated with the Democratic party, which he has 
supported ever since. He has held the township offices of inspector, supervisor, 
tax collector and school director, and in 1884 was elected county commissioner, 
which office he held for a term of three years. As a public official Mr. Costlow 
has always been faithful and rendered satisfaction, while as a business man his 
career has been one of honor and success.