BIOGRAPHY: Garrett REAM, 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. 365-6 ____________________________________________________________ GARRETT REAM, a successful merchant and business man of the borough of Scalp Level, is a son of Daniel and Maria (Lehman) Ream, and was born in Conemaugh township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, December 30, 1830. He was reared on the home farm, received his education in the early common schools, and remained with his father until he attained his majority, when he went west and purchased a farm in Elkhart county, Indiana. Upon this farm he remained until the commencement of the late Civil War, and then, on September 2, 1861, enlisted in company B, Twenty-ninth Indiana infantry, being enrolled as a musician. He was soon promoted to fife-major, and served in that capacity until the close of the war, being honorably discharged at Marietta, Alabama, in December, 1865. He contracted rheumatism from exposure while in the service, which rendered farming difficult to him after returning to Indiana, he sold his farm in order to return to Pennsylvania. After returning, his rheumatism became somewhat better, and he was engaged in farming at Scalp Level from 1866 to 1870; and in St. Clair township, Bedford county, from March 17, 1870, to March 2, 1880. Retiring from farming a second time, he turned his attention to merchandizing, and opened his present general mercantile establishment at Scalp Level. In this last line of business he has met with good success, has a large establishment well stocked, and enjoys an extensive patronage from the surrounding country. In 1855 Mr. Ream married Sarah Horner, a daughter of John C. Horner, of Richland township. They have three children: Jeremiah, Rev. James F., and Alonzo E. In politics Mr. Ream has been active, and has discharged the duties of several township offices. He is a member of the German Baptist church, of which his sons, Jeremiah and James F., are members, and the latter a minister. The Reams are of German ancestry, and Garrett Ream, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was the first of the family to come to Somerset county; he located at Bear Creek furnace, at which place he owned a saw-mill, and died in 1842, at a ripe old age. His son, Daniel Ream (father), was born at Bear Creek furnace, and died at Scalp Level March 12, 1852. At the time of his death he owned a flouring mill and a large and valuable farm. He was a member of the German Baptist church, and married Maria Lehman, who was a member of the same church, and died in 1895, aged eighty-seven years. She was a daughter of Isaac Lehman, a native of Conemaugh township, and a resident of Paint township, Somerset county, where he died in 1880, at a ripe old age. Mr. Lehman was of German descent, and a member of the Amish church, which he honored by a correct walk in life.