BIOGRAPHY: William J. RIDDELL, 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. 320
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WILLIAM J. RIDDELL, yard-master of the Pennsylvania railroad yards, at East 
Conemaugh, this county, is a son of Horace B. and Eva (Stormer) Riddell, and was 
born September 7, 1853, in Indiana county, Pennsylvania. The Riddell family is 
of Scotch-Irish descent.
     Robert Riddell (grandfather) was a native of northern Ireland. When he was 
about twelve years old his parents moved to France, where he lived until the age 
of twenty-two, at which time he emigrated to America and located in Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania. Here he purchased a farm, and the remainder of his life 
engaged in agriculture. At the age of twenty-five he married Miss Morry Britton, 
a Scotch woman. He died in 1872.
     Horace B. Riddell (father) was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 
and when quite a young man removed to Indiana county, where he lived for several 
years and then returned to Westmoreland county, locating at Lockport, where he 
still has his residence. By trade he is a carpenter and pattern-maker. In 1861 
he enlisted in the Union army for a three-months' service, and served out his 
full term of enlistment. He married Miss Eva Stoner, of Westmoreland county, who 
died in 1878. The maternal grandfather, Adam Stoner, was born in York county, 
Pennsylvania. He was a cabinet-maker by trade and removed from York county to 
Westmoreland county, where he died in 1869.
     William J. Riddell received his early education in the public schools of 
Blairsville, Indiana county, and Lockport, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. 
For three years after leaving school he followed the vocation of a plasterer. In 
1870 he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad company in the capacity 
of freight brakeman; in 1873 he was made freight conductor, which position he 
held until April 15, 1884, when he was promoted to the position of yard-master 
at Bolivar Junction, on the Pennsylvania Central. On April 15, 1890, he was 
transferred from Bolivar Junction to Conemaugh, this county, which position he 
occupies at the present time. Mr. Riddell has been twice married. In 1873 he 
married Miss Annie Potts, a daughter of Noah Potts, a steamboat captain on the 
Ohio river. To this marital relation six children were born: Sadie M., the wife 
of James Copstick, of Conemaugh, machinist in the employ of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad company; William J., Jr., who married Miss Louise Reed, of Conemaugh; 
Jennie M., Robert P., Michael H., who died in 1878; and Horace B., who died in 
infancy. His first wife died in 1887. His second marriage, which occurred in 
May, 1890, was to Miss Ada, daughter of Rev. J. A. Aldred, a Baptist minister of 
Danville, Pennsylvania. Their marriage has been blessed in the birth of two 
children, Lawrence A. and Sylva L.