BIOGRAPHY: John RIFFEL, 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. 110-1 
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JOHN RIFFEL, one of the soldiers who stormed the castles of Cherubusco and 
Chapultepec during the Mexican War, is a son of John and Jane (Mariner) Riffel, 
and was born at Milton, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 7, 1827. The 
Riffels are of German extraction, while the Mariners, or maternal branch of the 
family, is of Irish descent. The maternal grandfather of subject was born in 
Northumberland county, from which county he enlisted in the patriot army and 
fought in the cause of liberty during the Revolutionary War. John Riffel, 
father, was born near Milton in 1783, and removed to Cambria county in 1832, 
locating at Loretto, where he followed the trade of a hatter. In politics he was 
a member of the Democratic party, and during his life held several of the 
borough offices. He died at Loretto in 1852. Jane (Marriner) Riffel, mother, was 
also born near Milton, and with her husband, was a devout member of the Catholic 
church. She died in 1862, at the age of seventy years.
     John Riffel, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the 
common schools of Loretto. At the age of nineteen years, with the "American 
Highlanders," he joined the Second Pennsylvania regiment at Pittsburg and served 
in the Mexican War. During his conflict he engaged in seven of the principal 
battles and served until the close of the war. After receiving his discharge he 
returned home, and went to work on the old Portage railroad as captain of a 
train, which position is similar to a railroad conductor of the present. He 
continued in the service of this road until it was abandoned. He then went to 
Kansas, where he remained three years. Here he took up a farm claim, but in 1858 
became enthused with the dazzling prospects of gold-mining, and went as far west 
as the Rocky mountains, where he remained one summer and then returned to 
Kansas. The next summer he went back to the Rockies, but the same year returned 
to the East and went to work on the Pennsylvania railroad, first in the capacity 
of brake-man and later as fireman. He remained in the employ of the road for 
five years. At the expiration of this period he returned to the Summit, where, 
for about fifteen years, he ran a hack and wagon, conveying passengers and 
freight in this vicinity. He discontinued this business and adopted the 
avocation of a farmer, and, in connection with his agricultural pursuits, 
engaged in the closely-related business of dairying, which he continued for 
thirteen years. At the present time he is engaged in farming exclusively.
     Politically he is a silver democrat, and at the time the Summit was a 
borough served as a councilman.
     In 1876 he married Mrs. Margaret Allen Boland, who died in 1889.