BIOGRAPHY: William H. H. ROBERTSON, 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. 487-9
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WILLIAM H. H. ROBERTSON, a merchant of Morrellville, this county, was born April 
14, 1841, at Mechanicsville, Brush Valley township, Indiana county, 
Pennsylvania.
     The ancestors of our subject are of Scotch origin. His great-grandfather 
was, as far as he knows, William Robertson, a native of Edinburgh. He, with his 
family, started for the United States in about 1775, but on the voyage he was 
taken sick and died, together with his wife and two children, and the angry deep 
was made their last resting-place. His grandfather was Alexander Robertson, born 
in Edinburgh in 1750, and with his two sisters, Susan and Eleanor, continued the 
voyage, arriving in Philadelphia. They soon removed to York county, this State, 
and later went near Bellefonte, Centre county, where Alexander married Sarah 
Campbell, May 5, 1796, and to them were born children, as follows: Sarah A., 
William H., George R., Hugh S., Alexander S., Ellen R., John, Reggy, and 
Benjamin.
     Sarah Campbell was a daughter of Hugh Campbell. George Robertson (father) 
was born near Bellefonte, Centre county, in 1801, and removed to Indiana county 
about 1818, and settled in what is now known as Mechanicsburg, and built the 
first hotel and store of the place. He became an active business man of that 
section, running a number of teams on the old Pittsburg pike from Pittsburg to 
Philadelphia, prior to the era of railroads. He also owned and operated a boat 
on the canal to Johnstown, and drove cattle to Philadelphia and the eastern 
markets. In 1842 he removed to a farm on Brush Creek, Indiana county, improved 
it and built thereon a grist-mill, and later removed to a small farm near 
Mechanicsburg, where he died, January 12, 1865. He was a life-long whig and 
Presbyterian, and, for a period of about thirty years, served as a justice of 
the peace.
     In about 1827 he married Margaret Sanderson, a daughter of Thomas and Betty 
(Dill) Sanderson. The Sandersons were likewise of Scotch blood, but were among 
the old families of Indiana county, where they were prosperous and owned large 
tracts of land in Brush Valley township.
     The children born to the union of George Robertson and Margaret Sanderson 
were as follows: Alexander S., John S., Thomas S., George W., who served in the 
Civil War as a corporal, and was badly wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg; 
William H. H., Ellen W., Margaret J., Caroline, Mary E., Thomas S., who served 
in the Civil War, with the rank of lieutenant.
     William H. H. Robertson, subject of this sketch, was reared upon a farm in 
Brush Valley township until nineteen years of age, attending the common schools 
during the winter, and still further educating himself by attending 
Mechanicsburg academy. He then clerked for a number of years, and in 1860 he 
went to Stoyestown and engaged in the mercantile and lumber business, and served 
as postmaster at that place. In 1863, when the State was invaded by the rebels, 
he removed the post-office and fixtures elsewhere, and raised a body of men and 
proceeded to Camp Howe. Not having enough men to entitle him to a captaincy, he 
returned to recruit enough men to form a company, it being understood that he 
was to be the captain of the same. On his way from the camp to the railroad 
station he was afflicted with a sunstroke, and for three months he lay helpless, 
sick almost unto death. This ended his service during the war. After recovering, 
he clerked for a time, and then took up agricultural pursuits in Indiana county. 
In the spring of 1866 he removed to Dilltown and engaged in mercantile pursuits.
     In 1867, the old Robertson homestead being for sale, our subject purchased 
it and moved upon it, but, on account of his impaired health, was compelled to 
give up farming at the end of one year, and then sold out and removed to 
Mechanicsburg. From the above date until February 20, 1874, he was engaged in 
various lines of business, among which were farming, merchandizing, and real 
estate, at different places in the county. Upon the above date he removed to 
east Tyrone, Blair county, where he took a position as a clerk in the office of 
the train-despatcher, but refused to hold the position long because he was 
called upon to work on the Sabbath. He shortly afterward went into mercantile 
pursuits at Bald Eagle, Blair county, but in 1876 returned to East Tyrone, and 
in addition to running a grocery store, served as justice of the peace.
     In 1879 he returned to a farm in Brush Valley township, Indiana county, and 
farmed one year, next year went to Homer city, in the same county, and shortly 
afterwards to the town of Indiana, and in the spring of 1881, removed to 
Wilmore, this county, where he took charge of a store and lumber interests; ran 
this until 1888, when he entered into a partnership with Philip Sherbine, and 
they carried on the mercantile business until 1891. During the latter year and 
in 1890, Mr. Robertson was engaged in the leasing of coal lands. In 1891 he 
moved to Tyrone, where he followed several lines of business. In 1895 he came to 
Morrellville and engaged in the mercantile business, where he is now located on 
Fairfield avenue. Mr. Robertson has been in business over thirty years, as the 
above record will show.
     He is a staunch republican and has held various offices at the different 
places at which he has been located; among them justice of the peace in his 
native township, at East Tyrone and at Wilmore, also constable of his native 
township. He belongs to a number of secret societies, among which are the Odd 
Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Masons and Chosen Friends.
     Mr. Robertson has been three times married. His first union was with Miss 
W. J. Graham, and resulted in the birth of the following children: W. G. S., 
born September 20, 1863; James C., born December 15, 1865; Elizabeth Jane, born 
March 31, 1868; Mary R., born June 5, 1870, and died in infancy; _____ born 
September 21, 1871, graduated in medicine in 1894, and died at Redlands, 
California, October, 1894. His first wife died, and he married as his second 
wife May F. Funk, and   to this union were born: Hugh F., July 17, 1877, now in 
the cavalry service of the United States at Fort Gates, North Dakota; Mary L., 
born September 22, 1878, at home; Susan E., born September 23, 1880, and died at 
Wilmore in 1883; Laura Edith, born July 24, 1881, at home.