BIOGRAPHY: William H. SECHLER, 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. 443-4
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WILLIAM H. SECHLER, a prominent lawyer of Ebensburg and who served two terms as 
district attorney of Cambria county, is the eldest son of John and Catherine 
(Groiner) Sechler, and was born September 8, 1840, at Frankstown, Blair county, 
Pennsylvania. The common ancestor of the Sechler family in America was of German 
birth and parentage, coming over about the time of Penn's first visit in 1682, 
and becoming one of the early settlers in Montgomery county, from which his 
descendants spread to other counties of the State. Several generations removed 
from him was Henry Sechler, who was a Revolutionary soldier and fought at the 
battle of Germantown under Washington. Henry Sechler was a man of some wealth 
and local standing in Montgomery county, where he was a prominent member of the 
Reformed church, and where he married and reared a respectable son, who learned 
the shoemaking trade, which he followed until 1838, when he went from Montgomery 
to Blair county; where he abandoned the shoe bench and learned the trade of 
miller, which he followed during the remainder of his life. He assumed charge 
successively of mills at Cherry Tree, Indiana county, 1849; Mitchels, 1856; 
Duncan's (Red Mill), 1857; near Indiana, 1858; Duncan's (Red Mill), 1860; 
Summerhill, 1866; near Altoona, 1868; and near Ebensburg, 1869, when he formed a 
partnership with his two sons, William H. and George K. He unfortunately lost 
his sight in 1870, and five years later he and his son, George K., took charge 
of the Red Mill at Blacklick, Indiana county, which they ran until 1877. He then 
retired from milling and removed to Altoona, Blair county, where he died. His 
remains were brought to Wilmore, this county, and interred in the cemetery at 
that place. He was an Odd Fellow and a member of the Reformed church, and ranked 
in his day as one of the best millers in the State. He married Catherine 
Groiner, who is a daughter of Gottlieb Henry Groiner, a tanner of Blair county, 
and now resides at Altoona. Mr. and Mrs. Sechler reared a family of four sons 
and seven daughters.
     William H. Sechler received his education in the common schools and the old 
Indiana academy, and was engaged in teaching from 1856 until the commencement of 
the late Civil War, when he enlisted in Company A, Eleventh Pennsylvania 
reserves, at Ebensburg, May 20, 1861. He was made corporal, fought at 
Mechanicsville, and in the next battle of Gaines' Mill was taken prisoner, his 
whole regiment being captured. He was kept in Libby prison for twelve days, then 
was sent in charge of a detachment of Union soldiers that cleared off the prison 
site on Belle Island, where he remained until he was paroled with 4000 others 
and sent to the Union lines, on September 12, 1862. After being paroled he was 
in a convalescent camp at Washington city up to January 24, 1863, on which day 
he was discharged on account of physical disability. Returning home he became 
clerk for the county commissioners, read law with F. A. Shoemacker, Esq., of 
Ebensburg, and was admitted to the bar of Cambria county, September 26, 1864. 
After admission he remained as commission clerk until 1869, when he commenced 
the practice of his profession at Ebensburg, where he has resided ever since, 
except from 1881 to 1885, when he was at Johnstown.
     On January 25, 1865, Mr. Sechler wedded Margaret Lloyd, who was a daughter 
of Rees S. Lloyd, a well known farmer of Cambria township, and who died 
September 2, 1894, aged fifty-two years, seven months and twenty-one days. Mr. 
and Mrs. Sechler had five children: Anna Eliza, wife of Harvey Green, of 
Altoona, this State; John L., editor of the South Fork Courier; Alice, who has 
charge of the long-distance telephone at Ebensburg; Miriam, wife of Joseph 
Simpson, superintendent of the long-distance telephone line passing through 
Ebensburg; and Charles H., now in the office of the Ebensburg Mountaineer.
     In his political views Mr. Sechler has always been a democrat. He is strong 
with his party and popular with the public. He served as district attorney from 
1871 to 1875, and was elected for a second term in 1880 without opposition from 
the Republican party. He is a past grand of Highland Lodge, Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, and a member of Emory Fisher Post, No. 30, Grand Army of the 
Republic. Mr. Sechler's marked success as a lawyer is largely due to his energy, 
method of work, and special care, in preparing his cases, to neglect no 
essential element of success.