LOCAL HISTORY: STOREY, Henry Wilson. HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY PA. Vol. 1
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1907.

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Martha Humenik.

There is an HTML version of this book, with page images, 
on the county web site: http://www.camgenpa.com/books/Storey/v1/ 


Copyright 2006.  All rights reserved.
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                            CHAPTER XXII.

                     OLD FAMILIES IN THE COUNTY.

     There are today within the county limits, many families whose ancestors 
were residents of it a hundred or even a hundred and thirty-seven years ago, in 
1770, when it was necessary for them to go to Carlisle to transact legal 
business.
     The history of nations is in reality the history of families. In the family 
record of Levi Roberts it is related that the deception of a white man caused 
the cruel murder of his father, Joseph Roberts, by the Indians, or in that of 
the Adams families, where Samuel fought to his death within three miles of 
Johnstown. Isaac Edward Roberts, of said city, and his sister, Mrs. Almira 
Jackson, are representatives of the oldest family in the county, as their great-
grandmother was the widow of Samuel Adams. (See Adams-Proctor-Roberts families.)
     The pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620 probably did not suffer more in 
their pioneer life than did those at Loretto, Ebensburg and Beula. In search of 
independence and liberty, many of them crossed the seas and founded new homes in 
the wilderness--Morgan John Rhys at Beula, and Demetrius A. Gallitizin at 
Loretto--while others in advance of the tide of civilization came from the east 
as the McGuires, and George Roberts who with his wife and other companions 
walked from Philadelphia to establish a new home in Ebensburg. The story of the 
life of Joseph Johns and John Horner in Johnstown gives us an interesting 
account of the manner of living in those days.
     Of these families who have been here for more than a hundred years there 
are probably one hundred and twenty-five, of whom the following seventy are 
among the number.
     Adams, Samuel, Ann, Solomon and Rachel, (See Early Settlers; also Jesse 
Proctor).
     Bender, John Jacob, born January 31, 1740, in Westphalia, Germany; located 
near Carrolltown about 1795, and died there December 6, 1828. (See family 
records).
     Benshoff, Paul. He came to Cambria county prior to 1799, as his name 
appears on the books of John Horner for that


536     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

year; died in December, 1854. It is believed he came from Lancaster county. At 
first he located above what is now Franklin borough, but at the time of the 
pumpkin flood he was farming the lowland which is now the Fifteenth and 
Sixteenth wards. His wife's name was Barbara. They had nine children: 1. 
Elizabeth married Jacob Knable, and lived in West Taylor township. 2. Susan 
became the wife of Frederick Cobaugh. 3. John married Catherine Levergood and 
moved to Iowa.  (See Peter Levergood). 4. Eli, born 1806; died in Minersville, 
1855; he married Elizabeth Strayer. Two children grew to maturity: Benjamin, who 
married Catherine Snyder, Nov. 20, 1856, and celebrated their golden wedding 
last November; and Rachel who married John Teeter. The children of Benjamin are: 
Eli, married Elanora Blough; Mary, married Samuel L. Stuver; Barbara, married 
Frank Burkhart; Elizabeth, deceased; Rachel; Benjamin, Jr., married Ruth Hunt; 
Jennie, married Frank Goughnour; Christ; Martha, married John Lewis; Nannie; 
John; David, married Lucinda St. Clair; Lewis; married Bertha Eppley; and 
William Benshoff. 5. Paul, born 1808, married Rachel Strayer and removed to 
Iowa. 6. Lewis, born 1811, married Christina Hildebrand; they resided in West 
Taylor township. 7. Daniel, died in his youth. 8. Solomon, born 1818; died in 
1894, in West Taylor township; his first wife was a Miss Hildebrand, and they 
had four children: Daniel, contracted disease in the Union army and came home 
and died; John J., married Sarah McCartney; Susan, married Abraham Riblett; 
Hannah, married Jonas F. Goughnour. His second wife was the widow Hildebrand; 
and his third was Susan Stuver; they had nine children: Paul, married Lilly 
Cartiff; Sarah, married William Lippincott; Emma, at home; Mary M., married 
Lewis Stutzman; Abbie B.; Barbara E.; Elizabeth M. and George are at home; Annie 
V., married Miles Hammers. 9. Martha, born September 6, 1820, married Capt. John 
Strayer in 1837; she died in Waterloo, Iowa, in March, 1907.
     Burgoon, Robert. In 1799 he kept a road house on the old Galbraith road, 
now in Munster township, known as the "Storm" place. It was the oldest inn in 
the county, having been erected about 1790. In those days hotels were few and 
far between, and teamsters would often remain at his house two or three nights; 
when darkness approached they would unhitch and ride to the inn, and returning 
to their wagons in the morning they would travel until evening, again returning 
for the


537     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

night. Many of his descendants reside in the county, among whom are F. J. 
Burgoon, of Cresson; J. Gr. Brawley and Mrs. Thomas Borkey, of Portage; Jesse 
Dimond, of Summerhill township, whose mother, Catherine Burgoon, was born in the 
inn mentioned in 1807, and died in 1898.
     Canan, Moses. The Canan family is one of the oldest families in this 
community and the adjoining county of Huntingdon. Moses Canan was born March 1, 
1784, in a log cabin in Hartslog Valley, then Bedford county, but now 
Huntingdon; he died in Johnstown, September 29, 1863. His grandparents were 
Moses and Hannah Canan, of Ireland. John Canan, his father, was born in Ireland 
in 1746; his mother, Margery Dean, also born there, came to America before the 
Revolution, and they were married here. John Canan was second lieutenant in the 
2d Pennsylvania Regiment in 1777. In 1786 and '87 he was a member of the general 
assembly from Bedford county. He was also a member of the supreme executive 
council from 1787 to 1790. Under the constitution of 1790 he was appointed an 
associate judge and he was again a member of the assembly from Huntingdon county 
from 1791 to '94, and senator from Huntingdon and Bedford from 1795 to 1799. He 
owned a large estate in land, and late in life entered the forge and furnace 
business, being unfortunate in his investment. He died in 1831, at the age of 85 
years. Margery Dean Canan died in 1815, when she was 55 years old.
     Moses Canan had three sisters and five brothers; Hannah, born July 5, 1778, 
married James Gray; Catherine, born August 1, 1781, married first Rev. Alexander 
McIlwain, second, Thomas Jackson; Sarah died when two years of age; James Canan, 
born July 25, 1786; Henry, born May 1, 1790; John, born August 25, 1792; Robert, 
born February 25, 1796; Samuel, born May 10, 1801. John died in Armagh, Indiana 
county, about 1836. In his early youth he attended school when there were but 
three books used: Dilworth's Speller and Arithmetic, and the Bible, but at the 
age of ten he began the study of Greek and Latin under the tutelage of Rev. John 
Johnston, of Huntingdon, entering Dickinson College at Carlisle in 1800. In 1804 
he became a student of the law in the office of Jonathan Henderson, of 
Huntingdon, and finished his study with William Rawle, of Philadelphia. In 
January, 1806, he was admitted to the Huntingdon bar. September 8, 1807, he and 
Mary Henderson were married. She was a daughter of Major William


538     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

Henderson, who had been a captain in the Revolutionary war. She died in 
December, 1833, age 49 years. They had nine children : Margaret Wilkin, born 
June 16, 1808, died July 29, 1829; Mary Catherine, born June 30, 1810; John 
James, born April 24, 1813, William Henderson, born August 3, 1815; Margery 
Dean, born November 28, 1817, died March 31, 1820; Moses Andrew, born June 19, 
1820, died October 6, 1845; Robert Henry, born October 31, 1822, died July 5, 
1873; Charlotte Lucretia, born November 17, 1824, married Rev. Israel G. 
Pershing; and Samuel Dean Canan, born February 16, 1827, now residing in 
Johnstown.
     In the spring of 1811 Moses Canan gave up the practice of law in Huntingdon 
and removed to Rockview Farm, six miles north of the town.  In September, 1812, 
he commanded the Juniata Volunteers, and took them to Buffalo, where the Company 
was discharged December 31, 1812. His regiment was commanded by Col. Jeremiah 
Snider, and the brigade commander was Gen. Adamson Tannehill. Captain Canan also 
acted as brigade judge advocate. For services in that war he received two 
warrants for land from the federal government, one for 40 acres and the other 
for 120 acres. In May, 1818, he sold his farm to John Neff and moved to 
Ebensburg. He was the first lawyer to locate there and practiced until he moved 
to Johnstown in 1837. That same year he was united in marriage with Eliza 
Rudesill, a daughter of Frederick and Catherine Sharretts.  In 1855 he was 
appointed an associate judge of the court of common pleas for Cambria, county, 
and served for more than a year, after which he retired from active professional 
service.
     Collins, Peter. On May 18, 1820, he and Sarah Meloy, then the widow of 
Charles Friel, were married by Father Gallitzin. He died February 22, 1875. Mr. 
Collins located at Munster, where all his children were born, excepting 
Catherine, born at Freeport. There were seven sons and five daughters: 1. 
Philip, born April 1, 1821; died February 24, 1895; married Margaret Noon, June 
17, 1854; his second marriage was with Mrs. Maude Kittell-Scanlan. 2. James, 
born October 10, 1822; died March 22, 1869. 3. Thomas, born March 8, 1824; died 
September 25, 1898; married Sarah Murray, September 16, 1856. 4. Elizabeth, born 
October 12, 1825, and died April 24, 1902. 5. Cornelius, born December 8, 1826, 
and died September 14, 1861. 6. Catherine, born December 8, 1826, and died 
September 30,


539     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

1858. 7. Mary, born February 20, 1831; married James Henry, January 22, 1850, 
and died April 10, 1851. 8. John, born September 8, 1833, died in infancy. 9. 
Peter, born May 10, 1834, and married Susan Shoales in 1867; they have four 
daughters; Mary, Susan, Anna and Bertha, and reside at St. David, a suburban 
village near Philadelphia. 10. Sarah, born July 12, 1836; resides in Bellefonte. 
11. John, born 1837; died June 15, 1857. 12. Ellen, born January 29, 1839, and 
in May, 1860, married Edward Shoemaker; they had two children.
     It is one of the old and strong families of the county. Philip, Thomas and 
Peter Collins were contractors, principally on railroads, and were successful in 
every undertaking, with the exception of the Brazilian expedition, which failed 
not through any neglect or fault of theirs however. Philip built the Ebensburg 
branch and completed it December 2, 1861. Thomas is the only one who held 
office; he was elected to the general assembly in 1852 and '53, and in 1894 he 
accepted the Democratic nomination for secretary of internal affairs, as a good 
party man should do, just to fill in. A further reference to them appears in the 
chapter on the "Political Review" of the county. They were always modest and 
unassuming, yet they were always the leaders.
     Philip and Thomas Collins were concerned in the ill-fated Brazilian 
expedition. They undertook to build the Madeira and Mamore railroad around the 
falls and rapids of the Madeira river, in Brazil. Peter Collins was not a 
partner, but was in charge of the work part of the time. The object of the 
enterprise was to establish a system of steam transportation from the interior 
of Bolivia. Bolivia had at that time a little sea coast which it has since lost. 
The eastern slope of the Andes is so rugged as to render impracticable if not 
impossible the extension of railways from the Pacific coast into northern and 
eastern Bolivia. The nineteen falls and rapids of the Madeira river are the only 
obstructions to steam navigation between Para, near the mouth of the Amazon 
river, and the heart of this vast and fertile field. The only method of 
transporting gold, silver and rubber from Bolivia is by pack-mules across the 
Andes mountains. The estimated length of the Madeira and Mamore railroad was 180 
miles from San Antonio, the present head of steam navigation on the Madeira, 
river, around the falls and rapids to Guajara-Merim, on the Mamore river. The 
largest of the falls are Salto do Ribeirao, which has a fall of


540     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

38.38 feet; Salto dos Bananeiras, 34.11 feet; Salto do Theotonio, 33.78 feet, 
and the Calderao do Infierno, which means the "Cauldron of Hades," has 26.57 
feet and each being about a mile in width. The aggregate depth of all the falls 
is 282.74 feet, but this does not include the rapids. The road passed through 
tropical jungles inhabited only by a few adventurous rubber-gatherers, several 
tribes of Indian savages some of whom were cannibals, wild beasts, reptiles and 
countless varieties of man-tormenting insects which made life a burden. Para is 
on the equator. San Antonio is in South latitude 8° 48', 14" and 63° 55' 05" 
west longitude from Greenwich. The average temperature between May 1 and October 
was 76° Fahr.
     On October 25, 1877, the Collins brothers entered into a contract to 
construct and equip the road for 5900 pounds sterling, per mile, for the roadway 
alone. The pact required that work on the grounds at San Antonio must be 
commenced within four months from date and the road completed within three 
years. They immediately made contracts for ships to carry their men and supplies 
to that point and pressed things with their usual energy. The first steamer, the 
"Mercedita," with three corps of engineers, supplies and materials sailed from 
Philadelphia on January 2, 1878, for San Antonio. Among the engineers were 
Camille S. d'Invilliers, now of Cresson, George W. Creighton and Cecil A. 
Preston, of Altoona and Robert H. Bruce, of Blairsville. On January 30 the 
"Mercedita" arrived at Para, and on the following day started up the Amazon 
river, entering the Madeira river February 11. On the 19th the men disembarked 
at San Antonio, six days in advance of the time for beginning the work. Neville 
B. Craig, formerly of Pittsburg, but now of Philadelphia, states San Antonio was 
so uninviting that a proverb was current to the effect that "it was the place 
where Satan left his boots," suggestive that his Majesty could not afford to 
waste time there.
     The Collins brothers remained in Philadelphia and dispatched other steamers 
with 941 men in all, and materials and supplies, however, only 719 reached their 
work. One of the ships, the "Metropolis," was wrecked off Currituck Beach, North 
Carolina, January 31, with a loss of at least eighty souls, not all, however, 
belonging to the expedition. Philip Collins never went to Brazil, but remained 
in charge of the Philadelphia office. Thomas Collins and his wife, with a few 
other ladies, sailed on the "Richmond" on February 14, 1878,


541     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

and reached San Antonio on March 23rd. At first C. M. Bird was the chief 
engineer, but about July 1 following Mr. d'Invilliers succeeded him. The work 
was progressing satisfactorily and everything was being done to make the 
achievement memorable, when suddenly in the summer of 1878 the English Company 
which was financing the project and the bondholders became involved in 
litigation, which tied up all the funds intended to pay for the work. The 
Collins were not parties to this contention. It was caused by the perfidy of the 
Bolivian officials, who canceled the Bolivian concessions and failed to pay the 
interest on their bonds. At this time the Collins brothers had $800,000 invested 
in the contract. On November 13, 1878, Thomas Collins sailed for Rio de Janeiro 
to confer with Dom Pedro, thence to London to procure relief, whither he was 
accompanied by Mr. d'Invilliers, the chief engineer. Peter Collins took charge 
in the absence of his brother and continued in that position until the final 
abandonment on August 19, 1879. The financial tangle was never straightened, nor 
did the Collins ever receive a farthing for their loss, which of course caused 
them to become bankrupts, with the good will of their men, however, which is an 
uncommon occurrence.
     Among the engineers and workmen who spent from eight to eighteen months in 
that dense wilderness, where the flies had a stinger an inch in length, were C. 
S. d'Invilliers, now the constructing engineer for the Pennsylvania railroad; 
George W. Creighton, the general superintendent, and Cecil A. Preston, 
superintendent of the Middle Division of that road, located at Altoona, and 
Thomas Moran, of that city; Samuel Lemon and Samuel Rule, of Hollidaysburg; 
Robert H. Bruce, Robert B. Evans, A. C. Moorhead, Thomas Maher, James P. Maher, 
Freeman and Gilbert Wilkinson and John O'Hara, of Blairsville; James M. and 
Edward Stewart; J. P. Hildebrand, Harvey Leach, William Ellis, James Johnston, 
J. D. Ferguson, John Kerr, who died at Para, Jacob Hitner and James T. Young, 
from Indiana, the latter is now a resident of Johnstown; Harry B. Kimports, of 
Cherry Tree, and Martin Hassinger, of Indiana, who died at San Antonio, on 
Thanksgiving Day, 1878, and Clinton Kelly, of Shelocta. The loss by disease was 
almost one-tenth, and one man was killed by savages. While near San Antonio, 
Peter Collins was seriously wounded by the cannibals with two arrows, one of 
which penetrated his lungs. For a long time his condition was regarded as 
hopeless. The return of the com-


542     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

pany was lamentable, as there was no funds to procure food or transportation. 
Many attempted to reach the sea coast on rafts and canoes, never to be heard of 
again. Others sold their watches, jewelry, fire-arms and clothing to get means 
to return and to assist others more unfortunate. James T. Young worked his 
passage home on a three-masted schooner. At one time there were three hundred 
men stranded at Para, largely dependent upon charity for subsistence. Seventy-
five Italians, without provisions, map or compass, attempted the impossible feat 
of going to Bolivia overland through the wilderness, where one could not see 
fifty feet, and all were lost.
      The M. & M. road is feasible and practical to operate. It is stated at 
this time that another American contractor is going to undertake its 
construction; however, Mr. d'Invilliers is of the opinion a canal would be 
preferable. Mr. Craig, who was one of the engineers, has now in press an 
exhaustive history of this ill-fated expedition.
      Philip Collins was the principal founder of the Philadelphia Times. His 
associates were Governor Curtin, Charles A. Dana, of the New York Sun, Andrew H. 
Dill, Thomas A. Scott, John and Frank McLaughlin and A. K. McClure. The first 
issue was dated March 13, 1875, and in 1899 it was sold and subsequently merged 
with the Ledger of that city. Colonel McClure, who was its only editor, states 
in his "Old Time Notes" that "Philip Collins, without whom The Times probably 
never would have been started, was a man of few words, but he exhibited an 
"unusual interest in the newspaper enterprise that was entirely outside of his 
business ideas and tastes."
      When Philip Collins entered on the Brazilian enterprise he held his 
original stock of the Times Company, and needing all his available funds he 
offered it to the company at par and six per cent interest, which was taken and 
placed in the treasury of the company. After he had lost his fortune his stock 
was still in the treasury and at that time was paying forty per cent dividends. 
The company did an unusual thing by paying Collins, who had no claim for it, all 
the dividends it had earned, less the interest paid, and more than double the 
par value of the stock.
     Cover, Adam, born in 1781, on a farm near Shiremanstown, Cumberland county, 
died on Cover's Hill, in 1858. He married Mary M. Basor, and, coming from 
Harrisburg to Johnstown in 1813, he purchased 150 acres from Christian Good, on


543     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

Cover's Hill, beside other real estate in Johnstown. (See Land Titles.)  They 
had thirteen children, two of whom died in infancy. 1. Alexander Cover, born 
June 6, 1809, died Feb 13, 1901; married Sarah Horner, a daughter of Justice 
Christian Horner; they had twelve children: Benjamin F., Silas, Mary Madalene, 
Jacob, John, who died young, Sarah, Catherine, Arabella, Ida May, Worthington, 
married Georgiana Snedden, Theodore, married Henrietta Miltenberger, and Jennie, 
intermarried with Benjamin Hinchman. 2. Sarah, born Jan. 20, 1811; intermarried 
with John Hildebrand. 3. Caroline, born April 19, 1813; married Jacob C. Horner. 
4. Samuel Cover, born Dec. 3, 1814, died in his eighty-fifth year; married 
Frances Sheen, who died Aug. 5, 1901, aged 79 years, 10 months and 1 day. 5. 
William Cover, born Feb. 12, 1816, died Nov. 21, 1899, in Johnstown; on Dec. 24, 
1844, he married Mary E. Saylor, a daughter of George and Margaret Reed Saylor, 
born July 2, 1828, and now living in Johnstown. They had six children: Charles 
B., William C. and Mary M., intermarried with Charles B. Hamm; and Emma Jane, 
George Edward and Alice, who died young. 6. Amos Cover, born Nov. 13, 1817; 
living in Walnut Grove. 7. Mary Cover, born Nov. 17, 1818, married Col. John B. 
Fite, who is dead; she is residing in Franklin borough. 8. Daniel Cover, born 
Aug. 28, 1822; died in 1893. 9. Jacob Cover, born June 28, 1822, died in 1885. 
10. Elizabeth Cover, born May 8, 1827, died in Johnstown, Dec. 27, 1901. In 1846 
she became the wife of John Sharp; they had four children: Emma, intermarried 
with L. A. Sible; Joseph, William H. and Elizabeth. 11. Lucinda Cover, born Nov. 
24, 1830, died in 1906; her husband was Jonathan Horner. (See City of 
Johnstown.)
     Croyle, Thomas. He acquired the Croyle mill property at Summerhill in 1801, 
and erected the mill and dam. The name of his wife was Barbara; they had seven 
children: Frederick, Samuel, Margaret, Sarah, Mary (see Jacob Stineman), 
Elizabeth and Esther, who married George Murray.
     Delozier, Daniel, came to Loretto with the McGuire pioneer family; he died 
in December, 1818; his wife's name was Ann. They had twelve children: Daniel, 
Susanna Delozier-Barkley, Ruth Delozier-Glass, Clotilda Delozier-Weaver, 
Ignatius, Mary Delozier-Logan, Elizabeth, Daniel, Monica, Charity Delozier-
McGraugh, Annistatia Delozier-Burgoon, and Linney Delozier.
     Dodson or Dolson, William. He was one of the early set-


544     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

tiers at Loretto, prior to the arrival of Father Gallitzin in 1799; he died in 
March, 1813. He had five children: Elizabeth Dodson-Deckert, Richard, born Dec. 
18, 1800, died Sept. 24, 1845; married Eleanor Grove, born May 2, 1792, and died 
Dec. 19, 1867. William; Andrew, born Jan. 23, 1797; died Oct. 27, 1876; he 
married Ann Mageehan, born in 1800, and died Jan. 29, 1833. Ann Dodson.
     Dougherty, Dennis. He was a son of Peter and Catherine Dowlan Dougherty, 
who came to Loretto prior to 1800; he died April 29, 1857; his wife was Margaret 
Logan, who died January 29, 1869; they had seven children: John, Dennis, 
Charles, Mary, who married Patrick McGuire; Hugh, Margaret and Cecilia 
Dougherty.
     Good, Christian. He was born in 1772, and located on a farm in this county 
prior to 1800, and died in 1852, in what is now East Taylor township. His son, 
Jacob Good, was born in 1799, in Conemaugh township, and died in 1873. He 
married Elizabeth Gouchnour, a daughter of Christian Gouchnour. His son, John J. 
Good, was born in East Taylor, March 20, 1831; in November, 1852, he married 
Louisa Cobaugh, a daughter of Daniel Cobaugh, of the same place.
     The families of Daniel, Christian and Peter Goughnour. Jacob and Mary 
Sheets Goughnour came to America from Switzerland prior to 1772 and located in 
the vicinity of New Jerusalem, or Funkstown, near Hagerstown, Maryland, where 
Jacob died in 1800.  They had ten children:  1. Christian, married Catherine 
Shaffer, a daughter of "Hunting John Shaffer," of Allegheny township, Somerset 
county; he was a carpenter and died June 5, 1852. 2. Peter, born 1772, died 
January 1, 1855; married Elizabeth Shaffer, a sister of Catherine; he was a 
hackle-maker. Peter, and Christian Goughnour were twins, born 1772. 3. Daniel, 
born in 1773, died January, 1846; married Mary Benshoff, a sister of Paul 
Benshoff. He was a wagon-maker. (See Paul Benshoff.) 4. Joseph, and Barbara 
Goughnour, his wife, located in Somerset county. 5. David and Ann, his wife, 
settled in Huntingdon county. 6. Mary Goughnour married Samuel Leighty, and made 
their home in Bedford county. 7. Isaac and Nancy Goughnour, his wife, went to 
London county, Virginia. 8. Jacob, moved to Augusta county, Virginia.  9. 
Abraham remained in Washington county, Maryland. 10. Elizabeth Goughnour married 
Samuel Sweitzer,


545     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

who also remained in Washington county, Maryland, for a while; then went west, 
dying either in Ohio or Kentucky.
     Peter Goughnour came to Cambria county in 1798; his brother, Christian, the 
following year, and Daniel in 1800. The children of Jacob Goughnour selected 
Peter to settle the estate of their father, who died in 1800. The brothers 
located on the Coshon's hill, near the Frankstown road. Peter took up 187 acres 
near what is now Parkstown, two and a half miles southeast from Johnstown, on 
the south side of the Frankstown road. Christian acquired land just east of his 
brother Peter, which he sold to John Noon. Daniel located just west of Peter on 
what is known as the Coshun hill, and in 1818 acquired additional land on the 
top of Green hill. After living here for many years, they all sold their farms 
and moved across the Conemaugh river into what is now East and West Taylor 
townships, where they died, and where their many descendants reside.
     Daniel Goughnour had five sons and four daughters: Christian, killed at 
Conemaugh, May 13, 1857; Samuel, Henry D., Daniel and Philip. The latter was 
drowned in the canal near the Weigh Lock, Johnstown, about 1850; he was riding a 
fractious horse and was thrown in the water. Nancy married Daniel Cobaugh; 
Esther married Joseph Burkhart; Elizabeth became the wife of Daniel Wissinger, 
and Susanna was the wife of Jacob Hildebrand. Henry D., the third son, married 
Barbara Dickey, who resided near Newry, Blair county; they resided on a farm 
above Conemaugh; he died Feb. 4, 1869, and his wife, June 11, 1885; they had 
three sons and four daughters: Alexander D., Isaac and David D., Caroline, Sarah 
Goughnour-Castner, Ann Goughnour-McClarren, and Hannah, who became the wife of 
Joseph Parkes of Tyrone.
     The children of Christian Goughnour: David, died in Iowa. John C., Samuel 
D., Henry C. and another John C.; Elizabeth married Jacob Good, and Susannah was 
the wife of Jacob Strayer.
     The children of Peter Goughnour were: Joseph, who died before his father, 
leaving Lavina, Lucinda and Sarah; Jacob S., Mary, John S., Eli, Ann Catherine, 
Abraham and Daniel S. Goughnour.
     Griffith, Thomas, born October 20, 1818, three miles south of Ebensburg, 
died in that town, January 5, 1890. Griffith Griffith, his father, came to 
America with his parents, William and Jane G. Griffith, in 1805-06, when he was 
twelve years

     Vol. I-35


546     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

old. They located on the Little Conemaugh, and established a carding and fulling 
mill. In 1816 Griffith Griffith married Ann Rees, who was the mother of Thomas, 
and his second wife was Hannah Reese, a daughter of one of the early Welsh 
families who had settled there. They had eight children. In 1818 the family 
moved within a half mile of the town, where Thomas lived until he moved to 
Ebensburg in 1876. In 1844 he married Mary Davis, a daughter of William Davis; 
they had four sons and a daughter, who grew to manhood and womanhood. William W. 
Griffith was born Aug. 15, 1845, and died in June, 1877; he married Jennie M. 
Marsh, who, with his daughter, Mary S., survived. The latter married Frederick 
Barker, a son of ex-Judge A. V. Barker. John T. was born June 19, 1853, and died 
June 30, 1892, leaving a wife and three children: William, Mary and Annie. In 
1879 he married Elizabeth Evans; they had three children: Clarence, died in 
infancy; Margaret, born Nov. 14, 1890, and Elizabeth, born March 13, 1895, who 
with their mother survived their father. He died Dec. 17, 1896. Annie E. 
Griffith, born Dec. 3, 1858, married F. A. Lyte, of Lancaster, who became 
cashier of the First National Bank of Kane; he died June 24, 1896; they had 
three children, Ruth, Thomas and Dorothy, who with their mother survived the 
father. Webster Griffith, born June 5, 1860, resides in Ebensburg, and is now 
the sheriff of Cambria county; he and Alice Zahm, a daughter of George C. K. 
Zahm, of that place, were married November 28, 1894; they have two children, 
namely: George W., born December 12, 1894, and Thomas F., on June 22, 1902.
     Thomas Griffith, on arriving at age, with a brother purchased their 
father's farm and mill, including a saw mill, and continued the business until 
the death of the latter, when he acquired the full control of the trade and 
farm. Early in the '40's he began to devote his entire attention to the lumber 
business, which he continued until his death. He was the largest hard wood 
dealer in the country. In 1873 he came within 28 votes of being elected county 
treasurer, although he ran over 1,100 votes ahead of his ticket. In 1879 he was 
elected sheriff of the county as the Republican candidate, as was his son, 
Webster, in 1906. Thomas Griffith was the first Republican sheriff elected in 
Cambria.
     Horner, John, Sr. (For the Horner family see "Land Titles.")   Mr. Horner 
kept a primitive grocery store and also gave credit to his patrons. We have 
taken the following names


547     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

from his book to show the persons who were his customers and who resided here at 
the periods mentioned: 1799: Paul Benshoff, Daniel Bonbrake, William Brumbaugh, 
Henry Brumbaugh, Christian Cochenower (Goughenour), David Cochenower, Peter 
Cochenower, John Fink, Michael Fink, John Fox, Peter Fox, Christian Good, Jacob 
Horner, Abraham Hildebrand, Jacob Leer, Samuel Matthews, Daniel Stouder, Joseph 
Stouder, John Wissinger and Ludwick Wissinger. 1800: Jacob Good, Jacob Reed and 
Jacob Snowberger. 1801: George Anderson, Jacob Brumbaugh, Daniel Cochenower, 
Emas Edwards, Jacob Fite, Jache Fox, Peter Fox, Michael Fink, Daniel 
Grossnicker, Abraham Longanecker, David Martin, Daniel Maughner, David Poturf, 
Samuel Shepley, George Wimer, Juter Werner, Peter Werner (these names are 
probably Justus and Peter Varner), John Wissinger and Ludwick Wissinger. 1802: 
Jacob Boyer, James Connegham, Peter Erlinkiser, Peter Fox, John Geuger, Abraham 
Hildebrand, Martin Mixel, David Shepley, John Shayver and Jacob Weaver. 1803: 
Widow Beatty, Daniel Brumbaugh, Peter Fox, Jacob Good, William Hartley and 
Ludwick Wissinger. 1804: Conrad Brumbaugh, Frederick Koone, David Shepley and 
John Studebaker. 1805: Adam Anderson, George Anderson, David Brumbaugh, Jacob 
Fink, George Fox, Jacob Fox, Jolin Geuger, Abraham Hildebrand, Jacob Leer, Sr., 
Jacob Leer, Jr., ----- McBride, David Martin, Peck Mathias, Peter Reehard, 
Nicholas Werner and John Wissinger. 1806: Jacob Anderson, Conrad Brumbaugh, ----
- Burket, Jacob Cochenower, Daniel Hay, Adam Horner, David Shepley, Henry Smith 
and Jacob Stoneman. 1807: Jonathan Black, George Brocias, Conrad Cofman, Ludwig 
Dunmyer, John Fox, William Guasbourn, Daniel Grossnickel, John Horner, Jr., 
Henry Kurtz, John Mock, David Patton, Henry Roudabush, David Shepley. Jacob 
Shue, Joseph Stauter, James Tomson, Jacob Whitestone and George Wimer.
     Johns, Joseph. (See "Early Settlers.")
     Kaylor, Peter, a son of a Revolutionary soldier, born in Adams county, 
Pennsylvania, came to Cambria in 1800 and located at Loretto. He married 
Catherine McConnell, of the Loretto colony. They had several children, one of 
whom was James J. Kaylor, born on the farm near Loretto in 1825, and died June 
14, 1894. He married Cecelia Burke, a daughter of John Burke, of Croyle 
township, and had four daughters and


548     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

five sons: Mark Burke, Cyrillis, Mary, Rose, Ida, Raymond J. and Harold G., 
twins; Irene and Lewis E. Kaylor.
     Levergood, Peter, was born in Lancaster county in 1785, and died in 
Johnstown, July 26, 1860. His parents came from Germany and were known in 
Lancaster as "Pennsylvania Dutch." His wife, Susan Rodfong, whom he married in 
York county in 1807, died in Johnstown in 1840. They came to Johnstown in 1811, 
and, as is elsewhere noted, he acquired the residue of the Joseph Johns' plotted 
lots and lands. They had nine children, three of whom died in their youth. Their 
elder child was Catherine, who married John Benshoff, and removed to Iowa, where 
both died. 2. Jacob Levergood was born in Lancaster county, near York, October 
7, 1807; died in Johnstown, February 1, 1885; he married Jane Louisa Hayes, who 
came to Johnstown in 1830, from Franklin county; she was born June, 1811, and 
died May 31, 1889, a victim of the great disaster. She was a daughter of Patrick 
and Nancy Hayes. They had nine children: 1. Susan, intermarried with William 
Caldwell. 2. Peter H. 3. Agnes, intermarried with John Parke. 4. Mary, 
intermarried with George Fodder. 5. Martin Luther. 6. Emma Cummins, intermarried 
with Virgil C. Elder. 7. Jacob Charles. 8. William H. 9. Lucinda, who with her 
mother was lost in the destruction of their home, on the corner of Bedford and 
Vine streets May 31, 1889. Peter Levergood died testate and appointed his son 
Jacob his executor, who conveyed odds and ends of his father's real estate. 3. 
Mary Levergood, married Harry Button, and moved to Iowa. 4. Phoebe Levergood, 
born in 1812, died in 1842; on Dec. 31, 1831, married Robert Parke Linton, who 
died March 8, 1879; they had four children: 1. John Parke Linton. 2. William. 3. 
Peter, and 4. Susan, intermarried with John H. Clark. 5. Lucinda, died in 1841; 
intermarried with Jacob Myers, who also moved to Iowa in 1856. 6. Peter 
Levergood, Jr., died in 1853, in his thirty-first year; he married Adelaide 
Saylor, a sister of Mrs. William Cover; they had two daughters: Margaret, 
intermarried with Thomas E. Watt, and Cora, intermarried with ------ Yeager; her 
second marriage was with Thomas Yeakle. Catherine Fite was the second wife of 
Peter Levergood, Sr., who died in 1851. His third wife was Louise Sharretts, the 
widow of the Rev. Sharretts, of Indiana, who survived her husband.
     The name of Peter Levergood is closely associated with the progress made in 
Johnstown, as for almost fifty years he


549     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

was one of her leading citizens. In the Lutheran church, to which he belonged, 
his influence was strongly felt. He was originally a Federalist, and was in the 
ups and downs of the Whig party until its death, then followed the Republican 
party. He was a canal commissioner under Governor Ritner, a member of the 
assembly, burgess of the borough, school director and candidate for congress. In 
the chapters of the City of Johnstown, Land Titles and in the Political Review 
of the county, elsewhere in this work, will be found the history of Peter 
Levergood. In selling to Messrs. Brenizer and Burrell it was his intention to 
return to York and Lancaster counties, but finding he would have to repurchase 
the Johns lands he determined to make his home here, and established it on the 
southwest corner of Bedford and Levergood streets, the latter of which was named 
for him. The Levergood family graveyard, located on Vine street, was continued 
until 1892, when the bodies were removed and the ground sold to the Electric 
Light Company for its new plant.
     Lloyd, Rees, the founder of Ebensburg (see article), came there in 1796; 
his wife was Rachel Rowland, who died about 1840. They had ten children: 1. 
John, born March 2, 1782, died in 1838; he married Jane Tibbot, a daughter of 
the Rev. William Tibbot (see Tibbot); they had five children: Margaret, married 
David Hughes; Jane, married Richard J. Evans; Rees, married Eveline Morrow; 
Abel, married Annie Gardner, and John, married Sarah Cannon, a daughter of 
Associate Judge Cannon, of Illinois, and on her death married Margaret Evans, a 
daughter of Evan J. Evans. 2. Fanny Lloyd, born January 21, 1784, in Wales; died 
1832 at Paddy's Run; she married a Griffith. 3. Stephen, born April 9, 1785, in 
Wales; died 1870; his wife was Catherine Tibbot (see Tibbot) and had nine 
children: Eben, Margaret, who married Richard T. Evans; Rees, William, Stephen, 
Rachel, the wife of a Mr. Reynolds, of Kittanning; Catherine, married E. J. 
Mills, of Ebensburg; Jane, whose husband was the Rev. Dorsey, and Rose, who 
married Robert Evans. 4. David, born Feb. 18, 1787; died 1840. 5. Annie, died in 
infancy. 6. Annie, born Aug. 20, 1792, in Wales; deceased; she married Major 
David Evans, of Ebensburg, and they had nine children: Rachel, married ---------
; Jane was the wife of a Mr. Chidister; John, married in the west; Mary, the 
wife of John McCoy; -----, married Samuel Lloyd; Annie, married Benjamin Davis; 
Margaret was the wife


550     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

of Dr. David Tibbot; David married in Illinois; Harriet was the wife of Michael 
McCague, and had one child, Emma McCague. Her second husband was William Orr; 
the third husband, Stych. 7. Samuel, born Feb. 10, 1794, also in Wales, and died 
about 1845, single. 8. Ebenezer, born near Philadelphia, October 25, 1795, and 
died there. 9. Rachel, born March 27, 1798, at Ebensburg, infant. 10. Benjamin, 
born there Nov. 3, 1799, and died about 1860; married, and lived at Paddy's Run, 
Ohio.
     Linton, John, born in County Derry, Ireland, in 1773, died in Johnstown, 
July 25, 1818. His father was William Linton, a Scotch-Irish farmer, who had 
three children, William, Mary and John. John Linton was well educated at the 
Magilligan College in his native county. While pursuing his studies in surveying 
he became involved in political troubles and was forced to leave the country. He 
came to America about 1795 and remained in Baltimore for a short time, going 
from there to Greencastle, Pennsylvania, where he became a merchant. About 1801 
he married Ann Park, the daughter of Robert and Jane Bailey Park. They were 
natives of the north of Ireland, probably County Down.
     Robert Park had four children: Elizabeth, Ann, John and Mary. Ann was born 
at Belfast, about 1780 or 1781, and died in Johnstown, April 2, 1835; John was 
born at Ballywalter, County Down.  The family disembarked at Philadelphia in 
1794, and there Robert Park, who was a teacher of mathematics, soon afterwards 
died. His widow married Colonel James Johnston, a surveyor and distinguished 
citizen of eastern Pennsylvania, from which state he served in the Revolutionary 
war. His home was near Greencastle, to which place the Park children were 
brought. There, Elizabeth Park and John Agnew, and Ann Park and John Linton were 
married at the same time by the same minister. Elizabeth Agnew died in Pittsburg 
in 1825, and her daughter Maria married Dr. David T. Storm, a practicing 
physician of Johnstown. (See Medical Profession.) John Park married Mary Lang, 
the daughter of Rev. James Lang, a Presbyterian clergyman of Franklin county, 
and located in Indiana county in 1799. He erected the first log cabin in what is 
known as Marion, and died there in 1844 at the age of sixty-eight. His wife died 
there twenty years later. Their descendants are numerous in that county. Mary 
Park married Ninian Cochran, a surveyor of Cumberland, Maryland, and in


551     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

1827 returned to Johnstown, where her daughter Mary married Isaac Hildebrand and 
removed to the west, and Arabella, another daughter, married Selah Chamberlain.
     About 1806 John Linton moved to Frankstown, where he and John Agnew opened 
a general store. The latter afterwards removed to Ebensburg and resided there 
for several years, being a justice of the peace during part of the time. Coming 
from Frankstown to Johnstown in 1810, John Linton practiced surveying and kept 
an inn. He was the first postmaster of Johnstown, only holding the office for a 
few months, however. In 1811 he was elected a county commissioner and continued 
in that office until his death, at which time he was living in an old log house 
on the northeast corner of Main and Franklin streets, now known as the Frazer-
Griffith-Schrader drug store corner. A few years after his death Ann Linton 
purchased the easterly half of the square on the northwest corner of Main and 
Market streets, and resided there until her death in 1835. She and her husband 
were members of the Presbyterian church. The first bituminous coal used for 
domestic purposes in the village was burned in Mrs. Linton's grate about 1822.
     Mr. and Mrs. Linton had six children, all of whom survived their mother. 
They were: 1. Mary, married John Matthews, and died in 1855 at Fairfield, Iowa. 
2. Robert Park Linton, married Phoebe Levergood, daughter of Peter Levergood, 
December 31, 1831; she died in 1842, leaving to survive her four children: John 
Park, married Anna King; William, married Eliza Myers; Susan, married to John H. 
Clark, and Peter, married Elizabeth Hutchinson. Robert P. Linton's second 
marriage was with Ruth Buchanan, daughter of Matthew and Susan Moore Buchanan, 
of Blair county, born April 12, 1812, died April 21, 1882, at the old family 
homestead on Locust street, where the Elks' Hall is now located. To them were 
born three children: Charlotte and Clara, twins, born in 1850, the latter of 
whom died in 1852, and the former married to Charles B. Moore, of Ebensburg, who 
survives, was lost from her home in the disastrous flood of May 31, 1889; and 
Anna Augusta, born in Johnstown, and now assistant librarian in the Cambria 
Library. Robert P. Linton died March 8, 1879. 3. Jane, married Joseph 
Chamberlain, a civil engineer by profession, who had come here from Vermont, and 
who died at their home in Cleveland in 1846. While in Johnstown he was elected 
to the general assembly of Pennsylvania. 4. John Linton, the second, married 
Adelaide


552     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

Henrietta Lacock, youngest daughter of Gen. Abner Lacock, of Beaver county, 
Sept. 1, 1831. Gen. Lacock was a member of congress in 1811-13, and a United 
States senator 1813-1819, and died at Freedom, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1837. 5. 
Eliza, married Dr. Charles G. Phythian, who came to Johnstown in 1829. (See 
Medical Profession.) 6. Louisa married S. Moylan Fox, a native of Philadelphia 
and a graduate of West Point. He was a civil engineer on the Portage railroad at 
the time of their marriage, and died in New Orleans. Louisa died at the home of 
her sister, Mrs. Chamberlain, in Cleveland, in 1873.
     John Linton, the second, became a clerk in the store of Silas Moore, in 
Ebensburg, when he was sixteen; at nineteen he opened a store on Main street, 
Johnstown, next to his mother's residence. He and Silas Moore formed a 
partnership and engaged in business on the southwest corner of Main and Franklin 
streets. In a short time he purchased Mr. Moore's interest and made a new 
partnership with Joseph Chamberlain, his brother-in-law. They removed their 
store to the northeast corner of Main and Clinton streets, where they erected 
the Wild building, which was destroyed in the flood of 1889. John Linton and 
Adelaide Lacock Linton had eight children, one of whom, Anna Park, married James 
Moore Swank.
     Mr. Linton became captain of the Conemaugh Guards about 1840, and commanded 
it until he left Johnstown in 1853; he was also inspector of the brigade, which 
gave him the title of major. He was a Whig, and as such was elected to the 
general assembly in 1842 and '43. In 1845 he lost the prothonotaryship to Gen. 
Joseph McDonald. In 1850 he was again elected to the assembly, and in 1852 was a 
Scott presidential elector.
     In 1845 John Linton gave up the mercantile business and entered into 
partnership with William Huber and Jacob Myers in the manufacture of pig iron. 
They built the Somerset furnace at Forwardstown and put it in blast in 1846. The 
next year he sold his interest there and purchased the share of Peter Levergood 
in the Mount Vernon Furnace at Johnstown, which was built in 1845-46, and was 
the first furnace erected within what is now the limits of Johnstown opposite 
the Pennsylvania railroad station. It was subsequently known as the Linton and 
Galbreath Furnace. John Linton, George Merriman and Col. Thomas J. Power built 
several sections of the Pennsylvania railroad at and above Johnstown, beginning 
near Swank's brick works and extending to Cambria City. He removed to Rochester 
in 1853


553     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

and died there in December, 1894. Adelaide Lacock Linton died in October, 1895.
     Luther, Conrad. He was a member of the Hessian body of soldiers in the 
Revolutionary war, but joined the American army at Lancaster. Elizabeth Smith, 
who afterwards became his wife, assisted him to escape. They came to Cambria in 
1796 and located in what is Carroll township, where he was one of the pioneer 
farmers. They had six sons and a daughter. John was born in 1800, and died April 
22, 1862; he married Mary Ann Platt, a daughter of John Platt, then of 
Susquehanna township; they had ten children: Henry Luther, of Gallitzin; 
Demetrius A., born October 31, 1827; Sarah A., intermarried with Henry Bender; 
Elizabeth, married James Weakland; Lucinda, intermarried with Michael Snyder, of 
Houtzdale; Matilda, the wife of Anselm Weakland; Mary Ellen, married John 
Latternes; Victoria, married Joseph Lied, of Barr township; John W., deceased, 
and Chrysostom Luther, a farmer of Carrolltown. Demetrius A. Luther married Mary 
M., a daughter of Thomas Benden, and had fourteen children. Mr. Luther was 
elected sheriff in 1882. (See chapter on Political Review.)
     McGough, Arthur. He was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and came to 
Loretto about 1788. The name of his wife was Susan, born in 1765, died Feb. 13, 
1845, there. They had seven children: John, who was born in Donegal the year his 
parents came to America, and died in 1856; he married Sarah Glass; Thomas, 
Arthur, Jr., Peter, Mary, Bridget and Margaret McGough.
     McMullen, Lawrence. He located at Loretto prior to 1800, and died about 
March, 1812. His children probably were Eneas and Nancy; the latter is mentioned 
as Nancy McDonald in his will.
     McMullen, Samuel. He came to Loretto about the time of his brother 
Lawrence; his wife's name was Susannah Logan. They had four sons: John, 
Alexander, Hugh and James; and three daughters: Margaret, who probably married a 
Morris, as he had two grandchildren named Margaret and Samuel Morris; Jane, and 
Mary McMullen. Samuel McMullen was one of the first commissioners of Cambria 
county.
     Mathews, Samuel. He located on the Von Lunen farm prior to 1800, and died 
about June, 1829. Both he and his wife, Jane, are buried on the place. There is 
one tombstone there bearing the date of 1804. Their children were: William, 
John,


554                       HISTOBY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

Martha or Marthew, Sarah, Archibald and Jane, whose husband was a Mr. Lemmans.
     Morgan, Peter. He is also known as Peter Magen, or Maken, but his will is 
signed Morgan. On April 4, 1798, he located on what is known as the Jacob Wertz 
farm, near Walnut Grove. He came from Hagerstown, Maryland; the name of his wife 
was Margaret. They had six children: Daniel, Elizabeth, married John Meneely; 
Hannah, married Jacob Hoffman; Mary, Susannah and Catherine Morgan. Mary 
Hoffman, a daughter of Jacob and Hannah, born May 18, 1818, died January 23, 
1906, married Jacob Wertz in 1838. He was a son of John and Catherine Stayer, or 
Stair, born Aug. 31, 1815, and died n Marshall county, Indiana, on a visit, May 
24, 1888. They had seven children: Hannah, married David Hildebraud; Catherine, 
married John M. Harshberger; Elizabeth, became the wife of Jacob Meneely; Susan, 
married Samuel Harrison; John A., the husband of Susan Strayer; George Munson, 
married Louise Glitch, and Jacob M., married Lena W. Glitch. (See Wertz.)
     Myers, John, born Aug. 9, 1791, near Conewauga, a settlement on the 
Pennsylvania and Maryland line; married Ann Glass, May 11, 1817, at the 
Buckhorn, in Gallitzin township; they had twelve children: James Myers, Susan, 
born Dec. 5, 1819, died in Oct., 1902; her first husband was John Scanlan, and 
later Michael Hasson, Esq. Matilda, born Oct. 29, 1821, died Sept. 25, 3871, 
single; Mary, born May 26, 1823, married Joshua D. Parrish, living in Ebensburg 
(see Parrish); George, born July 6, 1825, died July 20, 1831; John, born May 6, 
1827, died July 28, 1834; Henry, born May 21, 1829, died at Loretto; married Ann 
Addlesberger; Margaret, born Sept. 30, 1831, died at Reading; married John 
Anstead; Catherine, born Jan. 3, 1834, died at Altoona; married Joseph Ryan; 
William, born April 8, 1836, died at Hazleton; Martha, born Feb. 14, 1839, 
single, died in Altoona; Joseph Myers, born December 7, 1842, and residing in 
Freeland, Pennsylvania. James, the elder son, was born Feb. 20, 1818, and died 
July 10, 1896; he married Mary Josephine Murray (see David Todd), born Nov. 11, 
1819, and died May 25, 1903, in Ebensburg. They had four children: Cyril R., 
died April 28, 1898, married Catherine Rist; Cornelia, became the wife of 
Captain John Porter, who had been a member of the general assembly of 
Pennsylvania; Gallitzin, single, and Herman H. Myers, single. James Myers was 
elected sheriff in 1858. (See Political Review.)


555     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

     Nagle, Richard. He served under Gen. Washington in 1776 to 1783. He was one 
of the early settlers in the McGuire community at Loretto. In 1826 the state of 
Pennsylvania granted him an annuity of $40 per year for his services at Valley 
Forge, Germantown, Long Island and elsewhere. He died in 1823, and his wife, 
Mary, survived him. He had several children, among them Jacob and Honnor. Jacob 
Nagle died about 1857; the name of his wife was Mary Magdalene; they had eight 
children: Mary Ann, married to a Mr. Coulter; Richard, died leaving a son named 
William; John J., Nicholas, Margaret, Nagle-Delozier, George, Jacob and Michael 
James Nagle.
     Noel, Nicholas, died in the summer of 1859 at his residence in Washington 
township. He had eight children: Mary, married Arthur Behe; John, Joseph, 
Elizabeth, the wife of Conrad Behe; Catherine, married Edward Burk; Margaret, 
whose husband was John Rainey; Teresa, married Joseph Crist; and Susan, whose 
husband was Daniel Skelly.
     O'Hara, Daniel. He came to Loretto about 1791. He was born Feb. 9, 1761, 
and died at Loretto, Feb. 9, 1809; he married Rachel Friddle, born in 1770, and 
died in 1853; their children were: David, born March 6, 1796, died Jan. 21, 
1864, he married Elizabeth Parrish (see Joshua Parrish); Henry, born in 1800, 
died Feb. 18, 1890, married Patience McGuire (see Michael McGuire). David O'Hara 
was a member of the first board of poor directors for Cambria county.
     Parrish, Joshua.  He was a native of England, and married Barbara Thimble. 
At the solicitation of Father Gallitzin he came to Loretto about 1800 and built 
what is known as the O'Hara mill. He died about September, 1840. They had eight 
children: Peter Benedict, Joseph, James, Thomas A., John, Elizabeth Parrish-
O'Hara, Mary Parrish-Storm and George Parrish. George died before his father, 
leaving seven children: Joshua, Jr., Demetrius, Susannah, Barbara, George, 
Michael and Ann Elizabeth Parrish.
     Thomas A. Parrish was born Feb. 20, 1804, and died Sept. 11, 1876. He 
married Mary Storm, a daughter of John Storm, of Loretto. Their son, Francis J. 
Parrish, of Gallitzin, was born July 24, 1832; he married Mary McConnell, a 
daughter of Hugh McConnell, of Allegheny township; she died April 26, 1878. They 
had four children: Louise, Frank P., James W. and Mary J. Parrish. His second 
wife was Mary Shaffer-Murphy,


556     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

and they have two children, Beatrice and Edmund. He has been a justice of the 
peace for thirty-five years. Joshua D. Parrish is a son of George Parrish, the 
latter born July 28, 1795, and died Aug. 25, 1837, and Catherine Storm, also a 
daughter of John Storm. He was born June 3, 1825, and is now residing in 
Ebensburg, being one of the two only surviving members of the Cambria Guards in 
the Mexican war. He married Mary Magdalene Myers, a daughter of John Myers.
     Pringle, William, was born Aug. 14, 1797, on Pringle Hill, now in Croyle 
township, and died there March 20, 1895. He was a son of Philip Pringle, who 
came to that locality in 1795 with six sons and six daughters: William, Jacob, 
Martin, Samuel, Philip and John; Margaret, Christina, Susan, Mary, Elizabeth and 
Sarah Pringle. The elder son, William, married Elizabeth Bolewine, a daughter of 
Henry Bolewine, then of Somerset county, who moved to Pringle Hill. They had 
eleven children: Henry, who died when he was fifteen; John, died several years 
ago in Fremont, Ohio; Margaret, married David Lowman, of New Florence; 
Elizabeth, died in 1875; Alexander B., died in Conemaugh; William, Jr., died at 
Portage about 1882; Isaac and John, twins; the former died when four years of 
age; Christina, married Peter Fleck; Susan, and David W. Pringle, who was killed 
while in the Union army during the Civil war. Martin Pringle, a son of Martin 
Pringle, was also killed in the same war, and is interred in the United Brethren 
cemetery on Pringle Hill. Thomas M. Pringle, a son of William Pringle, Jr., of 
Portage, is said to be the best rifle shot in America.
     Pringle, Martin. He was a brother of Philip (1795), and is the ancestor of 
another branch.
     Proctor, Jesse. He lived in Bedford county and near the town prior to the 
Revolutionary war. He married Ann Adams, the widow of Samuel Adams, who was 
killed by the Indians in 1771. (See Early Settlers.) Their son Isaac married 
Elizabeth Proctor, a daughter of Col. John Proctor, who was a colonel in the War 
of 1812; they had three children: William, Lucinda H. and Anna Proctor. Anna was 
drowned in Johnstown in 1810, and Lucinda H. was drowned in the flood of May 31, 
1889, at the age of eighty-two. Evan Roberts and Lucinda H. Proctor were married 
and had seven children: Catherine, married John S. Buchanan; both died May 31, 
1889; Thomas Proctor, Almira, married Dr. A. J. Jackson; Virginia,


557     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

                                [PHOTO]

             1. Isaac Proctor.       4. Wesley J. Rose.
             2. Charles B. Ellis.    5. George W. Kern.
             3. Evan Roberts.        6. Jacob Horner, Sr.


558     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

Lucinda, Elizabeth, married Powell Stackhouse; and I. E. Roberts. All are dead 
except Mrs. Jackson and I. E. Roberts. The latter was a member of Co. F, 198th 
Penna. Infantry, in the Civil war. (See George Roberts.)
     Rhey, James, born in Dublin in 1792, died in Ebensburg in 1852. He married 
Susan Brookbanke, of Hagerstown, Maryland; she was born in 1800 and died in 
Ebensburg, November '24, 1897. They had ten children, all having been born in 
Ebensburg: Ann L. Rhey, born about 1817, and died in Paducah, Kentucky, in 1894; 
she married Lynn Boyd, a member of congress from the First District in Kentucky, 
in 1839, at Harrisburg. Lynn Boyd was speaker of the House in the XXXIId and 
XXXIIId Congress; he died at Paducah in 1859. John S., born 1819, married Ann 
McFeely, a daughter of Col. John McFeely, of Carlisle; he died in his eightieth 
year. Mary, born 1821, died in 1892; she married Peter B. McCord, of Harrisburg, 
a nephew of Simon Cameron. Jane, born 1823, married John C. O'Neill. James W., 
born 1825. Andrew Jackson, born 1828, and was married. Margaret, born September 
6, 1830, is now residing in Ebensburg, the last one of the family. Harriet, born 
1832, died in 1864. Rose, was born in 1836 and died in 1877, in Leavenworth, 
Kansas; she was the wife of Thomas P. Fenlon. Ernest, born in 184l, died in St. 
Paul, in 1904, single.
     Roberts, George.  He came to Ebensburg, November 19, 1796. The ancestry 
begins with Randle Roberts, born about 1670, in North Wales. His son Thomas, 
born September 29, 1700, and died 1779, married Mary Green, who died October 28, 
1777, and his second wife was Elizabeth Matthews. George, the son of Thomas and 
Mary Green Roberts, was born at Bronnton, Montgomeryshire, February 11, 1769, 
and died in Ebensburg in 1862.   He and Janet Edwards were married at Llanerfel, 
same shire, May 20, 1795. Arrived in Philadelphia October 26, 1795.  On 
September 20, 1796, they left for Ebensburg in company with Ezekiel Hughes, and 
a Mr. Bebb, who had married a sister of George Roberts, and who went to Ohio, 
where his son, William Bebb, became governor, of that state. The others were 
Ruth Thomas, Owen Davis and wife, Dr. Francis and wife, Ann Roseland and Ann 
Evans. All walked from Philadelphia, and stopped for some time at a point about 
eighteen miles east of Blair's Mills, and arrived at their new home in the 
following month. They had six children, all being born there, who were: Evan, 
born January


559     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

8, 1802, and died March 15, 1871, in Johnstown; he married Lucinda H. Proctor. 
(See Jesse Proctor.) John E. Roberts, married Mary Hughes, a sister of Ezekiel 
Hughes of Ebensburg. Their children were: Thomas, Ann, Jane and George, who died 
in the Union army in the Civil war. George, born 1807; October 4, 1830, he 
married Ann Hughes, a sister of Mary Hughes; his second wife was Ann Janet 
Marven. His son John was killed in the Fredericksburg battle. Thomas, died about 
the time he left college. Edward Roberts, of Ebensburg, married Susan Owens; 
their children were: Ella, who married Dr. Edward Plank, Annetta J. and George 
Henry Roberts. Mary Roberts married George J. Rodgers of Ebensburg; Jane was 
their only child.  (See Political Review, Churches, Judicial District and 
Postmasters for George and Evan Roberts.)
     Roberts, Hugh, was born in Wales in 1754, and married Elizabeth Roderigue; 
they came to Ebensburg about 1784. They had six children: 1. Robert H., married 
Mary Thomas, a daughter of John Thomas, the gate keeper, and had four children: 
Milton; Jane, who married Robert Davis; Elizabeth, the wife of R. E. Emith; and 
Agnes, whose husband was Dr. George Robinson. 2. David H., married Margaret 
Evans, a daughter of John Evans; they had five children: Howard J., late of 
Johnstown; Newton I.; Chalmers T.; and Emily who married William Tate, Jr.; 
Dwight died in infancy. 3. Eliza, married Rowland Davis and had seven children: 
Thomas, who married a Miss Thomas; Harriet, married Messack Thomas; Rowland R., 
married Harriet Williams; Robert, married; Mary Ann, the wife of Thomas 
Williams; Jane, whose husband was Thomas D. Jones; and Elsie, who married a Mr. 
Williams, of Iowa. 4. Mary, married John Williams, of Ebensburg; had no 
children. 5. Prudence, married Associate Judge Richard Jones, of Ebensburg, and 
had five children: Priscilla; Clinton R., who married Emeline Nutter; Harriet, 
married Thomas J. Lloyd; Malinda, married John Fox; and Catherine, the wife of 
Mack Ritter. 6. Evan H., born 1810; died, 1851; married Margaret Hughes; they 
had six children: Elizabeth, married Henry P. Edwards, Iowa; Edwin, died in the 
Union army; John D., married Mary Kinter, of Johnstown; Mary, died, single; 
Margaret, married Thomas D. Davis, of Iowa; and Emily, married John R. Hughes, 
of Iowa.
     Roberts, Rev. Levi.  His grandfather, Richard Rob-


560     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

erts, was a native of Wales, and located in Virginia, where he married and had a 
large family. His son Joseph, born March 18, 1743, 0. S., in Woodcock Valley, 
Huntingdon county, was massacred by the Indians. Joseph married Agnes Seabrooks, 
a daughter of William Seabrooks, of Maryland; born March 18, 1743, 0. S.; died 
August 24, 1833, and interred in the Angus graveyard, now East Taylor township. 
They came to the Valley before the Revolutionary war, and five of their children 
grew to maturity, namely: Richard, Nancy, Jemima, Mary and Levi Roberts. Richard 
enlisted in the war, but was never heard of thereafter. Nancy married Jacob 
Sheets, and remained east of the mountains. Jemima, married Patrick Dimond, and 
Mary married John Shaffer, who are also buried in the Angus cemetery.
     Levi Roberts was born February 9, 1779, and died December 6, 1860, and was 
buried by the side of his wife. When he was two years old his father, Joseph, 
with about a dozen of his neighbors led by Captain Phillips, while on a scouting 
expedition to discover the intention of the Indians, who were on the warpath, 
were attacked by the savages led by a white man. Phillips, against the protest 
of the little band, surrendered on the promise they all would be treated as 
prisoners of war, however, under a secret understanding, Phillips and his son 
were released, but all the others were cruelly put to death. Levi and his mother 
remained there until the end of the Indian war. On November 19, 1799, he married 
Elizabeth Gochnour, a daughter of David Gochnour, of Bedford county. (See 
Gochnour). In 1803 he and his mother, his two brothers-in-law,--Dimond and 
Shaffer--came to Cambria county and located on what is now known as the Angus 
farm, in East Taylor, which is about five miles north of Johnstown on the 
Ebensburg road. Levi Roberts purchased a tract of land known as the "Vineyard," 
which had been warranted in the name of Reuben Gregg, and patented by Reuben 
Haynes of Philadelphia. When Levi Roberts located here the forest abounded with 
wild animals, such as panthers, wolves, bears, deer, wild-cats, foxes and the 
like. There was but one family, who lived about a mile from his cabin, and 
another at what is now Conemaugh, nearer than Johnstown. The nearest grist mill 
was that of John Horner, in the latter place. He had several children, but only 
three sons and three daughters lived to full age. Three of his sons and one 
daughter survived their father. The six


561     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

children were: William, born Dec. 19, 1801, and removed to Blackhawk county, 
Iowa; Nancy, born Jan. 22, 1804, married Samuel Good, and she died in 1849 in 
Jefferson county, Iowa; Susannah, born Feb. 18, 1808, married Anthony Hunt and 
resided in Johnstown; Sarah, born June 11, 1809, married John Singer (of 
Jackson), and died in 1832; Jacob, born Feb. 1, 1813, died Oct. 8, 1842. John 
Roberts was born Jan. 17, 1818, and died in Franklin borough, Jan. 24, 1906. He 
married Susannah Singer (see David Singer), who died Nov. 4, 1873. They had 
seven children. John Roberts was elected sheriff of Cambria county in 1855, as a 
Democrat, but in the first Lincoln campaign he joined the Republican party and 
remained with it.
     Levi Roberts sold his farm in 1839, and five years thereafter he went to 
Jefferson county, Iowa, and lived there with his children for several years, but 
returned to his old home before he died. About 1820 he joined the German Baptist 
church and was chosen to be one of their ministers, and as such traveled in the 
adjoining counties for many years.
     Rose, Allen. His father, William Rose, was one of five brothers who came to 
America from England in the eighteenth century. William resided in Philadelphia 
for a while, then came to the vicinity of Bedford, and finally located near 
Jenner Crossroads, Somerset county, where he died in 1847. Allen was born in 
March, 1793, at Bobs creek, near Bedford, when the territory of Cambria county 
was a part of Bedford county. In 1826 he married Elizabeth Freame, a daughter of 
Moses Freame, who lived at or near Dibertsville, Somerset. Two years later he 
removed to Geistown, then known as "Slickville," and in the next year (1829) to 
Johnstown. Allen Rose was a carpenter and a manufacturer of bored log pumps. On 
August 14, 1851, at what is now Rosedale, which was named in his memory, he and 
his wife died at the same instant during an epidemic of cholera. Their children 
were: Wesley J., born near Dibertsville, April 17, 1826, died April 29, 1900; 
Eliza J., the wife of L. B. Cohick; Marshall, who died in California; John S., 
who was drowned in 1857; Lewis S., died in 1879; W. Horace Rose; George W., and 
Agnes F., married Evan Thomas, of Brady's Bend.
     Wesley J. Rose married Martha Given, a daughter of Robert G. Given, who was 
a lieutenant in the Cambria Guards in the Mexican war; their children were: 
Elizabeth F., married Samuel E. Young; Emma J., married James S. Gallagher;

     Vol. 1-36


562     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUXTY.

Margaret T., whose husband is Alfred P. Ellis; John M., Walter E., Harry G., who 
was killed in the flood of '89; Howard J., who died in infancy; Annie M., the 
wife of Robert L. Tawney; Robert G., and Frank Z. Rose. Martha Given Rose died 
in January, 1886.
      Wesley J. Rose was one of the prominent citizens of Johnstown for fifty 
years or more. He was a lovable man and had all the admirable qualities of a 
good neighbor; a kind father and a most skilful mechanic. He had a remarkably 
retentive memory and was peculiarly interested in local events. In his seventy-
one years' residence in Johnstown he witnessed all the important events in its 
march of progress, and was a part of many of its successes. The correctness of 
his statement, or the accuracy of its essentials were seldom, if ever, doubted. 
Very many of the important facts recorded in this work would have been lost 
without his accurate memory. He had a collection of 550 photographs of residents 
of Johnstown who were his friends.
     Settlemyer, Godfrey, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and located in 
Summerhill township, near Wilmore, about 1800, and died there in 1842, and is 
interred in the Lutheran cemetery. He was a member of the first grand jury in 
Cambria county, which found a true bill against a woman for homicide, who served 
three years in the eastern penitentiary.  He had seven children:  Elizabeth S. 
Ketner. George; Polly, married Daniel Dimond; Jacob, Catherine, John and David 
Settlemyer. Among his descendants are the Rev. W. H. Settlemyer, of Baltimore; 
Mrs. Elizabeth Black, of Wilmore, and G. W. Settlemyer and his son, Clifton T., 
residing near Wilmore.
     Shaffer, Henry, of Richland township. His father, George Shaffer, was a 
native of Germany, and coming to America before the Revolutionary war, served in 
the Continental army; he located in the Kishacoquillas valley, in, the eastern 
part of the state. His son, Henry Shatter, born 1792, enlisted in the War of 
1812, and in the same year married a Miss Weaver, born 1794; they had three 
sons: Henry, Jacob and John P.; and six daughters: Mrs. Dunniva, Mrs. Gabriel 
Dunmire, Mrs. Henry Kring, Mrs. Levi Shaffer, Mrs. Dewees and Mrs. George Orris. 
Jacob Shaffer married Elizabeth Pringle, and their children were: John, Henry, 
George, Jacob, David, Christian, William, Catherine and Mary Shaffer.


563     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

     Skelly, Philip. He was also known as Felix O'Skalley, but the name has been 
anglicised to Skelly. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. In 1778 he and 
a Mrs. Elder, a relative, were captured by the Indians in the Juniata valley. 
Skelly escaped and joined the Continental army and fought with it until the 
surrender. He married Margaret McAfee, and resided on his farm near Wilmore. He 
died July 3, 1835, and is buried in the Loretto cemetery. They had nine 
children: Daniel, Hugh, Michael, Margery, Eleanor, Catherine, Mary, Elizabeth 
and Ann Skelly.
     Singer, David. He was born in York county, December 23, 1790, coming here 
when but a boy. The Goods, a daughter of whom afterwards became Mr. Singer's 
wife, had preceded him "to the west" a number of years, coming from Lancaster 
county. They had settled on what is now the Singer farm, in the spring of 1796--
four years before Joseph Johns founded "the Town of Conemaugh," now the city of 
Johnstown.
     Jacob Good purchased the farm from Jacob Stutzman who had bought it, 
together with what is now the Cover farm, four years before, from Benjamin 
Rittenhouse, the original patentee of the tract, which was quite a large one, 
including more than these two farms.
     When Mr. Good settled here he brought with him his wife--Mary Bosley Good--
their son, Christian, seventeen years of age, and a little daughter, Mary, then 
about six months old, Mr. Good, having purchased the farm mentioned above, set 
to work with his axe and built a little shanty of split timber. As the cold 
weather approached in the autumn a more suitable shelter had to be provided. 
This was a large house built of rough, round logs, chinked with mud, and with a 
fireplace in it, which "required as much stone to build as would build an 
ordinary house these days." This massive chimney had two places for fire, one on 
each side, and the fuel used was logs from the clearing. In the home thus 
founded Mr. and Mrs. Good lived until their deaths. That of the former occurred 
in October, 1813, and that of the latter, July 20, 1837.
     About two years after the family came here, the son, Christian, who is the 
grandfather of Christian Good, the "Backwoods Philosopher," so well known on the 
streets of Johnstown, went back to the eastern part of the state and married 
Susannah Singer, a half-sister of David Singer. He brought


564     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

his bride here, and in 1808 he purchased from Abraham Longenecker the part of 
the Stutzman tract of land which was left after his father's purchase of what is 
now the Singer farm. This land he sold in 1814 to Adam Cover.
     David Singer's father, John Singer, died in York county in 1792, when David 
was two years old, leaving him the youngest of a family of orphans. Of these 
Samuel and Susannah were children by his first wife, while Christiana, Barbara, 
John and David were full brothers and sisters by the second wife. Their mother 
afterwards married a Mr. Prowell, who belonged to a Philadelphia family.
     Susannah and David were followed to Cambria county by two of the other 
children, Samuel and Christiana. Samuel was the founder of the Singer settlement 
in Jackson township. He is the grandfather of ex-Register and Recorder James M. 
Singer, of Jackson township.
     Christiana married Joseph Dimond and settled with him in what is now East 
Taylor township, near the present Angus farm. They reared a family of three 
daughters, who are now living in the west. Two of them married men named 
Goughnour, from near the old homestead in Taylor township, and the third is now 
Mrs. Metz. They, with Miss Mary Singer, a daughter of the other brother, John, 
living in Harrisburg.
     The other sister, Barbara Singer, married a man named Spence and spent her 
days near Harrisburg.
     David Singer, after his father's death, lived with relatives in York county 
until he was fifteen years of age, when he made his way across the mountains to 
the then newly-formed county of Cambria, coming to the home of his half-sister, 
Susannah. Soon he bound himself out to learn the trade of a weaver under the 
Rev. John Mineeley, a gifted Irish gentleman, who was a well-known Dunkard 
preacher and a popular school teacher, as well as a weaver.
     Mr. Singer seems to have given up this trade after some time, however, as 
we find him a few years later again working for Jacob Good on his farm at 
"Hillsborough," as it appears to have been called before the name "Cover Hill" 
was brought into use and in a few years became its owner. David Singer and Mary 
Good were married in 1815, the ceremony being performed, it is thought, by the 
Rev. Meneeley, as preachers were not numerous in those days.
     The children of Mr. and Mrs. Singer recall many interest-


565     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

ing anecdotes concerning the lives of their parents, which they delight to 
relate. In the early days before the Old Portage railroad was built, and the 
Pennsylvania canal opened, when iron ore was transported from Hollidaysburg to 
Pittsburg by hauling it over the mountains on wagons and floating it down the 
river on flat boats, the wagon route down the side of the mountains coming into 
Johnstown by the Frankstown road, led past the Singer farm. Mrs. Singer used to 
lodge the teamsters over night, and frequently, it is said, as many as thirty of 
them were entertained in the old log house, to which an addition had been built.
     David Singer was a very small man, being about five feet, six inches tall, 
but as active and as lithe as a cat. One cold winter's day as he was coming down 
the mountains with one of the ore-wagon teamsters, upon reaching the South Fork 
creek he found it frozen over and apparently impassable. Being anxious to get 
home before night, however, Mr. Singer undertook its passage, agreeing to ride 
the saddle horse and drive the team across. The ice was strong enough to bear 
the weight of a man, but the team broke through at every step, and in the middle 
of the river Mr. Singer's horse stumbled and went down, throwing him into the 
water under the ice. With surprising agility, the other driver related, he swam 
out, regained control of the team, and got the whole outfit safely across. Then 
in his water-soaked clothes he started to run up the hill to the home of Mrs. 
Smay, a woman noted for her great muscular strength and masculine feats, who 
used to feed the teamsters and their horses at that point. As he approached the 
house, Mr. Singer's progress began to be greatly impeded by his freezing clothes 
and his vitality was well nigh exhausted; but Mrs. Smay saw him, and, running 
out into the road, picked him up in her arms and carried him into the house, 
where he was thawed out.
     Mr. Singer made one trip to Pittsburg by flatboat. At that time the ore was 
floated down the river in cheaply-built vessels, which were sold in the Smoky 
City for coal barges on the Ohio river, the boatmen making their way back to 
Johnstown on foot.
     Mr. and Mrs. Singer were the parents of six sons and seven daughters, as 
follows: Christiana, born December 14, 1815; John, born February 3, 1817, died 
March 23, 1881; Mary, born August 28, 1818; Susannah, born February 1, 1820; 
Elizabeth, 


566     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

born August 16, 1822; Barbara, born January 23, 1824, died in June, 1887; Jacob, 
born March 11, 1826, residing on the Singer farm in May, 1907; David, born 
November 5, 1827; Samuel, born March 8, 1829, died April 7, 1877; Aaron, born 
May 18, 1831; Sarah, born May 17, 1833; Catherine, born June 21, 1835, and 
Christian, born May 15, 1839.
     Of these David, Catherine and Christian died in childhood. Mary passed away 
at the old homestead in 1844, while all the other children survived their 
parents. The eldest daughter, Christiana, was married in 1836 to Jonas B. 
Horner, who was killed on June 21, 1852, by the accidental discharge of a 
shotgun while he and his little son were shooting fish in the Stonycreek river. 
The son is David J. Horner, the well-known carpenter of the Von Lunen road. Mrs. 
Horner died in this city February 23, 1897.
     Susannah became the wife of John Roberts, of Taylor township. (See Levi 
Roberts.)
     Elizabeth, who was the wife of Morgauza A. Brown, of Fairfield avenue, died 
on the South Side, October 4, 1891, leaving no children. Sarah married John 
Carroll, of Bedford county.
     Aaron Singer was for many years a well-known blacksmith in this city. On 
Nov. 6, 1903, he died at his home at the corner of Somerset and Haynes streets, 
South Side. He was united in marriage with Miss Charlotte Augusta Smith, of 
Singer street, by the Rev. Kezie, then pastor of the United Brethren church in 
this city. Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Singer were the parents of eight children, four of 
whom are dead. At the time of the Johnstown Flood Mr. Singer was carried into 
the waters with his home on Somerset street and would probably have been drowned 
had he not been rescued by two ladies, the Misses Mollie and Ida Arthur, who 
lived next door to him. As a result of his experience in the water Mr. Singer 
was crippled.
     Slick, William, Sr. His first wife was Rebecca Hemphill, who died in 1846, 
and by whom he had eight children, namely: Eliza, married William Makin; Nancy, 
wife of John Amsbaugh; Julia Ann, whose husband was Robert E. Rodgers; George 
R., Benjamin F., William Jr., Joseph and John. His second wife was Rachel 
Benson, who died in 1860.
     Stineman, Jacob, Sr. The founder of this family in America was Christian 
Stineman, a native of Holland. At first he located in Schuylkill county, but 
later came to Bedford county. Jacob was born there, and removed to Conemaugh 
township,


567     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

Cambria county, in 1803, where he became a farmer and miller; he died Sept. '28, 
1853. He married Elizabeth Ling, of Bedford, in 1805, and they had eleven 
children; the elder was John Stineman, Jacob, Jr., Daniel, Eli, Philip, Susan, 
married Alexander Wisel; Sarah, married Peter Klout; Elizabeth, married Adam 
Kobler; Margaret, first became the wife of Frederick Croyle, and her second 
marriage was with Valentine Belle; Laura, married Samuel Flenner; and Samuel 
Stineman. His second marriage was with a Mrs. Sell, but they had no children.
     Jacob Stineman, Jr., married Mary Croyle, a daughter of Thomas Croyle, then 
of Summerhill township. (See Thomas Croyle.) He died in 1875; they had seven 
children: Elizabeth, married Jacob Seigh: Joseph P., Captain George B., married 
Martha Paul; Daniel T. Stineman, was a member of Co. F, 198th Pa. Inf., and was 
killed at Hatcher's Run, Va., Feb. 9, 1865; the Grand Army Post at South Fork is 
named to his memory; Senator Jacob C. Stineman married Ellen Varner, and Mary 
Ann married Joseph S. Stull.
     Storm, John. He was among the first arrivals in the McGuire settlement, and 
built the Storm grist mill (see Rivers, Mills, etc.); he was born May 3, 1756, 
and died at Loretto, Feb. 14, 1816; he married Susan Wysong, born July 25, 1777, 
and died Nov. 11, 1837. Their children were: John, born Feb. 23, 1797, and died 
Sept. 27, 1847, married Rosanna McCoy, born in 1781 and died Jan. 11, 1859; 
Peter, born May 17, 1798, and died Jan. 17, 1849, married Ann McConnell, born 
Oct., 1801, and died Aug. 10, 1853; they had eight children and among them were: 
Mary, Ann, Susan, Elizabeth, Sarah and Francis Storm. Patrick, born Feb. 21, 
1804, and died Nov. 7, 1885, married Mary Parrish, born May 18, 1810, and died 
March 10, 1883 (see Joshua Parrish); Louis Storm, born June 12, 1809, and died 
May 2, 1892, married Margaret Pfoff, born Aug. 23, 1815, and died Sept. 14, 
1898; Joseph, born June 28, 1811, and died June 3, 1826.
     Stutzman, Abram. He was a native of Germany, and about 1750 he located in 
Switzerland. His son Abram, born there, came to America and located on the 
Conococheague creek, in Franklin county, in a German settlement. His son, Jacob 
Stutzman, was born there in 1777, and died in Taylor township, this county, in 
1859. He was a shoemaker, and came to Cambria county about 1792. He married 
Susanna Ullery (See Daniel Ullery), whose father owned a tract of land on the


568     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

east side of the Stonycreek river, near Moxham, and Jacob Stutzman owned 231 
acres, which included the Osborne, Suppes and other farms, on the west side. 
They had ten children, namely: Daniel, Abraham, Jacob, John, David, Elizabeth, 
wife of Abraham Weaver; Hannah, who married George Knable; Susanna, intermarried 
with John Knable; Mary, who married Samuel Berkey, and subsequently Christian 
Good; Samuel and Stephen. Stephen Stutzman's first marriage was with Rachel 
Berkey, in March, 1849; their children were: Peter, Sarah, the wife of Aaron 
Strayer; Franklin, Jacob S., Mary Jane, intermarried with Slater W. Allen; 
Lovina and Elizabeth, who were twins; the former married Dr. L. S. Livingston, 
of Johnstown, and the latter Joseph D. Finley, of Glenford, Ohio; and William S. 
Stutzman, of Upper Yoder. His second marriage was with Mary Fyock, widow of 
Samuel Fyock, of Paint, township, Somerset county.
     Tibbot, William, was one of the colony first located at Ebensburg.  He died 
about Christmas, 1827. His children were: Jabez, Festus, Katherine, married 
Stephen Lloyd; and Jane, the wife of John Lloyd (see Rees Lloyd); and Richard 
Tibbot.
     Todd, David. He was born about 1766, in Colraine, County Antrim, Ireland. 
He was one of several children of David and Barbara Montgomery Todd. Barbara 
Todd was the only sister of General Richard Montgomery, who fell at Quebec. In 
1779, when only thirteen years old, he was impressed on board of a British man-
of-war. Later he came to America and located near Burlington, N. J. On Aug. 5, 
1787, he married Mary Stevens. He and his wife, with six children, came to 
Ebensburg, Sept. 2, 1800. Mary Todd was the seventh child, and was born in 
Ebensburg. In January, 1819, she was married to Daniel Murray, by Father 
Gallitzin of Loretto; they had one child, Mary Josephine, who married James 
Myers. (See John Myers.) Mary Todd Murray's second husband was Obadiah Blair. 
They were the parents of John A. Blair. David Todd died in Ebensburg, May 1, 
1841; they had eight children: John Todd, born Sept. 5, 1788, died in infancy; 
Thomas, born Oct. 16, 1790, married Sarah Davis; Abigail, born Oct. 2, 1793, and 
married William Mills; Sarah, born Oct. 17, 1795, married Anthony Lambaugh; 
William, born Oct. 7, 1797, married Ellen Wharton; David, born Oct. 6, 1799, 
married Mary McConnell; Mary, born June 9, 1802, married Daniel Murray (see John


569     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

Myers); and Annie Todd, born May 24,1809, and married Hugh Skelly.
     Troxell, Jacob. He died in Summerhill township about May, 1833, and was a 
Catholic. His wife's name was Susannah; they had four children: Abraham, 
William, Henry and Samuel Troxell.
     Ullery (or Ulrich), Daniel, located on a part of the Von Lunen farm, in the 
Seventh ward of Johnstown; he died about March, 1813; his wife was Susannah; 
they had ten children: Elizabeth, married Mr. Markley; Susan, was the wife of 
Jacob Stutzman (see Abraham Stutzman); Motelena "Ulrich-Stutzman, Jacob, John, 
Christina, Esther, Mary, Hannah and Sarah Ulrich.
     Varner, Justus and Peter (see John Horner).
     Vickroy, Thomas. He was a son of Captain Hugh and Margaret Phillips 
Vickroy, natives of England. The captain sailed a vessel between Baltimore and 
Glasgow, and was lost at sea with his ship and crew. Joseph, a brother of 
Thomas, was killed in the battle of Germantown while a soldier in the 
Continental army.
     Thomas was born at White Rock, Cecil county, Maryland, Oct. 18, 1756; died 
on the old homestead near Alum Bank, Bedford county, June 9, 1845; he located 
there in 1772. His first wife was Elizabeth Francis, a half-sister of the wife 
of General Alex. Ogle; they had five children. His second wife was Sarah Ann 
Atlee, a daughter of Judge William Augustus Atlee. Judge Atlee was chairman of 
the committee of safety at Philadelphia during the Revolution, and had charge of 
the British prisoners at Lancaster. He was associate judge of the supreme court 
in 1777 and again in 1784. Thomas had at least three brothers: Joseph, Nathan 
and Solomon Vickroy. He was a surveyor, and was with General George R. Clark, 
who commanded the forces marshaled against the Indians in the vicinity of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1780. He and George Woods laid out the old part of 
Pittsburg.
     Edwin Augustus Vickroy was a son of Thomas and Sarah Ann Vickroy, born 
March 8, 1801, died May 1, 1885, at Ferndale. He married Cornelia Harlan, a 
daughter of George Harlan, of Warren county, Ohio. Cornelia was born Aug. 8, 
1806, and died Aug. 29, 1880, at Ferndale. In 1831 they came to their Ferndale 
farm, which Thomas Vickroy had acquired in 1798. They had eleven children: 
Angeline, married Cicero Mendell;


570     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

died at St. Louis, Dec. 19, 1872; they had five children. Louise married Dr. 
Samuel S. Boyd, and is living in Indiana. Helen married William W. Austin; they 
have one daughter, Kate. Thomas resides at Armourdale, Kansas. George H. died at 
Denver, June 16, 1882. Sara Atlee resides at Ferndale. Cornelia H. married E. E. 
Crueger; both dead; they had one son, Dr. Edward Adolph Crueger, now residing in 
Philadelphia. Emma married John P. Suter (see Suter families). Laura H. resides 
at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Mary married Johnston G. West and had four 
children; she resides at Ada, Ohio. Edwin Augustus, Jr., married Almira Osborne; 
they had four daughters: Florence, Cornelia, Julia and Ruth Vickroy.
     Edwin Augustus, Jr., knew Archibald Adams, a son of Samuel Adams, Archibald 
died in what is now the Eighth ward of Johnstown, in 1859, and was frequently at 
the Vickroy home. He related that when he was five years old the Indians 
captured his father, mother and a little baby and himself. His father's arms 
were tied behind his back, and all were forced to walk. Archibald could not get 
along very well; the Indians would not let his father carry him; they wanted to 
kill him, but his mother carried him and the baby. Samuel made his escape, and 
the Indians followed him, when the remainder of the family secured protection.
     Wharton, Stanislaus, was one of the pioneer farmers of Clearfield township. 
He died in 1873. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and a county commissioner 
in 1825. He married Mary McConnell; their children were: Sarah Wharton, who 
married Michael Driscoll; Joseph, the husband of Catherine Bender, a daughter of 
Emericus Bender; Jane, the wife of John McMullen; John, who died young; William, 
of Clearfield township; Ellen, intermarried with Enos McMullen; Arthur, of 
Clearfield township, and Alice Wharton, the present postmistress at St. 
Augustine. Joseph and Catherine Bender Wharton had five children, namely: James 
A. Wharton, a member of Co. A. 55th Penna. Infantry, in the Civil war, married 
Marguerite McDermitt, October '22, 1867; they had eight children; his second 
marriage was with Mary Dodson, of Clearfield township, and they have five 
children. Charles, a merchant at Dysart, who was killed by lightning July 29, 
1892; Mary, the wife of Silas McGough, of Altoona; Alice, who married James 
McGough of Clearfield township, and Ellen, inter-married with Albert Ivory of 
Greensburg.


571     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

     The Zephaniah Weakland Family. Zeplianiah Weakland, came from St. Mary's 
county, Maryland, and located on the Spruce creek, eight miles from Huntingdon, 
before the close of the Revolutionary war. John Weakland was born there in 1787. 
Zephaniah brought his family to Cambria county in 1808, and located near 
Munster, building a log cabin near the 0'Hara's, east of Munster. In 1819 
Zephaniah removed to Mahoning township, in Indiana county, but returned to 
Johnstown in 1832. Subsequently he made his home in Susquehanna township, and 
while there married for the third time when he was over seventy years old, and 
by this marriage had one or two children; he died in 1849.
     John Weakland, his son, moved to Conemaugh township in 1831, and came to 
Johnstown in 1835; he married in 1818 and had two sons and a daughter. His wife 
died in 1858. At the age of seventy-three he married again and had three sons by 
this marriage. Michael Weakland and Ellen, his wife, an only brother, and two 
children lived in Susquehanna township. William Weakland, a brother of 
Zephaniah, died near Loretto in 1864, at the age of eighty-three years. Many of 
their descendants reside in the north of the county, especially in Carroll, 
Clearfield and Susquehanna townships. John Weakland was a private in Captain 
Richard McGuire's company in the War of 1812.
     Wissinger, Ludwick. He was born in 1756, and served under Washington in the 
Revolution, and came to Cambria from Frederick, Maryland 1793.  He located on a 
tract of land near the Dunkard church above Walnut Grove, on the Bedford road. 
He died about March, 1842. He had thirteen children and probably fourteen, as 
there were two by the name of Susannah, but they had different marriage names. 
He made a bequest to Susannah, intermarried with Joseph Wissel, and also to 
Susannah, who had married a Morgan. The others were: John, Catherine Wissinger-
Brumbaugh, Mary Wissinger-Anderson (see John Horner), Daniel, Esther Wissinger-
Snyder, Lewis, Elizabeth Wissinger-Stutzman, David, Samuel, George, Isaac and 
Jacob Wissinger. Lewis Wissinger, his son, was born June 21, 1793, and died 
Sept. 21, 1895. About 1818 he married Barbara Strayer, who died about 1835; they 
had five children. Sarah married David Kauffman, of Croyle township; and Eli and 
John Wissinger. His second marriage


572     HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

was with Margaret Lint, and they had six children: Harry, Esther, who died in 
her twenty-third year; Samuel, Barbara, married to Peter Keiper; Annie, married 
to Daniel Fyock; and Adam Wissinger.