BIO: John ROSSMAN, Centre County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JRB

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/1picts/commbios/comm-bios.htm
_____________________________________________________________________ 

Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including 
the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing 
Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. 
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
_____________________________________________________________________ 

  JOHN ROSSMAN.  The life of this gentleman, who is now living retired 
in Gregg township, Centre county, is a striking example of what can be 
accomplished by perseverance and industry, when guided by sound 
judgment.  He has had a somewhat remarkable experience in his struggle 
with the world.  In addition to being thrown upon his own resources at 
a tender age, he has been the victim of misplaced confidence and 
treachery in business practices where his kind-heartedness induced him 
to help others. 
  Mr. Rossman was born in Walker township, Nittany Valley, Centre 
county, September 22, 1827, of which county his father, John Rossman, 
was also a native, while his grandfather, Henry Rossman, was a German 
by birth.  The last named was a highly educated man, who taught school 
in Rebersburg in early life, and later became a licensed minister of 
the Reformed Church.  He was one of the pioneer preachers of this 
section, known far and near, and would ride from charge to charge on 
horseback.  His death occurred at The Loop, in Potter township, Centre 
county, when in his eightieth year.
  John Rossman, Sr., was the eldest in the family of four sons and 
three daughters, and during his boyhood he learned the weaver's trade, 
which was a more profitable business in those days than at the present 
time. In Walker township he married Miss Sarah, a daughter of Philip 
and Margaret (Brown) Walker, and in 1833, with his family, he started 
for East Germantown, Marion Co., Ind.  The journey was made in covered 
wagons, the covers for which he wove, and they cooked their meals along 
the road and slept in the wagons.  On arriving at his destination, Mr. 
Rossman was not pleased with the prospects; the climate did not agree 
with him, and in the following spring he was taken ill and died, and 
his remains were interred at East Germantown.  In politics he was a 
Democrat.
  At the death of the father, the mother was left with eight children 
to care for among strangers.  Subsequently her father came for the 
family, and they returned to Pennsylvania, where she purchased a home 
near the junction in Nittany Valley, and kept the two younger children 
with her, while the others were sent out to make their own way in the 
world.  They were as follows: Henry, a carpenter, who died in Nittany 
Valley; Elias, also a carpenter, who died in that place; Nancy, widow 
of Reuben Loveland, and a resident of Yankeetown, Nittany Valley; 
Sarah, who married Daniel Wolf, and died in Mill Hall, Clinton county; 
John, subject of this sketch; George, a carpenter of Stephenson county, 
Ill.; Jane, who married Thomas Shook, and died at Washington Furnace, 
Penn.; and David, a resident of Potter township.  The mother passed 
away at The Junction at the age of seventy-five years, and was laid to 
rest in the Snydertown cemetery.  In early life she was a member of the 
Reformed Church, but later united with the Evangelical Association.
  For two years after the return of the family

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.  335

from Indiana John Rossman lived with his uncle, Isaac Walker, in 
Nittany Valley.  Robert Smith was his guardian; but at the age of eight 
years he was hired out for his board and clothes to Jonas Pauley, whose 
home was distant one mile from Penn Hall, near Brush mountain.  With 
him our subject remained until attaining his majority, during which 
time he was allowed to attend school for only six months.  He worked on 
the farm of his employer, and when not employed in this way was given 
the privilege of learning the trade with Mr. Pauley, who was a 
shoemaker.  When his term of bondage had expired he worked for his 
preceptor for three years at $10 per month, with the exception of one 
month during the harvest season, at which time he worked in the fields, 
where he could earn fifty cents per day.  Being economical, during the 
first year he succeeded in saving $100.  He next worked at his trade by 
the piece for two years, which was more profitable.
  While thus employed, Mr. Rossman was married in Gregg township, 
October 2, 1851, to Miss Elizabeth Ziegler, who was born in that 
township February 19, 1832, the ninth in order of birth in the family 
of thirteen children born to Peter and Barbara (Walterparger) Ziegler.  
Her father, a farmer by occupation, was a native of York county, Penn.  
Mr. and Mrs. Rossman have four sons: Josiah C., born May 10, 1856, and 
Lewis E., born February 6, 1859, are both residents of Gregg township; 
Howard F., born March 7, 1862, has a store in Spring Mills; and Harvey 
D., born May 16, 1863, is a farmer of Gregg township.  With them 
resides a grandchild, Alverta M. (the daughter of Josiah), who was born 
April 9, 1878, and has made her home with them since two years of age.
  Upon his marriage, Mr. Rossman rented a house and lot in Brush 
Valley, Gregg township, until 1853, when he purchased a farm, shop and 
home of sixty acres of Mr. Pauley, where he lived for fifteen years.  
In 1868, in partnership with Edward Houtz, he bought 304 acres, of 
which he has 168 acres in the same township, and upon his share erected 
all the buildings.  He continued to follow agricultural pursuits until 
1884, when he built his present comfortable residence on the same 
place, and has since lived retired, enjoying a well-earned rest.  In 
politics he has always been a Democrat, but not strictly partisan, and 
has creditably filled the positions of tax collector, overseer of the 
poor, school director thirteen years, and supervisor five years, being 
for twenty consecutive years an office holder.  Earnest and 
conscientious Christians, he and his wife are active members of the 
Reformed Church, in which he has served as deacon and elder, and 
delegate to Classes twice, and delegate to the General Synod at Akron, 
Ohio.  They enjoy the friendship of a wide circle of acquaintances, who 
esteem them highly for their sterling worth and many excellent traits 
of character.