BIO: William F. TOZER, Clearfield County, PA
 
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From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 378 & 379.
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  WILLIAM F. TOZER, proprietor of the City Hotel at Blain City, Clearfield 
County, Pa., one of the leading and well patronized hostelries of Beccaria 
Township, formerly was interested to a considerable extent in farming and 
lumbering.  He was born August 28, 1858, at Newburg, Pa., and is a son of 
Gilbert S. and Margaret (Weaver) Tozer.
  Gilbert S. Tozer was born in New York State and came from there to Clearfield 
County in the thirties, and became a well known lumberman and raftsman.  He met 
with an accidental death while driving a raft down the Susquehannah River, at 
Wood Rock, in 1878, when he was aged sixty-eight years.  He married in 
Clearfield County and bought land in Chest Township and built the first house 
in what was then called Tozertown, now Newburg.  He married Margaret Weaver, 
who was born in Indiana County, Pa., one of seven sisters.  Her father was 
Captain Weaver, who moved subsequently to Clearfield County.  In her girlhood, 
Mrs. Tozer assisted her father in his agricultural operations, as there were no 
sons, and occasionally she would help to cut the grain, using the old fashioned 
scythe.  Mrs. Tozer still survives and is now in her eightieth year, although 
her appearance would indicate that not more than fifty years had passed over 
her head.  She is an active member of the Presbyterian church.  To Gilbert S. 
Tozer and wife the following children were born:  William F.; Isabella, 
deceased, who was the wife of Alonzo Hurd; Mary, who is the wife of Jefferson 
Trosttle, of New Washington, Pa.; Sarah, who is the wife of Daniel Curry, of 
Mahaffey, Pa.; Jacob S., who carries on farming on the old homestead in 
Ferguson Township (married Prudence Jackson, a daughter of Andrew Jackson); 
Ashley, who was accidentally killed by a street car, July 4, 1906 (was an 
employe of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and had married a daughter of M. 
Reed, of Ferguson Township); and Hugh, who resides at Tyrone (has been car 
inspector of piece work in the yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at 
Bellwood, for years, married Blanche Hadden).
  William F. Tozer was the fourth born in the above family.  In 1871 he 
accompanied his parents to Ferguson Township, Clearfield County and afterward 
attended the public schools there for a short time.  For a number of years he 
was connected in some way with the lumber industry, being identified at 
different times with the Clearfield Lumber Company, the Belsena Lumber Company 
(six years with the former and three with the latter), then four years with the 
Irvona Lumber Company, and for two more years was in the lumber business at 
Bellwood.  Then he came to Coalport to educate his children.  Prior to coming 
to Blain City he purchased the James Rea farm in Ferguson Township.  Mr. Tozer 
has been in the hotel business at Blain City for some years and holds his fifth 
license.  In politics he is a Democrat and has served in the offices of 
supervisor and constable.  He has been a very active citizen in a public 
spirited way since making Blain City his home and has been particularly 
interested and useful in advancing the educational interests of the place.  He 
took an active part in the erection of the new school building here, 
contributing time, money and lumber, his activity not ending here, as through 
his efforts a high standard has been established and a course of four years of 
thorough training accorded students.
  Mr. Tozer was married in 1883 to Miss Maggie B. Johnston, a daughter of James 
W. and Mary Jane Johnston, of Jordan township, Clearfield County, and they have 
had seven children, namely:  Roy V., Ory, Alice, Wilson, Sadie, Ira L., and 
Bessie, the last named being now deceased.  Four of the above family hold 
teacher's certificates and all are unusually intellectual.  The eldest son, Roy 
V., was principal of the Irvona schools for two years, taught two years at La 
Jose and four terms in his native township.  He is a student of law at 
Valparaiso, Ind., and will be admitted to the bar in June, 1911.  Alice has 
been a teacher in the public schools of Beccaria Township for four years and 
has four rooms of the Rosebud public school.  The two younger children are yet 
in school.  Mr. Tozer and his older sons are identified with several fraternal 
organizations, he being a member of Lodge No. 540, Elks, at Clearfield; the 
eldest son being a member of the Red Men at Mahaffey, the second son of the 
Eagles at Bellwood, and the third son, of the Moose at Coalport.  The family 
belongs to the Presbyterian church and several of them teach classes in the 
Sunday-school.  Mr. Tozer placed a beautiful memorial window in this church in 
memory of his daughter who died in early womanhood.