BIO: Julius VIEBAHN, 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 479 - 483.
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  JULIUS VIEBAHN, vice president of the First National Bank of Houtzdale, Pa., 
is one of the solid business men and representative citizens of this borough.  
He was born October 12, 1847, in Germany, and is a son of Frederick William and 
Anna Marie (Theis) Viebahn.
  Frederick William Viebahn was a man of much importance and gained so wide a 
reputation as a mine expert that the German government sent him to America to 
make a study of anthracite coal.  He never had any intention of remaining in the 
United States, and Julius was the only member of his family who ever settled 
permanently here.
  Julius Viebahn was given excellent educational advantages in his own land and 
later served five years in the Prussian Army, being a lieutenant in his company, 
and was not yet nineteen years old when he participated in the war of Prussia 
and Austria, and later the war of 1870-1, taking part in thirty-two battles.  He 
was honorably discharged in March, 1871, and in the following month took passage 
in the steamer City of New York, and reached the United States in the latter 
part of April.  From May until October he remained at Newark, N. J., and then 
came to Clearfield and in the winter following to Houtzdale.  In 1875 he visited 
Little Horn River, in the Black Hills, where he spent a winter and in the spring 
reached Springfield, Ill., where he assisted in the construction of the new 
State House.  In 1878 he married and returned permanently to Houtzdale, where, 
for eighteen years he conducted a wholesale brewing business.
  On July 18, 1878, Mr. Viebahn was married to Miss Margaret Lewis, who was born 
in Tioga county, Pa.  She was a daughter of Owen Lewis, of Welsh birth but who 
was a resident of Houtzdale at the time of his death.  Mrs. Viebahn died 
December 27, 1908, a lady who was beloved in the family circle and esteemed by 
all her acquaintances.  Seven children were born to them:  Frederick, John H., 
Edward Amos, William W., Elizabeth, Anna Mary and Julius, Jr.  The eldest son, 
Frederick, who was born February 25, 1879, died at the age of ten years.  John 
H., who was born June 20, 1880, served in the Spanish-American War under Colonel 
Ray, a member of Co. I, U. S. Vol. Inf., and now resides in New York.  Edward 
Amos, who was born June 4, 1882 conducts a hotel at Smoke Run, Pa.  He was 
educated in Germany and while there met the lady who later became his wife, Miss 
Hedwig Wienhues.  William W., who was born March 7, 1884, attended school in 
Germany for eighteen months and has been a student in Dickinson University and 
the University of Pennsylvania.  He has been much interested in baseball and has 
contracted to pitch for the season of 1911 for the Nashville, Tenn., baseball 
team.  Elizabeth has been an instructor in the public schools of Clearfield 
county for some years, a highly cultured young lady.  Anna Mary is an 
accomplished musician.  The youngest son, Julius, who was born in December, 
1890, died November 9, 1900.  He was a musical prodigy, in childhood being able 
to reproduce on musical instruments at home, operas to which he had listened.  
His early death no doubt deprived the world of a great musician for the future.
  Clearfield county is much indebted to Mr. Viebahn for its superior school 
facilities.  He has taken a deep personal interest in the advancement of 
education and it was mainly through his efforts that the township High School 
was organized and built.  For twenty-five years he has served on the school 
board and his services have been invaluable.