BIO: Thomas Laurence WAY, 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 613 - 616.
_____________________________________________________________ 

  THOMAS LAURENCE WAY, president of the Clearfield County Agricultural Society, 
secretary of the Grange at Curwensville, and the owner of a well improved farm 
of 115 acres, located two miles north of Curwensville, Pa., is one of the 
representative men of Pike township and belongs to one of the honorable old 
Quaker families of the county.  He was born August 11, 1860, in what is now 
Greenwood, but formerly was Bell township, Clearfield county, Pa., and is a son 
of David and Eliza (McGaughy) Way, and a grandson of Job Way.
  David Way was born in Center county, Pa., January 12, 1837, came to Clearfield 
county in 1854, locating on his farm of 106 acres, situated in Pike township, 
and owns a one-half interest in a second farm of 100 acres, situated also in 
Pike township.  He is a son of Job and Jane (Barlow) Way, the latter of whom was 
born in Sinking Valley.  The children of Job and Jane Way were five in number, 
namely:  Thomas, David, Mary Jane, Robert B. and Adam B.  The survivors are:  
David, Robert B., who married Maria Blackburn; and Adam B., who married Jennie 
Blackburn.  All of these children were born in Center county and from there Job 
Way moved to Clearfield county in 1854 and settled on a wild tract of 110 acres, 
in Pike township.  This land he subsequently cleared and it remained his home 
until the close of his life, his death occurring at the age of seventy-five 
years and his burial was at Plain View cemetery.  His widow survived to be 
eighty-three years of age.  They were members of the Society of Friends.  In his 
early years he was a Whig in his political views but became identified with the 
Republican party after its organization.
  David Way attended the district schools in his youth but his advantages were 
meager in comparison with those which are now almost thrust upon the present 
generation.  Farming and lumbering then claimed his attention and he continued 
to be interested more or less in both industries during his active years.  
Following his marriage he continued to live in Bell township for one year and 
then moved to Penn township, remaining there two years, after which he came to 
Pike township, locating on his farm of 106 acres, situated three miles northwest 
of Curwensville, as previously stated, where he erected farm buildings.  He now 
lives retired on Ridge Avenue, Curwensville, a capable tenant managing the farm.  
Being a consistent member of the Society of Friends, he has never been much of a 
politician, but has accepted various township offices and performed the duties 
of the same to the entire satisfaction of his fellow citizens.  He has served as 
school director, road supervisor and overseer of the Poor and at one time was 
also elected township treasurer.  He is a member of the Clearfield Agricultural 
Society and belongs to the Grange, taking a deep interest in farming in spite of 
his years, and anxious to witness the results of modern methods so different 
from those he made use of for many years.  Doubtless he has often proved that 
practice and theory differ widely.  He is one of Pike township's most esteemed 
and respected citizens.
  In November, 1859, David Way was married to Eliza McGaughy, a daughter of 
Thomas McGaughy, and five children were born to them as follows:  Thomas 
Laurence; Ella J., who married Samuel Smith, of Curwensville, and has seven 
children - Verna, Maude, Gussie, William, Louella, Ruth and Lester; William E., 
who resides in the state of Oregon, and who married a Miss Palmer; John A., who 
lives in Nebraska, who married Ida McMullen, and has four children - David R., 
Ira L., John C. and Harvey D.; and Martha, the wife of E. B. Way, residing in 
Center county, who has the following children - Sarah H., Lydia L., David C., 
Pauline L., Loraine, E. Elsworth and Isabel.
  Thomas Laurence Way attended the Chestnut Ridge schoolhouse.  His brother 
William and sister Ella J., both became school teachers, but he remained at home 
assisting his father on the farm until his own marriage, in 1882, when he 
settled on his father's Chestnut Ridge farm for a time, afterward moving to 
Bridgeport, where he engaged in teaming for L. E. Arnold for a season and then 
went back to farming.  In 1887 he moved to the Col. E. A. Irvin farm and was in 
the employ of Colonel Irvin for four years, when he bought property near 
Curwensville and occupied it for two years.  Mr. Way then settled on the farm on 
which he has lived ever since, which is situated in Pike township and is the old 
Bloom homestead, formerly owned by the parents of his wife.  Mr. Way has made 
many substantial improvements here, in 1889 building his fine barn and 
remodeling his house, which was erected in 1886.  The old farm-house is yet 
standing and is the residence of Mrs. Bloom, Mrs. Way's mother.  Mr. Way has 
about 108 acres of cleared land.  He carries on general farming and stock 
raising and makes a feature of dairying, selling his milk by wholesale, to the 
milk depot at Curwensville, keeping about twelve cows and calculating on having 
twenty-five gallons of milk a day.
  Mr. Way was married November 22, 1882, to Miss S. Jennie Bloom, a daughter of 
Thomas and Ruthanna (Walker) Bloom, and they have had five children, namely.  
Ruthanna, who married James E. Irwin, a son of William T. and Sarah Irwin, and 
has had six children - Wava Lucinda, James Byron, Carl Ellis, deceased; Dorothy 
Jane, Sarah Chloe and Ruth May; Mabel C., who married Monroe Bloom, a son of 
Allen and Mary Bloom, and has two children - Ansel Lee and Chester Alvin; Thomas 
Hugh, who married Olive Annie Moose, and has one son, Hugh Lawrence; Edith 
Lucinda, who married Earl McFadden, a son of Scott and Fannie McFadden, and has 
had two children - James Harold and Frances Marie, the latter being deceased; 
and David Elmer, who died April 11, 1898, aged twenty-two months and is buried 
in Plain View cemetery.
  The Bloom family, of which Mrs. Way is a member, is one well known through 
Central Pennsylvania.  Her grandfather, Benjamin Bloom, was born in Huntingdon 
county, Pa., December 28, 1790, and died August 13, 1878, and was interred in 
the McClure cemetery in Pike township.  He married Sally McClure, who was born 
October 20, 1792, and died September 14, 1868.  She was a daughter of Thomas and 
Margaret McClure, the former of whom was born in Ireland in 1762 and died in 
1832.  They had the following children:  David, born June 21, 1788; Nancy, born 
in 1790; Sally, the grandmother of Mrs. Way, born in 1792; John, born in 1796; 
Polly in 1798; Betsey, in 1802; Wilson M., in 1805; Peggy in 1807; and Thomas 
R., in 1809.  Thomas Bloom, father of Mrs. Way, was born September 7, 1813, near 
Curwensville, in Pike township.  In 1838 he was married first to Hannah Cleaver, 
who died May 17, 1853.  They had nine children:  Elvina, Phineas, Harris, Alvin, 
Clark, Mary, Margaret, Susannah and Thaddeus.  Thomas Bloom was married secondly 
October 30, 1856, to Ruthanna Walker, who still survives and lives on the 
homestead.  She was born November 5, 1831, in York county, Pa., a daughter of 
Azahel and Lydia Walker.  Two children were born to this marriage; Lydia 
Lucinda, born November 9, 1859, the wife of Isaac M. Kester; and S. Jennie, born 
May 16, 1861, the wife of Thomas L. Way.  Thomas Bloom died November 20, 1892, 
and his burial was in Plain View cemetery.  He was a member of the Presbyterian 
church.  In politics he was a Democrat.
  In politics, Thomas L. Way has been identified with the Republican party since 
he reached manhood.  He has served acceptably as school director, road 
supervisor, and judge of elections, in Pike township, and at times has served on 
political committees in his section.  Since 1888 he has been a member of the 
order of Odd Fellows and has progressed through the chairs of the local lodge.