BIO: Henry K. Witman, Cumberland County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

Copyright 2010.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.

                              CHAPTER XLV.

        EAST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGH OF CAMP HILL.

476  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

  HENRY K. WITMAN, contractor, Wormleysburg.  John Witman, the 
grandfather of our subject, was a native of Lancaster County, Penn.  
Although a farmer, he carried on the business of weaving, operating 
four looms.  He married Mary Yontz, also of Lancaster County, and had 
eight children:  Elizabeth, Mary, Catharine, Anthony, John, Joseph, 
Jacob and Paul.  Of these, John was born in 1799, and came, in 1809, to 
Londonderry Township, Dauphin Co., Penn., with his parents, who had 
purchased a farm there, upon which they resided until they died.  John 
Witman learned the trade of weaving which he followed for many years.  
His wife was Mary Irwin, by whom he had eleven children:  Henry K., 
John, William, Paul, Joseph, Catharine, Lydia, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah 
and Phianna - all born and reared on the homestead.  Henry K. Witman, 
the only one of the family residing in Cumberland County, acquired a 
practical education early in life, and when twenty-two years old was 
made foreman by a contractor grading the Lebanon Valley Railroad 
through Dauphin County.  He afterward superintended the grading of the 
Northern Central in Northumberland County, and the Huntingdon & Broad 
Top Railroad, in Huntingdon County, Penn.  January 1, 1860, he 
superintended a "floating gang" on the North Central.  In this year he 
was married to Mary J. McCanna, of Chester County, Penn., and began 
housekeeping in Bridgeport, Penn.  He became foreman on the North 
Central Railroad, holding that position until 1879, when he opened a 
stone quarry on the McCormick estate, which he still works.  In a wreck 
on the road, in 1862, he lost his right arm, but with indomitable will 
kept his position and made a success in life.  In 1864 he purchased a 
residence in Wormleysburg, Penn., which he sold in 1875, engaging in 
mercantile business in Bridgeport until 1881, when he bought his 
present home.  No more desirable place could be had.  It overlooks the 
broad Susquehanna and the flourishing city of Harrisburg.  He has four 
children:  John, Harry, Lydia and Naomi, who may feel a just pride in 
bearing a name that knows no stain.  A competence, honorably acquired, 
and good income, enables him to surround his family with all the 
comforts of life.  Books, music, etc., make cheerful their happy home, 
and he well deserves the esteem accorded him by his neighbors.