BIO:  HENRY C. BABBLE, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
   
  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson
  OCRed by Judy Banja

  Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
  _____________________________________________________________

  >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania,
  Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 535-536
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  NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios:
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/


      HENRY C. BABBLE, one of the substantial men of Middlesex township,
  Cumberland county, owning here a fine farm of 138 acres, comes of German
  ancestors who settled in York county at an early day. Mr. Babble was born May
  12, 1829, in Dover township, York county.
  
      In every sense Mr. Babble may be termed a self-made man, and his
  successful career may well be cited as an example of what may be secured
  through honesty, perseverance and energy. When he was six years old his
  parents moved to Cumberland county, and he was sent to a German school in
  Silver Spring township, later to a school in Shiremanstown, but as soon as he
  was old enough he was put to farm work. His father owned no machinery, and he
  remembers when he rode the horses over the wheat on the barn floors to
  trample out the grain, which later had to be separated from the chaff. On the
  odd days when it was impossible to work, he went to school. In 1848 he entered
  the tannery of Samuel Fought in Silver Spring township, and remained there
  three years, being paid $5 a month. He still continued to work on farms,
  earning from forty to seventy-five cents a day, and in harvest time getting
  $1. He kept at work with these wages until he had saved $200 with which, in
  1857 he purchased the Fought tannery with one acre of land. He was obliged to
  borrow $100 to get a supply of hides with which to work, and he then began
  tanning, all that the business brought him during the first year being put
  back into it in improvements and additions. He built also a house and barn,
  cautiously advancing step by step, working hard and being as economical as
  possible.
  
      When the Civil war broke out, what was a disaster for some lines of
  business, proved a boom for the tanning industry, and Mr. Babble found it
  necessary greatly to increase his accommodations. He built a new tannery with
  dimensions of ninety feet, and two years later added fifty-seven feet and two
  stories, operating this large plant for thirty-four years. In 1881 he bought
  the Sample tannery at Sulphur Springs, operating both plants for three years,
  when he sold the first for $4,200. On Oct. 1, 1881, he removed to the tannery
  at Sulphur Springs, and operated it until 1893, selling it and buying his
  present farm. In consists of three tracts, thirty-one acres in the home farm,
  and 138 in the other farm, and 117 acres of mountain land.
  
      In politics Mr. Babble is a strong Democrat. He has served as judge of
  elections, and could have filled many offices, but has uniformly declined
  with the exception of the postmastership at Carlisle Springs. He is a
  thoroughly respected man, has reared a fine family, and is indebted to no man
  for his success.
  
      Mr. Babble has been twice married, (first) to Phoebe Wertz, who died Oct. 26,
  
      536  CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
  
  1873, and (second) to Elizabeth Swartz. His children are: Emma, Mrs. Daniel
  Kunkle, of Cumberland county; Martha Jane, Mrs. Daniel Hoy, of Silver Spring
  township; Mary Ann, wife (first) of William Voglesong, and (second) W. A.
  Armstrong; Catherine, Mrs. Isaac Brenizer, of Cumberland county; Clara, Mrs.
  Daniel Witmer, of Cumberland county; Susan, Mrs. Abraham Bierbower, of
  Cumberland county; William H. and Samuel C., of Steelton, Pa.; and Talbert
  McClelland, of Philadelphia. Both Mr. and Mrs. Babble are members of the
  German Reformed Church of Carlisle Springs.