BIO: John A. CASTOR, Huntingdon County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, 
Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. 
Runk & Co., 1897, pages 173-174.
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  JOHN A. CASTOR, Shade Gap, Huntingdon county, Pa., son of Andrew and 
Elizabeth (Miller) Castor, was born in Wayne township, Mifflin county, 
Pa. His great-grandfather, Philip Castor, was born in Germany and came 
to America before the Revolutionary war, settling in the vicinity of 
Philadelphia, Pa. He fought under Washington and was captain of a 
company of Continental soldiers. He enjoyed the distinction of taking 
dinner with Washington at the inn in Philadelphia called the "Crooked 
Billet." At the close of the war he took a tomahawk right to a tract of 
land in Mifflin county at the foot of Jack's Mountain. He had one son, 
Henry, and four daughters. At the death of Philip Castor, his son 
succeeded to the farm, devotedly caring for the mother until her death. 
This son, Henry Castor, had three daughters and one son, Andrew. Henry 
died on the homestead in Mifflin county, about 1846 or 1848, at the age 
of sixty-three. He had married his second wife, by whom he had one son, 
Porter Castor, now owner of the old homestead. The daughters are: Katy 
(Mrs. Henry Johnson), lived in Mifflin until 1848, and then removed to 
Muskingum county, Ohio, where they both died; Rebecca (Mrs. James 
McCormick), resides near Lewistown, Pa., where the husband died; Nancy 
(Mrs. Job Wallace), resided near Lewistown, Pa., but has lately moved 
away.
  Andrew Castor, eldest son of Henry Castor, was born on the old 
homestead in Wayne township, November 7, 1819, and there his youth was 
spent. His wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Miller, was born November 
7, 1821. He received a good education, and at the death of his father 
took the farm and worked it until a few years prior to his death, when 
he sold it, and retired to near Atkinson's Mills, Mifflin county, and 
died there January 15, 1858. His widow afterwards married Thomas 
Phillips, and went to live in Selins Grove, Snyder county, Pa., where 
they both died, the mother's death occurring May 8, 1880. The children 
of Mr. and Mrs. Castor were: John A.; Sarah Ann, born July 23, 1845, 
died single; Jane S., born February 6, 1847, married David Flood, and 
died in Dublin township, in June, 1893; Martha E., born March 27, 1848, 
died December 23, 1849; James K., born November 6, 1849, married and 
settled at Selins Grove, Pa., and is now a widower living in Nebraska; 
William G., born July 28, 1851, was killed on the railroad, he was 
married; George W., born June 8, 1854, died through a surgical 
operation performed at Harrisburg; Susanna H., born May 28, 1857, died 
January 14, 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Castor were both devout members of 
the United Brethren church. Mr. Castor was an old line Whig.
  John A. Castor was born on the old homestead in Wayne township. It 
was in an old two-storied log house of two rooms that he first saw the 
light. He received his education in the common schools, to which he was 
sent regularly. He was only thirteen years of age when his father died, 
leaving him the eldest of seven children, after which, desiring to help 
rather than to be helped, he hired out each summer as a farm hand. For 
the first five years he worked for Adam Sunderland, receiving as wages 
$4 per month, which sum he always gave to his mother for the support of 
the family. He lived at home with his mother until his marriage, which 
occurred in Urbana, Ohio, October 9, 1872, to Ella V. Johnson, a native 
of Philadelphia, Pa., who had removed with her parents to Ohio, where 
the acquaintance begun in Pennsylvania resulted in the marriage at 
Urbana. Mr. Castor and his wife then took up their residence in 
Altoona, Pa., where he had been working as carpenter in the machine 
shops. They later removed to Urbana, Ohio, where, for five or six 
years, he worked in the locomotive and car shops. He then went to 
Kansas and took up a claim of 160 acres of land, which tract he greatly 
improved, remaining thereon until 1891. His wife died in 1890, and in 
the following year he sold his farm and returning to Pennsylvania, 
opened a store, and served as postmaster for four years at McNeal, Pa. 
On April 6, 1892, at McNeal, he married Miss Jennie Goshorn, daughter 
of Robert Goshorn, one of the early settlers of Huntingdon county. In 
the fall of 1895 he took up his residence on his present place of 260 
acres in Dublin township; his step-son carries on the farm. During the 
war, Mr. Castor enlisted, in Wayne township, in Company F, Forty-sixth 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, for three months; he served his time, came 
home, and in July re-enlisted for one hundred days. After serving four 
months he received an honorable discharge and he returned home. He is a 
Republican. During his residence in Kansas he was justice of the peace 
for four years, and secretary of the school board, during which time 
the free schools were inaugurated. A wide and intelligent reader, 
interested in the welfare of the nation, he follows closely the 
questions of the day. He has considerable ability as an orator, and 
many are the audiences that have been inspired to greater patriotism by 
his eloquent addresses on Memorial and Independence Days.
  Mr. Castor has no children. He is a member of the Presbyterian 
church, holding the office of deacon for some years while residing in 
Altoona, Pa.