BIO: Albert J. HALL, Huntingdon County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JO Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************** __________________________________________________________________ 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 276-277. __________________________________________________________________ ALBERT J. HALL, Trough Creek, Huntingdon county, Pa., was born in Lincoln township, then part of Hopewell township, September 14, 1845. He is a son of Thomas L. and Catherine (Harker) Hall. His grandfather, Laban Hall, who was of English descent, came from Maryland to Huntingdon county when a young man. He had learned bell-making, and followed that vocation in Penn and Tod townships. In his later life he became a farmer and stock raiser. He was a Whig, and was among the early "grangers." Laban Hall was married to Jemima Clark, of Hopewell township. Their children were: Antha; James; Thomas; Elijah; Laban, Jr.; and twin girls, Sarah and Mary. Mr. Hall died in Tod township; his wife in Henderson township, but she is buried in Union township. They were connected with the Methodist Episcopal church. Thomas L. Hall, their third child, was born in Penn township, received a common school education, and mastered well the trades of stone masonry and shoemaking. He worked principally in Hopewell, Penn and Tod townships, and afterwards turned his attention to farming and stock raising, in Penn, Lincoln and Tod townships. He owned in the last-named township 80 acres of good arable land. Thomas A. Hall was a public-spirited and useful citizen. He served in various township offices, was constable, tax collector, member of the school board and justice of the peace. He also belonged to the State militia. He belonged first to the Whig, afterwards to the Republican party, and took an active part in politics. Mr. Hall was forty-five years of age when he enlisted for the war against rebellion, August 2, 1862, in Tod township, and was mustered in at Harrisburg, Pa. He went through the nine months' service in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was wounded in the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, by a bullet, in the left arm. He was for some time in the hospital. The wound resulted in the loss of the use of his left arm, and finally was the cause of his death. Thomas L. Hall was married in Hopewell township, now Lincoln, to Catherine Harker, a native of that township, and of German descent. Their children are: Margaret (Mrs. Reuben Donaldson), of Missouri; Jemima; Albert J.; Susanna, deceased, was the wife of William Beaver, a farmer of Penn township; Hannah, widow of Milton M. Greene, of Tod township; Laban J., enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, was killed at Spotsylvania, May 12, 1864; Catharine (Mrs. William Parks), of Lincoln township; Thomas J., stone mason, of Montana; Emma (Mrs. Samuel Shoop), of Altoona, Pa.; Reuben E. E., farmer of Tod township; U. S. G., of Blair county, Pa., has been in railroad employ; Melinda; Mary J.; Maria, deceased; and five that died in infancy. Mr. Hall was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, a Sunday-school officer and worker. He died in Tod township, January 6, 1886, leaving to his family the memory of a brave and conscientious servant of his country, and of a faithful and kind husband and father. Mrs. Hall still resides in Tod township. Their third child and eldest son, Albert J. Hall, was educated in Tod and Hopewell townships, and as his first business learned farming, working for the Penn township farmers; he was for three years in the employ of John Hoover, at eight dollars per month. He then learned stone cutting, stone masonry and shoemaking, and worked at all three trades at intervals until 1862; he was then seventeen, but was a true American boy of the times, no more able to resist the call of the country for defenders than his father was. He enlisted in Tod township, in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. Jacob Higgins and Capt. W. F. Thomas. This was in the nine months' service; he was at Chancellorsville and Antietam; was wounded at Antietam in the shoulder and right leg, and spent four months in the hospitals at Hagerstown, Chambersburg and Harrisburg. He was discharged May 18, 1863, and returned home, but re-enlisted on the twenty-second of January, 1864, in Hopewell township, in Company B, One Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. Isaac Rodgers and Capt, John M. Skelley. During this term of enlistment he was in the battle of the Wilderness, at the engagement of North Ann River, of Cold Harbor, and all the other battles of the Army of the Potomac, until he was again wounded, March 20, 1865, near Hatchers Run; this time he was shot through the elbow, which made necessary a two months' stay at the hospital in Washington, D.C. After this he rejoined his regiment, was discharged at the expiration of his term, June 18, 1865, and went home. There he worked at his different trades until 1871, when he bought a farm of 150 acres in Tod township, of which he cleared over 70 acres, and made many improvements; he also purchased a tract of 134 acres in Tod township, which is in a high state of cultivation. In addition to farming and stock raising, Mr. Hall also takes contracts for mason work, and has constructed a number of foundations with wood work in Tod township, and bridges elsewhere in the county. He is an industrious man of business, and progressive in his ideas. He also finds time for the affairs of the community; is much interested in politics, his views being Republican; has been a delegate to conventions at Huntingdon; also tax collector of Tod township. Albert J. Hall was married, October 7, 1866, in Tod township, to Mary E., daughter of Henry S. and Louisa (Houck) Greene, born in that township March 14, 1845. Mr. Greene is a farmer and school teacher of Tod township; he was born in Blair county, Pa., in 1823, son of Samuel Greene, who was a descendant of General Greene, of New York. Mrs. Greene is a daughter of Adams Houck, farmer, of Tod township. They still reside in that township, and all of their eight children expect two are living. The children of MR. and Mrs. Hall are: Guy H., born June 24, 1873, educated in Lock Haven and at Williamsport, where he graduated in 1895, has taught school in Tod township; James Garfield, born May 6, 1880, resides on the homestead; Ivy M., died when nine months old. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are working members of the Methodist Episcopal church; he is busied in many departments of its enterprise; is a Sunday-school teacher, and has been superintendent; has been a class leader for twelve years, and is also a member of the building committee. Mrs. Hall is a member of the missionary society, and is one of those who can be depended upon to "lend a hand" whenever it is needed. Diligent and faithful work has made them successful in their personal affairs; while willingness to work for others also has given them a high place in the esteem of their neighbors.