BIO: Matthew McATEER, 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 62-64. 
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  MATTHEW McATEER, officer in Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory, 
Huntingdon, Pa., was born in West township, Huntingdon county, January 12, 
1836.  He is a son of Jonathan and Mary (Noble) McAteer.  His grandfather, 
Patrick McAteer, came to Huntingdon county and settled within the present 
limits of West township in 1795.  Later, he removed to Cambria county.  His 
occupations were agriculture and lumbering; in connection with Michael 
McGuire, he built the first saw mill in West township.  He died in Cambria 
county, after a useful and successful life.  When Patrick McAteer came to 
Huntingdon county, his son Jonathan, father of Matthew, was but two years of 
age.  Jonathan McAteer, like his father, was a farmer; he was born in 
Emmittsburg, Md., in 1793, but after the removal to Pennsylvania, resided in 
Huntingdon county until 1860, at that date he relinquished farming, and 
removed to Altoona, Pa., where he lived a retired life.  His wife, Mary 
Noble, was native of Porter township, Huntingdon county, born in 1799.  They 
had nine children; five died in childhood; Patrick H., who served in the 
Union army during the late war, in Company C, Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry, 
and was promoted to a captaincy, died in 1869; and Samuel A., a farmer up to 
1865, and after removing to Altoona, an employee of the P.R.R. Co., died at 
his post as conductor of a train, January 17, 1886. The survivors are:  
Matthew; and Henry J., deputy surveyor of the Port of Philadelphia.  The 
father of the family died in Altoona, January 16, 1868.
  The maternal great-grandfather of Matthew McAteer was John Spencer, born 
in Ireland, and a settler within the present limits of Porter township, 
Huntingdon county, before the Revolution.  He was a major in the Continental 
army.  He resided near Alexandria, where he died about 1820.  Two of his 
sons, John and William, were twins.  John Spencer, Jr., went to Ohio in 
1805, and in the war of 1812 was captain of a company.  William removed to 
Ohio in 1816, and a third brother, Robert, in 1824.  The daughters were:  
Mrs. Samuel Noble, grandmother of Mr. McAteer, who lived where the city of 
Altoona now stands; Mrs. John Agle, of Alexandria, removed to Ohio; Mrs. 
William McElroy, of the vicinity of Barree Forge; and Martha (Mrs. Jeremiah 
Cunningham), of Shaver's Creek Valley, had children:  David, born in 1801, 
and Mrs. George Wilson, of Alexandria.
  Matthew McAteer was educated in the public schools of West township, 
Huntingdon county, where he lived to the age of seventeen with his parents.  
The winter of 1853-54 he passed in Altoona, and in the spring of 1854, 
entered the service of the P.R.R. Co. for the purpose of learning the 
blacksmith's trade.  He continued in that occupation until August 1, 1856, 
when he became a brakeman in the same employ; he was afterwards promoted to 
freight conductor, and served as such until 1861.  In November of that year, 
leaving the P.R.R., Mr. McAteer went to Baltimore, and was employed as 
conductor on trains conveying troops to the front, by the Northern Central 
R.R., then controlled by the U.S. Government.  In March, 1862, he was 
transferred to Sunbury, Pa., and appointed train dispatcher for the same 
company.  In the fall of 1864, he was transferred to York, Pa., and was for 
a year conductor of a train.  Leaving York in February, 1865, Mr. McAteer 
re-enlisted the service of the P.R.R. Co., as freight conductor; in June of 
the same year, he was promoted to passenger conductor, which position he 
filled efficiently for eight years.  During 1874, Mr. McAteer was in the 
hotel business in Harrisburg; in the fall of 1875, he removed to Houtzdale, 
Clearfield county, Pa., where he resided until 1879, in charge of the estate 
of Dr. Houtz.  In 1879, he was employed by the P.R.R. Co. at Pittsburg as 
train dispatcher, ticket agent, baggage agent, etc., in various places, 
including Pittsburg, Long Branch, N.J., and Cape May, N.J.  In 1888, he 
resigned this employment, and entered the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia.  In 
January, 1892, he assumed his present position, the duties of which he has 
from that date faithfully and efficiently performed.
  Mr. McAteer is a Past Master of Sunbury Lodge, No. 22, F. and A.M., 
Sunbury, Pa.; a member of Northumberland Chapter, No. 174, R.A.M. of 
Sunbury; of Vallerchamp Council, No. 25, R. and S.M., Sunbury, and of 
Crusade Commandery, No. 12, K.T., Bloomsburg, Columbia county, Pa.  His 
political views are Democratic.
  Matthew McAteer was married in Huntingdon, July 14, 1859, to Johanna B., 
daughter of John and Catherine Simpson, residents, when Mrs. McAteer was 
born, on March 16, 1838, of Littlestown, Adams county, Pa.  They had five 
children:  Henry F., born May 5, 1860, now chief clerk in the advertising 
department of P.R.R., for lines west of Pittsburg, and resides in Pittsburg; 
Laura, born December 19, 1861, wife of George D. McCloskey, of Wilmerding, 
Allegheny county, Pa.; Mary I., born June 10, 1863, wife of Maurice Owens, 
of Harrisburg, Pa.; Charles Young, born December 19, 1865, engineer of the 
P., C. & St. L.R.R., residing in Pittsburg; and Josie, born June, 1868, wife 
of Sydney T. Isett, of Bellwood, Blair county.  Mrs. Johanna McAteer died at 
Oil City, Venango county, Pa., January 12, 1880. Mr. McAteer was again 
married in Philadelphia, May 12, 1881, to Clara B., daughter of Jacob and 
Margaret Lentz, of Franklin county, Pa.  The family attend the Roman 
Catholic church.