BIO: Samuel SAYLOR, 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 293-294.
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  SAMUEL SAYLOR, Todd, Huntingdon county, Pa., was born in Tod 
township, September 1, 1822, son of Matthias and Elizabeth (Pheasant) 
Saylor. His paternal grandfather was a farmer in Cass township, and was 
married to Mary Swope, by whom he had two children: Annie (Mrs. Samuel 
Pheasant), and Matthias. When his son was only four months old, Mr. 
Saylor, beginning one day to fell trees for the purpose of erecting a 
log barn, was struck and killed by the first tree that he cut. Thus 
left an orphan at a tender age, Matthias Saylor grew up to an 
inheritance of hard work, upon which he entered early in life. He was a 
sturdy and industrious man, and won the esteem and respect of his 
neighbors. He worked his own farm of eighty-four acres in Cass 
township, on which he built a house and barn, raised good live stock, 
and enjoyed a fair measure of success. His wife was the daughter of 
Samuel Pheasant, farmer, of Cass township; she was born in Maryland. 
Their children are: Annie, deceased wife of Lewis Corbin, of Cass 
township; John, deceased; Sarah, deceased wife of George Myerly, of 
Cass township; Samuel; Elizabeth (Mrs. Joseph Harbaugh), of Cass 
township; Cornelius, of Tod township; George, of Cass township; Levi, 
deceased; William, deceased; Rachel, died young; one child that died in 
infancy. Mrs. Matthias Saylor died in Cass township in 1888. Mr. Saylor 
was in his younger days a Whig, in later life he adhered to Republican 
principles. He was overseer in Cass township in 1854. He is deceased.
  Samuel Saylor was a pupil in subscription schools in his native 
township, kept in a primitive log building, with equally primitive 
plank seating. He also attended the public schools. He worked with his 
father on the home farm until he was twenty-two; then he rented a farm 
in Union township, and cultivated it for one year, after which, in 
1845, he removed to his present home. He has bought 150 acres of land, 
only four acres of which were cleared. Here the young farmer and his 
bride of only a few months went to work together with a will. For 
fifteen years they lived in a little log cabin, bearing many hardships 
and privations with cheerful patience and determination. They began 
without furniture, and with scanty provision of the necessaries of 
life, even of bed clothing. Very gradually prosperity came. Mr. Saylor 
often had to cut his logs at night and haul them to the saw-mill the 
next day, in order to get a living, and to meet the payments on his 
farm, for which he was in debt. Other work was undertaken in addition; 
butchering, which he carried on for fifteen years in Tod township; 
stock raising, etc., as capital for his different enterprises was 
obtained. Thus, by laborious days, by economy and perseverance, all the 
debt was at length paid, and thirty acres added to Mr. Saylor's land in 
Tod township, also now under cultivation. And how much of a farmer's 
success, in such a history, is due to the faithful and diligent wife, 
cannot be estimated.
  The wife, in this case, is Susanna, daughter of John Keith, of Cass 
township, to whom Samuel Saylor was married, November 10, 1844. She was 
born near Baltimore, Md., in 1825. Their children are: Rachel A. (Mrs. 
Peter Rickabaugh), her husband, a farmer in Tod township; Eliza J. 
(Mrs. Edward Tobin), of Chicago; and Mary B. (Mrs. Daniel Menslarger), 
of Cass township. They have twenty-four grandchildren, and twenty-five 
great-grandchildren. The "golden wedding" of Mr. and Mrs. Saylor was 
celebrated in 1894, on which occasion more than a hundred relatives 
were present. A married life of more than fifty years of peace at home 
and with surrounding neighbors and friends is indeed a "golden" record. 
Mr. Saylor, who is a Republican, was for nine years supervisor of his 
township. The family attends the Church of God; Mr. Saylor was Sunday-
school teacher for six years, and superintendent for four years; also 
deacon, elder, trustee, and member of building committee. He 
contributed $600 to the building fund, thus ensuring the erection of a 
substantial and comfortable house of worship. This good couple have 
well earned the comforts that surround their ripe age.