Floyd's Northumberland County Genealogy Pages 173 thru 198

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	ISAAC RICHE, at present engaged in farming in Shamokin township, 
Northumberland county, was born in that township May 17, 1844, and 
belongs to a family which has been identified with this county for over 
a century. The family is of German origin.  Mr. Riche's great-
grandfather came to this country from Germany before the Revolutionary 
war and settled in Berks county, Pa., where he lived and died.
	Moses Riche (or Richie), son of the emigrant, was born in Berks 
county May 14, 1773, and moved thence to Northumberland county, settling 
near what is now known as Seven Points, in Rockefeller township, in 
which section he was a pioneer. The Indians were still numerous in these 
parts when he located there.  He died upon his farm (then included in 
Shamokin township) June 25, 1851, and he and his wife Rebecca are buried 
at the Summit church in Shamokin township. She was born July 30, 1781, 
and died Oct. 12, 1876. Among their children were: Miles, who died in 
Indiana; Henry, who died in Fishing Creek, Columbia Co., Pa.; Isaac; 
Rebecca, wife of Abner Tharp; and Elizabeth, wife of William Morris.
	Isaac Riche, son of Moses Riche, was born in 1812 in Rockefeller 
township, and died Sept. 27, 1900. His occupation was farming, and in 
time he was able to buy the Thomas Tharp farm, a tract of fifty acres, 
to which he added by various purchases.  He attended. market at 
Shamokin, where he became well known, and was a substantial and 
respected citizen of his day. By his first wife, whose maiden name was 
Tharp, Mr. Riche had two children, Moses and Mary E., both of whom are 
deceased. His second marriage was to Anna Hummel, who was born in 1801, 
daughter of Frederick Hummel, and died Jan. 19, 1884, aged eighty-three 
years.  She was the mother of three children: Samuel, who lives in 
Shamokin township; Henry, living at Tharptown; and Isaac.
	Isaac Riche, son of Isaac Riche, grew up in his native township, 
and when a young man learned the business of powder making, at which he 
became an expert, following same for a number of years. His last 
employment in that line was at the Trevorton Mills. In 1908 he returned 
to farming, the occupation of his youth, and has since been engaged in 
that work, owning part of the old home-stead in Shamokin township, 
whereon he makes his home. He has been quite successful, being 
industrious and progressive, ready to adopt up-to-date methods and 
appliances to facilitate his work, and directing his energies 
intelligently and effectively.
	Mr. Riche married Lucy C. Groves, daughter of Joseph Groves, and 
they are the parents of the following children: Joseph W. is mentioned 
below; Laura married Rufus Savage; Lillie married Leslie Wolverton: 
William E. is mentioned below; Agnes married Jacob Dreher; Francis is 
living in Shamokin township; Elory is a resident of Shamokin; Flossie 
married William Newberry; George Herman assists his father with the farm 
work; Arley is living in Shamokin township. Mr. Richie is a member of 
the United Brethren Church.
	JOSEPH W. RICHIE (as he and his brother write the name), son of 
Isaac Riche, was born July 29, 1873, and was reared upon the home farm 
in Shamokin township, attending the public schools of that locality and 
of Locust township, Columbia county. When a young man of eighteen he 
came to the borough of Shamokin, where he has since remained. He learned 
the business of photographer, at which he was employed by others for 
about six years, until he felt justified in engaging in the business on 
his own account.  His location is at the corner of Shamokin and Commerce 
streets. Mr. Richie has built up a lucrative patronage, his progressive 
methods, skill and artistic taste, combined with executive ability, 
bringing him a large business.  His work is its own recommendation. He 
is energetic, obliging and up-to-date, and his customers appreciate the 
courteous and satisfactory service rendered at his establishment.
	Mr. Richie married Bertha Gass, daughter of William J. Gass, of 
Shamokin, and they have had four children: Elva, William, Mildred and 
Margie. Mr. Richie is a member of the United Brethren Church and 
socially holds membership in the local lodge of the B.P.O. Elks.
	WILLIAM E. RICHIE, son of Isaac Riche, was born Feb. 26, 1875, in 
Shamokin township, where he now carries on farming. He attended the 
public schools, and subsequently worked with his father until he reached 
the age of eighteen, after which he took charge of the homestead farm, 
continuing thus for three years. For the next twelve years he farmed the 
Wolverton farm, in Shamokin township, at the end of that period buying 
land of his own, a tract of 135 acres in Irish Valley formerly known as 
the Jesse Martz farm.  It is located about three miles from the borough 
of Shamokin, and Mr. Richie has a milk route to that place which he 
supplies daily.  He engages in general farming, and his place is one of 
the finest in this fertile valley, not only because of its rich soil and
	
	END OF PAGE 173
	
excellent location but also in the matter of up-to-date buildings and 
general improvements. He is a thrifty man, a useful citizen and a much 
respected member of his community.
	Mr. Richie married Rebecca Mowery, daughter of Peter and Mary Ann 
(Moyer) Mowery, and they have a family of six children: Verna, Melvin, 
Mary, Clarence, Leon and Elwood. Mr. Richie is a Democrat in politics 
and in religion a member of the United Brethren Church.

	ASHER S. HOFFMAN has a large farm in the northwestern section of 
Point township, along Montour Ridge, and is one of the most progressive 
agriculturists of this vicinity, where he has also served in public 
offices and proved useful in various associations. He is an energetic 
man, and has prospered by application to his work until he ranks among 
the successful farmers of the township.
	The Hoffman family has long been settled in Pennsylvania.  Henry 
Hoffman, grandfather of Asher S. Hoffman, was born in Berks county, Pa., 
and when a young man moved thence to Union county, dying in that 
vicinity, in what is now Monroe township, Snyder county, in 1834.  He 
was buried at Shamokin Dam, Snyder county, in the same grave as his 
wife, Rebecca, who died only twelve hours before he did.  Mr. Hoffman 
was a shoemaker, and found work at his trade among the farmers in his 
locality. He was the father of a large family, namely: George died in 
Monroe township, Snyder county; William died in Huntingdon county, Pa.;  
Rebecca married John Brobst: Elijah died in Iowa; Henry died at 
Selinsgrove, Pa.; Polly married Lewis Bower; David is mentioned below; 
John died in Northumberland borough; Hannah married Charles Kessler and 
died in Kansas; Charles, born in March, 1831, now living at Selinsgrove, 
Pa,, married Molly Matthias and they had three children, Adda B. (Mrs. 
William Snook), Sarah (unmarried) and Margaret (Mrs. John Clopp); Sarah 
married Charles Dunkelberger and is living in Chicago, Illinois.
	David Hoffman, son of Henry, was born Sept. 8, 1825, in Snyder 
county, and being only a boy when his parents died was reared in the 
family of Mrs. Betsy Brobst.  He learned the trade of carpenter, which 
he followed for some years, and soon after attaining his majority 
commenced farming in Monroe township, Snyder county, remaining there 
until he removed across the river into Point township, Northumberland 
county, in 1878.  He continued farming in his new location to the end 
of his days, passing away Dec. 25, 1885, in Point township, at the age 
of sixty years. In politics a Democrat, he took an interest in party 
affairs and the public welfare, serving as supervisor of his township 
while a resident of Snyder county and as overseer of the poor in Point 
township. He was a Lutheran in religion. His wife, Sarah E. (Bower), 
daughter of Henry Bower, of Dry Valley, Union Co., Pa., survived him a 
number of years, dying March 27, 1902, aged sixty-one years, five 
months, twelve days.  They had children as follows: Emma, who is the 
widow of S. H. Smith, of Sunbury; Asher S.; Harry W., of Sunbury; and 
Mary B., who married Peter Winters, of Danville, Pennsylvania.
	Asher S. Hoffman was born June 12, 1862, in Monroe township, Snyder 
Co., Pa., and there spent his youth up to his twelfth year, when he 
moved with the family across the Susquehanna into Point township, 
Northumberland county. He continued to assist his father until he was 
twenty-four years old, since when he has been farming on his own 
account, in Point township.  In the spring of 1893 he settled upon 
the place he has since occupied, and cultivated, what was the 
old Thomas Baumgardner farm, which he operated as a tenant  
during the first eight years of his residence there; he purchased it in 
1901, from John Baumgardner. The property contains 305 acres, and Mr. 
Hoffman is not only engaged in general farming but also gives 
considerable attention to live stock, owning some valuable cattle. For 
thirteen years he ran a dairy wagon to Northumberland, but since 1907 he 
has wholesaled his milk, finding this plan more convenient with the 
numerous details connected with the work about the place.  The farm is 
so large that excellent management is necessary to keep it in good 
running order, but Mr. Hoffman has been very successful in arranging his 
work, and he is regarded as one of the most intelligent farmers in the 
region, his operations and methods showing results which justify this 
opinion of him. He has served as school director of the township since 
1898, was president of the board one year and has been secretary of that 
body since 1901; he was a road supervisor, filling that position 
from 1907 to 1910. 
	On Feb. 10, 1885, Mr. Hoffman married S. Lizzie Zeluff, daughter of 
Thomas and Jane (Penn) Zeluff; late of Washingtonville, Montour Co., 
Pa., whose children were John W., Mary A., Charles H., William F., Susan 
Lizzie (Mrs. Hoffman) and Margaret. Solomon Zeluff, Mrs. Hoffman's 
grandfather, was of French and English descent.  He moved from Tioga 
county, Pa., to Northumberland, Northumberland county, where he is 
buried. His children were: Mary, who married John Marshall; Benjamin.; 
Jane; Margaret, now the only member of the family living (she is past 
eighty-three year's old); and Thomas. 
	Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman have had these children: Ray P., Margaret A., 
Renn M. and Thomas L. The family are members of Trinity Lutheran Church, 
of Point township, and Mr. Hoffman has served many years in the church 
council.  He is a Democrat in politics.
	
	END OF PAGE 174
	
	ALFRED J. PERSING, postmaster at Elysburg, Northumberland county, 
where he also has a stationery store, has passed the greater portion of 
his life in this section of the county. He is a member of one of the 
oldest families in this region, the Persings having been established 
here from the time of his great-great-grandfather, William Persing.
	William Persing was born in Germany, and coming to this country 
settled in Jersey before the Revolutionary war.  Washington camped at 
one time near the Persing home and the family was honored with his 
acquaintance.  William Persing married in Germany and had two children 
when he emigrated. He and his wife died in New Jersey.  Their family was 
as follows: William, Jr., George, Philip, Jacob, John, Tyson, Margaret 
and another daughter.
	Tyson Persing, one of the sons of William, was born in New Jersey 
and came to Northumberland county with his brothers.  He followed 
farming in Shamokin township, died at his homestead, and is buried at 
the Blue church.  He married Katie Baker, and their children were: 
Jacob; William; Miller: Rebecca, wife of William Scholl; Mary, wife of 
Sol Hummel; Lena, wife of Adam Dimick; Margaret, wife of John Goss; and 
Elizabeth, wife of David Cromp.
	Jacob Persing, son of Tyson, was born in Irish Valley, this county, 
and spent his early life upon the farm.  He learned the shoemaking trade 
and followed it at Danville and at Riverside, but he died in Sunbury, 
while living with his daughter. His wife was Elizabeth Shipe, and they 
had the following children: David, Eli, Iliff, Israel (of Danville, 
Pa.), Reiley (living in Kansas; he served in the Civil war), 
Susanna,(married Joe Garvick) and Matilda (married John Lawrence).
	David Persing, son of Jacob, was born in Irish Valley, and like his 
father became a shoemaker. He was one of the pioneers at Shamokin, to 
which place he removed when there were very few houses on the site of 
that now prosperous borough, and later he moved to Locust Gap, this 
county, where he engaged in the timber business and remained for some 
time.  His next location was at Broad Top, where he became interested in 
the soft coal business with Krieger & Ammerman, but their venture did 
not prosper and he went to Clearfield county, Pa., where he was in the 
lumber business for a time.  From there he went to Houtzdale, Clearfield 
Co., Pa., where he is now living retired. Mr. Persing has been married 
three times. By his first marriage, to Mary Jane Krieger, he had three 
children, Alfred J., George and Celestial.  His second marriage was to 
Isabelle Clark, and their children are Andrew C. and Laura (wife of 
Isaac Goss).
	Alfred J. Persing was born Feb. 9, 1856, at Locust Gap, and 
received his education in the public schools. He was reared by his 
uncle, Eli Persing, at Shamrock station, in Ralpho township. After 
following farming for a time he learned the trade of wheelwright, and in 
his young manhood, in 1877, made a trip out to Kansas, where he spent 
two years.  Returning to Northumberland county he followed lumbering for 
five years, after which he settled at Elysburg.  He followed his trade 
of wheelwright for about twenty years thereafter, and since 1900 has 
served as postmaster.  In connection with the post office he conducts a 
stationery business. He is an esteemed citizen, and deserves the 
confidence his fellow men have shown in him.
	Mr. Persing married Clara Crowl, daughter of Jackson Crowl, of 
Ralpho township, and they have two children: Howard C., a printer; and 
Irene N., at home.  Mr. Persing is a member of Elysburg Lodge, No. 548, 
I.O.O.F., and also belongs to the Knights of the Golden Eagle.  He is a 
member of Reed's Reformed Church, and a Republican in his political 
views.
	Philip Persing, one of the sons of William, the emigrant ancestor, 
was born in New Jersey old came to Shamokin township, Northumberland 
county, when a young man, settling in Irish Valley.  He followed 
shoemaking and farming.  He died at the age of 101 years, and was buried 
at the Blue church.  To him and his wife Mary (Evland) were born these 
children: William, Abraham, Solomon, George, Elizabeth (married John 
Cherry), Catharine (who died unmarried) and Hannah (Mrs. Orlando 
Templin, of Shamokin, the last named now the only survivor of the 
family).
	Daniel Persing, a son of William Persing, Jr., was  born  in 1828 
in Irish Valley, lived at Selinsgrove, Pa., for seventeen years, and 
then in 1869 settled at Shamokin, where he was employed at the Cameron 
colliery until his death, in 1883. Previously he had followed shoemaking 
and farming.  He is buried at Shamokin cemetery.  His wife, Anna (Derr), 
daughter of William and Hannah (Reed) Derr, now makes her home with her 
daughter, Mrs. Smith, of Shamokin.  Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Persing had 
children as follows: Alfred lived at Deiblers Station; Emma married 
Monroe Geasey; Sylvia married William Yost; Alice married William 
Mitchell; Josephine died young; Jemima married  Charles Thompson; Floyd 
is an employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; Della married 
Charles Schlegel; Clara married James Long; Charles died young.

	JOHN WESLEY GILLESPIE, of the Northumberland county bar, with 
offices at Ninth and Independence streets, Shamokin, Pa., is one of 
those able, clearheaded and straightforward attorneys who have upheld 
the dignity of the law and made it respected throughout the county. He 
was
	
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born in Trevorton, this county, in 1850, son of Anthony Gillespie; and 
of sturdy Scotch-Irish ancestry.
	James Gillespie, his paternal grandfather, emigrated from Scotland, 
bringing his family with him, and found a new home in the State of 
Maryland, where he died. His children were: Anthony; and Margaret and 
William, both of whom went to New York and there died.
	Anthony Gillespie, the father of John Wesley Gillespie was born in 
Scotland in 1822, and came to America with his parents when about nine 
years of age. However, he did not remain long in, Maryland, but moved to 
Trevorton, Northumberland Co., Pa., afterward to Snufftown, said county, 
where he learned the blacksmith's trade. This he followed all of his 
active life. He died in Shamokin in 1883. He married Sarah Foye, 
daughter of Phineas Foye, of Northumberland county, and they are buried, 
respectively, in the Shamokin cemetery and Irish Valley burial ground.
	John Wesley Gillespie, son of Anthony Gillespie and Sarah, his 
wife, began life at the age of seven years as a slate picker boy at the 
Trevorton breaker. At the age of eight years he left Trevorton and 
worked for his board on the farm of Alexander Sober in Irish Valley 
until he was fifteen years of age, meanwhile attending the old Stone 
school in Irish Valley. He then went to Shamokin, Pa., where he picked 
slate at the Cameron breaker, at that time owned by the Fagely Brothers. 
He then worked on the township roads of Coal township for one year, 
after which he went to Lewisburg and attended the Lewisburg high school 
for a short time  His next move was to Danville, where he secured 
employment in the Watterman and Beaver rolling mills, laboring there for 
three years. Late in the year 1869 he returned to Shamokin, where he 
learned cabinet-making under Uriah Sober, and in 1871 he engaged in that 
line for himself in Turbutville, where he conducted a furniture store 
until 1873. He then took up under-taking, and returning to Shamokin he 
engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, in the year 1875 
entering into partnership in that business with M. C. Farrow.
	Being naturally ambitious, Mr. Gillespie devoted his leisure hours 
to study, in time taking up law, for which he had a decided liking. In 
1883 he disposed of his interest in the furniture and under-taking 
business and went to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he entered the law 
department of the University of Michigan, graduating in 1885. He was 
admitted to practice before the Supreme and Circuit courts of Michigan, 
and entered the office of Sawyer & Knowlton; at Ann Arbor.  Returning to 
Shamokin on July 12, 1886 he was admitted to the Northumberland county 
bar.  The next year, 1887, he went to Lincoln, Nebr., where he was 
engaged in practice for two years, at the end of which time he again 
came to Shamokin, and for years he has had one of the largest practices 
in Northumberland county, appearing in the most important civil and 
criminal cases in this section of the State. In 1889 he was elected 
borough solicitor of Shamokin borough, and has served in that capacity 
almost continuously for fifteen years, being the present solicitor. As 
one of the foremost lawyers in the county he, has frequently been 
approached to permit his name to be used as a candidate for judge of the 
county bar, but has invariably refused to do so.
	In 1871 Mr. Gillespie was united in marriage with Valeria, daughter 
of Silas Farrow, of Shamokin township, and they have been blessed with 
two children, as follows: John Malcolm, who graduated from the Shamokin 
high school in 1899 and the Dickinson School of Law in 1904, and is now 
associated in practice with his father, married Marcella Trommetter, and 
is residing at No. 221 East Sunbury street; Lillian J. is at home.

	SAMUEL WILSON MURRAY, late of Milton, was one of the most 
distinguished citizens of that borough and for many years a leader in 
the development of the community, not only in his capacity of business 
man but also in the inauguration and encouragement of progressive 
enterprises of all kinds. As one of the founders of the Milton Car 
Works, the first large industrial plant established there, he showed a 
faith in the commercial possibilities of the place amply justified by 
the success of the venture, and he continued his connection with same 
for a period of thirty-five years. As a citizen he was always foremost 
in advocating and introducing measures which had for their object the 
good of the people generally. His foresight and wisdom were demonstrated 
in many ways, in the conduct of his personal affairs and in his 
discharge of the duties of citizenship as interpreted according to his 
high standards.  Few men attain or deserve such honorable standing as he 
enjoyed.
	Mr. Murray was a native of Lewisburg, Union Co., Pa., born Oct. 16, 
1829, and belonged to a family which has been identified with that 
section for over a hundred and forty years. About 1770, three brothers, 
James, William and John Murray, settled on lands lying along the 
Chillisquaque creek in Northumberland county, in the vicinity of the 
present village of Pottsgrove, for which they obtained patents from the 
Commonwealth.  To this original colony were afterward added several 
members of a family of the name of Murray who had come from Scotland and 
settled on the Swatara (now in Dauphin county) in 1732. It is known that 
kinship was claimed between these two families, but the relationship was 
probably remote and cannot now be determined. There appear to have been 
others also of the same
	
	END OF PAGE 176
	
name who settled in the same locality at about the same period, but it 
is not known that any blood relationship existed between the latter and 
the two families first mentioned. The Murrays were stanch Presbyterians 
and active members of the Chillisquaque Church. The several families of 
the same name became at one time so numerous as to constitute a large 
proportion of the local community, but subsequently many of the members 
removed to different parts of the West, and comparatively few of their 
descendants now remain in this State.
	Among the members of the Swatara family who settled on the 
Chillisquaque creek was John Murray, who represented this district in 
the State Legislature from 1807 to 1810, and served as a member of 
Congress from 1817 to 1820. He was born in 1768 and was married to 
Margaret Murray, a daughter of Col. John Murray, of Dauphin county. They 
had several children, one of whom was the late John Murray, formerly a 
merchant of Milton.
	James Murray, one of the three brothers first mentioned, and known 
as Col. James Murray, took an active part in the war of the Revolution 
as colonel of a regiment of militia which had probably been raised in 
the upper end of the county. At the organization of the Northumberland 
county militia in January and February, 1776, James Murray was captain 
of the 7th company of the 2d battalion (Col. James Potter's) and William 
Murray was captain of the 5th company of the 3d battalion (Col. William 
Plunket's,), in which the lieutenant colonel was James Murray.  
Subsequently James Murray became colonel (succeeding Colonel Plunket 
probably, as the latter was not entirely in sympathy with the American 
cause after the Declaration of Independence); he was first called into 
active service in the winter of 1776-77, and on Nov. 4, 1777, marched 
with the Northumberland county militia to Philadelphia. His regiment was 
attached to Gen. James Potter's brigade and participated in the 
movements in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in 1776-78.  A paper dated May 
1, 1778, is on record in the office of the secretary of the 
commonwealth, giving the names of the captains and number of men in the 
rank and file of the 2d battalion of the Northumberland county militia 
commanded by Col. James Murray. James McMahan, one of the captains of 
this regiment and subsequently known as Major McMahan, was married to a 
sister of Colonel Murray. There are but few of Colonel Murray's 
descendants now living in the county.
	John Murray, another of the three brothers first mentioned, had one 
son, Thomas, and three daughters: Jane, who married John McMahan; Ann, 
who married John Reznor, and Mary, unmarried. The son was known as 
Thomas Murray, Jr., to distinguish him from another of the same name a 
few years his senior.
	Thomas Murray, Jr., was a member of the State House of 
Representatives in 1813, and in 1814 was elected to the Senate. In 1820 
he was elected a member of the Seventeenth Congress and served during 
the years 1821 and 1822, being the immediate successor of the John 
Murray previously mentioned. On account of increasing ill health he 
declined a renomination, and died Aug. 25, 1823.  He married Charity 
Arbour, who in her early life had some thrilling experiences with the 
Indians and had frequently been obliged to fly to Fort Augusta for 
protection.  Their children were: Mary, John F., William, Hannah, Joseph 
Arbour, Nancy, James, Thomas and Margaret.
	William Murray, son of Thomas Murray, Jr., was born Aug. 26, 1796. 
He married Nancy Gray Wilson, of Lewisburg, and they resided for a time 
at Washingtonville, Montour Co., Pa.  They removed from there to 
Lewisburg and subsequently to Lancaster, Pa., where he died June 13, 
1886. They had three children: Eliza N., who married James Black, of 
Lancaster; Thomas, who died in early life, and Samuel Wilson.
	Samuel Wilson Murray received his education at the old Lewisburg 
Academy under Hugh Pollock and his successor in that venerable 
institution, John Robinson.  He was about seventeen years of age when he 
went to Lancaster, Pa., where his father then resided, and two years 
later he went to Portland, Maine, entering the Portland Locomotive Works 
for a term of three years for the purpose of learning the trade of 
machinist. After the expiration of his time at the Portland works, he 
spent a year and a half at Vernon, Ind., and in Rhode Island, at the end 
of that period returning to Lancaster, where he was employed for the 
three succeeding years as draftsman in the Lancaster Locomotive Works.  
In September, 1856, he went to Williamsport, Pa., and in connection with 
William Vanderbilt and Charles Bowman engaged in the machine business 
under the firm name of Vanderbilt, Murray & Bowman. About the middle of 
the following January their works were entirely destroyed by fire. They 
immediately purchased another establishment then owned and operated by 
John B. Hall, but during the following summer came the great commercial 
crash of 1857, and this, together with their losses by fire, crippled 
the firm to such an extent that they deemed it expedient to resell the 
works to Mr. Hall and retire from business. Mr. Murray then returned to 
Lancaster, and shortly afterward went to Pittsburg, where he was 
employed a year in the shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The 
succeeding year he spent in the Baldwin Locomotive Works at 
Philadelphia.  In the fall of 1860 he returned to Lewisburg, and became 
interested in the firm of Slifer, Walls, Shriner & Company, which was 
about to engage in the manufacture of agricultural implements.  In 
Febru-
	
	END OF PAGE 177
	
ary, 1864, he came to Milton, and in connection with several others 
founded the Milton Car Works. With that important concern he was 
identified continuously until the year 1899, when the business was sold 
to the American Car & Foundry Company.
	In 1864, upon coming to Milton, Mr. Murray entered upon a 
partnership with William P. Dougal and others as senior member of the 
firm of Murray, Dougal & Co., and the erection of the car works was 
begun that year. During the years immediately following a number of 
changes were made in the personnel of the company, C. C. McCormick and 
John McCleery being eventually the associates of Mr. Murray and Mr. 
Dougal. Mr. McCleery retired in 1875, Mr. McCormick in 1878 and Mr. 
Dougal a few months later that year. The business was still continued 
under the original firm name, however, and the firm was reorganized in 
1880, when Charles H. Dickerman and R. C. Carter became associated with 
Mr. Murray as a limited partnership under the law of 1874. Soon 
afterward William R. Kramer became a member of the firm, and in 1881 R. 
M. Longmore.  The business consisted principally of the construction of 
all kinds of freight ears, including oil tank cars, an important branch, 
of which they have built a very large number.  The firm was engaged also 
for several years in the construction of iron bridges, but the bridge 
department of the works, destroyed in the great fire in 1880, was not 
rebuilt. They also for a time had a large trade in the construction of 
oil tanks for storage purposes, and also steam boilers.  The manufacture 
of freight cars, however, constituted the leading business of the firm, 
and there is no description of car used in the freight traffic which has 
not been turned out of the Milton Car Works. A large number of their 
cars have been exported to Cuba and the various countries of South 
America. The capacity of the works being ten 60-thousand-pound hopper 
coal cars per day, or three thousand cars per year, employment was 
ordinarily given to about four hundred hands, though at times the number 
reached nearly five hundred. Large portions of the works were destroyed 
by the great fire of 1880, and rebuilt on a larger scale, having been 
replaced by substantial stone and brick buildings, and every department 
was amply supplied with the most approved machinery and appliances. 
Connected with the plant was a saw-mill for the manufacture of the oak 
lumber used in the business, and sixteen acres of pool for the storage 
of logs, which were purchased along the Susquehanna river and its 
tributaries and brought from Muncy dam by the canal.  The works, located 
between the Philadelphia & Erie railroad and the West Branch canal, with 
a branch from the Philadelphia & Reading railroad running to the 
premises, enjoyed unusual transportation facilities.  Under the most 
efficient management, with men at the head who were capable of meeting 
large industrial and financial responsibilities, this grew to be one of 
the largest and most successful car building plants in the State of 
Pennsylvania.  The relation of such an industrial institution to the 
prosperity of the borough may be readily understood.  Mr. Murray was not 
only foremost in business circles in his connection with this 
establishment, but was also active in other local enterprises, being one 
of the organizers and originators of the Milton Iron Company, in 1872, 
of the Milton Water Company, in 1883, and interested in various other 
concerns of great importance to the community. Toward the close of his 
life, because of failing health, he relinquished his activity in 
business to some extent, but he was nevertheless an important factor in 
the life of the borough to the end of his days.
	While a resident of Portland, Maine, Mr. Murray cast his first vote 
at the municipal election at which Neal Dow was elected mayor of the 
city and which resulted in the enactment of the famous "Maine Law."  He 
became at that time a convert to the theory that prohibition was the 
only practical remedy for the evils of intemperance and remained a life-
long adherent to the cause.  In early life he joined the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, to which creed his parents and sister also adhered, 
and he was a prominent leader in church work for many years, a liberal 
contributor to religious and benevolent purposes.  At a special meeting 
of the official board of the M. E. Church of Milton, held July 19, 1909, 
the following resolutions were passed:
	"WHEREAS, it has pleased the kind Heavenly Father, in His wise 
Providence, to remove from the church militant to the church triumphant 
our beloved and highly esteemed brother and fellow worker in the kingdom 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Samuel Wilson Murray, therefore be it
	"Resolved first that we bow in sorrowful recognition of our great 
loss in his departure, acknowledging the supreme will of God, and 
pledging ourselves anew to the great tasks to which he gave the strength 
of his years and the devotion of his life.
	"Resolved second that in Samuel Wilson Murray we have seen an 
unusual exemplification of the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ; 
in his unsullied personal life; his strict business integrity; his 
spirit of practical brotherly kindness; his broad Christian charity; his 
humble but unswerving loyalty to the Kingdom of Christ, and his personal 
love and devotion to the church of his choice.
	"Resolved third that we recognize the distinguished and 
conscientious fidelity with which he discharged every responsibility 
imposed upon him by the church; having in his nearly fifty years of 
membership in this church filled and honored these various official 
relations with characteristic quiet dignity and sound judgment.
	
	END OF PAGE 178
	
	"Resolved fourth that we gratefully acknowledge his large-hearted 
generosity in the bestowal of his means  in the liberal support of the 
church in her local and general enterprises, his large contributions to 
charitable, educational and benevolent causes,  and the spirit of 
helpful kindness with  which he responded to every worthy appeal.
	"Resolved fifth that we extend to the family of our translated 
brother our profoundest sympathy in the great loss they suffer in his 
departure, but rejoice with them that a kind Providence permitted them 
to enjoy for so many years his wise and kindly counsels and his saintly 
fellowship.
	"Resolved sixth that a copy of these resolutions be sent to the 
family of the deceased, and also that they be published in the city 
papers and be entered upon the records of the church."
	Mr. Murray reached his eighteenth year, dying at his home on North 
Front street, Milton, June 15, 1909.  In poor health for several years, 
he had spent most of the winter and spring at Old Point Comfort coming 
home a few days before his death, which was unexpected.  The veneration 
and high esteem in which he was held were seen in the many marks of 
honor paid at the funeral.  The banks and practically all other business 
places of the city were closed during the funeral hour as a special mark 
of respect, and the services were largely attended by citizens of all 
classes.  Eloquent and impressive tributes to his character and standing 
were paid by his pastor and a former pastor of the M. E. Church, where 
the services were held. The remains were interred in the Upper cemetery 
at Milton. We quote the following from the pastor's address: "For half a 
century he has gone out and in among you. His life was an open book and 
was read by all. There was not a page in it that needed to be concealed 
or that might not be read by all the community.  He had high and clear 
conceptions of right and an unusual sense of fine moral distinctions. 
The standards of business integrity are higher in this community because 
he lived here. To have lived a public business life in a community for 
fifty years in this age of corrupt business practices without any man 
being able to place the finger upon a single dishonorable or even 
questionable business transaction, is an imperishable monument to the 
transcendent moral greatness of the man's character."
	The Milton Evening Standard had the following editorial in its 
issue of June 16, 1909: "In the death of Samuel Wilson Murray, which 
occurred at his home on North Front street last night, Milton loses one 
of her most distinguished and honored citizens.  He came to Milton 
almost a half century ago and established the first industrial 
enterprise of any magnitude in our town - the Milton car works. He has 
been all these years a continuous figure in the industrial, commercial, 
financial, social and moral development of the community.  He possessed 
a strong personality.  He had a wonderful memory, was a keen observer 
and a man of remarkable versatility and mental grasp. He had an 
inventive mind and a strong inclination to literature. He was a great 
reader and had traveled extensively in this and foreign lands. He was a 
forceful speaker, a sound reasoner and a pleasing and entertaining 
conversationalist.  He was a man of the strictest integrity, with an 
unblemished character, and his life stands out and reflects the highest 
ideal of the upright man. Mr. Murray always had the courage of his 
convictions. He stood boldly and aggressively for what he believed to be 
right and he was unswerving in his devotion to any cause he espoused. He 
was a man of generous impulses and without ostentation has given away 
vast sums. Hundreds of families have felt his generosity who never knew 
from whence it came.  While Mr. Murray has not been active in business 
for a few years, due to declining health, his loss will be keenly felt 
by the whole community."
	On Dec. 17, 1866, Mr. Murray married Sarah Matilda Meckly, daughter 
of Dr. John Meckly, of Milton, who survives him.  Two children were born 
to this union, John Heber and Helen Beatrice, the former of whom died 
June 18, 1895.

	JOSEPH E. PENSYL, of Paxinos, Northumberland county, has been a 
resident of that place since 1896 and devotes the greater part of his 
attention to the lumber business, in which he has built up a prosperous 
trade. He is well known in public life, having served the community in 
various official capacities, and is considered a capable and reliable 
man, able to handle any work he undertakes.
	Mr. Pensyl was born March 16, 1862, in Ralpho township, this 
county, son of David R. Pensyl and is a member of one of the pioneer 
families of this region. Jacob Pensyl (or Bentzel), his great-great-
grandfather, was a native of Germany, and coming to America made his 
home in Northumberland county, Pa., taking up fifty acres of land at the 
present site of the borough of Shamokin. His location was where the 
"Eagle Hotel" now stands. Afterward he abandoned this place and took up 
a 200-acre tract in Ralpho township (where his great-grandson, David R. 
Pensyl, later resided) to which be moved. He had one son, John.
	John Pensyl, son of Jacob, was born in 1767 and was nine years old 
when his father settled at what is now Shamokin.  He was a member of the 
German Reformed Church, one of the organizers and original members of 
the old Blue Church in Ralpho township, and donated an acre of ground 
for church purposes, the edifice of that congregation being located 
thereon to this day. He died upon the homestead in Ralpho township in 
April, 1849, at the age of eighty-two.  John Pensyl married
	
	END OF PAGE 179
	
Barbara Hinkle, and to them were born five children: Kate, who married 
Frederick Lebic; Leah who married John Fisher; John, who was twice 
married; George, born Aug. 1, 1799; and Leonard.
	Leonard Pensyl, son of John and Barbara (Hinkle) Pensyl, was born 
May 11, 1804, on the home-stead in Ralpho township, and died Oct. 1, 
1883 [date is also given Oct. 31, 1884]. He was a farmer by occupation. 
He was an active member of the German Reformed Church, which he served 
as deacon and elder for twenty-one years; in politics he was a Democrat.  
He married Elizabeth Kaseman, daughter of Frederick William Kaseman, of 
Ralpho township, and to this Union were born three children: Sarah S., 
born July 3, 1828, died Jan. 3, 1908, who was the wife of Daniel H. 
Adams, of Ralpho township; Daniel, who died Jan. 24, 1834, age seven 
months, sixteen days and David R.
	David R. Pensyl, son of Leonard, was born Sept. 25, 1835, on the 
old Pensyl homestead, which he inherited, following farming there 
throughout his active years, except for a short time when he was in the 
mercantile business, which he started in 1857 and carried on for two 
years. He had over two hundred acres of land. Mr. Pensyl died Feb. 15, 
1910, and is buried at the Blue church.  He was a member of that church, 
and socially was a Mason, holding membership in Shamokin lodge F. & 
A.M., and in the Conclave. Though a Democrat in politics and interested 
in the success of his party, he never took any active part in its 
affairs or in public matters of any kind.
	In 1859 Mr. Pensyl married Carolina Fry daughter of Joseph Fry, and 
eleven children were born to their union: Lenora, who is the wife of 
Alonzo D. Smink, of Shamokin, and has children Florence (wife of Robert 
Roth and the mother of children, Robert L. and Harriet L.) and Reuben 
L.; Joseph E. Laura, wife of Joseph B. Hill, of Tharptown, Pa.; Leonard, 
a resident of Shamokin; David J., living at Weigh Scales, Northumberland 
county; Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of George Burkert; Hannah, 
living at Mount Carmel, Pa.; Cora, wife of Frank Leader, a merchant of 
Mount Carmel; Bertha M., who died in infancy; Oscar W., member of the 
firm of Paul & Pensyl, butchers of Shamokin; and Carrie F., deceased, 
who was the wife of Rutherford Hayes.
	Joseph E. Pensyl attended the Kaseman school in his native 
township.  He was reared to farming, which he continued to follow for a 
number of years, owning a farm at the Blue church which he later sold to 
his brother-in-law, G. J. Snyder. For ten years he farmed the ground 
which has since been sold to the Blue Church for cemetery purposes this 
being the new part of the burial ground at that church. In 1896 he moved 
to Paxinos, where he has since made his home.  Meantime he has become 
interested in the lumber business, supplying timber for the Shipman Coal 
Company's and Buck Ridge collieries. Eight men and two four-horse teams 
are kept constantly busy at this work, Mr. Pensyl doing quite an 
extensive business.  Since his removal to this point he has been almost 
continuously identified with public affairs, having served fourteen 
years as constable of Shamokin township and for some time as tax 
collector.  While a resident of Ralpho township he was constable for two 
years and supervisor for three years. He is identified with the 
Democratic party, and is a member of the I.O.O.F., belonging to Elysburg 
Lodge. In religion he adheres to the Reformed faith, being a member of 
the Blue Church.
	Mr. Pensyl married Elizabeth Snyder, daughter of Isaac Snyder. They 
have no children.

	ABRAHAM W. PONTIUS, of Sunbury, wholesale and retail dealer in ice 
cream and confectionery, which he also manufactures, began that business 
in a modest way in 1894 and has made a notable success, displaying 
enterprise and executive ability which would have insured him prosperity 
in any line. His modern, well kept establishment is a credit to the 
borough and his career has been active and honorable, for he has come to 
the front by hard work and close application to the highest principles 
in all his dealings.
	Mr. Pontius is a native of Snyder county, Pa. born Jan. 4, 1870, 
son of Henry Pontius and grandson of George Pontius.  John Pontius, his 
first ancestor in America, was born in 1718 in Alsace, and arrived here 
in 1738, locating in Tulpehocken, Berks Co., Pa.  In 1743 he married 
Anna Catherine Zellers, daughter of John Zellers, and they had quite a 
large family, the sons being: (John) Henry, born in 1744; (John) Peter, 
born in 1747; John, born in 1751: Andrew Michael; George, and Frederick.  
Of these, Peter was a soldier in Capt. John Leshers company from Berks 
county, during the Revolutionary war, and was in the battle of Long 
Island. All of the sons were pioneers, several being among the first 
settlers in Buffalo Valley, in what is now Union county, Pa., and many 
of the next generation were among the early settlers in Ohio and 
Illinois.
	George Pontius, son of John, was the great-grandfather of Abraham 
W. Pontius. He lived in Buffalo Valley, in Snyder (now Union) county and 
died at a comparatively early age.  He is buried at Smith Grove church.  
He had sons Thomas (who is buried in Snyder county)and George.
	George Pontius, son of George, was born in Jackson township, Snyder 
county, where he lived and owned the farm which later became the 
property of his son Henry. He married Susan Snyder, who died aged 
seventy-five years, three months,
	
	END OF PAGE 180
	
twenty-one days, Mr. Pontius attaining the age eighty-three. He was a 
member of the Reformed Church, his wife of the Lutheran Church.  They 
had a family of six children, namely:  Henry; George, of Lewisburg, Pa.; 
Mary, wife of Lemekus Stocker; Catharine, wife of Daniel Benfer; 
Susanna, who is unmarried; and Elizabeth, wife of Conrad Maurer.
	Henry Pontius, son of George, was born in 1828 in Jackson township, 
Snyder county, and died Jan. 21, 1897. He is buried at the U. E. church 
at Kratzerville, Snyder county, of which church he was long an active 
member.  He was one of its organizers and for many years a pillar of the 
congregation, serving as class-leader, exhorter, and in various official 
positions, the duties of which he discharged with zeal and efficiency.  
In politics he was a Republican, and he served many years as assessor of 
Monroe township, Snyder county. By occupation he was a farmer, owning a 
tract of one hundred acres. His wife, Sarah (Heiser), daughter of David 
Heiser, of Snyder county, died in 1904, aged sixty-nine years.  They had 
two children: Laura, who married Elmer Greiner, and Abraham W.  Mr. and 
Mrs. Greiner now live on the Henry Pontius homestead.
	There were at least two members of the Heiser family serving in the 
Revolutionary war, Gotleib Heiser having been a private in Captain 
Ritter's company from Berks county; and there was one John Heiser in 
that war from Pennsylvania.
	The Federal Census Report of 1790 records the names of Henry, 
Charles and Ulrich Heiser, heads of families from Brunswick and Manheim 
townships, Berks (now Schuylkill) county.
	David Heiser, a son of one of the three named as heads of families 
in 1790, was married to Elizabeth Rudolfe. He lived in the Buffalo 
Valley, in Union county, Pa., and they are buried at Bath, Pa.  They had 
these children:  Henry, John, David, Christian, David, Molly (never 
married), Mrs. Krebs, Mrs. Showers and Mrs. Patterson.
	David Heiser, son of David, was born in Mifflin county, Pa., in 
1794, and died in 1857.  He is buried at Kratzerville, in Snyder county. 
He was a stonemason by trade and also a farmer. In religion he united 
with the Evangelical Church, and in politics he was an old-line Whig.  
His wife, Magdalena (Immhoff), was born in 1800. In Lancaster county, 
and died in 1867.  She, too, is buried at Kratzerville.  They had 
children: John, Henry, David, Daniel, Sarah (married Henry Pontius) 
Abraham, Susan, Mary, Benjamin and Anne.
	Daniel Heiser, son of David, born in 1830, in Union (now Snyder) 
county, was a farmer, miller and merchant for forty years, and took part 
in local public affairs in his active years, serving as school director 
nine years and assessor.  He now resides at Lewisburg, retired. He is a 
member of the United Evangelical Church. Mr. Heiser married Phoebeann 
Missuna, who died in 1907 at the age of seventy-four years, and they had 
children: James H. (died young), Edwin S., Willis D., Phoebe, Elmer E., 
C. Regina, M. Edith and Emma Irene (died aged seventy-four years).
	Abraham W. Pontius received a common school education in the home 
locality in Snyder county, and was reared to farming pursuits, which he 
followed until twenty-four years old.  Coming to Sunbury at that age, in 
1894, he has since devoted himself to his present line of business. He 
began with a retail confectionery and ice cream store at No. 241 Market 
square, near the courthouse, continuing at that location for eleven 
years. During the first three years he confined himself to the retail 
trade, but soon branched out as a wholesale dealer, until his customers 
are now drawn from a territory embracing seven counties.  In 1904 he 
built the Pontius building, at Nos. 404-406 Market street, which he has 
since occupied.  It is three stories high, of light brick with gray 
stone trimming, with a frontage of 30 feet on Market street and 104 feet 
in depth, extending back to the wholesale room, which fronts on No. 16 
North Fourth street, and which is 18 by 40 feet in dimensions. The 
buildings are connected, and there are entrances on both Market street 
and North Fourth street.  The upper part of the Pontius building is 
finished for use as offices, lodge rooms and dwelling rooms.  Mr. 
Pontius has made an addition to the main building, 18 by 36 feet in 
dimensions, where he manufactures and stores his ice cream.  He has all 
the most modern machinery and appliances for manufacturing ice cream and 
confectionery, and his retail store is most attractively arranged and 
fitted.  The tiled floor and wainscoting, large mirrors, and other 
tasteful appointments, give it a wholesome, inviting appearance which 
appeals to the patrons. There are accommodations for serving a hundred 
and sixty customers at one time, if necessary, and the establishment is 
one of the most popular places of its kind in Sunbury.  Both retail and 
wholesale departments are conducted in the most hygienic manner, a fact 
which brings the best class of trade in the vicinity. Mr. Pontius has 
eight employees. He ships his ice cream and candy throughout central 
Pennsylvania. This enterprise has drawn him into other local business 
interests, and he was one of the promoters of the Sunbury National Bank, 
of which he is a director. He was instrumental in having the present 
location of the bank, on Market street, chosen for the site of its 
building and served as a member of the building committee.  This 
structure adjoins the Pontius building, which was so planned that it is 
in harmony as to exterior with the bank building, being apparently a 
continuation of it.
	
	END OF PAGE 181
	
	On Jan. 27, 1896, Mr. Pontius married Jennie Conrey, daughter of J. 
C. Conrey, of Northumberland, this county, and they have had one son, C. 
Henry.  He and his family are members of the First U. E. Church of 
Sunbury, in which he is very active, at present serving as steward and 
treasurer. In 1910 he was a delegate to the general conference which met 
at Canton, Ohio. Mr. Pontius is a Republican, and served two years as 
councilman of the Second ward.  Fraternally he belongs to True Cross 
Commandery, No. 122, Knights of Malta, and to two insurance orders, the 
Royal Arcanum and the Protected Home Circle - all of Sunbury.

	DANIEL G. FEGER, a farmer in the eastern end of Washington 
township, was born Aug. 10, 1850, at the place where he now lives, which 
was also his father's home.
	Conrad Feger, his grandfather, was a native of Berks county, Pa., 
coming thence to Northumberland county before his marriage. Here he 
wedded Hosanna Fisher, and they lived in Northumberland county for about 
twenty years, at the end of that period moving out to Ogle county, Ill.  
There they took up 160 acres of land for which they paid $1.25 per acre, 
followed farming, and prospered, passing the remainder of their days in 
that county, where they are buried.  Conrad Feger followed distilling as 
well as farming. He lived to the age of ninety-two years, his wife dying 
some years previously.  They were Lutherans in religious faith. Their 
children were born in Northumberland county, and all but Joseph, the 
eldest, accompanied them out to Ogle county, Ill., he having married 
previous to the removal and his wife preferring to remain in 
Northumberland, her native county. The family was as follows  Joseph, 
John, Daniel, Samuel, Conrad, Peter, David, Harry, Isaac, Sarah, 
Elizabeth, Katie and Rosie.  Conrad Feger had a cousin George, who 
conducted a pottery store in Harrisburg, and who became blind in his 
later years.
	Joseph Feger, son of Conrad, was born Jan. 5, 1812, in Jackson 
township, Northumberland county, and was a carpenter in his earlier 
manhood, later becoming a farmer. In 1850 he settled on the farm in the 
eastern end of Washington township now owned by his son Daniel.  There 
he farmed until 1869, when his son Daniel succeeded him on the place and 
he moved to the western part of Upper Mahanoy township, living retired 
in that location until his death, which occurred April 23, 1887. He was 
a man of intelligence and trusted by his fellow men, and as he was an 
excellent hand at figures he served about twenty years as township 
auditor, being also assessor of Washington township for about twelve 
years.  In politics he was a Democrat, in religion a Lutheran, he and 
his family belonging to the Lutheran congregation at the Himmel Church. 
He was very regular in his attendance on church services, and was an 
active worker in the church, serving as deacon, elder and trustee. His 
first wife, Molly (Geist), daughter of Andrew and Catharine (Snyder) 
Geist, of Upper Mahanoy township, was born April 19, 1817, and died 
Sept. 29, 1863. They had six children: Andrew married Malissa Michael 
and had three children, Charles O., George W. and Joseph, the last named 
deceased; they lived in Dongola, Union Co., Ill. Harriet married Adam 
Cherry, and they lived in Upper Mahanoy township, where her father, 
Joseph Feger, died.  Mary (deceased) married Henry Otto and lived at 
Shamokin, this county. Sarah married William H. Otto and they live at 
Pottsville, Pa. Andelina (deceased) married Henry Schminkey and lived at 
Ashland, Pa. Daniel G. is mentioned below. For his second wife Mr. Feger 
married Mrs. Anna (Wolfgang) Gottshall Herb, her first husband having 
been Samuel Gottshall, her second Daniel Herb and her third Joseph 
Feger.
	Daniel G. Feger attended subscription school during his boyhood, 
but not for long.  He was reared to farm life, which he has followed 
practically all his life, for though a carpenter he engaged at the trade 
only one season. In 1869 he began farming on his own account at his 
present home, his farm consisting of ninety-six acres. In 1907 he 
remodeled the old part of his residence and built the new part. Mr. 
Feger has always been a successful farmer and has his land in good 
shape. His recreation is hunting, and he has shot many rabbits and 
raccoons, shooting usually seventy-five rabbits during the season. He 
was the champion raccoon and fox hunter of his district for many years, 
having caught and shot as many as twenty-six raccoons in one season.
	Mr. Feger is a Democrat and interested in the success of his party 
and the administration of local affairs, having helped to hold many 
elections. He has served his township for six years as school director 
and three years in the capacity of supervisor.
	On Oct. 18, 1868, Mr. Feger married Harriet Kembel, daughter of 
Daniel  and Catharine (Feger) Kembel, of Washington township, and they 
have had fourteen children, nine of whom reached maturity:  Charles W., 
now of Spokane, Wash.; Joseph H., of Frackville, Pa.; Harvey E., who 
carries on his father's farm; Lillie A., wife of C. A. Brosius of Upper 
Mahantango township, Schuylkill county Jennie M., Mrs. Daniel Weary, of 
Frackville Pa.;  Laura B., Mrs. William Belles, of Montandon Pa.;  Frank 
R., Gertie M. and Daniel C., unmarried.  Mr. Feger and his family 
worship at the Himmel Church, belonging to the Lutheran congregation.
	
END OF PAGE 182
	
	JOHN J. BRIERLEY, of Trevorton, Northumberland county, has been 
superintendent of the silk mill at that point since January, 1908, the 
plant being a branch of the Shamokin Silk Mills, owned by J. H. and C. 
K. Eagle.  The business has been his life work.  His aptitude for this 
industrial art, and his long practical experience, make him a valuable 
man in his capacity as superintendent. Mr. Brierley was born Jan. 2, 
1867, in Paterson, N. J., where his father, John Brierley, a native of 
England, settled upon coming to America, in 1854.  The father was 
employed throughout his active years by the Hinchliffe Brothers, 
brewers, of Paterson. He married Sarah Clark.
	John J. Brierley attended the public schools of his native city.  
When only a boy of twelve he began to work in the silk mills, beginning 
at the bottom, and he has worked his way up through the various stages 
of employment, rising by efficient service to his present responsible 
position. In 1898 he came to Shamokin, Pa., entering the Shamokin Silk 
Mills as a foreman, and when the mills passed into the ownership of the 
Eagle brothers he continued as foreman in their employ. In January, 
1908, he was sent to Trevorton to take charge of the branch mill there, 
as superintendent.  About one hundred hands are employed in this plant, 
which is kept busy constantly, the output of these mills finding a 
steady demand in the market. Mr. Brierley's efficiency and devotion to 
his work, and his intelligent comprehension of its requirements and 
possibilities, have brought out his executive qualities, which have 
proved quite as important in the successful operation of the plant as 
his thorough knowledge of silk  manufacturing.
	On Feb. 21, 1888, Mr. Brierley married Charlotte Miller, of New 
Jersey, and they have three children:  David M., Elsie C. and Charlotte 
M. The family home is at Edgewood.  Mr. Brierley is a Mason and an Odd 
Fellow, belonging to Shamokin Lodge, No. 255, F. & A.M., to Lodge No. 
664, I.O.O.F., and to the Triple Link Club of Shamokin. In religious 
connection he is a Lutheran.

	JOHN KEIM, of Riverside, Northumberland county, has been a citizen 
of that borough throughout its existence and has been a leader in the 
administration of its public affairs as well as in business circles.  He 
has been engaged in the manufacture of brick practically from boyhood, 
having begun the business so early in life that he is still known all 
over the State as the "boy brick maker."  Mr. Keim was born Feb. 22, 
1845, at Shoemakersville, son of David Keim, and comes of a family long 
known in Berks county, Pa., where its representatives are still 
numerous. His grandfather was Samuel Keim.
	David Keim was born Sept. 8, 1808, at Shoemakersville, in Perry 
township, Berks county, where he lived until his removal to Danville, 
Montour Co., Pa., in 1847.  He was a farmer by occupation, and passed 
the rest of his life at Danville, where he is buried. His death occurred 
Jan. 3, 1878. In religion he was a Lutheran, in politics a Democrat. His 
wife, Harriet Arnold (sister of Dr. John Arnold, a dentist of Reading), 
was born July 13, 1813, and died April 19, 1887.  Their children were 
born as follows: Matilda, Jan. 18, 1831; Catharine, Nov. 23, 1832; 
Susan, July 28, 1834; Harriet, April 3, 1836 (died in November, 1910, in 
Chicago, Ill.); Anna M., Sept. 22, 1838; George W., July 22, 1840; 
Daniel, May 3, 1842; John, Feb. 22, 1845; Sarah, Jan. 25, 1847; William, 
Nov. 7, 1851.
	John Keim was reared at Danville, and he was only a youth of 
fifteen when he enlisted from that place for service in the Civil war, 
holding the record as Danville's youngest representative who carried a 
musket in that conflict.  He became a member of Company H, 93d Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, with which he served one year, and during his 
second enlistment he was enrolled in Company B, 194th Regiment, as first 
sergeant. He served four months in this command.  His third term of 
service was with Company I, 41st Regiment, in which he was also first 
sergeant, and at its expiration he enlisted in Company I, 104th 
Regiment, being given the same rank.  He saw considerable active service 
in the field, taking part in many engagements, and made a highly 
creditable record. At the battle of Fair Oaks two men were shot by his 
side.
	Mr. Keim burned his first kiln of brick before he was eighteen 
years old, and he has been in the business continuously ever since. His 
plants are at Danville, and the product is a red clay, handmade brick 
which is shipped into all the coal mining towns, the demands being 
steady, and the trade having expanded to such dimensions that as many as 
fifty-five men are given steady employment.  In 1909 the yearly output 
was 2,400,000. Mr. Keim has built up his large business by constant 
attention to its needs and by keeping thoroughly abreast of the times in 
his line, and he is considered a deservedly prosperous man by all who 
have had dealings with him.  His association with Riverside as a 
municipality dates from the time of its organization.  He came to the 
town when there were only twelve houses on the site, and he was one of 
the leading spirits in its incorporation as a borough, which took place 
in 1871. As school director and member of the council for many years, he 
has taken an active part in its affairs and has done public-spirited 
duty. Politically he is a member of the Republican party, and socially 
he is connected with Danville Post, No. 22, G.A.R., and with Danville 
Lodge, No.
	
        END OF PAGE 183
	
224, F. & A.M., of which latter he was chaplain for some years.
	In 1862 Mr. Keim married Christiana Bowers, who died in 1897, at 
the age of fifty-one years, the mother of the following children:  
William is engaged as a brick manufacturer in Oklahoma; Catharine, who 
teaches music in Danville and Riverside, is unmarried; Alice married 
Rev. M. B. Bird, a Congregational minister, and they live in Chicago, 
Ill.; Emerson J. is engaged as a manufacturer of brick and foreman of a 
cement plant at Independence, Kans.; Mamie is at home. In 1898 Mr. Keim 
married Ida M. Morgan, daughter of Charles Grier Morgan, of Danville.  
Mr. Keim and his family are members of the Methodist Church, in which he 
has held the offices of trustee and steward, serving in the latter for 
many years.
	Joseph Morgan, grandfather of Mrs. Ida M. (Morgan) Keim, was born 
Aug. 29, 1784, and was of Welsh extraction, his father, Charles Morgan, 
having come from Wales with his wife and a large family, nine sons and 
one daughter.  He settled in the Irish Valley, in Northumberland county, 
Pa., where he owned a farm and followed agricultural pursuits. His 
children were Charles, David, Peter and Joseph. Joseph Morgan followed 
farming in the Irish Valley also, dying there in 1846, in his sixty-
third year.  He is buried at Klinesgrove. His wife, Charity (Campbell), 
born Nov. 19, 1790, preceded him to the grave. Their children were born 
as follows:  Emily, Sept. 9, 1812; Huldah, Feb. 16, 1815; John C., July 
20, 1818 (was sheriff of Northumberland county); Maria, Dec. 7, 1819; 
Charity, June 20, 1824; Charles Grier, Sept. 3, 1826.
	Charles Grier Morgan lived at Danville, Pa., where he died Oct. 12, 
1866. He married Sarah Ann Maurer, daughter of John Maurer, and she also 
died at Danville, March 17, 1910. They had a family of four children: 
Elliott R., who married Margaret Bassett, daughter of George Bassett, of 
Danville, Pa.; Sarah E.; Ida M., Mrs. Keim; and Seth W., who married 
Kate Johnson, daughter of Stephen Johnson, of Danville.

	ELMER W. DOCKEY, one of the leading citizens of Pillow (formerly 
known as Uniontown), former auditor of Dauphin county, and now 
extensively engaged in the insurance business, was born at Pillow March 
22, 1866, son of Benjamin Dockey.
	The Dockey family of Northumberland and the surrounding counties of 
Pennsylvania has its origin in John Adam Dockey, who came to America 
during the Revolutionary war as one of the Hessian soldiers hired by 
King George.  After the close of that war for independence he remained 
in America.  With a number of his fellow countrymen he first lived in 
Berks county, thence coming to Northumberland county prior to the 
beginning of the nineteenth century and locating in what is now Lower 
Mahanoy township.  Here he married, prospered, lived and died.  He and 
his wife are buried in the old part of the graveyard at Zion's Church of 
Stone Valley. He was tall, erect, of typical military appearance and 
good address, and possessed more than ordinary intelligence. He was a 
man of resolute will and strong convictions. He had three children, 
namely: John, mentioned later; Elizabeth, who died unmarried; and 
Catharine, who married Simon Lenker, of Lower Mahanoy.
	John Dockey, son of John Adam, was born July 17, 1787, in the lower 
end of the Mahantango Valley. He died on his large farm in Lower Mahanoy 
township July 28, 1858. He was a lifelong farmer, and owned considerable 
real estate.  His wife, Anna Maria Schaffer, who was of an old 
established Lower Mahanoy township family, was born Aug. 1,1795, and 
died Feb. 25, 1862.  John Dockey and his wife prospered by their 
industry, and reared a large family of children to usefulness and 
thrift. They were members of the Lutheran congregation of Zion's Church, 
in Stone Valley, and are buried at that church. They had thirteen 
children, twelve of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, viz.: Michael, 
born March 2, 1813, who died Nov. 12, 1889 (he had two sons and three 
daughters); John, born March 21, 1815, who died Sept. 24, 1887 (wife 
Elizabeth, born Nov. 27; 1815, died Feb. 2, 1891; they had one 
daughter); Mary; Jonas, born Dec. 31, 1819, who died July 7, 1904 (his 
wife Catharine Hepner, born June 15, 1869, died Oct. 29, 1891; they had 
one son and one daughter); Elizabeth; Joseph, who bad two sons and four 
daughters; Sarah; Catharine Magdalena, who married David Underkoffler 
and had fifteen children; Benjamin; Annie, who never married; Elias, 
born June 21, 1833, who died Dec. 7, 1888 (his wife Eliza, born in 1834, 
died in 1898; they had two sons and five daughters); and Nathan, born 
Dec. 11, 1830, who died Oct. 3, 1835. Nearly all this family are buried 
at the Stone Valley Church.
	Benjamin Dockey, son of John, was a tailor, and followed the trade 
in his earlier life. About 1850 he engaged in the store business at 
County Line, and later huckstered produce and followed farming.  In 1866 
he came to Uniontown (Pillow), where he has since lived, following 
various occupations. He was a drover some years and for some years was 
connected with a hotel at Pottsville.  Since 1896 he has made his home 
with his son Elmer W. Dockey.  He has taken some part in public affairs, 
having held various local offices, among them that of constable, which 
he filled for some years.  He is the oldest resident of his section, but 
though advanced in years is well preserved. His wife, Mary Witmer, 
daughter of John and Mary (Lenker) Witmer, born Feb. 8, 1833,
	
     END OF PAGE 184
	
died in 1899, aged sixty-six years lacking a few days. She is buried at 
Uniontown.  Mr. and Mrs. Dockey had the following children: Jeremiah M., 
of Williamsport, Pa.; Malinda, who married John Kaudeman, of 
Williamsport; Miles, deceased; and Elmer W. Benjamin Dockey is a member 
of the Lutheran Church.
	Elmer W. Dockey was reared in the borough of Uniontown and there 
received his early intellectual training.  Later he attended the 
Keystone State Normal School, at Kutztown, Pa., leaving when in the 
Junior class to go to work. He began teaching when nineteen years old, 
in Upper Mahanoy township, and was engaged for two terms.  Meantime he 
had learned the cigarmaker's trade, when he was sixteen years old, and 
he followed the business as a manufacturer for seventeen years, 
employing three hands.  He discontinued to engage in the fire insurance 
business, to which he has devoted himself principally for seventeen 
years, being agent for the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of 
Hummelstown, Pa.; the Lebanon Mutual, of Lebanon, Pa.; the Palmyra 
Mutual, of Palmyra, Pa.; the Boyertown Mutual, of Boyertown, Pa.; the 
Lykens Valley Mutual, of Elizabethville, Pa.; the Hartford Fire 
Insurance Company, of Hartford, Conn. (a stock company); and the Mutual 
of Annville, Pa. Mr. Dockey writes nearly all the insurance placed south 
of Sunbury, and up to Pitman and Hegins, doing hundreds of thousands of 
dollars worth of business annually for the various companies he 
represents. He is a man of large business capacity, and he adjusts most 
of the claims for his companies.
	Mr. Dockey has been prominent in his locality in the councils of 
the Republican party, wielding considerable influence, and has served 
frequently as delegate to county conventions.  In the fall of 1902 he 
was elected auditor of Dauphin county and served two terms, until 1908. 
He has been a school director of Pillow for many years and for seventeen 
years has served as secretary of the school board - June 4, 1894, to 
date. He is secretary of the borough council, an office he has held 
since March, 1893.  In 1892 he was elected justice of the peace and has 
held that office continuously since, all the local legal work connected 
with the drawing up of documents, etc., being brought to him.  He has 
been secretary of the Mahanoy & Mahantango Telephone Company since its 
organization, in 1904, was one of the organizers, and is a director. He 
is leader of the Pillow Band of twenty-eight men, which was organized in 
l908, and he was formerly connected with the old Excelsior Band of 
Pillow for twenty years. He was one of the leading spirits in the 
organization of the Pillow Band.  
	On March 10, 1889, Mr. Dockey was married to Lucetta Wolf, daughter 
of George and Helina (Derk) Wolf, of Jordan township, Northumberland 
county, and they have had three children: Alice L., Stella (who died in 
infancy) and Lottie H.  Mr. Dockey and his family worship with the 
Reformed congregation at the Salem Church, and he has been leader of the 
choir for many years. He has also given lay service as superintendent of 
the Sunday school. Socially Mr. Dockey is a charter member of Washington 
Camp, No. 614, P.O.S. of A., of Pillow, of which he was one of the 
organizers, and for many years was District President of the Northern 
Dauphin District, P.O.S. of A., and is a charter member of Camp No. 
11563, Modern Woodmen of America, of Berrysburg, Pennsylvania.

	WILLIAM H. READER, who has two farms in Rockefeller township, is a 
native of that township and has passed all his life there.  He was born 
Jan. 30, 1854, son of John Reader, who came into this region in 1827.
	The Federal Census Report of 1790 records several Readers:  Jacob 
Reader was the head of a family made up of the parents, three sons over 
sixteen years old, one son under sixteen years old, and two daughters. 
This family lived in Cumberland county, Pa. Absalom Reader headed a 
family in Northampton county, Pa., consisting of the parents, one son 
over sixteen years old, one son under sixteen years old, and one 
daughter (page 171); Hon. Frank Reeder (Reader), a prominent resident of 
Easton, Pa., at one time State chairman of the Republican party and 
secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under Gov. D. H. Hastings, 
is a descendant of Absalom Reader. Joseph Reader, a resident of Luzerne 
county, Pa., was the head of a family of ten, parents, two daughters, 
two sons over sixteen years of age and four sons under sixteen years of 
age.  The following said to be of the family of Joseph Reader are buried 
at Turbutville, Northumberland county: Michael Reader, born April 5, 
1797, died Aug. 29, 1876, aged seventy-nine years, four months, twenty-
four days; his wife Anna Mary, 1797-1865; Isaac Reader, born in 1820, 
who died in 1857; the latter's wife, Mary A., bore him a number of 
children, a daughter Deliah dying young.  It is probable that William H. 
Reader is a descendant of Joseph Reader.
	The grandmother of William H. Reader came to Northumberland county 
with her son John in 1827, after her husband's death, and she is buried 
at the Mountain Presbyterian Church.  Her children were: John;  
Abraham, who married Mary Ely and settled in the west; Kassiah, who 
married John Shipman;  Joseph, who located near Danville, Pa.; Samuel 
who lived in Northumberland county near the Columbia county line; and 
Emily who married John Farley and lived in the upper part of 
Northumberland county, where she died at the age of ninety.
	
     END OF PAGE 185
	
	John Reader, father of William H. Reader, was born April 10, 1808, 
near, the Allegheny mountains, in the northwestern part of Pennsylvania 
and came thence to Northumberland county before his marriage, in 1827, 
his mother accompanying him, as previously stated.  Locating in Augusta 
(now Lower Augusta) township, near the head of Boyle's run, he there 
married Sallie Rodgers who died while a young woman,  the mother of 
three children: David, who settled in Columbia County, Pa.; Katie, who 
married John McWilliams and Susan, who died young. His second marriage 
was to Maria Sears, by whom he had the following children: Sallie 
married Daniel F. Zimmerman; Mary married Charles M. Smith; John, of 
Wisconsin, married Sallie Zimmerman; James H. settled at Tyrone, Pa.; 
Joseph T., who married Annie Rock, located at Tyrone; Robert L., who 
married Mary Gruber, located near the homestead in Lower Augusta 
township; one child died in infancy; William H. is mentioned below; 
Ellen J. married Charles E. Weston (now deceased) and makes her home at 
Schuylkill Haven, Pa. John Reader, the father, died Sept. 5, 1880, aged 
seventy-two years, four months, twenty-five days. He and his wives are 
buried at the Mountain Presbyterian Church.
	William H. Reader has always been employed in agricultural work. 
When twenty-two years old he began farming at the place in Rockefeller 
township where he has since continuously resided, and he also has 
another farm, of the same size each containing eighty-two acres, both 
lying in the southwestern part of Rockefeller township, along the Lower 
Augusta township line, on the old Tulpehocken road so much traveled in 
pioneer days.  Mr. Reader makes something of a specialty of fruit, of 
which he raises considerable, and is also engaged in dairying. He 
attends market at Shamokin every week. The place upon which he has  long 
made his home came into his possession about 1880, through his wife, and 
he purchased his other farm in 1895. The home place is an interesting 
property, having been the homestead of Gulielmus (Gillam) Cornell, who 
was born Aug. 29, 1764 emigrated to this country when a young man, and 
is supposed to have settled first in Chester county, Pa. He resided 
there during the period of the Revolutionary war, and is said to have 
been a British sympathizer.  At any rate, he and his family supplied the 
English army with such subsistence as they could produce and purchase in 
the locality, realizing large profits in these transactions. The 
unfriendly feeling created against them in the neighborhood on this 
account became so strong that at the close of the war Mr. Cornell was 
compelled to leave the locality and he removed to what is now the 
William H. Reader farm in Rockefeller township, Northumberland, county.  
When Mr. Reader's father moved into this locality in 1827 the Cornells 
had long been settled there.  Mr. Cornell continued to reside on that 
place until his death, which occurred July 17, 1836, at the age of 
seventy-one years, ten months, ten days.  His wife Rachel died there 
April 29, 1850, when about eighty years old. They had two sons, John 
(who died April 25, 1875, aged sixty-nine years, seven months, seven 
days) and William (Sept. 22, 1810 - April 30, 1852), and daughters 
Margaret (married Lewis Dewart), Katie (married Samuel Thurston), Polly 
(married George Haupt) and Betsy (married John Feaster). Both the sons 
died without issue and are buried with their parents at the Mountain 
Presbyterian Church in Lower Augusta township.  John's wife, Elizabeth, 
died Nov. 12, 1887, aged eighty-one years, eight months, eighteen days.
   On Aug. 1, 1875, Mr. Reader married Mary Rebuck, daughter of "The 
Red" Godfried Rebuck, of Washington township, and they have had a large 
family: Daniel P., who married Bertha Schaeffer; Ira E.; Katie M., wife 
of Charles E. Ressler; Gertie F., wife of C. G. Culp; Charles H., who 
married Sallie Snyder; Herbert F.; Frederick B.; John B.; George W., and 
Ralph Waldo E.
	Mr. Reader and his family are members of Zion's Lutheran Church, in 
which he has been quite prominent officially, having served many years 
in the joint council of the charge and for many years as secretary. 
There are few citizens of Rockefeller township more intimately 
identified with the administration of its public affairs, and he has 
held office more than any other one man. For many years he was school 
director, and auditor. He is a Democrat on political questions.

   GEORGE O. AUMAN, of Shamokin, president of the borough council and 
senior member of the firm of Auman Brothers, is one of the younger 
citizens of that place who have held a prominent place in local affairs 
in recent years. His ability has gained recognition by its results 
rather than by any aggressive self-assertion on his part and his strong 
personality has brought him forward in the various projects, business 
and otherwise, with which he has been associated. He has been a member 
of the borough council since 1903, in fact he was the youngest man ever 
to take the councilman's oath in Shamokin, and in the spring of 1910 he 
was honored with election to the presidency of the council.
	Mr. Auman was born in Shamokin March 22, 1878, and has spent all 
his life in the city, but he is of only the second generation of his 
family to live in Northumberland county, his forefathers in this country 
having resided in Berks and Schuylkill counties.  The Aumans are of 
German extraction, Henry Auman, the first to come to America, being from 
Hanover, Germany.  He was one of the Hessian mercenaries hired by the 
British
	
     END OF PAGE 186
	
government for service in the Revolutionary war, and was one of those 
surprised and taken prisoner on that memorable night at Trenton.  After 
the war he refused to return to his native land, settling in 
Pennsylvania, near Amityville, in Amity township, Berks county.  He was 
well educated and engaged in school teaching, and for years was 
choirmaster of the German Lutheran Church there. He died in 1839, at the 
advanced age of eighty-three. He married Catharine Beitam, of Carlisle, 
Pa., and they had the following children: Elizabeth, Catharine, Sarah, 
George and Henry.
	Daniel Auman, great-grandfather of George O. Auman, was born in 
Berks county, and there followed farming and milling, near the Lebanon 
county line.  He died there, while his children were young, and they 
were put out to make their living among strangers.
	Jacob Auman, son of Daniel, was born near the Lebanon county line 
in Berks county in February, 1817, and there followed milling. He was 
married in Berks county, whence he and his wife moved to Taylorsville, 
Schuylkill county, where he continued that occupation, and later he 
settled at Ashland, that county, making a permanent home there. At 
Ashland he went into the butcher business, but in his later years did 
hauling.  He died there in 1878, and is buried in the Odd Fellows 
cemetery, having been a member of the fraternity.  Jacob Auman married 
Mary A. Owens, who was born in 1817, daughter of Samuel Owens, and they 
had a large family, viz.: Emaline, born in 1843, married S. T. 
Gottschall; William H., born in 1845, died at Ashland; Aaron, born in 
1846, was the father of George O. Auman; Mary A., born in 1848, married 
E. P. Burkert, of Ashland; Jacob, born in 1850, a carpenter of Shamokin, 
married (first) Elizabeth Keefer and (second) Malinda Herb; Elizabeth, 
born in 1853, married George Steinhilber and lives at No. 556 Oakland 
street, Ashland; Esther, born in 1856, married (first) a Mr. Heiser and 
(second) Isaac Davis; Samuel P., born in 1858, was killed in the mines 
at Ashland when nineteen years old; John died at Ashland when a young 
man.
	Aaron Auman, son of Jacob, was born in 1846, and died in May, 1882. 
He was a butcher by trade, and followed that calling as well as mining.  
He and his wife, Sarah (Hoover), had a family of five children, namely:  
Samuel J., Aaron E., George O., Laura (married Lewis Hipler) and 
Elizabeth (married William Dorset), all of whom were very young when the 
father died. The mother subsequently married James Metz, by whom she had 
one daughter, Bessie (married Andrew Sudieskie).
	George O. Auman attended public school in Shamokin, but his 
advantages for education were limited, as he and his brothers were 
obliged to begin work at an unusually early age in order to help their 
widowed mother.  He was only eleven when he commenced to work as a slate 
picker at the breakers, and in time he became a full-fledged miner, 
following mining until he decided to start in business. He had been 
careful and industrious, but when he commenced the grocery business to 
which he has since given his attention he started on the modest capital 
of $15, in a small store in the Tenth ward. This was in 1900. His early 
experience in overcoming obstacles prevented him from becoming 
discouraged, however, and the success which came to him as the years 
passed was an incentive to further effort, if he needed it.  That he has 
devoted himself intelligently to the building up of this business may be 
judged from the fact that he and his brother, Aaron E., who became his 
partner in 1900, now have one of the best paying grocery stores in West 
Shamokin. The establishment, which occupies the site at Nos. 601-609 
West Walnut street, is commodious, but none too large for the extensive 
business done by Auman brothers, who carry a fine and complete stock, in 
addition to groceries and green truck, of cigars and confectionery, 
being among the largest retailers of tobacco and penny goods in 
Shamokin. The partners are popular personally, and respected for their 
integrity as well as their enterprise, and though both are still young 
they have established a profitable business and acquired property and 
standing in their native town.
	Mr. George O. Auman has developed business ability and foresight 
with the needs of his expanding interests; in fact, he has succeeded so 
far in keeping ahead of them, and his outlook for the future is 
excellent.  He has taken his place among the leading young men of the 
borough in municipal matters, with which he has been identified ever 
since he reached his majority. When just twenty-one he became a delegate 
to the Republican county convention; was later committeeman of his ward, 
the Tenth, and he was a delegate to the State convention when Sheetz was 
nominated for treasurer. In 1903 he was elected to the borough council, 
of which body he has since been a member.  In discharging the duties of 
this office he has shown the same ability and application which made his 
private undertakings successful. Though the youngest man to serve in 
that position when he entered the council he was found to be one of the 
most energetic and efficient members of that body, where his fellow  
members soon found that he could he intrusted with important 
responsibilities.  So he has grown steadily in usefulness and 
popularity, and in March, 1910, he was honored with election to the 
presidency of the council. The year before he and Mr. Earley were 
candidates for the honor, Mr. Earley winning by two votes. The following 
comment by the Shamokin Dispatch upon this incident and Mr. Auman's 
subsequent election is of interest as
	
     END OF PAGE 187
	
showing the good-will existing in the borough regarding this young man 
and his achievements:
	"George Auman, the new president of council, is admirably fitted 
for the important position to which he was elected and the fact that he 
had no opposition speaks still higher for him. For five years Mr. Auman 
has conscientiously served his constituents, and has never been under 
bondage or under the control of any man. He is totally free from outside 
influences and it is believed that he will make a most capable official, 
as has Mr. Earley, his predecessor, who has accredited to him the honor 
of presiding over one of the best councilmanic bodies that have ever 
represented Shamokin borough.
	"Last year Mr. Auman and Mr. Earley both sought the office of 
president of the council. Mr. Auman was defeated by two votes. This did 
not interfere with his good work. Shoulder to shoulder he and his 
successful opponent, Mr. Earley, worked out plans for bettering the 
borough and it is said that there has never been a better body of 
councilmen representing this borough.
	"Mr. Auman is honest in his dealings and is noted for this 
characteristic and will make an ideal official. He expects to make the 
coming term one of the most successful Shamokin borough has ever had. 
Taking the retrospective of last year, if he does this, speaking in the 
sporting vernacular, he will have to go some. However, the Dispatch 
believes Mr. Auman's ambitions will be realized."
	Mr. Auman was the candidate of his party for representative to the 
State Legislature in 1908, but was defeated. He is well known socially, 
belonging to the I.O.R.M. (of which he is a past sachem), the Haymakers 
(of which he is a past chief) and the I.O.O.F.; is president of the 
Modern Protective Association, and president of the Rescue Fire Company, 
of which latter organization he was made an honorary member, and served 
as foreman before being elected to his present office. He was one of the 
organizers of the Liars' Club, which is made up of young business men of 
his section of Shamokin.
	Mr. Auman married Maude May Yost, daughter of Henry and Susan 
(Rubendale) Yost and member of an old Shamokin family.  Mr. and Mm. 
Auman have two children, George E. and Russell C. The family reside at 
No. 548 North Third street.  They are identified with the Reformed 
Church.

	HOFFMAN.  The Hoffmans, the late Erastus Hoffman and his two sons, 
W. P. G. and Howard D. Hoffman, have been known in business circles in 
the borough of Sunbury for a number of years, W. P. G. Hoffman having 
been associated with his father in the real estate business, in which he 
is still interested, and Howard D. Hoffman conducting a large business 
as a dealer in wall paper and paints, and as a paper hanger and painter. 
The brothers are among the most enterprising citizens of Sunbury, 
favorably known as reliable in every transaction.
	The Hoffman family is of German origin. Jacob Hoffman, its founder 
in this country, was a native of Germany, and on immigrating to this 
country settled in New Jersey, where he followed farming. He was a 
soldier in the Revolution.
	Abraham Hoffman, son of Jacob, settled in Shamokin township, 
Northumberland Co., Pa., and followed farming successfully. His children 
were: John; Peter; Michael; Abraham; Barbara, and Maria.
	Abraham Hoffman, son of Abraham, was born on his father's farm in 
Northumberland county, where he spent his boyhood assisting with the 
agricultural work. After attaining his majority he was in the mercantile 
business, for a number of years, and selling out purchased a farm in 
Rush township, this county. There he passed the rest of his life, dying 
at the age of eighty-seven years, four months, twenty-seven days.  He 
was a hearty, strong and active man up to the time of his death, which 
was caused suddenly, by a stroke of apoplexy. He married Elizabeth 
Wolverton, daughter of Roger Wolverton, of Northampton county, Pa., and 
she died at the age of fifty-nine years. Eight children were born to 
this couple: Maria, John, Beulah, Jacob, Jemima, Erastus, Isaac and 
Edward O.
	Erastus Hoffman, son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Wolverton) Hoffman, 
was born in Rush township, and there spent his youth on the parental 
farm near South Danville. He lived at Sunbury for about thirty years 
before his death, engaging in various occupations, being employed at one 
time in the office of the register and recorder. He then became 
associated in the real estate business with his son, W. P. G. Hoffman, 
as E. Hoffman & Son, retiring only a few years before his death, which 
occurred at his home, No. 222 Catawissa avenue, Aug. 22, 1910, when he 
was eighty-one years old.  He was interred in Pomfret Manor cemetery. He 
was long a prominent citizen of the borough, and especially well known 
as an active member of the Baptist Church, to which he had belonged 
literally all his life. For many years he was regarded as one of the 
pillars of the church in Sunbury and aided materially in placing its 
affairs on the substantial basis at present enjoyed, doing as much as 
any one member of the congregation toward that end. He was long a 
trustee of the church, where his death was regarded as a great loss. Mr. 
Hoffman married Clarinda Dunham, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Hussy) 
Dunham, of Northumberland borough, and he was survived by his wife and 
two sons, W. P. G. and Howard D.
	
     END OF PAGE 188
	
	W. P. G. HOFFMAN was born in November, 1862, in Rush township, and 
was educated at Danville, Pa. For several years he was engaged in the 
hardware business at Danville, Montour county, and in the borough of 
Northumberland, Northumberland county, and continued that business for 
eleven years after he settled in Sunbury, in 1891. He has since been 
engaged in the real estate business, in which he was associated with his 
father until the latter's retirement, in 1900.  The business they 
founded now controls the bulk of real estate transactions in Sunbury.  
He and his father became members of the National Real Estate Exchange, 
and their property list embraced the greater part of the best holdings 
in the city and surrounding territory.  The business increased so 
rapidly that it required their entire attention. There are few men in 
this section who know more about Sunbury real estate, its values and 
advantages, than Mr. Hoffman, or who are better able to discourse on the 
subject. The advances made in local real estate values, the substantial 
reasons therefor, the future of the community, the opportunities offered 
by superior facilities of various kinds found in the territory, all 
these are subjects with which he is thoroughly familiar, and he is 
sincere in his belief that the advantages here afforded are superior to 
those of any other locality in this part of the State.  His particular 
hobby is that satisfactory and profitable investments may be found near 
home; that there is no need for people to go to distant regions to find 
paying property, and that there are opportunities at the doors of those 
who recognize them. Moreover, Mr. Hoffman has interested himself 
actively in securing the advantages and facilities he considers most 
desirable for the improvement of the locality, particularly as regards 
transportation and the promotion of public utilities of various kinds.

	HOWARD D. HOFFMAN, son of Erastus Hoffman was born Aug. 23, 1867, 
in Rush township, Northumberland county, where he lived until sixteen 
years old. At that time he moved with his parents to Sunbury, and he 
learned the trade of painter and paper hanger.  During 1886 and 1887 he 
lived in Shamokin. In 1889 he went West, where he remained for a number 
of years, returning East in 1898.  For the next two rears he was in the 
butcher business, but he has since been engaged in his old line, having 
now the leading establishment of the kind in the borough. He is located 
at No. 620 Market street. He has a large and complete line of paints and 
wall papers, and does a large business in painting and paper hanging, 
keeping from twelve to twenty men busy. This patronage is one of the 
largest in and around Sunbury, and his work is its best recommendation, 
his reputation as a reliable and artistic workman having been gained in 
years of satisfactory service.
	On April 7, 1898, Mr. Hoffman married Margaret M. Campbell, 
daughter of Harmon and Rachel (Barnhart) Campbell, and they have two 
children, Elizabeth May and Fred Erastus.  He is a member of the First 
Baptist Church, Mrs. Hoffman of the Catawissa Avenue M. E. Church, and 
he is a Democrat politically and active in local affairs, having served 
as member of the council from the Eighth ward.  Socially he belongs to 
several fraternal bodies, K. of P. Lodge No. 194, the Royal Arcanum and 
the P.O.S. of A., all of Sunbury, and the K. of P. lodge at Allegheny 
City, Pennsylvania.

	DANIEL CLINGER, president of the Milton Trust & Safe Deposit 
Company, of Milton, Northumberland county, has been associated with that 
institution for many years, formerly as director and member of the 
executive board, and since 1907 in his present relation. A mere 
enumeration of the local enterprises which he has helped to finance and 
direct would he sufficient indication of his activity in the affairs of 
the borough to show how important a place he occupies and has occupied 
in the development of the place during the past forty years.  His 
interest and efforts have not been confined to business, but have 
extended into the local civil administration, politics, church and 
social affairs, in all of which he has been a factor for progress and 
intelligent activity.
	Mr. Clinger was born Nov. 18, 1837, in Limestone township, Lycoming 
Co., Pa. He is of German descent, his great-grandfather, John Clinger, 
having emigrated to this country from Germany about 1745 and settled at 
what was then known as Chester County Springs, now Chester Springs, in 
Chester county, Pa. He took up land in that vicinity and followed 
farming and milling there the rest of his years. His wife's maiden name 
was Sloyer, and it is supposed she belonged to the family of that name 
who came from Germany to America at the same time as John Clinger. Both 
are buried in Chester county.
	John Clinger, son of the emigrant, was born at Chester Springs, and 
died in Chester county, where he is buried, at Homeville. He was a 
miller as well as farmer.  He and his wife reared a large family, as 
follows: Jacob, who died at Homeville, Pa.; Henry: Samuel, who died at 
Camden. N. J.; Dr. Peter, who died at Conestoga Center, Lancaster 
county, Pa.; Edgar, who died in Chester county; Margaret, Mrs. Rhoads; 
Ann, who married Thomas Pennington; and Hannah, Mrs. Booth.
	Henry Clinger, son of John and grandson of the emigrant, was the 
father of Daniel Clinger, of Milton.  He was born Sept. 29, 1796, in 
Chester county, Pa., near Homeville, and lived to the age of fifty-six 
years, five months, four days, being accidentally killed March 3, 1853. 
He is buried at Colomsville, in Limestone township, Ly-
	
END OF PAGE 189
	
coming county.  When a young man he learned tanning in Berks county with 
his uncle, Peter Clinger.  On May 18, 1823, he was married in the city 
of Reading, and he ran the tanning business for his uncle.  In 1828 he 
moved to Limestone township, Lycoming county, where he bought four 
hundred acres of land on which he also built a tannery; cleared up a 
large farm; bought a mill site and erected a grist and saw mill, along 
one of the streams in the township, and became one of the best known 
business men and counselors in all that section, his various interests 
bringing him into contact, in one relation or other, with almost all of 
the residents of the neighborhood. He continued to do business for many 
years, and served also as county commissioner, many years as justice of 
the peace, and as land surveyor and conveyancer. He was one of the 
leading Democrats of the county. In his early years he served as colonel 
of the battalion, a military organization established by the United 
States government, all the men of a certain age being obliged to do 
military service one day in a year. He was long an active member of the 
Reformed Church, in which he was an elder for many years.  Fraternally 
he was a Mason.
	On May 18, 1823, Mr. Clinger was married, at Reading, Pa., to 
Susanna Wagner, who was born in December, 1803, in Berks county, 
daughter of Abraham and Catharine (Greenwalt) Wagner, and died in 
October, 1869, aged sixty-five years, ten months, three days. Her 
grandfather, John Wagner, was a cavalryman in the Revolutionary war, and 
received a bad scalp wound but recovered and ended his days on his farm 
near Reading. Nine children were born to this union, namely: Mary, who 
married Michael Sypher, of Limestone township, Lycoming county, and who 
is now living near Antes Fort, Pa., with her daughter, Mrs. C. C. Bubb; 
Catharine, who married Adam Baker, formerly of Winchester, Va., and now 
resides at Newberry, Pa.; Susan A., who married John Knauff and resides 
at Milton, Pa.; John W., who died at Winchester, Va.; Abraham, who died 
at Williamsport, Pa.; Henry S., who died in Limestone township, Lycoming 
county; Jacob, who died in Limestone township; Daniel; and Edgar, who 
died aged five years.
	Daniel Clinger received his education in the district schools in 
the neighborhood of his boyhood home. He lived there until 1866, working 
for his father until the latter's death, after which he was engaged for 
a few years with the duties of township offices. He then bought a farm 
in his native township, but after cultivating it a few years sold it and 
went to Williamsport, in the spring of 1866, there entering the grocery 
business with his brother Abraham. After fourteen months association 
with him he sold out and came to Milton, in June, 1867. This borough has 
since been the field of his business and home interests. He engaged at 
once in the planing mill and lumber business as a member of the firm of 
Balliet, Dreisbach & Clinger, conducting the mill established in 1854 by 
Balliet, Billmyer & Goodlander, who established the first plant of the 
kind in this section of the State. The mills are on Arch street, above 
Locust. Mr. Clinger soon bought out his partners, becoming sole, owner 
of this, one of the largest business establishments in this district, 
and he retained his connection with the lumber business until 1906. His 
sons have since carried it on. This was one of the few industrial plants 
of Milton not destroyed in the great fire of May 14, 1880.
	Though his active participation in the management of what was for 
years his principal business has ended Mr. Clinger has not by any means 
given up his other interests. In 1907 he was elected president of the 
Milton Trust & Safe Deposit Company, of which he has served many years 
as director as well as member of the executive board, and this position 
he continues to fill with all the ability and judgment expected of him. 
He is a stockholder in numerous other local companies whose prosperity 
means the prosperity of the community, having been identified as such 
with the Milton Knitting Company, the Milton Water Company, the Milton 
Driving Park and Fair Association (of which he has been president), the 
Milton Creamery Association (of which he has been a director), the 
Milton Record Publishing Company (of which he has been a director), the 
variety of his interests showing how far reaching his relations with the 
life of the borough are.
	In public capacities Mr. Clinger has proved himself particularly 
helpful in promoting the cause of education, having served as school 
director and treasurer of the school and building fund. In this 
connection it might also be stated that he is a director of Ursinus 
College.  For years he has been an ardent Democrat and a worker in the 
interest of the party, having served as delegate to various State 
conventions and as delegate to the National convention at Chicago, in 
1896, when W. J. Bryan was first nominated for the Presidency. He is a 
member of the Reformed Church, which he has served as elder for many 
years, and has been interested in the Y.M.C.A., of which he was formerly 
a director. Fraternally Mr. Clinger unites with the Masons, holding 
membership in Milton Lodge, No. 256, F. & A.M., and Williamsport 
Consistory, thirty-second degree, and all his sons are members of that 
fraternity.
	In 1860 Mr. Clinger married Sarah Amanda Gann, who was born Sept. 
10, 1839, daughter of Israel and Leah (Moore) Gann, of Lycoming  county,  
and died Jan. 1, 1904, the mother of eight children, as follows: 
Homer Gann, born July 16, 1861 died March 13, 1865.  (2) Dora M., 
born March 11, 1866, died
	
     END OF PAGE 190
	
June 6, 1871.  (3) Harry R., born Jan. 6, 1868, is the head of the firm 
of D. Clinger's Sons, who conduct the Milton Planing Mill and lumber 
business.  He has been twice married, his first wife, Crissie Fretz, of 
Philadelphia, born March 7, 1869, dying May 4, 1897. There were no 
children by that union. By his present wife, Florence Heinen, he has 
three children, Henry, Sarah and Virginia. (4) Edgar M., born May 16, 
1872, a graduate of the medical department of the University of 
Pennsylvania, lost his life in a bicycle accident Aug. 21, 1898  (5) 
Franklin W., born Dec. 18, 1874, graduated from the dental department of 
the University of Pennsylvania in 1899, and is practicing at Milton.  He 
married Irene Fenton, of Baltimore, Md.  (6) George W., born March 9, 
1877, and educated at Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pa., is now engaged 
with his brothers in the lumber and planing mill business.  He married 
Marian Boyer, of Williamsport, Pa., and they have two children, George 
and Edgar B.  (7) Joseph A., born Feb. 4, 1879, a graduate of the 
medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, and now practicing 
medicine in Milton, married Sarah Buoy, eldest daughter of James Buoy. 
(8) Daniel, Jr., born March 25, 1882, a graduate of Cornell University, 
married Elsie Shay, of Williamsport. He is engaged with his brothers in 
the planing will and lumber business under the firm name of D. Clinger's 
Sons.

	WILLIAM H. PENSYL, of Mount Carmel, Northumberland county, present 
chief burgess of that borough and one of the long established business 
men of the place, has been one of its useful citizens throughout the 
quarter of a century of his residence there. He is a member of one of 
the oldest families of the county, being of the fifth generation of his 
line to live here.
	The family name was originally Bentzel. Jacob Bentzel, the great-
great-grandfather of William H. Pensyl, came to this country from 
Germany, his native land, and locating in Northumberland county, where 
Shamokin now stands, took up fifty acres of land, his residence being on 
the present Site of the "Eagle Hotel." Abandoning this tract later, he 
took up two hundred acres in what is now Ralpho township, which property 
was later owned by David R. Pensyl, and is now the farm of William A. 
Geise. Jacob Bentzel died upon his farm in Ralpho township. His son, 
John, was the great-grandfather of William H. Pensyl.
	John Bentzel, son of Jacob, was nine years old when his father 
settled at what is now Shamokin. He was one of the early settlers in 
Shamokin township and one of the organizers and original members of the 
old Blue Church (St. Peter's) in Ralpho township, donating one acre of 
ground for church purposes; upon which the edifice stands today. He was 
a good man, and a leader in his community.  He died upon his homestead 
in Ralpho township in April, 1849.  He married Barbara Hinkle, who came 
to America from Germany, and they had five children: Katie (married 
Frederick Lebie), Leah  (married John Fisher), John, George and Leonard.
	John Pensyl son of John, was born near Shamokin, Pa., in Shamokin 
township. When a young man he went to Sunbury, where he learned the 
shoemaking trade, following that calling for some time. Later he 
purchased a farm of two hundred acres at Union Corners, in Rush 
township, and there made his home for a number of years, later 
purchasing another farm, upon which he made his home until his death, in 
1873, at the age of seventy-seven years.  Mr. Pensyl was twice married, 
his first marriage being to Lydia Kaseman, by whom he had six children: 
George; John; Daniel, living at Danville, Pa.; Hannah, who married 
Charles Dimick and (second) John Hiney, and died near Philadelphia; 
Barbara, deceased, who was the wife of Henry Hill; and Catharine, who 
married Joseph Motter. Mr. Pensyls second wife, whose maiden name was 
Mary Arter Heller, died at the age of eighty-seven years. She was the 
daughter of John and Mary Heller, of Elysburg, Pa.  By this union there 
were seven children: Jacob, who died in 1861, aged twenty-six years; 
William, who lives at Elysburg, Pa.; Samuel, who died in 1897; Margaret, 
who died aged twenty years; Adam, of Elysburg; Henry, who died aged 
twenty years; and Francis, who was a merchant postmaster and farmer at 
Pensyl, Columbia county.
	George Pensyl, father of William H., was born May 14, 1818, in Rush 
township, Northumberland county, and there grew to manhood.  He learned 
the trades of butcher and carpenter, but later, when he lived at 
Danville, Pa., he was a boss heater at the iron mill.  In 1856 he 
removed to Shamokin township, where he bought the farm upon which he 
remained until 1875. He died July 7, 1880.  Mr. Pensyl was a Union 
soldier in the Civil war, having enlisted Oct. 22, 1862, in Company H, 
172d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served until 
honorably discharged, July 31, 1863.
	George Pensyl married (first) Anna Vastine, of Rush township, who 
died in 1850, the mother of four children, namely: Billings died young; 
Thomas V. served in the Civil war, and died in 1870 (he married Malinda 
Reed); Helen M. married John I. Miller and had children, William, Emma 
and Olive; Ellis is chief engineer at the Philadelphia Inquirer plant. 
Mr. Pensyls second marriage was to Mary A. Vastine (a cousin of his 
first wife), of Rush township, who died Oct. 27, 1871, and who had three 
children: Hatton A., justice of the peace, of Snydertown, Pa.; Clara H., 
wife of G. A. Startzel; and William H. For his third wife he married 
Harriet Ammerman.	William H. Pensyl was born 3 larch 1, 1862, at
	
	
	END OF PAGE 191
	
Elysburg, Northumberland county, where he received his education in the 
public schools. During his early life he assisted his father upon the 
farm. In 1881 he first came to Mount Carmel, where he learned the trade 
of painter, at which he was employed, in different places, for several 
years, in 1886 becoming a permanent resident of the borough. He 
established himself in business, selling paints, wall paper and 
stationery, and doing painting and paper hanging, continuing thus for 
many years; he is now devoting himself entirely to papering and 
painting. Mr. Pensyl has made a substantial position for himself and he 
is a director of the Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Company and 
President of the Anthracite Building & Loan Association of Mount Carmel.
	On Jan. 2, 1890, Mr. Pensyl married Mary A. Morey, daughter of 
Julius Morey, of Jefferson county, Pa., but later of Mount Carmel. They 
have one daughter, Hazel, who is a graduate of the Mount Carmel high 
school.
	Mr. Pensyl has shown considerable interest and useful activity in 
the affairs of the borough, and from 1900 to 1903 he was a member of the 
council, of which body he was president one year. On March 1, 1909, he 
was honored with election to the office of chief burgess. The confidence 
his fellow citizens have shown in him is the reward of his disinterested 
efforts for the improvement of the borough, especially his work 
regarding the streets. He had made an admirable official.  Mr. Pensyl is 
a Republican in political sentiment.  Sociably he holds membership in 
the Sons of Veterans, P.O.S. of A. and I.O.O.F.

	SHIPMAN.  The Shipman family, which is numerously and creditably 
represented in Northumberland county, has been resident there for 
considerably more than a century, and has had representatives in this 
country from the earliest Colonial days.  In the Old World it is of 
ancient record. The ancestor of these Shipmans was of Norman descent and 
was knighted by Henry III. of England in 1253 and given the following 
coat of arms: Gules, on a bend argent betwixt six estoiles, or, three 
pellets.  Crest: A Leopard, sejant, spotted sa., resting his dexter paw 
on a ship's rudder. Motto: "Non sibi sed orbi." The family seat was at 
Sarrington, in Nottinghamshire. In 1635 Edward Shipman, a refugee from 
religious persecution, came to America in company with Hugh Peters, John 
Davenport, Theodore Fenwick and others, and settled at Saybrook, Conn. 
From him one American branch of the family is descended.
	The following is taken from a family history in the possession of 
Judge Shipman, of Belvidere, N. J.: "William Shipman's father was one of 
the first settlers of Morristown, N.J., assisting in the erection of the 
first house built there.  He and three of his brothers served with 
credit during the Revolutionary war, and another relative died aboard 
the old 'Jersey' prison ship in Wallabout Bay.  Jacob Shipman, brother 
of William, was one of the first settlers near Fisher's Ferry, 
Northumberland Co., Pa., where he bought a large tract of land and where 
he lived to a good old age. David Shipman (son of Jacob), born Feb. 26, 
1809, bought the homestead near Fisher's Ferry and divided it with his 
brother Sylvanus, making two good-sized farms. John L. Shipman, son of 
David, who served with credit in the late Rebellion, is living in his 
native State and county."
	Harmon Shipman, the progenitor of the Northumberland county 
Shipmans, was born in Germany in 1717 and emigrated to this country 
about 1740.  He settled in what is now Harmony township, Warren Co., N. 
J., at a place known as Uniontown, where he purchased 200 acres of land 
which he cleared, continuing to reside there until his death, March 8, 
1805.  He was the early settler at Morristown, N. J., referred to in the 
foregoing paragraph.  He is buried at the Straw Church (St. James).  
Prior to the Revolutionary war he erected a stone house 28 by 30 feet.  
He was twice married, his first wife coming to America with him.  She 
was the mother of five children: William, born June 9, 1756; Nicholas, 
born in 1758, who died in 1827; John; Christian; and a daughter that 
died young.  By his second wife, whose maiden name was Howe, he had six 
children: Jacob, born May 8, 1766, who died Feb. 24, 1848 (his wife 
Rachel, born in 1770, died in 1828); Harmon, born April 28, 1775, who 
died March 24, 1854 (his wife Susanna, born May 21, 1787, died June 10, 
1861, and their daughter Rebecca, born in 1827, died in 1847); David; 
Abram, born April 8, 1773, who was married Feb. 1, 1800, to Mary Eckman; 
Elizabeth; and Mary.
	During the Revolutionary war Harmon Shipman aided the 
Revolutionists in many ways, contributing of his own time and means and 
sending four of his sons, William, Nicholas, John and Christian, into 
the service.  At the close of the war this patriotic family was so 
impoverished that the older sons, with their families, moved to newer 
settlements, William and Nicholas coming to Pennsylvania and settling in 
Lower Augusta township, Northumberland county, in the spring of 1794  In 
1802 the brothers Christian and Jacob settled in the same vicinity.
	Jacob Shipman on coming from New Jersey settled on the farm in 
Lower Augusta township where Morris Snyder now lives, followed farming, 
and there died. He owned considerable land, his possessions including 
the farms now owned by Morris Snyder, Silas Snyder and Nicholas Renn. He 
was a Presbyterian in religious belief and is buried at the Presbyterian 
Church along the mountain, as is one of his two wives. By his first 
wife, whose maiden name was Minnier, he had sons Jacob and Abra-
	
	END OF PAGE 192
	
ham.  His second wife, whose maiden name was Bird, was the mother of six 
children: David; John; James; Sylvanus; Betzy, who married Samuel Wynn; 
and Polly, who married Isaac Updegrove and (second) John Ebright.  Of 
these, Sylvanus Shipman died Dec. 9, 1887, aged seventy-three years, one 
month, eight days; his wife Harriet A. died Aug. 12, 1846, aged twenty-
seven years, six months; his wife Rebecca died Oct. 30, 1902, aged 
seventy-five years, eight months, five days.
	David Shipman, son of Jacob and grandson of Harmon, born Feb. 26, 
1809, died March 17, 1897. From the time of his marriage until his death 
he lived at the place in Lower Augusta township where his daughter 
Lydia, widow of Silas R. Snyder, now lives.  He was a farmer by 
occupation. His wife Eliza (Hintershot), daughter of John Hintershot 
born in September, 1812, died Feb. 9, 1877, aged sixty-four years, four 
months, nineteen days. Mr. and Mrs. Shipman are buried in the Fisher's 
Ferry cemetery. They had the following children: Matilda married Joseph 
Porter; John Landis lives in Shamokin; Corrinda died at the age of 
fifty-eight unmarried; Lydia is the widow of Silas R. Snyder; Hiram A. 
is a resident of Carthage Mo.; Harriet E. married Dr. H. K. Myers, who 
died in 1900, aged fifty-nine years, six days; Isaac E. resides in 
Kansas.
	William Shipman, son of Harmon, was a native of New Jersey, born in 
Harmony township June 9, 1756, and died Jan. 23, 1841, in Lower Augusta 
township, Northumberland county, where he settled in 1794. He is buried 
at the Mountain Presbyterian Church in that township. As previously 
mentioned, he served in the Revolutionary war. On coming to 
Northumberland county with his brother Nicholas, in the spring of 1794, 
he purchased 150 acres of land, where he made his home, and subsequently 
made additional purchases until he owned a large acreage. Soon after the 
close of the Revolution he married Catherine Campbell, of Sussex county, 
N.J., and they had children as follows: John, Jacob, William, Abram, 
Johannah, Lizzie, Sara and Lydia.
	John Shipman, son of William, was born Oct. 13, 1783, in Sussex 
county, N.J., and accompanied his parents to Lower Augusta township, 
Northumberland county, where he was engaged in farming to the end of his 
days, dying April 8, 1850. He married Mary McKinney, who was born Jan. 
25, 1786, daughter of Abraham and Abigail McKinney and granddaughter of 
William McKinney, a native of Ireland, born Aug. 20, 1723, who died Oct. 
24, 1777; his wife, Hannah, born Sept. 9, 1780, died March 18, 1765; 
they lived in Warren county, N. J. Mrs. Shipman died March 10, 1851. She 
was the mother of eleven children, born as follows: Abraham, March 10, 
1810 (died Aug. 8, 1878); Sarah, Sept. 14, 1811 (died Nov. 2, 1883); 
Isaac, Aug. 5, 1813 (died April 1, 1836, by accident in the prime of 
life and health); Jacob, Jan. 1, 1816 (died Oct. 3, 1890; his son Luther 
died Feb. 5, 1891, aged thirty-eight years, five months, twenty days); 
Abigail, Oct. 17, 1817 (died March 23, 1880); William C., Oct. 31, 1819; 
Rachel E., Dec. 13, 1821 (died Oct. 22, 1824); James M., Jan. 25, 1824 
(died Oct. 24, 1824); John, Dec. 25, 1825 (died Sept. 5, 1887); Samuel 
H., Nov. 30, 1828 (died April 15, 1864; his wife Catharine died July 9, 
1905, aged seventy-nine years, one month, nine days); Peter, Aug. 11, 
1833.
	Abraham Shipman, eldest son of John and Mary (McKinney) Shipman, 
was born March 10, 1810, in Lower Augusta township, where he passed all 
his life, dying Aug. 8, 1878, on the old farm home-stead.  He received 
only such advantages as the common schools of the day afforded, but he 
was a man of keen and intelligent mind, and he became well educated by 
following the bent of his own inclinations.  He studied civil 
engineering under David Andrews and learned surveying, which he followed 
from March, 1836, throughout his active years, serving several years as 
county surveyor. In addition to farming he carried on milling, building 
what is known as the Shipman mill, a large gristmill in Lower Augusta 
(now Rockefeller) township, and in connection with his work as surveyor 
he did considerable conveyancing. He served as associate judge under 
Judge Jordan for a period of ten years, being first elected in 1861 and 
reelected in 1866; and subsequently was justice of the peace in Lower 
Augusta township for several years. In politics he was an ardent 
Democrat and one of the local party leaders, for a long time the 
recognized leader in this county.  He was also active in his earlier 
years in local military matters, serving as a member of the Jackson 
Rifles from 1829 to 1836.  He was a large, athletic man, of fine 
appearance, and his presence added much to gatherings of that kind.
	On Feb. 14, 1837, Mr. Shipman married Elizabeth Yoxtheimer, who 
died April 8, 1892. Their union was blessed with eleven children, all 
born in Lower Augusta township, ten of whom reached maturity: (1) 
Lemuel, born Dec. 15, 1838, is mentioned below.  (2) Matilda, born Aug. 
19, 1840, was married Aug. 12, 1859, to John Bloom, of Lower Augusta 
township, now a successful farmer of Rockefeller township.  (3) Mark, 
born April 24, 1842, died in June, 1870. He enlisted in the Union army 
soon after the opening of the Civil war and remained in active service 
until its close, being stationed most of the time at Key West, Fla. (4) 
Saul is mentioned below.  (5) Ruth, born Aug. 6, 1845, married Oct. 31, 
1867, Joseph Class, Jr., a farmer of Rockefeller township.  (6) Ann, 
born Nov. 25, 1847, died June 5, 1908. On Nov. 15, 1866, she married 
Anthony S. Speece who is engaged in the powder business at Speeceville, 
Dauphin Co., Pa.  (7) Rebecca J., born Dec. 27,
	
	END OF PAGE 193
	
1850, married Franklin Mayberry.  (8) Silas, born April 30, 1858, died 
Aug. 14, 1858.  (9) Ira is mentioned below.  (10) Walter, born Aug. 3, 
1856, was a lawyer by profession and had long been justice of the peace 
at Sunbury, where he resided.  He married April 30, 1878, Josephine M. 
Coldren, and they had three children, Lida M., Carrie O. and James F. 
(11) Jefferson, born Feb. 24, 1859, is a successful attorney at Mount 
Carmel, Pennsylvania.
	Lemuel Shipman, son of Abraham, born Dec. 15, 1838, received his 
education in the public schools and at the New Berlin Academy. In his 
early life he worked for his lather on the farm and in the saw and grist 
mill, and also taught school for a number of years. On Oct. 30, 1862, he 
enlisted in Company D (Capt. Edwin A. Evans), 3d Pennsylvania Volunteer 
Artillery, 152d Pennsylvania Regiment. He entered the service as first 
sergeant, was promoted to second lieutenant of his company May 16, 1864 
and served as such to the close of the war. While officer of the day at 
Fortress Monroe he had charge of a distinguished prisoner, Jeff. Davis, 
the president of the Confederacy. Upon his return from the army he was 
engaged in business as a merchant until elected register of wills, 
recorder of deeds and clerk of the Orphans' court, in 1873, serving as 
such from 1874 to 1880, and also filled other positions of trust and 
honor while a resident of Northumberland county. He was in the railroad 
contracting business for seven years, in 1887 removing to Lewisburg, 
Union county, where he became prominent in business circles. He was 
prominent in building up a nail mill, steam car axle forge and furniture 
factory (the latter being the Lewisburg Furniture Works); and in 1889 
removed to West Virginia, where he engaged in the lumbering business. He 
is now a resident of Meridian, Miss., engaged in the manufacture of 
lumber and other enterprises.
	On Sept. 27, 1860, Mr. Shipman married Maria Bloom, who was born 
Aug. 16, 1842, daughter of William Bloom, and they had a family of six 
children, viz.: William A. is mentioned below; D. Webster, born March 1, 
1863, a, practicing attorney, has been district attorney of 
Northumberland county; Edwin H. born Oct. 30, 1867, is employed by the 
Shamokin Street Railway Company; Lizzie, born Aug. 10, 1889, died Aug. 
19, l871; Charles C., born, Oct. 2, 1872, died Dec. 11, 1874; Augusta, 
born March 19, 1874, married S. C. Yocum, who is superintendent of 
schools of Coal township, Northumberland county.

	WILLIAM A. SHIPMAN, now engaged in the undertaking business at No. 
701 Market street, Sunbury, Northumberland county, was born Sept. 11 
1861, in Rockefeller township, this county.  He began his education 
there in the local schools and was ten years old when he came with his 
parents to Sunbury, where he attended the high school. Later he became a 
student at Bucknell College, from which he was graduated in 1886, and in 
the spring of 1887 he opened a furniture store at Selinsgrove, Snyder 
Co., Pa., where he was located until the spring of 1889, since when he 
has been established at Sunbury. He has made a specialty of undertaking, 
in which line he is a leader in this section, receiving his full share 
of the local patronage. His personal and business standing has been won 
by upright methods, able management and fair treatment of his customers.
	On Oct. 10, 1888, Mr. Shipman married Annie E. Snyder, daughter of 
Thomas Snyder, of Sunbury, and they have a family of five children: 
Myrtle E., Russel C., Harley N., William A., Jr., and Helen.
	Mr. Shipman is a prominent member of the Baptist church, which he 
has served many years as superintendent of the Sunday school, as well as 
in other capacities.  Fraternally he belongs to Maclay Lodge, No. 632, 
F. & A.M., the Modern Woodmen and the Sons of Veterans.

	SAUL SHIPMAN, son of Abraham, was born in Lower Augusta (now 
Rockefeller) township Jan. 4, 1844.
	Reared to labor on the farm, and in the saw and grist mills, with 
the limited educational advantages of a country school, in August, 1862, 
the darkest days of the Rebellion, he entered the Union army as a 
volunteer for nine months service, in the old 5th Corps, participating 
in the campaigns of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. After 
his discharge, at the end of his term of service, being in too delicate 
health for hard labor, he took a preparatory collegiate course in 
Freeburg Academy, but his limited means prevented him from going 
further. In 1864 he began his pedagogical career by taking charge of a 
public school in his own district.
	In 1869 he was elected superintendent of schools of his native 
county, and reelected in 1872, serving six years in all. In this 
position he made a very efficient officer. Characterized as a hard 
worker he followed up what he undertook with an energy and perseverance
	worthy of imitation.  Punctual in all his appointments, he allowed 
nothing to interrupt the fulfillment of his engagements. By his thorough 
course he greatly elevated the grade of the schools of the county.
	In the summer of 1870 he conducted a local normal school at 
Shamokin - the first movement of the kind in this section of the country 
and a most gratifying success.  He has the reputation of having been the 
most efficient examining officer that ever filled the position of school 
superintendent of this county; also, the credit of having held the best 
series of institutes ever held in the county. The annual reports 
prepared by him as superintendent of schools are concise, pithy, 
suggestive
	
	END OF PAGE 194
	
and outspoken documents and form a valuable contribution to the county 
school literature.  An independent thinker, he is positive in his 
opinion and actions, conscientious in the discharge of duties, just and 
unyielding in what he believes to be right.
	He is a member of the G.A.R., has served as secretary of church and 
joint councils; secretary of his own lodge, and representative to the 
grand lodge, I.O.O.F.; is secretary-treasurer of Plum Creek  Cemetery 
Company (incorporated), of which he was the organizer, and is now 
serving his nineteenth year, by annual election, as secretary of a local 
mutual fire insurance company, incorporated.  He resides in Rockefeller 
township, and is engaged in agricultural and horticultural pursuits, his 
work in these occupations being excellent object lessons, and his advice 
and suggestions eagerly sought by the most progressive people engaged in 
the same pursuits.
	Mr. Shipman married July 13, 1869, Lucinda Fasold, who was born 
Sept. 20, 1847.  They had nine children, eight sons and one daughter, 
all still living, seven of whom were teachers in the public schools; 
only one has remained in that work, the second being a supervising 
principal in the Philadelphia schools.  The record of this family is as 
follows:  (1) Warren Lee graduated from the Millersville normal school, 
supplementing this course with a special course at Valparaiso, Ind., and 
also graduated from the Dickinson Law School, Carlisle, Pa.; he now 
resides in Arkansas, engaged in farming and stock raising.  (2) Gordon 
Bryant, a graduate of Millersville State normal school, supplemented his 
work there by an extended course, and is now a public school principal 
in Philadelphia.  (3) Cullen Frazer, a graduate of Bucknell University, 
and Hon. S. P. Wolverton's last law student, is now a practicing 
attorney at Sunbury.  (4) Ivan Vernon, a graduate of the Pennsylvania 
Dental College, Philadelphia, is now practicing dentistry at Sunbury.  
(5) Melville M. is a carrier in the mail service from the Philadelphia 
post office.  (6) Truman G. is in the government service, in the United 
States weather bureau.  (7) Grover C. served his apprenticeship as a 
patternmaker at Baldwin's, Philadelphia, and is now engaged as a skilled 
workman at his trade, in Danville.  (8) Catherine E., the only daughter, 
married Charles W. Gearhart, and resides at Sunbury.  (9) Don Benito is 
now a junior student in the Sunbury high school.

	IRA SHIPMAN, son of Abraham, was born in Lower Augusta (now 
Rockefeller) township, this county, May 17, 1854. It is a coincidence 
that the year of his birth was the year the office of county 
superintendent of schools, in which he served efficiently for six years, 
was established. He received his early education in the country schools 
near his birthplace, attended also at New Bloomfield, Perry county, and 
was later a student at the Freeburg Academy and the Shippensburg normal 
school. He began to teach at the age of seventeen and found his 
principal work in that profession to the end of his days.  The first 
four years he was engaged in his native township, after which he was 
chosen a teacher for Sunbury, in which borough he followed his 
profession, as teacher, principal and superintendent, for nearly thirty 
years. There is hardly any one educator whose influence on the schools 
of the borough has been so strong or so lasting.  In 1893 he was chosen 
county superintendent of schools, and held that office until 1899, after 
which, until his death, he was borough superintendent.  At a meeting of 
the board of education held May 2, 1905, his term of office was extended 
for a period of three years, he being elected without opposition and at 
an increased salary. Had he lived, he would have entered upon the duties 
of principal of the Herndon (Northumberland county) schools, to which 
position he had been chosen, and which opened the day before his death. 
Such is a brief statement of the various capacities in which his 
services were given.  Of his work, none who knew him had anything but 
words of praise. During his incumbency as superintendent the country 
schools were especially benefited, being graded and brought to a high 
state of efficiency, and he was equally zealous in his work at Sunbury. 
Indefatigable in his own efforts, he expected the same degree of 
industry and enthusiasm from all the teachers cooperating with him, but 
he was appreciative and just, winning their loyalty and support as well 
as their best exertions. He died Aug. 31, 1909, at the age of fifty-five 
years, mourned by all who knew him.  The following explains itself:
	"WHEREAS:  Since the last meeting of the Northumberland County 
Teachers' Institute, God, in His allwise providence, has seen fit to 
remove, by death, from the ranks of our profession, Prof. Ira Shipman of 
the borough of Sunbury,
	"WHEREAS: By the death of Prof. Shipman, the County has lost an 
educator who, by persistent effort, indefatigable work and intelligent 
application, placed himself at the head of the schools of the County and 
of the borough of Sunbury, and,
	"WHEREAS: By the death of Prof. Shipman we have lost a sincere 
friend, a wise counselor, and a splendid leader in the positions which 
he so ably filled, a self-made man, attentive to his duties, a real help 
to the teachers, a model school man, and, as Dr. Schaeffer puts it, 'One 
of the three great County Superintendents of the State'- the graded 
course of study, monthly reviews, final examinations, and the granting 
of diplomas, stand out as monuments of his work:
	"Therefore:  Be it resolved that we extend our heartfelt sympathy 
to the bereaved family" in its
	
	END OF PAGE 195
	
affliction, and commend it to Him who doeth all things well.  *  *  *
	"Be it further resolved: That these resolutions be recorded on the 
minutes of the Northumberland County Teachers' Institute, and that 
copies of the same be sent to the bereaved families." The document bears 
the signatures of the seven members of the Memorial committee.
	It was not alone in the schools that Mr. Shipman served his 
community well.  When a young man he studied surveying with his father, 
spending his holidays at the work, and in 1882 was appointed county 
surveyor to succeed E. M. Purdy, who had resigned, filling the position 
until the next election, in 1883.  He also gained considerable knowledge 
of civil engineering under his father, and after his father's death 
became custodian of the notes of many important surveys.  He attained a 
high reputation as a civil engineer, and served the borough of Sunbury 
in that capacity for five years, during which time the first section of 
street paving was laid there, under his supervision. He filled this 
position while teaching, resigning it in 1893, when elected county 
superintendent of schools.  He was for a time borough regulator, and 
served Rockefeller township as justice of the peace.
	Mr. Shipman's life was in every respect an example of unselfish 
devotion to the ideals he cherished, and the strength of character he 
displayed in carrying out his plans, especially in his educational work, 
is referred to with pride by all who knew him. Thoughtfulness marked all 
his actions, even to the last.  Realizing a few days before his death 
that the end was near, he made complete arrangements for his funeral and 
interment, sparing his family and friends as many of the sad duties as 
possible.  He passed away at his home on Catawissa avenue and was laid 
to rest in Pomfret Manor cemetery.  He was a member of the Presbyterian 
Church from early life to the end of his days, but as the First 
Presbyterian church of Sunbury was undergoing repairs at the time of his 
decease the funeral services were held in the First Baptist church. 
Fraternally Mr. Shipman held membership in Lodge No. 267, B.P.O. Elks, 
the Sovereign Patriotic Knights, the I.O.O.F., the P.O.S. of A. and the 
Royal Arcanum.
	On April 27, 1876, Mr. Shipman married Theresa Miller, daughter of 
Solomon and Caroline (Kline) Miller, who lived in Lower Augusta (now 
Rockefeller) township, where Mr. Miller was the owner of a large farm, 
which he cultivated. Three children were born to this union, Herbert M. 
(deceased), Ralph and Waldo. Upon the death of his father Mr. Shipman 
purchased the old family homestead where he had spent his early life, 
remodeled the dwelling, and there made his home for eight or ten years.

	RALPH SHIPMAN, son of Ira, was born Aug. 13, 1879. He received a 
common school education in Sunbury and attended the Bloomsburg State 
Normal School at Bloomsburg, Pa.  Later he served an apprenticeship to 
the trade of machinist.  In December, 1908, his father became connected 
with the Shipman Instrument Company, which manufactures speed indicators 
for use on automobiles and railroads, and Ralph Shipman became secretary 
and treasurer of the concern after the death of his father.  This 
company produced the first successful speed indicator built on the 
escapement principle, recording the speed in miles per hour,  trip  and  
season  distances,  and trip and season running hours.  Mr. Shipman is 
an enterprising young business man, and a citizen of promising 
value to the community. He is a member of Lodge No. 267, B.P.O. Elks, of 
the Royal Arcanum and of the Modern Woodmen of America.  In 1907 he 
married Della Daniels, and they have had one son, Waldo.

	WALDO SHIPMAN, son of Ira, was born Feb. 2, 1882, in Lower Augusta 
township, graduated from the Sunbury high school in 1901, and 
subsequently attended the Pratt Institute, at Brooklyn, N. Y., taking 
the electrical course, and graduating in 1905. Meantime he had been in 
the employ of the Westinghouse Company, extensive manufacturers of 
electrical supplies, and after his graduation he engaged in the 
electrical contracting business at Lewistown, Pa., for two years. He 
then began as a salesman for the Elliott Lewis Electric Company of 
Philadelphia, his territory being northeastern Pennsylvania and the 
lower end of New York State. His thorough familiarity with the products 
he handles makes his services particularly efficient. He is a member of 
Lodge No. 663, B.P.O.E., of Lewistown; of Sunbury Council Royal Arcanum; 
and of Lewistown Lodge, No. 203, F. & A.M., Caldwell Consistory, of 
Bloomsburg, and Irem Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., of Wilkes-Barre. He also 
belongs to U.C.T. Council, No. 350, of Williamsport, Pa. On March 21, 
1906, Mr. Shipman married Sarah Maud Kauffman.  They have no children.

	WALTER SHIPMAN, lawyer and justice of the peace, late of Sunbury, 
was for many years one of the prominent residents of that borough, well 
known in his earlier years as a public school teacher and later as a 
successful member of the legal profession.
	Mr. Shipman was born Aug. 3, 1856, in Lower Augusta township, this 
county son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Yoxtheimer) Shipman.  In his early 
life he attended the Freeburg Academy, later becoming a student at the 
Millersville State Normal school, after which he was engaged as educator 
for fifteen years, in the public schools of Sunbury, where he won 
especial reputation for thoroughness and skill as a disciplinarian. 
During
	
	END OF PAGE 196
	
the latter part of this period he studied law under George B. 
Reimensnyder, Esq., of Sunbury, was admitted to the bar in 1885, and 
made a decided success as a legal practitioner. He had an extensive 
practice, handling many important cases not only in the lower courts but 
also in the Supreme court, and had an especially large practice in the 
Orphans court of the county.  His standing among the members of his 
profession may be judged from the fact that he served for over ten years 
as member of the examining committee of the county bar, giving his 
services without compensation. He filled a number of public positions, 
for the most part in the line of his chosen work, being borough 
solicitor two years (at the time his brother Ira Shipman was borough 
regulator), holding this office under two Republican chief burgesses - 
Peter Bowen and Jacob Renn - though he himself was a Democrat. In 1893 
he was elected justice of the peace on the Democratic ticket, by a 
majority of 283, and in 1898 was reelected by a majority of 1,100, 
continuing to serve until his death, at which time he was filling his 
fourth term. In 1901 he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination 
for president judge, and received flattering indorsement, carrying every 
ward in his own city, though he did not receive the nomination. The 
Shipmans generally have been prominent in public affairs and politics, 
and he proved no exception to the rule, gaining and maintaining 
honorable standing in the life of the community.
	Mr. Shipman died July 21, 1911, at his home in Sunbury, after about 
a year's illness and suffering, during which he underwent three 
fruitless operations.  The simple but impressive funeral services, held 
at the house, were conducted by Rev. Robert O'Boyle, assisted by Rev. 
Richard Gass, of Elysburg, and Rev. Walter W. C. Pugh, of Sunbury, and 
were largely attended.  The members of the Northumberland County Bar 
Association and other organizations to which Mr. Shipman belonged 
attended in a body. The interment at Pomfret Manor cemetery was private, 
though the ritual of the B.P.O. Elks, of which he was a prominent 
member, was observed.  The acting pallbearers, nephews of Mr. Shipman, 
were Dr. H. W. Gass, Dr. I. V. Shipman, Ralph Shipman, D. W. Shipman, 
Esq., Frazer Shipman, Esq., and R. Ira Gass. The honorary pallbearers 
were Hon. C. R. Savidge, Hon. Voris Auten; Hon. C. B. Witmer, Harry S. 
Knight, H. W. Cummings and John V. Lesher.
	Mr. Shipman was one of the most prominent members of Lodge No. 267, 
B.P.O. Elks, a past exalted ruler of that body, and represented the 
lodge at the convention held in Salt Lake City in 1902. He was also a 
member of Washington Camp No. 194, P.O.S. of A., Lance and Shield 
Conclave and the Royal Arcanum.
	Mr. Shipman married Claudine Fasold, daughter of Solomon W and 
Maranda (Kimble) Fasold, the former of whom, a farmer of Rockefeller 
township, died July 16, 1905. Mrs. Shipman survives, as do also the 
three children of Mr. Shipman by a former union: Lida Maude, now Mrs. 
William Gaskins, of Sunbury; Carrie Glen, now Mrs. Charles D. Keefer, of 
Sunbury; and James Fay, a graduate of the Dickinson Law School, who was 
admitted to practice in Northumberland county but is now a practicing 
attorney at Moundsville, West Virginia.
	Joseph Shipman was a farmer in what is now Lower Augusta township, 
owning a farm which was later the property of his son John B., who sold 
it to one James H. Smith.  Joseph Shipman is buried at the Mountain 
Presbyterian Church. He married Mary, daughter of John Bergstresser, and 
nine children were born to this union, viz.: Elizabeth married Matthew 
DeWitt; John B. is mentioned below; Phoebe married William P. Koontz, 
who died May 23, 1854, aged twenty-five years, eleven months, and she 
subsequently married George McCarthy; Nicholas lives in Ohio; Lot, who 
was a school teacher, later interested in a grain elevator, died April 
1, 1904, in Ohio, aged seventy years, five months, ten days, and is 
buried in the West; Jemima married John Ditty and died Aug. 2, 1904, 
aged sixty-one years, ten days (she is buried at Shamokin, Pa.); 
Adaline, who was the wife of Robert Feaster, died May 12, 1891, aged 
forty-five years, five months, eleven days, and is buried at the Baptist 
Church at Augusta; Catharine died July 26, 1836, aged eight years, 
fourteen days; Joseph married Harriet Read, and died Oct. 20, 1845, aged 
forty-two years, one month, eight days.

	JOHN B. SHIPMAN was a native of Lower Augusta township, born March 
23, 1830, and died July 18, 1906, on his farm near Vera Cruz (Malta post 
office), in Lower Mahanoy township. He was a lifelong farmer, a 
substantial and respected citizen, one who held the good will and esteem 
of all who knew him.  Reared in his native township, he afterward owned 
his father's farm there, selling it to James H. Smith before he settled 
in Lower Mahanoy, in 1884. He had a farm of 144 acres in the latter 
township (formerly owned by John Underkoffler), and there passed the 
remainder of his days.  It was the old original David Underkoffler 
homestead and was settled by a Witmer; the house is a pebble-dashed log 
structure and one of the landmarks of that section.
	In 1883 Mr. Shipman married Emma J. DeWitt, daughter of Paul and 
Abigail (Shipman) DeWitt, of Lower Augusta township, and the following 
year, as above mentioned, they moved to the farm in Lower Mahanoy 
township where Mr. Shipman followed farming until his death.  As they 
were English-speaking people they had some difficulty at first in their 
social intercourse with their German neighbors. Two children were born
	
	END OF PAGE 197
	
to Mr. and Mrs. Shipman: Carrie Abigail, who died in infancy, and 
Franklin Clyde.  The son farms the homestead place, where he and his 
mother continue to make their home, and he is an industrious and 
respected young man, intelligent and up-to-date in his agricultural 
methods, which have been attended with excellent results. He received 
his early education in the local schools and later attended summer 
normal school at Georgetown.
	Mr. Shipman was a Presbyterian in religious connection and is 
buried at the Mountain Presbyterian Church.