BIOS: John ALTFATHER, Berlin, Somerset County, PA 

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History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania; Bedford County by E. 
Howard Blackburn; Somerset County by William H. Welfley; v.3, Pub. The Lewis 
Publishing Company, New York/Chicago 1906, ppg. 304/5

John ALTFATHER

  John Altfather, a retired agriculturist of Berlin, Somerset county, 
Pennsylvania, was born on a farm near Berlin, Pennsylvania, January 8, 1834, 
the son of Daniel and Maria (Johnson) Altfather.  He is the grandson of 
Frederick Altfather, who was a native of Germany.
  Daniel Altfather was born near Berlin in 1808, and was by occupation a farmer 
and miller.  In political relations he was a Democrat, and in church 
connections a member of the Reformed church.  He married, in 1830, Maria 
Johnson, of English descent, who was born in 1810 in Berlin, Pennsylvania, 
and still living, at the age of ninety-six years, and in fairly good health. 
When eighty years of age she met with an accident that interferes with her 
walking.  Otherwise she is a wonderfully well preserved woman.  The children 
born of this marriage are: John, of whom later; Henry D., a farmer of Ursina, 
Pennsylvania; William P., an electrician in Texas; Daniel, a farmer of 
Virginia; Susan, married William Dively, of Roxbury, Pennsylvania; and 
Margaret, married Albert Gressinger, of Berlin, Pennsylvania.
  John Altfather, son of Daniel and Maria (Johnson) Altfather, was educated in 
the township schools, and assisted on the home farm until he was sixteen 
years of age.  He then went to work in a flour and grist mill and learned the 
trade of miller.  This occupation he followed in connection with farming until 
1867, when he purchased his present farm, and to this he gave his entire 
attention until his retirement a few years ago.  It is well situated and 
adapted to stock and grain raising.  In political relations he has always been 
a Democrat, casting his first vote for James Buchanan in 1856.  Although a 
loyal and patriotic citizen, and one who has always evinced a lively interest 
in the welfare of the community, Mr. Altfather has never aspired to the 
honors of emoluments of public office.  He has been a member from his youth of 
the Reformed church, in which he has served as deacon and is now elder.  He 
was a teacher for years in the Sabbath school of his church, and was a member 
of the building committee when the present brick church edifice was erected 
in Berlin in 1883.  Although the victim of several accidents at the mill and 
on his farm, Mr. Altfather, at seventy-three years of age, is in good health, 
and on clear Sundays always occupies his seat in church.  He is of an 
exceedingly genial nature, and has learned the art of growing old gracefully. 
He is universally respected and admired.  He is a firm good roads advocate, 
bewailing the present inferior methods.
  Mr. Altfather married, February 14, 1861, Catherine Hay, a daughter of Simon 
and Lydia Hay, a prominent family of Somerset county.  The father, Simon Hay, 
died at the age of ninety-six years.  Catherine (Hay) Altfather was educated 
in the common schools and resided at home until her marriage.  Of this 
marriage, the following named children were born: Annie, 1864, married, 
February, 1903, Frank L. Mead, an engineer, and they live at home with her 
parents; John C., 1867, was educated in the township schools, and is now 
engaged in agricultural pursuits; he married Elizabeth Levy, of Berlin, and 
they have one child, Lewis V.; Edgar T., 1869, lost his life by being caught 
in the belting of a flouring mill at Ursina, Pennsylvania, when but twenty-
one years of age.