BIOS: Josiah L. BERKEY, Lincoln Township, Somerset County, PA

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Vol. XXXII, Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of 
Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania. Boston, Biographical Review 
Publishing Company: 1899, pp329-330.

  Josiah L. Berkey, one of the leading farmers of Lincoln township, Pa., was 
born January 2, 1848, in Quemahoning, Somerset County, being the only child of 
Jonathan and Mary (Maurer) Berkey.
  His paternal grandfather, Jacob Berkey, spent the larger part of his long and 
useful life in Quemahoning, where he improved a good farm, and was held in high 
respect as a man and as a citizen.  His wife's maiden name was Elizabeth 
Ledoris.  Three of their children are now living, namely: a son William, who 
married Catherine Maurer, and has eleven children; a daughter, who is married 
and has three children; and a son Jacob, who is married and has three sons.  
Both grandparents were active members of the Lutheran church and liberal 
contributors toward its support.
  Jonathan Berkey, the father above named, was born on the old homestead in 
Quemahoning in 1824, and was reared a farmer.  He served as a soldier in the 
Mexican War, and in 1848, soon after its close, he died from disease contracted 
while in the army.  His wife, Mary, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Walker) 
Maurer, of Quemahoning, is still living, making her home in the nearby township 
of Jenner.
  Their son, Josiah L. Berkey, was brought up and educated in his native place, 
where at the age of seventeen, early in the spring of 1865, he enlisted as a 
private in Company A, Eighty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in which he 
served five and one-half months, or until August 11, 1865, when he received his 
honorable discharge.  Locating in Jenner township, he remained there until his 
marriage, when he came to that part of Somerset which is now included within the 
township of Lincoln, and purchased the estate known then as the Casebeer farm, 
but now called the Maple Grove Farm.  This he has since managed most 
successfully.  He has three hundred and seventy-five acres of land, well 
improved, and in addition to general farming he makes a specialty of raising 
fruit of various kinds, to which he has devoted much attention.
  Fraternally, Mr. Berkey is a member of the R. P. Cummings Post, No. 210, 
G.A.R.  Politically, he is a straightforward Republican, ever ready to promote 
the interests of his town and county.  For three years he served as School 
Director, and for the past six years has been Justice of the Peace.  Both he and 
his wife are active members of the Lutheran church.
  On the 2d of May, 1869, Mr. Berkey married Miss Ellen M., daughter of Jacob 
and Lydia (Ankeny) Casebeer, of Lincoln township.  Of the seven children born of 
their union five are living; namely, Elizabeth, Nellie, Charles, Park, and 
Annie.