BIOS: Chauncey Adam BRANT, Shanksville, Stony Creek 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, pp 280-282

  Chauncey Adam Brant, a prominent merchant of the village of Shanksville, Stony 
Creek township, Pa., was born in this township on June 12, 1833.  His father, 
Adam Brant, and his grandfather, Christian Brant, were both natives of Lebanon, 
Dauphin County, this State.
  Christian Brant came to Somerset County in 1790, and rented land in Stony 
Creek, of which he was one of the earliest settlers, the locality being at that 
time a frontier wilderness, abounding in game, but infested by wolves and still 
the haunt of the red men.  Deeply imbued with the heroic energy characteristic 
of the early pioneers, he labored hard to support his wife and family.  The 
nearest markets were some miles distant, and parties were often formed to make 
the long and dangerous trips.  On one occasion, a few years after locating  
here, he, in company with some of his neighbors, Messrs. Shank, Graff, Yoder, 
and Suter, started for Mercersburg, Pa., with a load of butter, honey, and 
pelts, such as bear and deer skins, which they were to exchange for flour and 
other necessaries of life.  On the way Mr. Brant stopped at a tavern on the old 
Forbes Road, and to the proprietor, John Stoddard, sold a quantity of butter, 
enough to furnish the little band with spending money on their trip.  On their 
return he called at the hotel to get the empty tub; and, as he went to step upon 
the sled when he came out of the house, he fell dead, presumably from heart 
failure.  His friends brought his body back to his family, and he was buried on 
the William Glessner farm.  This was one hundred years ago or more.  The maiden 
name of his wife is not known.  They had five sons and three daughters, Adam 
being the fourth son.
  Adam Brant was born in Lebanon, Dauphin County, December 6, 1785, and died at 
Stony Creek, Somerset County, June 8, 1847.  He came with his parents to 
Somerset County when a small lad, and later learned the trade of a millwright, 
which he followed in conjunction with general farming in Stony Creek during his 
active life.  He was a great lover of horses and owned some of the finest to be 
found in the county.  He was quite prominent in town affairs, a stanch adherent 
of the Whig party, and for many years was a Deacon and an Elder in the Lutheran 
church, to which both he and his wife belonged.  On March 2, 1809, he married 
Elizabeth, daughter of George M. and Susan (Augustine) Graff.  She was born 
February 28, 1788, and died December 24, 1872.  They had eight children, of whom 
four are living; namely, Eliza, Leah, Josiah, and Chauncey Adam.  A daughter, 
Sarah, born March 13, 1813 (now deceased), was the wife of John Lutz, of 
Germany, and had three children, not one of whom is now living.  The last 
survivor of the three was Sophia, Mrs. Jacob Ross, who died March 19, 1899.  She 
had three children-David, Charles, and Edith.  Eliza Brant, born Oct 26, 1815, 
is the wife of Joseph Keefer, of Somerset, and the mother of three children, two 
of whom survive-Clara and Abigail.  The latter is the wife of David Kimmel, and 
has nine children.  Leah Brant, born March 21, 1818, is the widow of Benjamin 
Keefer, and has one child, Harvey.  Josiah, born December 22, 1823, married Mary 
Woy.
  Chauncey Adam Brant, the direct subject of this sketch, left the district 
school at the age of fourteen years, and began the battle of life on his own 
account as a farm laborer in the western part of Bedford County.  A year and a 
half later he came to Stoyestown, Somerset County, where he worked eighteen 
months at the saddler's trade, which he subsequently followed for a while at 
Jenner's Cross Roads and in Bloomington, Md.  In 1854 he located at Stony Creek 
and for five years was engaged as a saddler in Shanksville.  In 1859 Mr. Brant 
formed a partnership with John M. Schrock, with whom, under the firm named of 
Schrock & Brant, he carried on a general mercantile business until June 1861.  
Selling out his interest in the store, he then went to Pittsburg, Pa., where he 
was employed at his trade for more than a year.  In August, 1862, returning to 
Shanksville, he, in company with E. M. Schrock, in the short period of three 
days raised a volunteer company of sixty men for the Union army, and a little 
later went to Harrisburg with ninety-one men, who were mustered into the One 
Hundred and Thirty-third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry as Company D, with Mr. 
Brant as Third Sergeant.  With his comrades he served in the battles of 
Shepherdsburg, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, Va.  At the close of the 
war he was mustered out of service as First Sergeant, having been promoted for 
bravery.
  Returning to Stony Creek, Mr. Brant followed his trade here a few months, and 
then purchased a farm, which he managed until 1868.  Removing in that year to 
the village of Shanksville, he opened a store of general merchandise.  He has 
now been in business here over thirty years, having carried it on during the 
first seven years in partnership with E. M. Schrock, whose interest in the  
establishment he purchased in 1875, and from that time alone, until he took his 
sons, Richard J. and Foster F., into partnership, this change having been made 
recently.  He has built up a large and lucrative trade in this locality, and he 
stands high among the prominent business men of this part of Somerset County.
  He takes an active interest in all matters relating to the advancement of the 
town, and is an influential member of Republican ranks.  For twenty successive 
years he was Justice of the Peace, and has been twice been appointed Postmaster, 
first under the administration of Franklin Pierce and again in 1897.  For nearly 
a quarter of a century he has belonged to the Somerset Lodge, I. O. O. F.
  He is also a member of the Knights of the Golden Eagle, of Shanksville, in 
which he has passed all the chairs.  Both he and his wife are members of the 
Lutheran church.
  On May 17, 1855, Mr. Brant married Susan, daughter of George and Nancy (Good) 
Raymond and the first-born of nine children.  She has three brothers and one 
sister living; namely, Jacob, Noah, Albert, and Sarah.  Her parents were members 
of the Lutheran church.  Both are dead, her father having passed away at the age 
of fifty-nine years and her mother at the age of sixty-six years.  Her paternal 
grandparents were George and Elizabeth (Gretzer) Raymond, and her maternal 
grandparents were Jacob and Susan (Smith) Good, all of them well known in this 
early history of Somerset County.  Mr. and Mrs. Brant have had five children, of 
whom the following is the record: Robert P., born May 20, 1856, married Miriam 
Wilson, and is now Assistant Postmaster at Shanksville, Pa.; Araminta, born May 
30, 1859, is the wife of Daniel S. Wilson, and has one child, Arthur Lee; Sarah 
J., born March 11, 1864, is the wife of Lincoln Hull, of Bedford, Pa.; Richard 
J., born October 8, 1867, married Eva Heffley, by whom he has had four children, 
of whom but one is living, Josie; and Foster F., born May 14, 1874, married Rosa 
Ream, and has two children-Elsie and Chauncey McK.