BIOS: Robert P. BRANT, Shanksville, 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. 108/9

Robert P. BRANT.

Robert P. Brant, of Shanksville, is a great-grandson of Christian Brant, who 
came from Dauphin county to Stony Creek township in 1795 and settled near the 
site of Shanksville, on the Lazear farm.  His children were: Christian; 
Abram, an 1812 soldier; Samuel; Adam, of whom later; George; Elizabeth, wife 
of Caspar Keller; and Eve, wife of Jacob Keller.  Mr. Brant died suddently 
while on a hunting trip.
Adam Brant, son of Christian Brant, was born in 1785 in Dauphin county and 
was a carpenter and wheelwright, working at his trade for forty years in this 
country.  He was a Whig and a member of the Lutheran church.  Mr. Brant 
married Elizabeth Grove and their children were: Jacob, married Maria Burkett 
and removed to Iowa, where he died; Sarah, wife of John Lutz, died at the age 
of eighty-one; Eliza, deceased, was wife of Joseph Keefer; Joseph, of Berlin, 
married Mary Woy; Leah, deceased, was wife of Benjamin Keefer; Susan, 
deceased, was wife of Henry Grady; Sophia; Chauncy A., of whom later.  Mr. 
Brant died near Shanksville in 1847.
Chauncey A. Brant, son of Adam and Elizabeth (Grove) Brant, was born June 12, 
1832, and learned the saddler's trade in Stoyestown, receiving two dollars 
and a half for eighteen months' works.  He afterward worked at his trade in 
Pittsburg and for several years in Shanksville.  In August, 1862, he enlisted 
in Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, 
serving with the rank of first sergeant until May, 1863, when he was 
honorably discharged.  For forty years Mr. Brant has been a merchant in 
Shanksville.  He has served as school director, for twenty years held the 
office of justice of the peace, and for the last eight years has been 
postmaster.  He is a Republican and a member of the Lutheran church.
Mr. Brant married, May 12, 1855, Susan, born May 8, 1833, daughter of George 
Rayman, and their children were: Robert P., of whom later; Araminta, wife of 
D. S. Wilson, of Shanksville, has one child, Lee, who married Susan Blackburn 
and has one child, Robert F.; Jennie S., wife of Lincoln Hull, merchant of 
Spring Hope, Bedford county; Richard J., merchant of Shanksville, married Eva 
Heffley; Foster F., partner of Richard J., married Rose Ream.  Mrs. Brant is 
a member of the Lutheran church.
Robert P. Brant, son of Chauncey A. and Susan (Rayman) Brant, was born May 
20, 1856, in Shanksville, where he received his preparatory education in the 
public schools, afterward attending the normal schools of Somerset and 
Berlin.  After completing his education he taught for five years in the 
schools of Stony Creek township, and then entered commercial life as a 
traveling salesman for a Philadelphia wholesale grocery house, taking 
Somerset and Bedford counties as his field of labor.  Since 1887 he has 
conducted a drug store in Shanksville, being a registered druggist, qualified 
to practice anywhere in Pennsylvania.  For ten years he has served as justice 
of the peace, and for the last eight years has been assistant postmaster, the 
office being situated in his store.  He belongs to Shanksville Camp, No. 
7325, Modern Woodmen, and is a Republican in politics.  He is a member of the 
Lutheran church, which he has served as deacon and elder, and for fifteen 
years has been superintendent of the Sunday school.
Mr. Brant married, December 12, 1878, Miriam A. Wilson.  They have no 
children.  Mrs. Brant is a daughter of Abraham Wilson, who was born December 
12, 1828, and is a retired miller of Shanksville.  He is a Democrat and a 
member of the United Brethren church, as is his wife, Catharine Baltzer, who 
was born in 1839.  Their daughter Miriam was born Deceember 31, 1854, was 
educated in the common and normal schools and became the wife of Robert P. 
Brant.  She is a member of the Lutheran church.