BIOS: Samuel CUSTER, Stoystown, 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, ppg 95-96.

  Samuel Custer, who is living retired from active pursuits in his pleasant home 
at Stoyestown village, in the township of Quemahoning, Pa., has long been 
identified with the best interests of the place, and is known as one of its most 
prominent citizens.  He was born September 18, 1828, in Quemahoning, which was 
also the birthplace of his father, Jacob Custer.  Very little is known of his 
ancestral history excepting that his paternal grandfather was Jacob Custer, Sr., 
who reared at least two children, a daughter and a son.
  Jacob Custer, Jr., was born September 16, 1805, and as a boy attended school 
in Davidsville, Pa.  At the age of twelve years he began the work of life for 
himself, and from that time was self-supporting.  Going to Somerset, Pa., he 
learned the carpenter's trade of Mark Shaffer, with whom he worked as an 
apprentice and journeyman a few years; and he then opened a store of general 
merchandise in Stoyestown, on the present site of the Custer Hotel.  In 1840 he 
transferred his business to Spruce, also in Quemahoning, where he was engaged as 
a merchant a year.  His next venture was in the neighboring town of Shade, where 
he established a foundry, in which he changed the ore to pig iron.  This 
industry he successfully carried on six years.  Returning to Stoyestown at the 
end of that period, he operated an iron foundry here until his plant was burned 
in 1863.  The following two years he made money as a cattle drover, and then he 
again settled in Stoyestown and for a few years conducted a general store.  He 
afterward resumed his early trade, in a short time adding that of cabinet-maker 
and undertaker, and was thus engaged until 1868.  Embarking then in the grain 
business, he continued in it until his death, December 5, 1886, at the age of 
eighty-one years, two months, and nineteen days.  In politics he was a Whig 
until the formation of the Republican party, when he became one of its stanchest 
[sic] adherents, and was a strong abolitionist.  He was prominent in town 
affairs, and besides serving as School Director and a member of the Town Council 
was for twenty years a magistrate.  His wife, Sarah Kimmel, was born in 
Quemahoning, May 21, 1809, and died at Stoyestown, May 5, 1859.  Her father was 
Jacob Kimmel, who married a Miss Brubaker.  Fourteen children were born to Jacob 
and Sarah (Kimmel) Custer, of whom six are now living, a brief record being as 
follows: Samuel, the first-born, is the subject of this sketch, further 
mentioned below; George, born March 9, 1830, is married, and has three children- 
Sarah, George, and Matilda; Eliza was born December 4, 1833; Elizabeth was born 
August 21, 1848; Laura, born September 15, 1850, is the wife of Charles Hendrix, 
and has four children- Joseph Millie, Lottie Belle, and Ruth; John, born October 
13, 1838, married Annie Hilderbrand.
  Samuel Custer received his education in Stoyestown, and after leaving school 
was identified with his father in various enterprises, and from him learned the 
trade of an iron-moulder.  This he followed a while in St. Louis and Cincinnati, 
and then joined his father, whom he assisted in driving cattle to Eastern 
Pennsylvania.  In 1867 he established himself as a teamster, his route being 
from Stoyestown to Johnstown via the old Pike road.  In 1871 he sold his route 
and equipments, and for several years was successfully engaged in the hotel 
business as proprietor of the Diamond House, which is now known as the Custer 
House, its name having been changed under his administration of its affairs.  In 
August 1897, after a long and prosperous career, Mr. Custer sold out, and has 
since lived retired from the activities of life, enjoying the fruits of his 
former years of toil.  A respected and honored citizen and a leading member of 
the Republican party, he has served acceptably at different times in the Town 
Council and as School Director.  Drafted during the Civil War, he secured a 
substitute by paying eight hundred dollars.  Nearly half a century ago he joined 
the Stoyestown Lodge, No. 372, I. O. O. F., of which he has been treasurer the 
past twenty-five years.  Both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran 
church.
  On February 27, 1859, Mr. Custer married Isabelle Naugle, who was born in 
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1837, being the eighth child of 
a family of fifteen.  Of these, eight are living, as follows: Margaret, who is 
the wife of Dixon Huston, and has two children- Joseph and John; Elizabeth; 
Emanuel, who married Rachel Taite, and has two children living- Joseph and 
Elsie; Mrs. Custer; Rachel, who is the wife of Edward Shaffer, and has four 
children- Edward, Charles, Jessie, and John; Susan, who is the wife of Benjamin 
Bowman, and has four children- Rose, George, Melissa, and Harry; Joseph, whose 
first wife, Sarah J. Fowler, died leaving eleven children- Myrtle, William, 
Dora, Richard, Lizzie, Rachel, Marion, Eva, Fowler, Dixon, and one who died in 
infancy, his second wife, Emma Brant, being the mother of one child, Samuel; and 
Emma, who is the wife of James Shaffer, and has four children- Dixon, Ida John, 
and Martha.  Mr. Naugle, who died in his eighty-fifth year, was a butcher in his 
early life, and afterward a hotel-keeper and farmer in Laughlintown, Pa.  Both 
he and his wife, who died at the age of eighty-three years, were members of the 
Lutheran church.
  Mr. and Mrs. Custer have had nine children, four of whom are now living, the 
following being their record: Clara J., born September 16, 1861, married Charles 
R. Barchfeld, and has one child, Charles C.; Florence B., born May 30, 1871, 
married N. E. Burkey, of Somerset, Pa.; Lillie Anna was born May 5, 1873; and 
Edith M. was born March 4, 1883.  Mr. Custer and his wife are members of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Stoyestown, Pa.