BIOS: John J. ENGLE, Elk Lick Township, Somerset County, PA File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Candace Roth Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/ ________________________________________________ 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. 399-401 John J. ENGLE. John J. Engle, a prominent and progressive agriculturist, miller and lumberman of Elk Lick township, traces his lineage from German ancestors, who were among the very earliest settlers of that township. Clement Engle, born in Germany, was the American ancestor. He came to this country prior to the Revolutionary war, fought with the colonists and did his part in throwing off the yoke of the tyrant. He afterward settled in Elk Lick township and acquired considerable property, land, timber, etc. This land has always been in the possession of the family and is the homestead farm of the Engle family. Clement Engle married and was the father of the following children: John, see forward; Clement, Peter, Samuel, Jacob, Frederick, Martin, Adam, Susan and Elizabeth. John Engle, eldest son of Clement Engle, was born in Elk Lick, Pennsylvania, January 7, 1786. He was a farmer and held the family possessions and added thereto. He was a consistent member of the Reformed church, and politically an independent Democrat. He married (first) Salome, daughter of Solomon Sterner, of Garrett county, Maryland, and their children were: Catherine, born in 1812; Solomon, 1816; Elizabeth, 1822; Lydia, 1824; Sarah, 1827; Susan, 1835; John J., 1839; and two who died in infancy. Mrs. Salome (Sterner) Engle died in 1845. Mr. Engle married (second) Catherine Lichty. John Engle died March 1, 1863. John J. Engle, son of John and Salome (Sterner) Engle, was born on the old homestead in Elk Lick, December 15, 1839. He was reared on the farm and attended the public schools until he was sixteen years old. From that age until twenty-three he was an active worker on the farm in his father's employ. During the great war of the rebellion, Mr. Engle enlisted in the Union army and was attached to Company K, One Hundred and Seventy-first Regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers. He participated in several skirmishes and raids and luckily came out uninjured. At the close of his term of enlistment he was honorably discharged from the service August 6, 1863, with the rank of second sergeant. In 1865 Mr. Engle was included in a draft made on Pennsylvania for troops, but before reaching the front General Lee had surrendered and the greatest of all civil wars was over. Since laying aside the sword for the pruning hook, Mr. Engle has resided on the homestead. At first he managed the farm and later became its owner by purchase, and in addition to the cultivation of his farm, which consists of three hundred and five acres, he operates the saw and grist mill built by his grandfateher in 1806. There has never been a time in the history of this fine property when it has been the home of any family other than the Engles. Mr. Engle is a consistent and influential member of the Reformed church in Salisbury, of which he was organist for twenty years and now an elder. He cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln and has always upheld the principles of Republicanism. He was for thirteen years a working member of the school board, has served innumerable times as judge of election and has twice been supervisor. Mr. Engle married, July 7, 1871, Sarah E., born November 26, 1850, in what is now Garrett county, Maryland, daughter of Henry Wagner, of Salisbury. Eleven children have been born of this marriage, ten of whom are living (1906): George G., born January 15, 1873, a farmer, unmarried. Salome, April 3, 1874, wife of David Keim and mother of the following chidren: George, Frank, Mary, Edna, Ernest P. and Sarah M. Keim. Calvin Ulysses, July 28, 1875, married Cora Newman; children: John Jerome and Charles Albert. Irwin J. is a veteran of the Spanish-American war, member of Company I, Fifth Pennsylvania Regiment. Elizabeth, April 15, 1878, teacher in Boynton school. John Wagner, January 16, 1880, resident of Pittsburg. Mary Susan, November 9, 1881, teacher in the Meyersdale schools. William Sherman, July 11, 1883, died June 10, 1885. Samuel Evans, January 25, 1885. Lloyd Francis, September 10, 1886, student at State Normal school at California, Pennsylvania. Lewis Franklin, April 29, 1888. Henry Wagner, father of Mrs. Sarah E. (Wagner) Engle, was born in Salisbury and was a son of William and Margaret (Hare) Wagner. William Wagner was an early settler of Somerset county, to which he came from eastern Pennsylvania. Henry Wagner married Elizabeth, daughter of Levi Shockey, who was a son of Christian Shockey, an honored soldier of the Revolution, a land owner of Elk Lick and a resident of Salisbury, where he died April 29, 1829, aged seventy-three years. Christian Shockey served all through the Revolution, enlisting April 7, 1777, in the Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiemtn, holding the rank of corporal. He was wounded at the battle of the Cowpens. He served with the Eleventh through their many battles and campaigns and also with the First Pennsylvania, and in January 1781, was transferred to the Third Pennsylvania, with which he fought at Yorktown and was again wounded. Christian Shockey returned to Salisbury, Pennsylvania, where he made his home. In 1822 he announced himself a candidate for sheriff of Somerset county in the following address to the voters: Fellow citizens of Somerset county: Having spent the bloom of my youth in six campaigns, suffering cold and hardship to assist in wresting liberty from a tyrant, and still being willing to serve you, and being solicited by numerous friends to offer myself as a candidate for the office of sheriff at the ensuing general election, I trust a soldier of the Revolution will not appeal to Americans in vain. And should I be honored with a majority of your votes I pledge myself to discharge the duties of the office with generosity and impartiality. Signed, Christian Shockey, May 15, 1822. At the election he was defeated, his successful opponent being Isaac Ankeny. Mary (Welsh) Shockey, wife of Christian Shockey, survived him, dying at the age of eighty-six.