BIOS: Elmer E. PRITTS, Somerset, 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. 70/1 Elmer E. PRITTS. Elmer E. Pritts, assistant cashier of the Farmers' National Bank of Somerset, Pennsylvania, born December 26, 1861, comes through the following genealogical line: (I) His grandfather on the paternal side was George Pritts, born about 1781, and he descended from one of two brothers who emigrated from Germany at an early date and settled in Virginia. Later one of the two brothers came to Pennsylvania, and from him came the Somerset county Pritts families. George, the grandfather, died June, 1856, near Somerset. He farmed all his days in his native township. In religious belief he was a Baptist. He married Catherine (Weimer) Pritts, had eleven children: Nellie, born 1806, married a Mr. Longsbaugh; John, 1808; Rebecca, 1810, married a Zarefoss; George, 1823; Henry, 1826; Joseph, 1828; and Peter, 1832. The only two now surviving are George and Henry Pritts. Samuel died aged twenty-one years; Henry married a Miss Zarefoss; Joseph married a Knepper, Peter married Mary Frank. (II) Peter Pritts, son of George Pritts (I), born in 1832, was a native of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and by trade a carpenter. He obtained a common school education, was a Lutheran in religious faith and a Republican in politics. He was a soldier during the Civil war, being a member of Company G, Sixty-fourth Pennsylvania Regiment. Aside from having served as constable, he never held local office. He married Mary Frank in 1859. She was the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Will) Frank, by whom Mr. Pritts had the following issue: Elmer E. (subject), born December 26, 1861; Lizzie, maried W. H. Saylor; Ross, married Lucy Saylor and died aged about twenty-eight years; Sue, married W. H. Stutzman; Frank, married a Miss Domer; Verdi, Samuel and John died in infancy; Mame, married J. H. Seibert; Nannie, married Dr. C. L. Friedline. (III) Of Elmer E. Pritts itmay be stated that he is indebted to the public and local normal schools of Somerset county for the educational advantages he enjoyed during his boyhood. The first twelve years of his active career he followed the vocation of teaching, the next seven years he served in the capacity of principal of the Somerset borough schools, the following six years he held the responsible position of county superintendent of schools, and since then has been the incumbent of his present position, assistant cashier of the Farmers' National Bank, the duties of which he is discharging with credit to himself and acceptably to the officials of the institution. He casts his vote for the candidates of the Republican party, to which he has always given his allegiance, and was chairman of the Republican county committee in 1902. He is active in business and political circles and stands high in the community in which he has spent his life. December 25, 1887, he married Minnie Sipe, born September 16, 1868, daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Sipe. By this union the issue was Mary Elizabeth, born October 8, 1890. Mr. Pritts and family are members of the Lutheran church. (For sketch of Sipe family see elsewhere.)