OBIT: Howard William DeLOZIER, 1931, Salisbury, Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

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HOWARD WILLIAM DeLOZIER

Salisbury Loses Sterling Citizen
Howard DeLozier Passes Away Unexpectedly - Was Noted for His Joviality
Was One of Youngest Veterans of Civil War

  Howard William DeLozier, who was a jovial and picturesque character in and 
about Salisbury for considerably more than a half-century, died shortly after 7 
o'clock p.m., Feb. 6, 1931, at the age of 80 years, 8 months and 27 days.  He 
was born May 28, 1850, in Carroll Township, Cambria County, Pa.  He was a son of 
the late Terrance and Julia Weakland DeLozier.
  Mr. DeLozier came to Salisbury in 1875.  He was attracted here by the shook 
industry, with which he was identified for some years, both in the woods and in 
the shook shops, cutting the timber which was split into staves, and later 
shaped up in the shook shops for making casks to contain molasses and rum.  The 
staves were all exported to Cuba, enough in each bundle, or shook, to make one 
cask. There was no more healthful labor than that which was associated with the 
shook industry.
  Owing to the fact that Mr. DeLozier during the years of his young manhood 
followed an exceptionally healthful occupation, and the additional fact that he 
was born with a strong, vigorous constitution, it was but natural that he 
possessed health and strength beyond that of the average person, and carried 
much of it with him almost to the brink of the grave.
  He was ill but little during his entire lifetime, and for that reason his 
death came as a great surprise, as his final illness set in only a few days 
before he closed his eyes upon earth's fitful scenes forever.  Only four days 
before he died he was about town in his usual jovial mood.   He seemed to have a 
cold, and expressed to some of his friends the opinion that he was getting grip 
or some similar malady, but did not seem to think it would develop into anything 
serious.  However, a day or two later he took to his bed, and a day or two 
before he died seemed to become paralyzed in his throat and other parts of his 
body, and soon lapsed into coma.  At no time after taking to his bed did he have 
much desire to talk, or seem to take much interest in anything or those about 
him.  When he was averse to talking, joking or laughing, he was not only ill, 
but very ill.
  When the Civil War broke out, Howard DeLozier was only eleven years old, and 
when he was only a few weeks past his fourteenth year he was a stalwart "6-
footer," and had no trouble in getting into the United States Army as a 
volunteer soldier, he and his father enlisting at the same time, in Co. C, 209th 
Infantry Regiment, wherein they served their country well, and were honorably 
discharged after serving the full time for which they had enlisted.
  Howard DeLozier was still a young man when he came to Salisbury in 1875 as a 
shook-maker, and worked in a shop operated here by the late William Smith.  The 
same year he married Martha Bruckman, a daughter of the late Dr. and Mrs. J. G. 
Bruckman.  To them twelve children were born.  Mrs. DeLozier died in September, 
1919.  The following named children survive:  Rose, wife of the late William 
Petry, of Johnstown; George G., of Glencoe; Lucy, wife of Arthur Sharp, 
Meyersdale; Virgil, who has no established residence; Walter, and Ada, wife of 
George Schrock, Johnstown; Grace, of North Dakota; Ruth, of Colorado.  Four of 
their children, Terrence, Frank, Blanche and Mrs. Alice Mull preceded the 
parents in death.
  Several years after the death of his wife, Mr. DeLozier took unto himself a 
second wife in the person of Mrs. Ellen Harrison, who lived only about two or 
three years.  After being a widower for another period of a few years, Mr. 
DeLozier married again, his third wife being Mrs. Mary Trent, who had also been 
married twice before becoming the wife of her third husband, whom she survives, 
with six sons, three of whom were fathered by her first husband, the late 
Alexander Facenbaker, and three by her second husband, the late Hesekiah Trent.  
Mrs. DeLozier is a daughter of the late Christian Bower, and some of her 
children are quite young, the youngest being only about five years old.
  The surviving wife of the deceased is many years younger than her third 
husband was, but she was very devoted to him, as he also was to her, and they 
lived very happily together during the three years and nearly five months which 
intervened between their marriage and the aged husband's death.
  Howard DeLozier was a remarkable man in many ways.  Though a man of rough 
exterior, and almost brutally frank in expressing his opinions at times, he had 
many most excellent traits, and though rough and "hardboiled," so to speak, in 
some respects, there was a big, kind heart back of his rough exterior, and he 
was always ready to do a kind turn, or to help anyone in distress to the extent 
of his ability.  Moreover, he was a useful citizen, as well as an honest one.  
From the time he was big enough to work, almost to his dying day, he was 
generally busy at something, and was able to turn his hand to almost anything, 
and was a strong worker at whatever he turned his hand to.  After the shook 
industry came to an end in this locality, he worked to some extent among the 
farmers, also worked in the mines for a good many years, followed teaming to 
some extent, and also for a number of years served the farmers of this locality 
as a veterinary surgeon.  As a veterinarian he acquired the title of "Doc," and 
was known to almost every man, woman and child in Salisbury and vicinity as "Doc 
DeLozier."
  He also served his fellow citizens of Salisbury as Burgess, and in various 
other official capacities at various times.  He was not only a useful citizen, 
but a highly amusing one, as he possessed a large humorous streak in his make-
up, lots of ready wit, and was the dispenser of much quaint and humorous 
philosophy.  Truly, he was a picturesque character, very outspoken, at times 
very saracastic, sometimes quickly moved to anger, but just as quick to forgive 
an injury, and he never nursed a grudge.
  In addition to his surviving wife, children and step-children, Mr. DeLozier is 
also survived by about thirty grandchildren, about ten great-grandchildren and 
brothers and sisters as follows:  James, of Greensburg; Ignatius, Raphael and 
Mrs. Julian Wortham of Altoona, and Mrs. Amelia Leene, of Pittsburgh.
  The funeral service was held at the DeLozier residence on Corliss Street, 
Sunday afternoon at 3:45 o'clock, conducted by Rev. S. D. Sigler of St. John's 
Lutheran Church.  The burial arrangement was in charge of Funeral Director J. L. 
Tressler, of Meyersdale, assisted by the Sons of Veterans, who arranged for a 
military burial.
  That Howard William DeLozier had many friends, was plainly shown by the large 
number of persons in attendance at the funeral, many coming from other 
communities.  Most of his children and other near relatives attended the 
funeral, but some found it impossible to be there.

Meyersdale Republican, February 12, 1931