Sullivan-Luzerne-Carbon County PA Archives Biographies.....LINE, John Santee 1831 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 17, 2007, 10:31 pm Author: Thomas J. Ingham (1899) JOHN SANTEE LINE, a leading citizen of Bernice, Pennsylvania, now serving as associate judge of Sullivan county, is entitled to distinction as one of the most progressive and enterprising men of this section, and he was for many years actively identified with its railroad interests. He was born in Salem township, Luzerne county, this state, June 15, 1831, a son of Conrad and Sarah (Santee) Line, also natives of Luzerne county. He received his education in the public schools of Salem and Hollenback townships, and at the age sixteen secured a position as clerk in a general store at Wapwallopen, where he remained for two years. At Beach Haven he was likewise employed for about three years and then went to Mauch Chunk, where he began railroading in the service of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, with which he was connected for three years. At the end of that time he returned to Beach Haven and took charge of the store where he had formerly been employed, remaining there about two years. Returning to Mauch Chunk he held the position of conductor on the famous Switch Back Gravity road for two years, and in 1863 entered the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad as conductor on the Beaver Meadow division. In 1865, however, he began running a locomotive on the Mochonoy division, two years later was transferred to the Wyoming division, and in 1869 to the Pennsylvania and New York division. In 1873 he was promoted to the position of engine dispatcher at the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg Junction, holding the same for three years. In 1877 he entered the service of the State Line & Sullivan Railroad Company, as engineer, and became a resident of Bernice. There he began running a stationary engine at the pumping station in 1884, and was thus employed until 1897, when he retired from active service. Mr. Line was married, December 23, 1857, to Miss Emma, daughter of Jacob West, of Mauch Chunk, and to them have been born seven children, as follows: Alonzo G., who died in infancy; Samuel, a stationary engineer now engaged in the water works at Sayre, Pennsylvania; William L., who was killed in his nineteenth year by the collapse of the railroad bridge at that place in 1883, while on duty as brakeman for the company; Edward T., telegraph operator at the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg Junction, Pennsylvania; Sarah F., wife of George B. Winter, of Towanda, Pennsylvania; Anna G., deceased; and Catherine F., at home. The family hold membership in the Presbyterian church and are quite prominent socially. In the spring of 1896 Mr. Line was appointed justice of the peace, but the following fall resigned that position to assume the duties of associate judge, an office to which he was elected on the Republican ticket in the fall of 1896. He is thoroughly impartial in meting out justice, his opinions being unbiased by either fear or favor, and fidelity to the trust reposed in him is above question. Fraternally he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1857, is district deputy grand master for Sullivan county, and also belongs to the Masonic order, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Patriotic Order Sons of America. As one of the leading and most highly respected citizens of Bernice it is consistent that the Judge be represented in a work whose province is the portrayal of the lives of the prominent men of Sullivan county. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Sullivan County Pennsylvania by Thomas J. Ingham Compendium of Biography The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago: 1899 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb