Sullivan-Montour County PA Archives Biographies.....WEBSTER, John J. 1836 - 
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  Author: Biographical Publishing Co.
  
  JOHN J. WEBSTER* is one of the largest lumber dealers of Sullivan County and is
  practically a resident of Estella, Elkland township, Sullivan County, Pa., where
  he owns a handsome residence, a large and well improved farm and other valuable
  property; he is temporarily located, however, in Forks township. He is the
  eldest son of Jonathan and Harriet (Blakeley) Webster, and was born at White
  Deer Creek, Montour County, Pa., October 8, 1836.
  
    Jonathan Webster was born in England, where he learned the weaver's trade.
  Coming to this country he located at Philadelphia, where he worked at his trade
  for a short time. Being a skilled and successful workman he soon obtained a more
  lucrative situation in a large woolen factory at White Deer Creek. By unceasing
  labor and close economy he saved a considerable sum of money which he invested
  in land, which at that time was very cheap. He purchased 100 acres in Elkland
  township, where his son William now resides. In summer, by patience and great
  effort, he slowly cleared the timber from the land that he might cultivate the
  soil. Out of the logs he built a log house, where he and his wife lived in true
  pioneer fashion. In winter he worked at his trade for Thomas Engham at Monroeton.
  
    In this way by unceasing toil in both summer and winter he was soon able to
  build larger and more substantial buildings, the same now standing on the farm.
  In his house he put up a loom on which, during spare time, he wove cloth for his
  family, and also for his neighbors. He made a specialty of weaving handsome
  shawls, which were a source of wonder and delight to all his neighbors and
  friends; thus he was more prosperous than many in his vicinity and accumulated a
  nice property, the benefits of which he enjoyed to the day of his death, which
  occurred on the farm at the age of seventy-three. His religious life was based
  upon the doctrines of the Anglican Church. He was a Whig in politics and later a
  Republican. His wife died at the home of our subject in 1896, aged eighty-four
  years. Their children were: John J., the subject of our sketch; George, now
  deceased, who served in the Union Army in the Rebellion; Ellen, deceased;
  William, of Elkland township; Jonathan, who was killed in the War of the
  Rebellion; James, of Sugar Run; Elizabeth, now deceased; and Marsden of Bradford
  County.
  
    John J. Webster was brought to Elkland township by his parents when he was six
  months old. There he was reared as a farmer and at the age of twenty-one bought
  eighty acres of the George Molyneux tract near what is now Estella, it being at
  that time an untouched wilderness. There he built a small boarding-house and
  kept a country tavern, at the same time commencing the work of clearing his
  farm. This venture was so successful that eighty acres more of the same tract
  were added to his farm. Being a man of energy and enterprise he was desirous of
  obtaining the most possible good from the natural resources of his land, so he
  built a saw-mill on his grounds and manufactured lumber from the timber in his
  own forest, also sawing for his neighbors who came from miles around bringing
  logs to his saw-mill. After years of toil and industry he succeeded in improving
  his farm to his own taste and now enjoys the honor and distinction of being one
  of the most prominent agriculturists in his section of the state.
  
    One of the noted features of this elegant farm is a fine apple orchard of 150
  trees. Mr. Webster has given the care of this splendid farm of 160 acres to a
  tenant, for he is so busily engaged elsewhere that it is impossible for him to
  give his personal attention to farming; he realizes, however, that much more
  money can be made in the lumber business than in farming, consequently he is
  extensively engaged in lumbering on the large tracts of timber land owned by the
  Union Tanning Company in Forks township.
  
    Mr. Webster has been twice married. His first wife was Jane Kaye, daughter of
  William Kaye of Elkland township. She died about the age of twenty-five leaving
  four children: Carrie, who married Frank May and is the mother of seven
  children, Bertha, Millie, George, Lloyd, Merton, Dorothy, Lorine; Charles G.,
  who married Ella Brown and has five children, George, John, Seth, Delia, and
  Blanche; Anna, who married A. F. Molyneux, and also has five children, Tina,
  Revival, Ada, Walter and Wetsel; and Walter, a carpenter and wagon-maker by
  trade. Mr. Webter's [sic] second wife was Mrs. Catherine Campbell, daughter of
  Samuel Norton and widow of Henry Campbell. Mrs. Campbell had two children by her
  first husband, viz.: Jennie, who married George Morton and bore him two
  children, Essie and Nellie; Irene, who married Lyman Caufer, and also had two
  children, Katie and Violet.
  
    Our subject and his second wife have been blessed with a family of five
  children, three sons and two daughters, namely, Merton, who married Rosa Brown,
  and had a family of seven children, Fanny, May, Helen, Frank and Frances, twins,
  and Georgie and George, also twins, now deceased; Nellie; and Harry. Few men
  many years older than our subject can boast of such a numerous family of
  children and grandchildren. Mr. Webster is a leading spirit in the Methodist
  Church and has served as a member of the building committee ever since joining
  the church. Politically lie is a Republican, and has served in many township
  offices and one term as county commissioner. Socially he is past grand of
  Sullivan Lodge No. 522, I. O. O. F.; also a member and past president of the
  Elkland Grange.
  
  
  Additional Comments:
  * The information contained in this biography was supplied by the subject of
  this sketch. A type-set copy of the biography was sent to the subject to be
  proof-read, but the subject did not edit and return the copy, so this biography
  may contain typographical errors.
  
    Extracted from:
      
      Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District
      Published by 
      Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899)
  
  
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