USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 68
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 68
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John Adams was reared in this township, where he enjoyed the advantages of the early
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common schools of Pennsylvania. He has always been engaged in farming, owns a well- improved farm of eighty-two acres, and is well situated to enjoy life and its substantial com- forts. In addition to farming, Mr. Adams deals some in stock. He is an elder in the Reformed church, of which he has been a mem- ber for many years. In political affairs he has always supported the Republican party and its principles.
In 1871, Mr. Adams married Jane Barker, daughter of Joseph Barker, of this county. To their union have been born three children : Mary, Maud and Eliza.
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H TENRY BOLTZ, an intelligent citizen, and highly prosperous farmer of East Frank- lin township, is emphatically a self-made man. He is a son of Henry and Catherine (Able) Boltz, and was born in Prussia, July 18, 1829. His parents were natives of Prussia, and mem- bers of the Reformed church. They came to Armstrong county in 1852, where the father, Henry Boltz, was a farmer, but also followed la- boring until his death, in 1881. He was born in 1794, in Prussia, where, after arriving at man- hood, he was a laborer until he came to this country. He was an honest and industrious man of fair education and good business abil- ity. His wife, Catherine (Able) Boltz, was born in 1794, and passed away in 1851, aged fifty-seven years. They were the parents of four children, of whom Barbara (Schultz) and Henry are living.
Henry Boltz was reared in Prussia, and re- ceived a good education in the excellent schools of that country. Leaving school, he was var- iously employed for several years. On Decem- ber 23, 1852, he landed with his parents at New York city, and came with them to Brady's Bend, this county, where he was engaged in mining for twenty years. The last two years of that time he served as mining-boss, which
position he resigned in order to engage in farm- ing in Sugar Creek township. In 1874 he purchased and moved on his present farm in East Franklin township. This farm is six miles from Kittanning, and contains one hun- dred and sixty-four acres of good farming land which is well improved, and in a high state of cultivation. Mr. Boltz has erccted on this farm a very fine frame dwelling-house and large barn, together with many neat and tasteful out- buildings. His Sugar Creek farm contains two hundred and thirty-five acres of well-improved land with a good new house, roomy barn and all needed out-buildings.
November 27, 1853, Mr. Boltz married Mar- garet Rohrbach, daughter of John Rohrbach, of Germany. They have. eight children: Catherine, wife of George Miller, who is a farmer of West Franklin township; Adam, married Maggie Heidrick, and is a farmer in Sugar Creek township; John, a farmer of the same township, who married Laura M. Simp- son; Lizzie, Maggie, Christina, Mary and George.
Henry Boltz is a republican, has served four years as school director, and while firm in his political as well as religious views, yet does not seek to force them on any one. He is a mem- ber of the Union Presbyterian church, and Activity Lodge, No. 715, I. O. O. F., and formerly was a member of Alpine Lodge, No. 479, for twenty-seven years. His energy, good judgment and untiring industry have won him a competency which is more remarkable, as well as more complimentary to Mr. Boltz, when the fact is taken into consideration that he landed in this country without a single dollar.
CHARLES S. BOVARD, an active, uscful and influential member of the Presbyter- ian church and a leading merchant of Manor- ville, is a son of George and Mary Ann (Rob- inson) Bovard, and was born in Butler county,
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
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Pennsylvania, February 23, 1849. His pater- nal grandfather, Hon. James Bovard, was born in Ireland and came to Pennsylvania at the age of twelve years. His parents settled in West- moreland county, but soon after removed to Butler county, of which he afterwards became an influential citizen. He served as associatc judge of that county for forty-five years, and died in 1853, at seventy-nine years of age. His son, George Bovard (father), was born in 1816. He was in partnership with Henry Graff, in the general mercantile business, at Maple Furnace, in Butler county, which he built and operated for several years. In 1851 he removed to Manor township, where he was engaged, at Manorville, in the general mercan- tile business until 1870. In that year he em- barked in the oil business, which he followed until 1880, when he retired from active life. He has been a member of the United Presby- terian church, of Kittanning, since 1851, is an active republican in politics and has filled all of his township's offices. On November 10, 1840, he married Mary Ann Robinson, a member of the United Presbyterian church, who was born near Parker, in 1819, and on November 10, 1890, they celebrated their golden wedding.
Charles S. Bovard was reared in Manor town- ship, and after attending the public schools spent two years at Elderton academy and the same length of time at Westminster college. Since 1870 he has been engaged in the general mercantile business at Manorville, where he has a large and well fitted up establishment which is filled with a carefully selected stock of goods adapted to the various wants of his numerous patrons. He and his brother own one hundred and sixty acres of land in the oil- region of Venango county, and their tract is now being developed with very favorable results.
In 1869 he married Alice H. Dice, daugliter of George Dice, of Lawrence county. They have five children, two sons and three daugh-
ters : Anna M., who was married, on September 9, 1890, to Frank C. Stoeltzing, of Pittsburgh ; M. Jeannette, now attending the young ladies' seminary at Washington ; Walter G., at school ; Kitty R., at school; and John K. G., who was born April 14, 1886.
Charles S. Bovard is a stanch republican, and for six years was a member of the school board of Manorville, besides filling the office of auditor and serving as councilman. In 1878 he removed from Manorville to his present residence in the township, and has been a school director of Manor township for nine years since that time. He was for several years an elder in the United Presbyterian church, and was a commissioner to the General Assembly of that church at its session of 1882, in Monmouth, Illinois. He remained in the United Presby- terian church until the organization of the Second Presbyterian church, at Kittanning, in 1884, when he united with that church, of which he is now an elder. Mr. Bovard is a large man of fine personal appearance, and is courteous and accommodating to all whom he meets.
J AMES CUNNINGHAM, of Manorville, one of the representative business men and prominent merchants of central Armstrong county, is a son of James and Nancy (Weaver) Cunningham, and was born at Manorville, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1862. The Cunningham family is of Irish descent, and one of its members, Elisha Cunningham (grand- father), was born in Armstrong county, and was a bricklayer by trade. He dicd in 1860, when he was about fifty-seven years of age. One of his sons, James Cunningham, (father) was born in Armstrong county in 1823, and followed his trade of bricklayer until 1855, when lie en- gaged in the general mercantile business at Manorville, where he soon secured a lucrative trade. When Manorville post office was estab-
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lished, in 1862, he was appointed postmaster, which position he held for twenty years. He was ticket, freight and express agent from the time the station was established at Manorville until 1882, when, in crossing the railroad track, he was struck by a train and received injuries from which he died March 21, 1882. He was a republican in politics, a member of the Kit- tanning Methodist Episcopal church, an Odd Fellow of high rank and an energetic, active business man. He married Nancy Weaver, a native, who was born in 1827. She is the postmistress at Manorville and has been for many years an esteemed member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church.
James Cunningham was reared at Manorville and received his education in the public schools of that town. Leaving school, he assisted his father in the general mercantile business until the death of the latter, when he purchased the store and was appointed ticket, freight and ex- press agent. In 1887 he resigned his railroad positions on account of failing health. Since then he has given his undivided attention to the interests of his general merchandise bus- iness. During the summer of 1890 he built a large and commodious establishment which is well stored with everything in the linc of for- eign and domestic dry-goods, grocerics and other general merchandise required by his numerous patrons.
On July 8, 1883, he married Annie M. Asche, daughter of J. F. Asche, of Butler county. Their union has been blessed with one child, a daughter, named Bessie.
James Cunningham is a republican and has been for some time a member and secretary of the borough school board. He is a deacon of the Evangelical Lutheran church and a member and secretary of Manorville Lodge, No. 290, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and the Union Sabbath-school, of Manorville. Mr. Cunningham is a good citizen and a capa- ble and energetic business man.
YYRUS A. EVERHART, a faithful soldier of the Army of the James and one of the best and most progressive farmers of Kittanning township, was born in Franklin township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Indepen- dence Day, 1833, and is a son of Henry and Susan (Keck) Everhart. The Everharts were early settlers west of the Allegheny moun- tains. Cyrus A. Everhart's paternal great- grandfather, Everhart, was born on board the ship which brought his parents from Germany to this country. Christian Everhart (grand- father) came from Huntingdon to Westmore- land county in an early day and frequently left his farm to seek safety in a neighboring fort from the Indians. He was an elder in the Lutheran church, served in the war of 1812 and died in Franklin township, aged sixty-six years. He married Mary Snyder and one of his sons was Henry Everhart (father), who was born in 1808. He came in 1847, from West- moreland county to Kittanning township, where he died October 1, 1888. He was a farmer by occupation, a democrat in political faith and a lutheran in religious belief. He had been an elder in his church for many years and had held various offices of his township. All his methods of business were honorable and he en- joyed the respect and esteem of his friends and neighbors. Although an unassuming man, yet he was an active worker in his church and an energetic business man. He married Susan Keck, who was born in Mercer county Novem- ber 25, 1810, and died in this township April 24, 1875. She was a lutheran and her father, Christian Keck, a soldier of the war of 1812, was a native of Mercer county, where he died in 1854, aged seventy years. Henry and Susan Everhart had six children, of whom five are living.
Cyrus A. Everhart was reared in Westmore- land and Armstrong counties and received his education in the common schools. On April 15, 1864, he enlisted in Co. H, 199th regiment,
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Pa. Vols., and served in the Army of the James around Petersburg, where he was in some of the severest and bloodiest engagements of the war. He was honorably discharged from the Union service in Philadelphia, on July 8, 1865, and returned home, where he remained until 1878, when he was appointed as one of the attendants at the Soldiers' Home at Dayton, Armstrong county. He held this position for eighteen months and then was engaged, during 1880-81, in the agency business. Since then his health has been impaired to such an extent as to disable him from physical labor and he has given liis time chiefly to managing his farm. At the present time he is serving as jury constable of the courts of Armstrong county.
In 1854 lie united in marriage with Sarah Heilman, daughter of Frederick and Margaret Heilman, of this township. They have been the parents of seven children, of whom five are living: R. Frederick, married to Mollie Heil- man, and now assisting in the management of his father's farm ; James Parks, engaged in the dairy business at Ford City; David Lee, a teacher ; Angeline, wife of U. F. George, of Kittanning ; and Mary E., at home.
Cyrus A. Everhart owns one hundred acres of the homestead farm in Kittanning township. It is well improved and productive land, and Mr. Everhart has brought it into a high state of cultivation. He has studied well the nature of lis land and uses methods of farming which give him the largest returns in crops while they do not exhaust the soil. He is a democrat in political sentiment and has held various town- ship offices. Genial, courteous and obliging, lie is justly popular in his community.
JOHN FAIR, a prosperous merchant of Adrian, and a justice of the peace for East Franklin township, is a son of Peter and Sarah (Fair) Fair, and was born in Washington town- ship, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, August
31, 1831. The Fair family is of German de- scent, and one of its members, John Fair (grand- father), was a native of Pennsylvania, and a farmer of Indiana county, where he died, near Black Lick station. His son, Peter Fair (father), was born in Indiana county in 1796, and removed about 1817 to Armstrong county, where he settled in what is now Washington township. He engaged in farmiog as well as working at his trade of blacksmith. He was the first blacksmith in Washington township, was an active member of the Evangelical Lutheran church and died in 1878, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-two years. He married Sarah Fair, who was born in Armstrong county in 1800, and is a member of the Lutheran church. She is now in the ninety-first year of her age, resides with the subject of this sketch and is very active for a woman of her advanced years.
John Fair at the age of two years became a pcr- manent cripple, caused by scvere sickness, so that all through life he has been compelled to walk with the help of a cane. He was reared on his father's farm in Washington township, and after attending the common schools of that township (not being able to work on the farm) engaged in teaching, which he followed for seventeen years. Froin 1865 to 1872 he was employed as a clerk with different mercantile firms in the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in the latter- named year he came to Adrian, where lic opened his present general mercantile establishment. Mr. Fair has made it an object to study the wants of his customers, and with good taste al- ways selects a large stock of goods that never fail to please his many patrons in and around Adrian. In addition to his mercantile business he has an interest in a large farm near Adrian.
September 5, 1881, he married Emma D. Quigley, daughter of. R. O. Quigley, of East Franklin township. To their union have been born three children : James F., Lawrence H. and Carrie B. For the past eight years Mrs.
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Fair has been postmistress at Adrian, where the post-office is located in her husband's store.
John Fair is a prominent republican, and in May, 1880, was elected justice of the peace of East Franklin township. He served his term in such a desirable manner to the public that he was re-elected in 1886. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, of which he is a trustee.
CHAMBERS FRICK, one of the leading business men and public-spirited citizens of Adrian and of East Franklin township, is a blacksmith by trade, as was his father, grand- father and great-grandfather before him. He is a son of Abraham and Delilah (Bowser) Frick, and was born at Adrian, in East Franklin township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, November 26, 1852. His great-grandfather, Frick, was of German descent, and came about 1840 from Westmoreland into Armstrong county, where he purchased a large tract of land. He was a blacksmith by trade and his son, Michael Frick (grandfather), learned black- smithing with him. Michael Frick followed farming in connection with his trade in this and Butler county, to which he removed in 1854. He was a republican and died in 1863. He was a class leader in the M. E. church, and while in one section where there was no church he gave his house for religious services, in which he gen erally led. His son, Abraham Frick (father), was a blacksmith by trade and a very fine work- man. He was a resident of this county from 1839 until his death, in 1862, when he was in the thirty-third year of his age. He and his wife were members of the Baptist church, and in politics he affiliated with the Republican party, but was not an ultra partisan. He fol- lowed his trade at Adrian during the last eight or ten years of his life. He married Delilah Bowser, daughter of Abraham Bowser, and who died March 15, 1873, aged forty-one years.
Chambers Frick was reared at Adrian, and received his education in the common schools. He learned the trade of blacksmith, and after- wards became mining boss at Monticello fur- nace, which position he held for three years. In 1878 he opened a blacksmith shop at Adrian, which he operated until 1881, when he removed to Templeton, where he was engaged in the manufacture of carriages for three years. He then became a clerk in the hardware and agri- cultural implement house of James McCul- lough, Jr., of Kittanning, and also acted as a traveling salesman during a portion of the two years he remained with Mr. Mccullough. In 1887 he returned to Adrian and engaged in his present general mercantile business. In con- nection with merchandising he operates a large blacksmith shop, in which special attention is given to general repairing. He has a neat and tasteful store which is well stocked with first- class dry-goods, groceries and notions, and has the public approval of his business in the large patronage which he enjoys. Mr. Frick was only ten years of age at his father's death, and from that time on had to do for himself. He has made his own way in the world and the success which he has won and the competency which he has acquired are the results of his own unaided efforts.
In 1870 Mr. Frick married Nancy Flinner, daughter of David Flinner, of this county. They have seven children : Mary, Ada, Rose, Lottie, Lillie, James McCullough and Frances.
Chambers Frick is a republican, and a mem- ber of the Jr. O. U. A. M. and Montgomery- ville Baptist church.
W TILLIAM A. GRAHAM, a descendant of an old and substantial family, and one of the young and energetic farmers of Kittanning township, is a son of William and Catherine (Blaney) Graham, and was born in Kittanning township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania,
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July 25, 1864. The Graham family settled in Kittanning township at an early day. They were of that sturdy and honest class of people who predominated so largely in the early settle- ment of Armstrong county, in the commence- ment of the present century. James Graham (grandfather) came to the United States and settled in this county, where he resided until his death. His son, William Graham (father), has always followed farming and stock-raising in this township. He is a member of the Pres- byterian church, and is a man who gives most of his time to his farm and its improvement. A democrat in politics, he always gives his party a hearty support, and has been chosen, at different times, to fill township offices. He married Catherine Blaney, who died some years after their marriage.
William A. Graham was reared on his father's · farm in Kittanning township, and received his education in the public schools. Leaving school, he engaged in farming, which he has pursued continuously and successfully ever since. He owns a fine farm of seventy acres of land. He is conveniently located in regard to church, school and market. In politics he is a demo- crat, and has always cast his ballot for the nom- inees of his party. In addition to farming he is also engaged in stock-raising. Mr. Graham is a successful farmer and a careful business man. He is pleasant and agreeable in manner, and has many warm friends in the community in which he resides.
In 1884 he united in marriage with Mary Ecker, daughter of Emanuel Ecker, of West- moreland county. This union has been blessed with three children : Zora B., Margaret J. and Marian N.
TOHN P. GUTHRIE, a descendant of the early-settled Guthrie family of Westmore- land county, and one of the old and prosperous fariners of Manor township, is a son of John
and Catherine (Buchanan) Guthrie, and was born February 15, 1820, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, near North Washington. The Guthrie family is of Irish descent, and one of its members, Capt. John Guthrie (grand- father), emigrated from Ireland to Pennsyl- vania during the past century, and became one of the early settlers of Westmoreland county. He was elected captain of one of the companies organized among the white settlers for protec- tion against the Indians. After serving in one or more campaigns on the western frontier, he went to Kentucky with the intention of taking up a tract of government land, but died before he had secured his land. His son, John Guth- rie (father), was born in 1791, in Westmoreland county, where he learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed until he removed to Arm- strong county, in 1847. He then bought a farm, upon which he resided until his death, which occurred in 1866, when he was in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church, and in his early life was an old-line whig. In 1856 he became a republican, and supported that party until his death. He married Catherine Buchanan, of Westmoreland county. Mrs. Guthrie was a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and died in 1876, at the ripe old age of eighty- eight years.
John P. Guthrie was brought to this county by his parents when he was seven years of age, and attended the subscription and public schools. His first employment was coal-digging, which he followed for two years, and then was em- ployed for some time at the Owen salt-works, near Apollo. Upon attaining his majority he engaged in farming, which he has followed ever since. He owns his father's farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres, and devotes his time chiefly to farming and stock-raising.
In 1846 Mr. Guthrie married Elizabeth Hancock, who was a daughter of John Han- cock, of Indiana county, and died in 1847. He
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married, in 1864, Hannah Iseman, daughter of Michael Iseman, of Manor township. To this second union have been born four children, three sons and one daughter : John I., David H., Thomas W. and Sarah P.
Politically, John P. Guthrie is a republican, and has been elected to various township offices, in which he has always served acceptably. He is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry, and believes that the principles of that organization, if carried out, would be highly beneficial to the agricultural interests of the county.
S (AMUEL HEILMAN. The late Samuel Heilman was one of the well-known farm- ers of Kittanning township, and was an honor- able and honest man of excellent character and reputable standing. He was a son of Daniel and Lydia (Yount) Heilman, and was born in Kittanning township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1822. The Heilmans (name written Hileman and Hyleman in old documents and records) were among the pioneer families of Kittanning township. (See sketch of James Heilman.) They were among the substantial class of early settlers, and their names appear on the assessment lists of 1807 as owners of mills, distilleries and large tracts of land. The Younts (name written Yundt in old records) were early settlers and large land-hold- ers in the township. Daniel Heilman, the father of the late Samuel Heilman, was of Gernian descent, and came from his native county of Northampton in 1810 to Kittanning township, where he followed farming until his death, in 1832, at fifty years of age. He married Lydia Yount, by whom he had eleven children.
Samuel Heilman was reared in his native township, where he attended the schools of his neighborhood. When he commenced life for himself he engaged in farming, which he fol- lowed successfully as long as he lived. He
owned a good farm, which he kept in good order and carefully cultivated.
On January 7, 1847, he married Martha Ru- pert, who is a daughter of Peter Rupert, who was a native of York county and an exemplary member of the Lutheran church, and came with his parents, at five years of age, to this county, where he died in 1855, at the age of seventy- eight years. To Mr. and Mrs. Heilman were born two sons and six daughters : Thomas, who married Julia Bailey and resides in Allegheny city ; Emma, wife of J. J. Richard, of Gibbon, Neb .; Lou, married to John Murphy, of Kit- tanning ; Lydia, wife of William King ; Mollie, wife of R. F. Everhart; Jennie, Maggie and Herman C. The second son, Herman C., who has the management of the home farm, was reared and received his education in his native township. He is a young man of good business ability, and resides with his mother.
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