USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 69
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 69
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Samuel Heilman was a member of the Evan- gelical Lutheran church, in which he was serv- ing as an elder at the time of his death. He was a strong adherent to the principles of the Democratic party, and had served as tax-collector and as a member of the school board, of which he had been treasurer during a large part of his term of office. He was a man who made good and diligent use of his opportunities and lived an industrious and useful life. Respected as a citizen, and prudent and careful as a farmer, he enjoyed the good will of his neighbors and all who knew him. When in his sixty-sixth year he received the summons which must come to all sooner or later, and passed away on the 27th day of June, 1888. His remains rest in Heil- man cemetery, but his memory is lovingly cher- ished by his family and a wide circle of friends.
TAMES HEILMAN, one of Kittanning town- ship's most substantial and progressive farmers and oldest and highly respected citizens, is a son of Jacob and Susanna (Waltenbaugh)
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
Heilman, and was born on the farm on which he now resides, in Kittanning township, Arm- strong county, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1829. The Heilman and Waltenbaugh families figure conspicuously among the pioneer settlers and prominent land-owners of Kittanning township, and in the old legal records and assessment lists of the county. The Heilman name was written Hileman and Hyleman, and the Waltenbaugli name was spelled Waltenbough. Peter Heil- man, the grandfather of James Heilman, was born on shipboard, while his parents were cross- ing the Atlantic ocean from Germany to the United States. He was reared in Northampton county, where he learned the trade of weaver. He married and came to what is now Kittan- ning township in 1796. His son, Jacob Heil- man (father), was born in Northampton county April, 1791, and died in Kittanning township December 27, 1876, aged eighty-five years. He owned eight hundred acres of land and was a prominent distiller of his day, when Armstrong county whiskey had a reputation as far south as New Orleans for being good, and the "Heilman whiskey" was higlily esteemed as one of the purest whiskies in the market. Jacob Heilman started in life with an ax and grubbing hoe, and acquired his wealth by honest labor and judicious
management. He was a strict lutheran, and voted the democratic ticket until 1854, when he became a republican. He was a good business man, served his township as school director and mar- ried Susanna Waltenbaugh, daughter of Adam Waltenbaugh, of Fayette county. She was a consistent member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and passed away April 27, 1877, when in the eighty-fiftlı year of her age. They had four children, of whom but three are living.
James Heilman was reared on the farm and attended the schools of his neighborhood, in which he obtained a good common business edu- cation. He has always been engaged in farm- ing, and owns the part of the old homestead farm of two hundred and twenty-five acres that
was cleared and improved by his grandfather, Peter Heilman. For the last ten years Mr. Heilman has made a specialty of stock-raising and fruit-growing. In his extensive orchards he raises the finest variety of fruits to be found in Armstrong county.
October 9, 1856, Mr. Heilman married Mag- dalene Reichert, daughter of G. A. Reichert, of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Heilman have seven children : James T., Ella L., Rose C., Grace R., Maggie G., Emma R. and Ethelind.
James Heilman is a republican politically, has served as school director, auditor and assessor of his township and is now overseer of the poor. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and is well-known in his com- munity for his strong sense of justice and his unshaken firmness in supporting whatever he conscientiously believes to be right.
W ILLIAM HOOD, one of the trustworthy citizens and substantial farmers of Val- ley township, is a son of John and Nancy (Hood) Hood, and was born in Hanover town- ship, Washington county, Pennsylvania, Sep- tember 22, 1822. His paternal grandfather, John Hood, was a native of Ireland, where he learned the trade of miller, and united with the Presbyterian church. He and some of his friends came to Pennsylvania in 1794, ascended the Susquehanna river in canoes, and crossed to the head-waters of the Allegheny river, where they launched their canoes and descended that stream into what is now Warren county. John Hood followed farming and milling for twenty years at Sugar Grove and then removed from War- ren to Washington county, where he resided for a few years. He then came to Armstrong county, where he lived with the subject of this sketch until his death, which occurred April 11, 1857, at ninety years of age. He was a presbyterian, and one of his sons was John Hood (father), who was born in county Antrim,
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
Ireland, March 12, 1794, and was brought by his parents to Warren county, where he was reared to manhood. He then went to Wash- ington county, and after a residence of a few years came to this county, where he was en- gaged in farming as long as he lived. He was a democrat in politics, a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, and died May 16, 1862, aged sixty-eight years. He married Nancy Hood, who was born in Bucks county, May 15, 1795, was a member of the Presbyterian church, and died October 5, 1851, at the age of fifty-six years.
William Hood was reared on his father's Washington county farm, on which he worked until he was twenty-four years of age, when he came to this county with his father and settled on the farm which he now owns. This farm was then in the woods, and he aided his father in clearing and improving it. His farm, which contains eighty-eight acres, and is three miles from Kittanning, on the Clearfield pike, is very productive. Besides farming, in which he has been very successful, Mr. Hood also deals in stock.
On October 16, 1876, he married Esther Patton, daughter of Montgomery Patton, of Boggs township. They have three children : William A., Louis M. and Bessie T.
William Hood has always been closely atten- tive to his farm and business. He is an old- time democrat and a member of the First Pres- byterian church, of Kittanning. He has held the various offices of his township. While a man of strong will and great determination, qualities inherited from his worthy ances- tors, yet he is kind-hearted and ever ready to assist those in distress. Mr. Hood, who is six feet two inches in height, comes of a race distinguished for fine personal appearance, and some of whom were six feet and seven inches in stature. Successful as a farmer, honorable as a man and respected as a citizen, he now resides in a comfortable home and enjoys the fruits of half a century of his honest labors.
JOHN A. LOGAN, a former justice of the peace and a worthy citizen of Manor town- ship, is a son of Thomas and Esther (Hood) Logan, and was born at Logansport, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, December 19, 1840. John Logan (grandfather) was born in county Cork, Ireland, in 1756, and in early life set- tled in Pine township, Allegheny county, where he engaged in farming. He died in 1852, when he was in the ninety-sixth year of his age. One of his sons, Thomas Logan (fa- ther), was born in Allegheny county in 1799. When a young man he was engaged in distilling whiskey, but becoming convinced of the evils of intemperance he abandoned the manufacture of liquor and gave his attention to carding wool. He afterwards removed to Logansport and purchased at that place a tract of four hun- dred and fifty acres, which he tilled for many years. He died July 16, 1882, aged eighty- three years. He was a successful business man, a life-long whig and republican, and an es- teemed member of the Presbyterian church. He was widely known as an enthusiastic Sun- day-school worker when Sunday-schools were a new and not a thoroughly appreciated institu- tion in this section of Armstrong county. He married Esther Hood, a native of county An- trim, Ireland, by whom he had nine children, six sons and three daughters. His wife was a member of the Presbyterian church, and died August 20, 1869, in the sixty-seventh year of her age.
John A. Logan was reared at Logansport, and attended the public schools of that town- ship. He has always followed farming since leaving school. He now owns some seventy- three acres of well-improved land in Manor township, upon which he resides.
On October 30, 1866, Mr. Logan married Jannetta Gibson, daughter of Charles Gibson, of Allegheny county, and to them was born one child, a daughter, Jannetta, who is still living. After the death of Mrs. Logan, in
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
1868, Mr. Logan, February 16, 1871, married Sarah Bailey, daughter of Richard Bailey, of Arınstrong county. To this second marriage have been born two children: a son, Charles Bailey, who died aged two years, and a daugh- ter, Lydia Martha.
John A. Logan is a worthy, energetic citizen, a consistent member of the Presbyterian church and a prominent republican. He served one year as constable, was elected justice of the peace in 1879, and held that office until 1884. Mr. Logan raises some stock in addition to farming. He has learned much by observation and reading, and has intelligent and decided opinions upon agricultural, political and relig- ious affairs.
YEORGE WASHINGTON LUKE, M.D., G of Arnold, an efficient and successful phy- sician of Valley township, is a son of James and Annie (Lynn) Luke, and was born in Cam- bria county, Pennsylvania, August 24, 1835. His paternal grandparents were James and Mary (McLane) Luke; the former born in county Armagh, Ireland, and the latter a native of the highlands of Scotland. They came to Penn- sylvania in 1791, and purchased a farm within two miles of Armagh, Indiana county, where they resided as long as they lived. Their son, James Luke (father), was born in 1791 on shipboard while they were crossing the Atlantic ocean. He was reared in Indiana county, served under Gen. Harrison in the war of 1812, and afterwards settled in the forks of Black Lick creek, in Cambria county, where he remained until 1861, when he came to Arm- strong county. Ten years later he passed away at the advanced age of eighty years. He was a stanch democrat and married Annie Lynn, of Bedford county, who was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church and passed from the toils and troubles of earthly life May 20, 1864, when in the seventieth year of her age.
George Washington Luke was reared in Cambria and Clarion counties and received his education in the common schools and Dayton academy, this county. From twelve years of age he commenced to make his own way in life, and for several years worked at any kind of labor that was honorable. In 1859 he com- menced to read medicine at Reynoldsville, Jef- ferson county, and two years later, when the storm of civil war burst upon the land, he left his studies to enter the Union army. He en- listed on August 29, 1861, as a private in Co. H, 105th regiment, Pa. Vols., and four months later was made hospital steward of Gen. Kearney's division. On October 5, 1863, he was discharged by an order of Secretary Stanton for the purpose of giving him an opportunity to enlist as a hospital steward in the United States army, which he accordingly did. He served until November 10, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Brownsville, Texas. While in the service he was captured once and was confined in Libby prison for one month before being exchanged. After the war he 're- ~ sumed his medical studies, under Dr. D. R. Crawford of Smicksburg, Indiana county, and attended lectures at the medical department of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1867. In the fall of 1867 he opened an office at Goheenville, but in May, 1874, on account of his wife's health, removed to Templeton, on the A. V. R. R., where he remained until December, 1876, when he went to Salem, in Clarion county. At that place he remained until the fall of 1881, when he came to Valley township, where he has had a large and remunerative practice ever since.
April 7, 1870, Dr. Luke married Sarah Speace, daugliter of G. W. Speace, of Valley township. They have two children living : Annie L. and Susie B.
Dr. Luke is a republican in politics and when Arnold post-office was established, in 1888, he was appointed postmaster, which position he
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
has held ever since. He owns and resides upon a farm of fifty acres, which is underlaid with coal. Dr. Luke has always been successful as a physician and is recognized as one of tlie prominent and leading citizens of Valley town- ship.
A RCHIBALD W. MARSHALL, one of the useful citizens and progressive farmers of Valley township, is a son. of Archibald and Rebecca (Taylor) Marshall, and was born on the farm on which he now resides in Valley township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, March 29, 1840. Of the many families who left Ireland over a century ago and made Penn- sylvania their home, one was the Marshall family, from which Archibald W. Marshall is descended. His paternal grandfather, Archibald Marshall, Sr., died November 28, 1888. Of his sons who grew to manhood, one was Archi- bald Marshall (father), who was born in Indiana county in 1800 and passed away in 1878, when in the seventy-eighth year of his age. In early life he came to Valley township, where he fol- lowed farming until his death. He was a dem- ocrat and a united presbyterian and was re- spected and esteemed in the community in which he resided. He was well acquainted with the educational interests of the township,. which he had frequently served as school di- rector. Mr. Marshall married Rebecca Taylor. Mrs. Marshall was a member of the United Presbyterian church and passed away in 1883, aged eighty-four years.
Archibald W. Marshall was reared on a farm, and, like the most of farmers' sons, received his education in the common schools. Since attain- ing his majority he has been engaged in farming except from 1861 to 1864, when he kept the toll-gate at the Kittanning bridge. His farm of one hundred and thirty acres of productive land is three miles from Kittanning and is situated one-half mile back from the Dayton 31
road. A heavy vein of coal underlies the . entire farm and is easily accessible. To the permanent improvement and successful cultiva- tion of his farm, Mr. Marshall has given con- siderable thought, which is evinced in the in- creased yield of his fields as well as in the higher valuation of his land. Mr. Marshall is a republican politically, has been a member of the school board and is now serving his town- ship as assessor. He is a member of the Kit- tanning United Presbyterian church, in which he has been an elder for several years.
In 1867 he married Elizabeth Speer, daugh- ter of Robert Speer, of Manor township. To Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have been born four children, three sons and one daughter. Of these children three are : Jennie R., Thomas W. and William S.
JOHN H. MATEER, a reliable citizen and the owner of one of the best coal farms of Boggs township, was born in Pine township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 31, 1846, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Ambrose) Mateer. His grandfather, John Mateer, was a native of Dauphin county, from .wlience he removed to Franklin township, Armstrong county, which he left in 1855 and went to Wayne county, Illinois, where he died. He was a democrat, and married Margaret Montgomery, by whom he had eight children, five sons and three daughters. One of these sons, Samuel Mateer (father), was born Novem- ber 16, 1818, in Armstrong county, and has been principally engaged in farming, although in early life he dealt extensively in stock whichı he drove to the eastern markets. He is a resi- dent of Boggs township, a democrat in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He married Elizabeth Ambrose, a daughter of Ben- jamin Ambrose, a farmer, whig and presbyterian of Westmoreland county, who came to Franklin township, where he reared a family of four sons
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
and three daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Mateer are the parents of seven sons and three daughters : James E., married Esther Lowry, and is a farmer of Boggs township; John H., Dr. Rob- ert M., graduated from Jefferson Medical col- lege, married Mary Donnelly, and is practicing at Elderton ; Benjamin F., a farmer ; Samuel S., living on his father's farm, and married on Nov. 2, 1890, to Mary, daughter of Henry Houser, of Goheenville ; Annie J., wife of Wil- liam C. Calhoun, a farmer ; Margaret, married to Finley P. Wolfe, an attorney of Kittanning ; Mary E., widow of Joseph Banks ; Ambrose M., engaged in the mercantile business, and Alexander M.
John H. Mateer was reared on a farm and re- ceived his education in the common schools. Leaving school, he engaged in farming, which he has followed ever since. He owns a farm of one hundred and eighty acres of well-improved land in Boggs township. This farm is well-improved and is underlaid with veins of coal and lime- stone. He raises considerable stock in addition to farming.
On January 31, 1878, he married Lavina C. Calhoun, daughter of J. R. Calhoun. To their union have been born five children, four sons and one daughter: Robert Calhoun, born Janu- ary 3, 1874 ; Samuel Lee, born March 19, 1878; Iva Blanche, born March 7, 1882; Delbert Harvy, born January 29, 1884, and Findley Ambrose, born April 30, 1888.
John H. Mateer is a democrat in politics, and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian churchı. Mr. Mateer takes great interest in farming, and has always raised good crops on his farm, which is fertile and productive.
D ANIEL McAFOOS. One of the oldest, if not the oldest, native residents of Valley township is Daniel McAfoos, whose memory goes back almost to tlie pioneer days of Arm- strong county. He is a son of Jacob and Eva
(Schreckengost) McAfoos, and was born on the farm adjoining the one upon which he now re- sides in Valley township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1813. Jacob Mc- Afoos was born east of the Allegheny moun- tains, removed, when a young man, to West- moreland county, where he remained but a short time and then came to what is now called Val- ley township, but which was then an almost unbroken wilderness filled with wild animals, and frequented by Indians. He was one of the earliest settlers of the county, killed a great many bears and deer, and cleared out the farm upon which the subject of this sketch was born. He often hunted with the Indians and was a great favorite with them, as he was a good wrestler, a swift runner and a fine shot. He was a presbyterian and an old-line whig, and died in 1859, at seventy-five years of age. He married Eva Schreckengost, a native of eastern Pennsylvania, who was of the same religious faith as her husband and passed away in 1881, aged eighty-four years. They were the parents of eight children : John, Daniel, Margaret, Jacob, Mary, David, Elizabeth and Simon.
Daniel McAfoos was reared on his father's farm and obtained his education in the old log school-house of pioneer days. He had to walk some four miles to school, and often through snow two feet deep. These schools were only kept open for about two months each year and afforded all the opportunities for education which the people had in those early days. He often hunted with his father and helped to kill bears, deer and wild turkeys. When old enongh to do for himself he engaged in farming which he has followed ever since. His early farming was done with rude tools and imple- ments. His plow he made and equipped with wooden mold-boards. His corn he often ground by hand, as it was seven miles to Kittanning by a mere path through the woods, and the rude, primitive mill there was often crowded with a week's grinding ahead. Mr. McAfoos owns
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
a farm of seventy-five acres of good farming and grazing land which is six and one-half miles from Kittanning.
· On November 5, 1840, he married Lydia Reynolds, a daughter of Job Reynolds, of this county. To them were born five children : Julia A., Sarah J., Henry, Lizzie and Phœbe.
Daniel McAfoos is a republican in political affairs and a member of the Reformed Presby- terian church. Now almost an octogenarian, Mr. McAfoos can look back over a long life spent in clearing a wilderness region and mak- ing a comfortable home for himself. Within that time he has seen a prosperous and produc- tive country grow up out of the wilderness- sweep in whose depths he had often heard in his boyhood days the howl of the wolf and scream of the panther.
P. F. McCLARREN, who is serving his sixth 0 term as a justice of the peace of Manor township, has been for the last thirty-five years one of the lumber dealers of the county. He is a son of Hugh and Mary (Fair) McClarren, and was born in Black Lick township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, July 11, 1824. His grandfather, Thomas McClarren, was born in, and was for many years a resident of, Alle- gheny county, but in his old age removed to Westmoreland county, where he resided among his children until his death. He was married and had eleven children, nine sons and two daughters : Robert Kilgore ; William, who was killed on the Pennsylvania canal by a blow from a windlass, while attending one of the locks ; Thomas, Harrison, who died in Louis- ville, Ky .; Joseph and John, who operated a steam grist-mill near Pittsburgh, and both died in Allegheny county ; David, who died at Bir- mingham, now Southside, Pittsburgh ; James and Hugh, twins, who married sisters; Nancy married James Trunick, the operator of a steam planing-mill near the mouth of Saw-mill run ;
and Elizabeth, who married Joseph Bell, a farmer near Pittsburgh. Of these eleven chil- dren, all are dead but James, who resides near Corydon, Indiana, and their descendants are scattered all over the Union. Hugh McClarren (father) was born in 1797 in Allegheny county, Pa., where he learned the trade of cabinet-maker, which he followed as long as he lived. In 1862 he removed to Manor township, where he resided until his death, in 1878, when he had attained the advanced age of eighty years. In politics he upheld the principles of the republican party, and for forty-six years was a consistent member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. On December 6, 1821, he married Mary Fair, who was of German descent, and was born in Black Lick township, Indiana county, in 1800. They had four children, two sons and two daughters : James, who died in 1849, at twenty- seven years of age; P. F., Nancy, who died in the sixth year of her age; and Hannah, who married J. C. Day, formerly of Blairsville, and died at Austin, Minnesota, leaving five children, one son and four daughters, of whom three of the daughters are still living. Mr. Day and two of his daughters reside within fifty miles of San Francisco, California. The eldest daughter, Mary, is married to G. F. Trenwith, of Santa Barbara, California. The second daughter, Adella, was married to Charles Williams, and the third, Laura, was married to G. O. Foster. Mrs. McClarren (mother) was a member of the Lutheran church, and died in 1881, at eighty- two years of age.
P. F. McClarren was reared principally in Centre township, Indiana county. He received his education in the subscription schools, and Indiana and Blairsville academies. In 1851 he came to Manor township, where he has resided in his present house for thirty-five years. Ever since coming to Manor township he has been engaged in sawing and dealing in lumber as well as managing his farm. He has held the office of justice of the peace almost continuously
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
since 1855, and has been so careful in adminis- tering justice that there has never been a case appealed from his decision, iu which the court decided agaiust his judgment.
In 1850 he married Henrietta C. Reichert, the eldest daughter of Rev. G. A. Reichert, a Lutheran minister of Philadelphia. To their uuion were born five children : Laura L., wife of Alexander Heilmau, of Manor township ; Ernest R. and William A. R. both died in 1862 ; George K., married Mary Mahon, of Cleveland, Ohio, and resides at Manorville ; and Warreu T., a book-keeper for the firm of W. L. Kahn & Co., of Pittsburgh. On Sep- tember 30, 1884, Mrs. Henrietta C. McClarren died, and on April 19, 1888, Mr. McClarren united in marriage with Emma E. Harrah, of Lawrence county, Pa.
P. F. McClarren is an active republican. Besides acting as justice of the peace, he has served as school director and in other township offices for several terms. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, of which he has been an elder for a number of years.
WILLIAM McCOLLUM, one of the well- known and highly respected citizens of East Franklin township, was born iu couuty Donegal, Ireland, February 3, 1825, and is a son of William and Sarah (McGarvey) McCol- lum. William McCollum left his native coun- ty of Donegal in 1829, and came to what is now East Franklin township, where he pur- chased two hundred acres of land, and was en- gaged in farming until his death, in 1853, when in the seventy-sixth year of liis age. He was an early settler in the township, was a member of the United Presbyterian church, and sup- ported the Republican party from the time of its organization until his death. He married Sarah McCollum, who was a native of the same county, and a member of the same church as
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