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A HISTORY
OF THE
JUNIATA VALLEY AND ITS PEOPLE
UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF
JOHN W. JORDAN, LL.D. Librarian of Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED.
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NEW YORK LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 1913
C
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
AS' ON LENOX AND 11 INOA ONS. H 1414 1
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
the peace for about the same time. In 1876 he was elected to the Penn- sylvania legislature, and in 1878 re-elected, serving in all four years. He was a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Grand Army of the Republic, holding the principal offices in both organizations. He was a Democrat in politics and both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church.
Doctor Hunter married Sarah A. McClain, born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1848, died in Fulton county, May 24, 1890, daughter of James McClain, a farmer of Trough Creek valley, Huntingdon county, a large land owner, and son of Jesse McClain, an early settler of Trough Creek valley. James McClain later moved to Wells Valley in Fulton county, where he died about 1895, leaving tliree children : Walter, a farmer of Nebraska; Sarah A., married Dr. Robert I. Hunter ; and Mary (deceased) married John Stunkard. Children of Dr. Robert Irvin and Sarah A. (McClain) Hunter: 1. John Russell, born in Wells Valley, Fulton county, Pennsylvania, February 6, 1868, graduate of Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, M. D., 1893. now practicing in Lewistown. He married, September 25, 1895, Mary C. Wishart ; two children : John R. and Donald. 2. Mary J., married H. H. Bridenstine and resides in Everett, Pennsylvania. 3. Alice Meta, mar- ried Dr. C. A. R. McClain and resides at Mount Union, Pennsylvania. 4. Robert Mc., D. D. S., now practicing at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania; unmarried. 5. William Scott, of whom further.
(III) Dr. William Scott Hunter, youngest son of Dr. Robert Irvin and Sarah A. (McClain) Hunter, was born in Fulton county, Pennsyl- vania, August 3, 1881. He prepared in the public schools, and later at- tended Juniata College. He chose the profession of dentistry, and after a course at Philadelphia Dental College, Philadelphia, was graduated D. D. S., class of 1903. He practised one year at Saxton, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, then moved to Reedsville, where he is now located in suc- cessful practice. He is a member of the: Masonic order, belonging to Lewistown Lodge, No. 253, :Free; and. Accepted Masons; Lewistown Chapter, No. 186, Royal Arch. Masons': Lewistown Commandery, No. 26. Knights Templar and is also an Odd Fellow. He is a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
Dr. Hunter married, May 10, 1911, Esther Priscilla Taylor,
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
born in Reedsville, Pennsylvania. Dr. Hunter resides on Logan street, Reedsville, where he purchased a home in 1912.
Mrs. Hunter is a daughter of William H. and Rhoda G. (Henry) Taylor, granddaughter of Henry (2) and Priseilla A. (Kyle) Taylor, great-granddaughter of Henry (1) and Priscilla (Turbett) Taylor, and a deseendant of Robert Taylor, who came to the Kishacoquillas valley from Pine Ford, Swatara ereek, Danphin county, when that region formed part of Lancaster county. He took out a warrant for several thousand acres of land, mueh of which is owned by members of the family. Robert Taylor had five sons: William, Robert, John and Matthew, the latter being the great-great-grandfather of Esther Pris- eilla (Taylor) Hunter. Henry (2) Taylor was a life-long farmer of Brown township, where he was born November 24, 1835. He was married (first) October 8, 1850, to Priscilla Ann Kyle, who died January 31, 1869.
William H., son of Henry (2) Taylor, was born on the Taylor homestead, September 29, 1851. He was educated in the public school and Kishacoquilla Seminary, finishing at Airy View Academy, Port Royal, Pennsylvania. He taught school for a time, then began mercan- tile business in Reedsville, but the confinement of indoors told on his health, and he turned to a farmer's life. In 1879 he began his resi- denee at Reedsville, where he has since resided. He has been prom- inent in publie and business life for many years, and is one of the sub- stantial and most highly regarded men of his county. He was one of the organizers of the Reedsville National Bank; was a member of the first board of directors and is the present viee-president. He is also a director of the Farmers' National Bank, at Belleville, and of the Milroy Banking Company. In 1890 he was elected commissioner of Mifflin county, and in 1893 was re-elected by a larger majority than at first. He is a Republican in politics. and .hoth he and his wife members of the Reedsville Presbyterian Church ...: He" married, December 16, 1875, Rhoda G., danghter of Judge: John and: Rhoda ( Taylor ) Henry. Judge Henry died on his eightieth birthday, surviving all but five of his thirteen children. Mrs. Rhoda G. (Henry) Taylor died March 6, 1911. Chil- dren: Ralph H., born February 15, 1879; Kyle McFarlane, February 26, 1885 ; Esther Priscilla, January 13, 1888, wife of Dr. William Scott Hunter.
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
The American ancestor of the Warners of Belleville and
WARNER Reedsville, Pennsylvania, was Joseph Warner, born in England, November 29, 1745, a resident of Gloucester- shire, where he was a large landowner. He came to Pennsylvania in 1768, settling after his marriage in Cumra township, Berks county. On March 1, 1774, he was married by the Rev. David Fober to Barbara Grove, born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, November 1, 1743. Children : Mary, John, Elizabeth, Joseph, Jacob.
(II) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) and Barbara (Grove) Warner, was born in Cumra township. Berks county, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1784. He was a farmer by occupation, and a Democrat in politics. He was married in Reading, Pennsylvania, by the Rev. William Booas, June 22, 1806, to Susanna Will. Children: Hannah, born March 8, 1807; Susanna, February 20, 1808; Elizabeth, April 24, 1809; Harriet, June 25, 1810; Elisha, mentioned below ; Mary, May 10, 1813; Catli- arine, June 19, 1815 : Barbara, April 2, 1817 ; Levi, December 24, 1818; Joseph, May 29, 1823.
(III) Elisha, son of Joseph (2) and Susanna (Will) Warner, was born in Cumra township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, October 6, 1811, died February 10, 1892. He was a carpenter by trade, which occupa- tion he followed in connection with farming, and was a Democrat in politics. He married, in Reading, Pennsylvania, by Rev. Miller, Cath- arine Matz, born in Cumra township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1815. Children : Owen M., born February 7, 1842; Elizabeth Heiney, August 11, 1843; James Matz, mentioned below ; Mary Annic. June 6, 1849; Obadiah M., May 22, 1853; John Franklin, December 11, 1855.
(IV) James Matz, son of Elisha and Catharine (Matz) Warner, was born in Cumra township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, August 7, 1845. He received a good common school education, having attended the Spohn school in Spring township. Berks county, Pennsylvania, at which school he taught two short terms. His boyhood was spent on the farm and in the grist mill. In 1871 he removed to McClure, Snyder county, Pennsylvania, and worked on a lumber operation until 1876, and during that year and the following he operated in Maryland, and in 1878-79 at Blairs Mills, Pennsylvania. Returning to McClure he again operated until 1883, when he moved to the Kishacoquillas Valley, Mifflin
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county, Pennsylvania, and engaged in farming, conducting his operations upon one of the farms then owned by A. W. Campbell. From that place he moved to near Menno, on the farm of D. M. Contner, from which place he moved to the Haughawout farm, where he lived one year, going from there to the farm of Henry P. Taylor, where he lived for nineteen years, moving from there to his late home, near Belleville. During the latter years of his life he devoted a part of his time to lum- bering, associating himself with Joseph Kelley, of Reedsville, Penn- sylvania, and later with D. S. Peachey, of Menno, Pennsylvania. Dur- ing the last summer of his life he purchased the house of Solomon A. Zook, to which place he had expected to move in the near future, retiring from the farming business, but expecting to continue in the lumber business. As a business man he was very careful, his ability being unquestioned, and he was a man of strong convictions, quiet and unassuming in his manner, honest in his dealings with men and kindly disposed toward all. He assisted in the organization of the Farmers' National Bank, of Belleville, of which institution he was a stockholder, and also in the organization of the Co-operative Creamery, of which he was a stockholder. He was always a staunch Democrat and creditably represented his party in county and township offices, serving for three years as county auditor, nine years as a school director, four years as a road supervisor, also in several minor township offices. He was con- firmed in St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania, December 10, 1864; family confirmed in St. John's Luth- eran Church, of Belleville. He was a member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics : Knights of Pythias ; Kishacoquillas Castle, No. 160, Knights of the Golden Eagle, of which he was a charter member and a past officer; Belleville Lodge, No. 302, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he was past noble grand, and several years secretary ; McVeytown Lodge, No. 376, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was a past master; Harrisburg Consistory, Sovereign Princes of the Royal Secret, thirty-second degree, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, N. M. J. U. S. A.
Mr. Warner married, at Bannerville, Snyder county, Pennsylvania, in 1873, the ceremony being performed by Rev. W. R. Weind, Anna Mary Mattern, born in West Beaver township, Snyder county, Pennsyl- vania, August 30, 1856, daughter of John Jacob and Margaret Jane
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(Stull) Mattern, the former of whom was a teacher and cobbler, served for several years as county commissioner of Snyder county and as director of the poor, and in a number of other township offices. The following is a copy of his discharge from the United States army :
"To all whom it may concern: Know ye, That John Jacob Mattern a Private of Captain Lewis C. Edmonds, Company (1) 184th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, who was enrolled on the 27th day of August one thousand eight hundred and 64 to serve one year or during the war, is hereby discharged from the service of the United States, this 2nd day of June 1865 at Munsons Hill, Va., by reason of G. O. HIdqurs. A. of P. C. S. 1865 (No objection to his being re-enlisted is known to exist) Said John J. Mattern was born in Lehigh Co., in the State of Pennsylvania is 41 years of age, 5 feet nine inches high Dark complexion Blue eyes Dark hair, and by occupation, when enrolled a shoe maker. Given at Baileys Cross Roads. Va., this 2nd day of June 1865. John H. Stover Colonel commanding the Regt. ps. This sentence will be erased should there be anything in the conduct or physical condi- tion of the soldier rendering him unfit for the Army ( A. G. O. No. 99) H. V. Russel Capt. 10th N. T. and A. C. M. 2 Div. 2 A. C. Ilarris- burg, June 8 1865. Paid in full, R. A. Haggerty Pay Mas. U. S. A. .Oath of Identity John Jacob Mattern of the township of West Beaver County of Snyder in the State of Penna on the 27 day of January in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty personally appeared before me the undersigned a Justice of the Peace for the County and State above mentioned John Jacob Mattern, who being duly sworn according to law, declares that he is the identical John Jacob Mattern who was a private in the company commanded by Captain L. C. Ed- mond in the regiment 184 commanded by John H. Stover that he en- listed on the 27 day of August 1864 for the term of one year and was discharged at Munsons Hill, Va .. on the 2d day of June 1865, G. O. H. D. qrs. A. of P. C. S. 1865 J. J. Mattern sworn and subscribed to before ine the day and year above written. N. B. Middleswarth, J. P. I certify that before whom the above affidavit purports to have been made is a Justice of the Peace duly authorized to administer oathis. and that the above is his signature. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official scal this 27 day of Jan. A. D. 1880, at Middleburg, State of Penn'a, County of Snyder. J. G. Crousc, Clerk of the Common Pleas and Proth'y. Filed Jan. 27, 1880 at 10:30 a. m. Recorded Jan. 27, 1880."
Children of Mr. and Mrs. Mattern : Miranda, Howard Wilson, Sarah Luemma, Cloyd Henry, Anna Mary, Isaac Westley, Alice May, Lizzie
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Elvesta. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Warner: 1. Sherman Preston, of whom further. 2. Sadie Maude, born December 7, 1876; married William Milton Reigle, a locomotive engineer, a son of David and Saralı Reigle ; children : Marie May, Charles Milton, Helen Maude, Esther Juniata, Anna Elizabeth, Stella Catharine, Frederic Rupp. 3. Frank Wilson of whom further. 4. Roy Embrose, born January 6, 1881; a machinist by occupation ; married Rhoda Estella, daughter of Franklin and Adda Strunk ; children : Mary Lourane, James Franklin, John Scott, Sherman Preston. 5. Bruce Mattern, born May 10, 1884; a locomotive fireman by occupation ; married Jessie Devall, daughter of Sankey and Amanda McColm ; children : Margaret Ethel, Kathleen Lucile. 6. Arthur Stull, born January 9, 1886; a graduate of the Belleville high school, class of 1905 : engaged in the banking business ; unmarried. 7. Minnie May, born August 15, 1888; a graduate of the Belleville high school, class of 1906; married Paul L. Civitts, a farmer, and son of Wilson and Mary Civitts ; children : Camilla May, Wilson Warner.
Mr. Warner died January 23, 1913, at Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, to which place he had gone on a matter of business. His remains were taken to his late residence, near Belleville, where the funeral services were conducted by Rev. A. H. Spangler, D. D., of Yeagertown, an inti- mate friend of the deceased, assisted by Rev. C. S. Bottiger, of Belle- ville. Interment was made in Lutheran cemetery above Belleville, where the services concluded with the Masonic and Odd Fellowship cere- monies.
(V) Sherman Preston, son of James Matz and Anna Mary (Mat- tern) Warner, was born at McClure, Snyder county, Pennsylvania, De- cember 10, 1873. He was educated in the public schools of the Kisha- coquillas Valley, and at the age of sixteen years entered the employ of the Pennsylvania railroad. After two years on the Sunbury division he was promoted to a clerkship at the Lewistown station. Thence to various points on the road and in responsible positions until 1900, when he was appointed agent at Reedsville, also junction agent for the Penn- sylvania and the Kishacoquillas Valley railroads. He is secretary of the Mifflin County Jewelry Company ; was eight years school director of Brown township; is a Democrat in politics, and both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. He is a member of Lewistown Lodge, No. 203, F. and A. M. He married, October 18, 1899, Mar-
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
garet Bricker, born in Lewistown, daughter of M. M. Bricker, the present sheriff of Mifflin county.
(V) Frank Wilson, second son of James Matz and Anna Mary (Mattern) Warner, was born in Bellwood, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1878. He was educated in the public schools, Reedsville Academy and Millersville State Normal, a graduate of the latter, class of 1899. He taught for two years, the second year as principal of Belleville high school. From the spring of 1901, until December, 1902, he was engaged in the freight department of the Pennsylvania railroad at Pittsburgh. On January 1, 1903, he entered the employ of the Reedsville National Bank as clerk, and in the spring of that year was appointed assistant cashier of the Belleville Deposit Bank. He continued in this position until the autumn of 1911, when he was elected cashier of the newly organized Farmer's National Bank, of which he was one of the incor- porators, beginning the duties of cashier in January, 1912. He is treas- urer of the Belleville Co-operative Creamery Company (which he also assisted to organize) ; is treasurer, supervisor and clerk of Union town- ship. He is a Democrat in politics ; a member of Lewistown Lodge, No. 203. F. and A. M., and both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Warner married, September 6, 1904, Nellie E. Dolbeer, born in Ohio, daughter of Rev. W. H. and Eliza Euxine (Walters) Dolbeer, born in Ohio, but now living at Beaver Springs, Snyder county, Pennsylvania. Children: Frank Wilson (2), born February 20, 1907; Dudley Dolbeer, December 31, 1910; Curtis Wayne, August 14, 1912.
HELFRICK The earliest record of this family is in Snyder county, Pennsylvania, where Joseph Helfrick was a well-to-do agriculturalist, the owner of two farms. He was a member of the Reformed church, married and left issue.
(II) Willoughby, son of Joseph Helfrick, was born in Snyder county. Pennsylvania. He has followed farming all his life in Union, Snyder and Mifflin counties, moving to the latter county in 1877, and settling at Paintersville, where he purchased a farm of sixty acres on which he now resides. He is a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. He married Susan S. Miller, born in Union county, died in 1908, daughter of Joseph Miller,
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a land-owning farmer of Union county; children : Samuel, a United States mail carrier, at Laurelton, Pennsylvania ; Susan S., married Will- oughby Helfrick; Eliza, married John Stover, whom she survives, a resi- dent of Paintersville, Pennsylvania; another deceased. Children of Willoughby Helfrick: 1. Annie E., married Samuel Hunt, of Lewis- town ; children : Elsie, Susanna, Esther and Joella. 2. Albert C.
(III) Albert C., only son of Willoughby and Susan S. ( Miller) Hel- frick, was born in Paintersville, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, August II, 1877. He was educated in the public schools and Lock Haven State Normal School. He taught two terms, then entered Eastman's Busi- ness College at Poughkeepsie, New York, whence he was graduated, class of 1898. He then entered the employ of H. C. Jackson, a general merchant of Lewistown, but soon afterward became clerk in the banking house of William Russell & Son. In 1900 he was appointed cashier of the newly organized Belleville National Bank, and became a resident of Belleville. The Belleville National Bank is one of the well-managed, prosperous national banks of the county, and is the only national bank in Mifflin county that is listed by the United States government on its "Roll of Honor," and stands twenty-seventh on the "Roll of Honor" list in the United States, and third in the list of Pennsylvania national banks, and having a capital of less than $50,000. In this connection it is interesting to know that the foremost bank on that "Roll" is also in Pennsylvania, the First National Bank of Uniontown. Mr. Helfrick is a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He is also a member of the Masonic order, be- longing to McVeytown Lodge, No. 376, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; also to Belleville Lodge, No. 302, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Rebekahs, No. 427; the Patriotic Order of Sons of Amer- ica, and the Patrons of Husbandry. He married (first) in 1904, Lenore Gibboney, who died in 1908, daughter of William M. Gibboney, of Belleville. Children: Eugene G. and Marlin W. He married (second) in 1912, Rachel, daughter of Levi and Rebecca Esh.
HANAWALT The first record found of the Hanawalts is of Henry, who on October 31, 1785, warranted three hundred acres of land in what is now Oliver town- ship, Mifflin county, and on November 21, 1792, patented another tract
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of one hundred acres. Henry Hanawalt, died in 1794, leaving two sons, George and John.
(II) George, son of Henry Hanawalt, in company with his brother John, purchased in April, 1802, a tract of land in what is now Wayne township, of the heirs of James Ross. John Hanawalt moved to that purchase, but George remained at the home farm. They continued their partnership until April, 1821, when they divided the property, but cach seemed satisfied with the land they were living on, so George kept the homestead and John the Ross purchase, in Wayne township. John died in 1829, George in 1832. He served in the revolution, and a relic of that conflict is still preserved by his great-grandson, Daniel A. Hanawalt, in the form of a firearm, the barrel of which was part of the musket car- ried by his sire, when a soldier in the revolutionary army. George Han- awalt left a widow, Catherine, and children: Margaret, married Hugh McKee; Ann, married Leopold; Susanna ; Joseph, of whom further : James.
(III) Joseph, son of George and Catherine Hanawalt, was born in Oliver township, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, where he also spent his after life. He was a prosperous farmer and both he and his wife Mary were members of the German Baptist church, he being a minister. He left male issue including a son, John S.
(IV) Jolin S., son of Joseph and Mary Hanawalt, was born in Oliver township, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1840, died in the same township May 1, 1883. He attended the public schools and spent his early life at the home farm. After his marriage he bought a tract of one hundred acres of partly cleared land, and thereon spent his after life. He finished the clearing, erected many improvements and brought his land to a point of high fertility. He was a member of the German Bap- tist church, and a minister of the branch known as The Brethren, as was his father and father-in-law. In political faith he was a Democrat, and served several terms as school director. He married Nancy Snowberger, born in New Enterprise, Pennsylvania, August 3. 1842, later moved to McVeytown, where she was married. She survives her husband, has never remarried and now resides at the Oliver township farm, to which she moved in early married life. She is a daughter of Daniel Snow- berger ,a prosperous farmer of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and a member of the German church (The Brethren) ; he had several children.
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one of them Theodore, a soldier of the Union army, was killed at the battle of Antietam. Children of John S. Hanawalt: 1. Christie Ann, married Fred J. Sunderland, and lives in Wayne township. 2. Catherine, married George White, and lives at Burnham. 3. Mary Elizabeth, mar- ried Henry Rhodes, whom she survives, a resident of Alberta, Canada. 4. Ira, drowned at the age of two years. 5. Joseph Rothrock, married Effie Rupert and resides at McVeytown, a teacher in the public schools. 6. Daniel Abraham, of whom further. 7. Charles B., married Bessie Bailey and resides at Falls Creek, Pennsylvania, principal of schools. 8. John Miller, married Essie Strawser and farms the homestead. 9. Wil- liam H., married Phoebe Kirk and resides in Oliver township, a farmer. IO. Ada Margaret, married Robert Strawser, a farmer of Oliver town- ship.
(V) Daniel Abraham, son of John S. and Nancy (Snowberger) Hanawalt, was born near McVeytown, Oliver township, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1873. He obtained his early education at the Pine Grove public school, later entering Juniata College, whence he was. graduated from the business department, then taking the normal English' course. After teaching school in Brown township for six years, Mr. Hanawalt located in Belleville in 1903, having been appointed station agent for the Kishacoquillas Valley railroad, a position he yet occupies. He is a Republican in politics, served six years as school director, and is now secretary of the Belleville board. In Mahaffey he served as borough director. He is a member of The Brethren church, his wife a member of the Presbyterian church.
He married, in December, 1903. Katherine Cummins, born in Brown township, daughter of James T. Cummins, of an old county family. Children : Emogene B., born May 2, 1906; James Milton, October 15, 1908: Robert Campbell, September 4, 1912.
In 1796 Christian Spangler was listed among the "tax-
SPANGLER ables" of Quemahoning township. Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He married and had issue, including a son Abraham.
(II) Abraham, son of Christian Spangler, was a wealthy farmer of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, owning between three and four hundred acres of land, much of it in timber. He spent his life in lumbering and
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