USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume II > Part 18
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(II) Christian Sharp, son of Peter and Gertrude Sharp, was born at Back Mountain, in an humble log house. His father, as has been said, was of English descent, and his mother German, for reasons given above, the specific one being his own name. He received the minimum of education at the district school that was held only three months in the year, and if the parents of the children were hurried with the work of the farm, dairy or house, the children remained away to assist. Naturally his education was limited. He married Magdalena, daughter of Jacob and Catherine Zook, old time German settlers at Front Moun- tain. They were both members of the Amish Mennonite church at Front Mountain. Jacob Zook was a wealthy farmer. and lived and died at Front Mountain, where his large family of children grew to adult age. Christian Sharp owned twenty acres of highly productive land in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, and there lived and died. He was a
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weaver by trade and kept a shop during middle age. He was an ardent Republican, and though working indefatigably for the ticket he never aspired to office. With his wife he was a member of the Amish Men- nonite church. He died about 1866, and his wife survived him until 1900. Children: I. Benjamin, of whom further. 2. Catherine, mar- ried Samuel Gluck ; lives in Belleville. 3. Gideon, deceased. 4. Barbara, deceased ; married Christian Kanagy. 5. Jacob, deceased. 6. Christian, lives in Milroy, Pennsylvania.
(III) Benjamin Sharp, son of Christian and Magdalena (Zook) Sharp, was born at Front Mountain, January 28. 1844. He was edit- cated in the schools of the home township and at Ore Bank school. He was reared on the farm of his father and remained with him on the farm after leaving school until he was grown. In February, 1872, he married Barbara E. Peachey, daughter of Jacob Peachey, a farmer and old resident of the county. After marriage he purchased a farm of eighty acres in Union township, but later sold fourteen acres. He lived there until 1904. when he erected a pretty home in Belleville, or "Mid- dletown", as it is called, and has remained there since. He does a general and successful farming. In polities he is a stanneh Republican, always voting the straight ticket, but has never aspired to nor held an office. He and his wife are members of the Peachey church, giving generously toward its support. Children: I. Died in infancy. 2. Reu- ben, died aged four and a half years. 3. Annie, died aged twenty-one. of consumption.
Christian D. Druckenmiller, of Lewistown DRUCKENMILLER Junction, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, is an able representative of a thrifty American family of Pennsylvania. The family is a well known one in Center county ; for centuries it has lived near the Rhine, in Germany, and there many of its members still make their home.
(I) Peter Druckenmiller, the progenitor of the Druckenmiller fam- ily of Pennsylvania, was born in Center county and came to Snyder county while yet a youth, about 1800. Later he located in Center county. His wife, Katie Eddinger, was born in this county and there grew up. Her parents were of German origin, and were the second generation in America. Peter married Katie Eddinger in Center county, moved to
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Snyder county, and by dint of economy and thrift succeeded, with the aid of his wife, in saving enough to buy a farm, on which they lived and eventually died. Both were members of the German Lutheran church. Children: 1. Michael. 2. John, killed while serving in the civil war, as was also Peter. 3. Peter. 4. Harvey. 5. Katie. 6. Adaline. 7. Jere- miah. All but Michael born in Snyder county.
(II ) Michael, first son of Peter and Katie ( Eddinger ) Druckenmil- ler, was born in 1834 in Center county, and is living in Mifflin county. Decatur township. He received his meager education in the schools of the township, and on leaving school he engaged in the blacksmith's trade, and established a smithy near his home in Decatur township. He is one of the best known and most thoroughly useful men in that part of the county, and is highly respected. He is a Democrat, voting the straight ticket, taking in it an active interest, even in his late years. He attends the Lutheran church with his wife and family. He mar- ried Rosana Frane, born April 12, 1836, in Mifflin county, a daughter of Christian Frane, who was born in Dauphin county, and came with his wife, Catharine Bishop. also born in Dauphin county, to Mifflin county about 1812, and located in Decatur township, where he was for many years a farmer and land owner. He died at the age of ninety, while his wife died while yet a young woman. He married (second ) Betsy Hunt, widow of John Hunt. Children of Christian Frane by first marriage: 1. Anna, married George Reigle, a farmer in Decatur town- ship. 2. Rosana, married Michael Druckenmiller. 3. George, a farmer in Decatur township, and a soldier in the civil war ; married Liba Wide- meyer. Children of Michael and Rosana ( Frane) Druckenmiller: I. Christian D., of whom further. 2. Matthew George, born February 7, 1858, a workman in Burnham; married Nettie Yetter. 3. William, born July 1. 1859. a farmer in Derry township: married Maggie Marx. 4. Peter Franklin, born December 5. 1862; a farmer in Decatur township; married Sarah Knepp. 5. Margaret, born April 12. 1865; married Kirkland Stump, a railway employee.
(III) Christian D., eldest son of Michael and Rosana (Frane) Druckenmiller, was born February 16, 1856, in Snyder county, Pennsyl- vania. He received his limited education, such as was afforded by the school facilities of that day, in the township, leaving it at an early age to enter the arena of life as a farmer. At first he worked as a laborer,
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gradually rising until he owned his own farm, and at the present time has a valuable body of land, consisting of two hundred and seventy-six acres, under a high state of cultivation. He followed farming for six year. after which time he moved to Lewistown Junction and became a trusted employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, until 1906 when he accepted a position with the Jackson Supply Company. He has invested his earnings in four houses and lots at the Junction, one of which he occupies, renting the other three. Like his father before him, he is a staunch Democrat, supporting the party on all occasions. He is a member of the fraternal organization, the Owls. of Lewistown, in which he stands high. He has been employed by various corporations since reaching adult age and after giving up farming. He married, February 21, 1884, Amanda Arnold, born in Mifflin county, April 12, 1866, a daughter of George and Elizabeth ( Wills) Arnold, of a family long established in that part of the state. To Mr. and Mrs. Druckenmil- ler were born: 1. Jay William, born June 23, 1889: a steel molder at the Standard Steel Works. He is a Democrat and is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and of the Owls, both lodges located in Lewistown. He married, August 5, 1910. Mary E. Brown, daughter of Jaines and Clara Brown. They have one child, Ruth V., born July 6, 1911. 2. Anna Margaret, born July 8, 1891 ; educated in the public schools ; unmarried. 3. Christian D. Jr., born July 10, 1894. 4. Russel, born March 3, 1900.
The Mussers are of Swiss-German descent and came to
MUSSER the Juniata Valley from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Their first settlement was in what is now Perry county. where the father, Samuel Musser, of Burnham, was born.
(1) William Musser was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, Janu- ary 31, 1800. He grew to manhood in his native county, and there learned the miller's trade. In 1825 he moved to Spring Mills. Center county, Pennsylvania, where he operated a mill, and prior to 1845 moved to Jackson township, Huntingdon county, where he owned and cultivated a farm, also owned and operated a grist mill at McAlevy's Fort until his death in 1866. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Epis- copal church. He married Eliza E. Mayes, born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, in March, 1807, died 1885. Children : Elias, Mary Ann,
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Sarah, Ellen and Elizabeth, all deceased; Samuel, of whom further ; Cor- dilla, living: Nancy Jane and Mahala, both deceased; James Hall, a veteran of the civil war, serving in the Forty-fifth Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, now an attorney of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; John Bush, killed in 1864 in the six days' fight in the battles of the Wilderness, a private of the One Hundred and Tenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volim- teer Infantry.
(II) Samuel, son of William and Eliza E. (Mayes) Musser, was born in Jackson township, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, December II, 1835. He attended the public school of the township, and later learned the trade of millwright, which he followed for many years in the counties of the Juniata Valley. In 1859 he erected a mill for Jere- miah Yeager at Freedom Forge, near what is now Burnham, and in 1882 returned to that neighborhood and purchased the Isaac Price farm, on which Burnham partly is built. He sold twenty-two acres of his farm to the Burnham Land Improvement Company, and has also disposed of many building lots to private individuals. A part of the farm is also within the limits of Birch Hill cemetery. Mr. Musser is a director of the Lewistown Trust Company and also interested in the Reedsville National Bank. He has been very successful and has real estate interests other than those mentioned. He is interested in farming and stock raising, and is rated as one of the enterprising and substantial men of his town. He is a Republican in politics, and an ardent temperance advocate. He was the "No License Candidate" for associate judge of Mifflin county in one campaign and only failed of an election by sixty votes. He helped create the anti-liquor sentiment that in 1908 placed Mifflin county in the "No License" column which gives him more satis- faction than holding office. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias. the Patriotic Order Sons of America and of the temperance societies of the county.
He married. July 4. 1865, Harriet Amanda Creighton, born near Burnham, daughter of William Creighton, an early settler of Mifflin county, and an influential citizen, who died in 1891. Two of his sons, Rev. Abraham and Rev. Samuel Creighton, are prominent ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church. Children: (1) James Ira, of whom further ; (2) Sewell Asbury, now a merchant of Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania ; (3) Frank M., a pharmacist with the Millard Drug Company of
Sannul mussen
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Philadelphia; (4) William C., his father's business assistant ; (5) Mary, deceased : (6) An infant daughter, died unnamed. The mother of these children died June 6, 1901.
(III) James Ira, son of Samuel and Harriet Amanda (Creighton) Musser, was born in Yeagertown, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1866. He was educated in public schools and Bloomfield Academy. For about two years he was connected with William Mann, Jr., & Company, and in 1885 became an employee of the Standard Steel Works, in a clerical capacity, continuing until the present time ( 1913). He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a Republican in politics. He is a member of Lewiston Lodge, No. 203, Free and Accepted Masons ; Lew- iston Chapter, No. 186, Royal Arch Masons; Lewiston Commandery, No. 26, Knights Templar; Harrisburg Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.
He married. August 22, 1889, Minnie E. Lewis, of Burnham, Penn- sylvania, daughter of George W. and Mary (Ott) Lewis, the former deceased and the latter now living: Mr. Lewis was one of the organ- izers of the Logan Iron and Steel Company, connected with it for many years. Child of Mr. and Mrs. Musser: Lewis J.
This family came to the Juniata Valley in 1813 from
SIEBER Berks county, Pennsylvania, where Christian Sieber was born in 1801. He came to Juniata county with his par- ents in 1813, and became a well-to-do farmer of Fermanagli township, owning two hundred acres of good land. He married and had issue : Christian, John, Samuel, Jonas, of whom further; Solomon. Daniel. Abraham, David, married Mary Elizabeth Witmer; William, Joseph, Mary, Catherine and Elizabeth. These children all married and had families ranging in size from two to thirteen.
(II) Jonas, fourth son of Christian Sieber, was born in Fermanagh township, Juniata county, Pennsylvania, and died in Walker township. in the same county. He owned a farm of one hundred acres in Walker township, there married, lived and died. Both he and his wife were members of the Baptist church. He married ( first) Lydia Funk, also born in Juniata county, died in Walker township. Children: Samuel Funk, of whom further; William, now living in Missouri; Lucien, last known to have been living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a butcher ;
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Sarah, married Peter Mertz, moved to Indiana, where both died. Jonas Sieber married (second) Barbara Kauffman. Children: Gideon, now a farmer of Juniata county : Elizabeth, married Edward Beaver and lives in Foutzs Valley; Mary, married a Mr. McCauley and moved west ; Eliza, married Samuel Click and lives in Walker township; Cora, died in 1907, married George Heckman.
(11I) Samuel Funk, eldest son of Jonas Sieber and his first wife, Lydia (Funk) Sieber, was born in Walker township, Juniata county, Pennsylvania, November 16, 1834. He was educated in the public schools and grew to manhood at the home farm. After his marriage, in 1862, he bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres in his native township, which he cultivated successfully until 1898, when he moved to Van Wert, where he resided until his death in August, 1909. He was a Republican in politics, serving Walker township as school director. Both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church. He married, February 13, 1862, Susanna Miller, born in Snyder county, Pennsylvania, who survives him, a resident of Van Wert, making her home with her daughter Nora. She is a member of the Baptist church and a lady greatly beloved by all who know her. Children : 1. Clara, mar- ried John Breniser and resides in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania ; children: Ruth, Clarence and Martha. 2. Emma, married Horace G. Gaston and resides in Webb City, Missouri ; children : Paul and Richard. 3. Nora, married A. J. Sausman and resides at the old home in Van Wert, with her widowed mother; no issue. 4. Annie, married George Cisney and resides in Brooklyn, New York ; children : Samuel Homer, Harold and Lenore; Samuel Homer died in boyhood.
Mrs. Susanna (Miller) Sieber is a granddaughter of George and Barbara (Manbeck) Miller, both born in Snyder county, Pennsylvania. After their marriage they moved to Locust Run, Juniata county, where George Miller was a merchant and farmer, and where both died. Isaac, son of George and Barbara Miller, was born in Snyder county, Penn- sylvania. He there resided until two years after his marriage, when he moved to Walker township, Juniata county, where he engaged in farm- ing until his death at the age of thirty-five years. Both he and his wife were members of the Lutheran church. He married Margaret Benfer. daughter of Daniel and Susanna Benfer, old residents of Snyder county, where Daniel Benfer owned and operated a mill. Mrs. Margaret (Ben-
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fer) Miller survived her husband, remarried, and died in 1909, aged eighty-five years. Children of Isaac and Margaret Miller: Susanna, the widow of Samuel Funk Sieber; Delilah, married Harrison Crist and died in Ohio; Henry, now living near Mexico, Pennsylvania, a carpenter ; Mary, widow of James Weaver; Ellen, married Frank Myers and re- sides in Ohio; Isaac, now a farmer of Walker township.
The father of Edwin Cross of Lewistown. Pennsylvania, CROSS was born in Lancashire. England, where he died in 1869 at the youthful age of thirty-four years. In 1881 his widow, Mary (Allan) Cross, also born in Lancashire, came to the United States with her son Edwin, but in 1886 she returned to England, where she died in 1906, aged seventy years. James Cross was a leather merchant, lo- cated at Manchester, England, where he was well established in a good business until his early death. Children: Henry, now of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania ; Hannah, residing in England; Edwin, of whom further; Charles, residing in England.
(II) Edwin, son of James and Mary (Allan) Cross, was born in Manchester, England, January 21, 1865. He attended the public and technical schools of Ramsbottom, Lancashire, and in 1881 came to the United States, accompanied by his widowed mother. He located in New York, where he began an apprenticeship in a foundry, working in New York and Philadelphia several years, then going to England, where he finished his trade, becoming an expert workman, and thoroughly familiar with foundry details. He then returned to the United States. locating in Philadelphia, where he worked for the Chambers Brothers a number of years, then for a time worked in a foundry at Chester, Pennsylvania. He then moved to High Bridge, New Jersey, where he was engaged in steel manufacture. In 1898 he located in Lewistown, and for ten years was in charge of the foundries of the Standard Steel Works at Burn- ham. In 1908 he formed a connection with the Mount Rock Foundry and Machine Company, which was later merged with the Lewistown Foundry and Machine Company, and of the reorganized company Mr. Cross is general manager. His long and intimate connection with the foundry and steel business has given him valuable experience and ren- ders him particularly useful in capably managing this important trust. In politics he is a Republican, and is a popular member of the fraternal
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societies of Lewistown. He is a member of Lewistown Lodge, No. 203, Free and Accepted Masons; Lewistown Chapter, No. 186, Royal Arch Masons; Lewistown Commandery, No. 26, Knights Templar ; the Royal Arcanum: Lewistown Lodge, No. 97, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows ; and the Modern Woodmen of America.
Edwin Cross married, in 1888, Emma Redfern, in Ramsbottom, England, died in Lewistown, February 20, 1912. Children: Jane and Annie.
The first Utts of record in this branch was Wilson S. Utts, UTTS who came when a young man to Belleville, Mifflin county. The name is no doubt a form of the German Utz, but in its present spelling Utts has existed for at least three generations. Wilson S. Utts, born in 1822, died in 1871. He worked at the tinning business in Belleville, later erected a building and established a hardware store, which he successfully conducted. He married Margaret Hampson, born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, in 1826, died in Belleville in 1871.
Hampson S., son of Wilson S. and Margaret (Hampson) Utts, was born in Belleville, January 27, 1848, died March 28, 1912. He was educated in the public schools and on arriving at a suitable age learned the tinner's trade, working with his father until the death of the latter in 1871. He then succeeded to the hardware and tinning business, founded by his father, at first with his mother, but later alone, and most successfully conducted it until 1905, when he sold out to his brother, Wilson S. Utts, Jr., who now owns and operates the business, which has been in the family for over sixty years at the same stand. Hampson S. Uits was careful and conservative as a business man, upright in all his dealings, and although handicapped from his fourteenth year by entire deafness, was one of the successful men of his town, living during his last seven years retired from all business in the home on Main street, now the residence of his widow. In politics he was a Democrat, and both he and his wife were communicants of the Lutheran church.
Hampson S. Utts married in December, 1874, Ellie E. Smith, born in Mechanicsville, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1852, who survives him, a resident of Belleville. She is the daughter of George and Maria (Haffley) Smith; he was born in Center county, January 25, 1826, coming to Mifflin county when a boy with his widowed mother,
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Elizabeth (Hubler) Smith. He learned the carpenter's trade and chair- maker's trade with his stepfather, Jolin Klepper. George Smith died July 5. 1886. His wife, Maria Haffley, was born in Mifflin county, April 7. 1831. died September 6, 1872; children: Ellie E., of previous mention, widow of Hampson S. Utts ; Joseph Haffley, Laura A., Lavanda Irene, Mary Jane. John C., Sarah Margaret, Samuel George and Jessie Adams. Children of Hampson S. and Ellie E. Utts: I. Mabel Clare, born November 19, 1875, died in 1880. 2. Cora Maud, born October 24, 1881, educated in the public school. Irving College and Susquehanna University ; she taught two years prior to her marriage, February 24, 1903, to Jesse Cloyd Horton, son of Isaac Horton ; children : Jesse Ell- wood, born September 10. 1904, and Harold Hampson, born March 9. 1908. 3. Son, born November 9. 1887, died unnamed. 4. George Wil- son, born March 6. 1894. graduate of Belleville High School, class of 1912.
The Shatsers came to Lewistown from Franklin
SHATSER county, Pennsylvania, where David Shatser was born in July, 1812, and lived until about 1892. He lived for a time in Center county, then settled in Lewistown, where he worked at his two trades. carpenter and shoemaker. He was first a carpenter, but while working on the Presbyterian church fell and so injured himself that he was obliged to select a trade requiring less activity. He then turned his attention to shoemaking, following that occupation for many years ; he died in 1892. He resided in the sixth ward of Lewistown from 1870 to 1892. In earlier life a Whig. he entered the Republican party at its formation and always remained an ardent supporter of that politi- cal organization. In religious faith he was a Lutheran. He married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Gross, an early settler of Franklin county, who died in Center county, Pennsylvania, in 1863. Children: Exann, Amos Alexander, Richard, of whom further: David, a veteran of the civil war, died in a soldiers' home: Frederick Galvin, John Henry and Thomas WV.
(II) Richard, son of David and Mary (Gross) Shatser, was born in Center county, Pennsylvania, October 12, 1844. He attended the public schools and when his parents came to Lewistown remained three years with his grandfather. Nicholas Gross, later joining the family in
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Lewistown. In February. 1862, being then in his eighteenth year, he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Seventh Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel McCoy, serving with the Army of the Potomac until August 19, 1864, when he was captured by the Confederates and sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. Later he was sent to Belle Isle, thence to Salisbury, North Carolina, where he was confined until the latter part of February, 1865, when he was released and came home on furlough in March, 1865; at Annapolis, Maryland, he joined his regiment in May, remaining until July 13, 1865. Ile then entered the employ of the Glay-Morgan Iron Company, with whom he remained twenty years; and in 1890 he was employed in the treasury department at Washington, D. C., where he remained three years. He is now private watchman for George L. Russell, a position he held with Mr. Russell's father, before the war, in the same bank, and has been so engaged since 1894. He is a Republican in politics, has served as borough councilman, and for the past fifteen years has served on the local board of health. He has always been interested in the work of the borough fire department and rendered efficient service in raising funds to erect the building now occupied by Brooklyn Hose Company, No. 3. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and in all things a consistent, useful citizen.
He married, in 1867, Mary Ellen Coffman, born in Derry township, Mifflin county, died in 1882, daughter of Eunie Coffman. After his marriage Mr. Shatser moved to the sixth ward, where he yet resides. Children: I. Harry, married Rosa Clinger and has a daughter Cath- erine. 2. Bertha, married John Riden, whom she survive -; children : Mary, Richard, May, Anneta, Marion, Edna and Lillian. 3. Amos A., married Mamie Carl and has: Jeannette, Marion and Amos Richard.
The Recds of Reedsville, Pennsylvania, are of Scotch an-
REED cestry, James Reed, the first of the family, settling near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, before coming to Mifflin county. About the year 1751 he came with his half-brother, William Brown, a justice of the peace under the King. They thoroughly investigated each part of the Kishacoquillas Valley before choosing a location in what is now Brown township, Mifflin county. While in the Valley, Mr. Brown was drinking at the later well-known "Logan Spring" when the famous
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