A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume II, Part 39

Author: Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 560


USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume II > Part 39


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John, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Thompson, was born in York- shire, England, in 1635, moved to county Wicklow, Ireland, with his parents in 1658, and there married, in 1665, Jane, daughter of Thomas Humble, who had then lately nioved to Ireland from county Durham. Four children were born to John and Jane Thompson in Ireland, and on 9 mo. 16. 1677. John, his brother Andrew and their families, sailed on the ship "Mary," arriving at Salem, New Jersey, 12 mo. 22, 1677. There they joined the Fenwick Colony, and there John died in 1715.


James, son of John and Jane Thompson, was born in county Wick- low, Ireland, 8 mo., 1668, came to America with his parents in 1677. settled in Salem county, New Jersey, where he died in 1712, leaving five children. He married, in October, 1700, Ann, daughter of Valen- tine and Ann (Calvert) Hollingsworth, of New Castle, Delaware.


James (2), youngest son of James and Ann Marshall, was born in Salem county, New Jersey, 8 mo. 26, 1712. His father died the same year and he was reared under his mother's care. On arriving at man-


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hood he settled in Leacock township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, but after his marriage he moved to New Castle county, Delaware, locat- ing in Mill Creek hundred. He married (first), 3 mo. 22, 1735, Sarah, daughter of Daniel and Sarah Worsley, of New Castle county, Dela- ware; she was born 4 mo. 3, 1717. He married (second), 4 mno. 10, 1742, Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Amy (Gregg) Hadley, of Mill Creek. Three children by first marriage, several by second marriage.


Daniel, son of James (2) Thompson and his first wife, Sarah Wors- ley, was born in Mill Creek hundred, Delaware, II mo. 16, 1737. He married, 10 mo. 25, 1764, Elizabeth, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Miller) Chambers, of White Clay Creek, by whom he had nine chil- dren.


John, sixth child of Daniel and Elizabeth (Chambers) Thompson, was born 5 mo. 17. 1777, in Mill Creek hundred, Delaware, and there married Elizabeth Reed.


Jane, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Reed) Thompson, married Caleb H. Marshall.


(VI) Wilmer W., eldest son of Caleb H. and Jane ( Thompson) Marshall, was born in Marshalltown, Delaware, in 1846. He was edu- cated in the public schools of Marshalltown, Westtown and Philadelphia, his parents moving to the latter city in 1863. On leaving school he engaged in business with his father at the Penn Treaty Iron Works, of which the latter was proprietor, and after mastering every detail was admitted a partner. In 1878 Wilmer W., in company with his brothers, Alfred and J. Howard, purchased the interests of their father and uncle, John Marshall, continuing business as Marshall Brothers & Company. This firm was the first to manufacture galvanized sheet iron, and in 1892 theirs was the first plant in the United States to manufacture tin plate commercially. They made an instant success of tin plate and con- tinued in great prosperity until 1898, when they sold out their plant to the American Tin Plate Company, but continued the iron and steel business as jobbers, handling an immense business. Shortly after 1870 the Marshalls had bought a pig iron plant at Newport, Perry county, Pennsylvania, and after disposing of his interests in Philadelphia, Wil- mer W. Marshall lived retired until his death in 1895: his son, Edward E. Marshall, came to the plant in 1899. He was a fine type of the Quaker business gentleman, just and upright in his dealings, a man of


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clear vision and quick decision, thoroughly understanding every detail of his business. He was a Republican in politics, and never accepted public office. He married Julia, daughter of George W. Jacoby, of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, a manufacturer of marble ornamental work for buildings. He died in Philadelphia, leaving children : Julia (of previous mention) ; Susan, deceased, married Colonel Thomas Freedley, a marble manufacturer of Philadelphia. Children of Wilmer WV. and Julia Marshall: 1. Lillian, married John Blakeley, and resides in Germantown, Pennsylvania. 2. Edward E., of whom further. 3. Edith W., married a Mr. Flavell, and resides in Ambler, Pennsylvania.


(VII) Edward E., only son of Wilmer W. and Julia (Jacoby ) Mar- shall, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1877. He was educated in William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, and Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, whence he was graduated, class of 1899. He at once became a chemist at the Marshall Iron Works in Newport, was promoted vice-president and manager, serving as such until 1913, when he was elected president of the company. In 1908 the plant was enlarged from a capacity of fifty tons to one hundred and twenty-five tons. The company employ about one hundred and twenty men, sixty of whom are engaged at the iron mines in Cumberland and Adams counties, which supply the furnaces with ore.


Mr. Marshall has other important business interests ; he is president of the Perry County Electric Light, Heat and Power Company, which supplies light and power to the three boroughs of Millerstown, Newport and New Bloomfield ; is senior partner of the Marshall & McNitt Lum- ber Company; and vice-president of the American Tea Growing Com- pany of Charleston, South Carolina. In political faith a Republican, he was a nominee for representative, but was defeated. In religious faitlı he and his wife are members of the Protestant Episcopal church. Dur- ing the Spanish-American war, Mr. Marshall enlisted, May 4, 1898, in. Battery A, United States army, as sergeant, serving a term of seven months until honorably discharged.


He married, in 1904, Sarah L. Tyler, born in New London, Connec- ticut, daughter of Colonel A. C. Tyler, a retired officer of the United States army. The Marshall residence is a beautiful home in the out- skirts of Newport, surrounded by trees, shrubbery and plants that be- speak the tasteful arrangement of the landscape gardener. In the stables


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several fine horses are kept; these are a source of great pleasure to their owner.


CARMON This family, found in various parts of the United States as Carman, Carmen and Carmon, descends from Jolin Carman, who came from England to Roxbury, Massa- chusetts, with his wife, Florence, arriving November 4, 1631. Later he was in Lynn, Massachusetts, going thence to Wallingford, Connec- ticut, there joining with John Seamen in the purchase of a large tract of land on Long Island, extending from the Sound to the ocean. About 1633 he settled with his family at Hempstead, Long Island, where he died in 1653, leaving sons : John, Caleb and Joshua. From these sprang a numerous family, now distributed all over the United States. The Carmons of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, descend from Livingston Car- mon, first of New York state, later of Huntingdon county, Pennsyl- vania, where his son Alexander followed him, as head of a family.


(II) Alexander, son of Livingston Carmon, was born in Hunting- don county, Pennsylvania. He grew to manhood on the home farm, later becoming proprietor of a hotel in Stone Valley, then engaged in the same business at Warm Springs. Later he moved to the borough of Huntingdon, where he engaged in mercantile business until his death. He was a member of the German Reformed church. His wife, Mary Ann, was a daughter of Thomas Kyler: children: Thomas, lived and died in Huntingdon; John, also a lifelong resident of Huntingdon; William: Robert: Joseph R., of whom further; Harrison: Howard; Henry; Sarah : Louanna; one who died in infancy.


(III) Joseph R., son of Alexander and Mary Ann ( Kyler) Car- mon, was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, July 24, 1835. He was educated in the public school and when a very young man was en- gaged in the work of conducting the Huntingdon and Broad Top rail- road. At the age of twenty years he entered mercantile life, opening the first store in 1855 at the corner of Fourth and Penn streets, Hunt- ingdon. He prospered and outgrew his quarters there, removing soon to a building at No. 420 Washington street. There he continued to enlarge his business, and again moved to more commodious quarters, locating at the corner of Sixth and Washington streets, where he con- tinued in successful business until 1903, when he sold out his mercan-


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tile interests and retired to a well-earned rest. For nearly a half century he was engaged as a general store merchant in Huntingdon, and at the time of his retirement had been in continnous business for a longer period than any other merchant in Huntingdon. He was a wise man- ager, and in all his transactions preserved a strict business integrity, rendering to every man his just due. He is a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has served as a member of the borough council, but whether in or out of office has always borne his share in all movements to ad- vance the interests of Huntingdon.


He married, in 1857, Anna Mary McCahan, daughter of John K. and granddaughter of John McCahan, born in county Tyrone, Ireland, but an early settler in the Juniata Valley (see forward). Of the eight children of Joseph R. and Anna Mary Carmon, three are living, four died young. A daughter, Florence H., deceased, married Carl M. Gage. manager of the Huntingdon & Broad Top railroad; she left children, Carlotta and Edith. The living children are: Martha Cornelia, married Colonel Samuel W. Miller, of the United States army, who after service in the Philippines is now stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, children : Lillian, married Lieutenant Harrison, Ruth, residing with her parents; Adelaide R., married Frank W. L. Snyder, a supervisor of the Penn- sylvania railroad, and resides at Tyrone; children: Mary Adelaide, Joseph, Eleanor and Florence ; Warren W., now a farmer near Newton Hamilton, Pennsylvania ; he married Anna Mary Herncane.


Since his retirement, Mr. Carmon and his wife have spent a great deal of time in travel and in visiting the many points of scenic and historical interest in the United States. Their home bears many evi- dences of their journeyings in the shape of relics of historical and local interest.


The grandfather of Mrs. Carmon, John McCahan, was born in the village of Drumnahaigh, in the North of Ireland, in November, 1780, and came to the United States a lad of twelve years, landing in August, 1792. He learned the printer's trade with Steel & McClain, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, beginning in 1795. After the failure of that firm he came to Huntingdon, where in 1797 he worked as a journeyman printer on the Courier. After the death of that paper he went to Baltimore, Maryland, and in 1799 worked for William Pechin on a "Digest of the


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Laws of the United States." In 1801 he founded the Gazette, in Hunt- ingdon, and continued its editor and publisher until June 9, 1828, when he transferred its control and management to his son, John Kinney McCahan. John McCahan was identified with many of the improve- ments and institutions of his time, acquired a large landed estate, and remained a resident of the borough of Huntingdon until 1843, when he moved to the "Log Cabin Farm" in Walker township, opposite Hunt- ingdon, on which he had erected a fine brick residence. He was a man of great energy, fairness and tact, traits that characterized his entire business life. He was a Democrat, participating in all the political con- tests of his day, but outside of borough offices refusing political prefer- ment. He died Sunday morning, March 22, 1857, aged seventy-seven years, and is buried in Huntingdon cemetery.


John Kinney, son of John McCahan, grew up in the newspaper business under his father, and July 9, 1828, became editor and pro- prietor of the Gazette, founded in Huntingdon by John McCahan. He had been practically its editor for the preceding ten years, but on the date named assumed full control. He conducted the Gazette as a Demo- cratic organ until April 23, 1834, when he sold it to Alexander Gwin and moved to Laurel Springs Mills, a short distance from Birmingham. Here he resided until after the death of his father in 1857. when he returned to Huntingdon, residing at the northeast corner of Washing- ton and Fifth streets until his death, January 16, 1883, aged seventy- nine years. His wife, Mary Taylor, died several years before her husband.


HERTZLER The Hertzlers of Port Royal, Pennsylvania. descend from Jacob Hertzler, a Swiss emigrant, and date their Pennsylvania history from the year 1749. During the fifth generation in the Juniata Valley the family have been substan- tial and highly regarded citizens, and, while usually agriculturalists, have also been prominent in business life, in the Mennonite church and in public affairs, sitting in state councils as legislators, and presiding over churches as ministers and bishops.


Jacob Hertzler was born of Swiss parents, in Switzerland, in 1703. He grew to manhood in his mountain home, became a farmer, and a minister of the Amish Mennonite church. He married, but his


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wife died early, leaving him a son John. He then married a second wife, Catherine, and moved to the German Palatinate, now Bavaria, part of the German Empire. He resided there several years, but finally was driven by religious persecution to seek a home in America. He sailed on the ship "St. Andrew" from Rotterdam, touch- ing at Plymouth, England, and arriving at Philadelphia September 9, 1749. He settled on a farm in Berne township, Lancaster, now Upper Berne township, Berks county, two miles west of Hamburg. This he purchased from the proprietaries, Richard and Thomas Penn, warrant cated January 9, 1750, price stated one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, name of the tract, "Contentment," its area one hundred and eighty-two acres and thirty perches. In 1752 he purchased one hun- dred and ten acres; in 1765, thirty-six acres ; in 1766, forty-four acres; and in 1773, thirty acres with odd perches in each tract, the whole totaling four hundred four acres, four perches, which he improved. On August 30, 1773, he divided his lands among his children-John, Jacob, Christian and Fanny, the latter wife of Jolin Kauffman. Cath- erine, his second wife, died between August 30, 1773, when she is known to have been alive, and March 4, 1774, when it is known she was dead. Jacob, the Swiss emigrant, died in the year 1786, later than March 20. Both are buried in the Amish Mennonite burial ground, two miles west of Hamburg, Pennsylvania; their graves were unmarked, as was the custom of that faith, until 1911, when suitable granite monuments were erected by their descendants. The sons of Jacob, having taken the oath of allegiance to the King of England, consequently took no active part in the revolution, refusing, as did all the Amish Mennonites, to break their oath.


(II) Jacob (2), first son of Jacob ( I) Hertzler by his second wife, was born in 1733, came to Pennsylvania with his parents in 1749, and became a prosperous farmer of Berks county, as then considered. He was a member of the Amish Mennonite church and a good man. He married, in 1773, Barbara Yoder, who died in Mifflin county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1821. He died in April, 1795; children: Daniel (of whom further) ; John, married Catherine Yoder; David, married Catherine Reichenbach : Barbara, married John Stutzman ; Samuel, died unmar- ried, and seven children who died young.


(III) Daniel, eldest son of Jacob and Barbara (Yoder) Hertzler,


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was born in Upper Berne township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, June 26, 1774, and there grew to manhood. Ile was married in 1803, and in 1804 moved to a farm in Caernarvon township, Lancaster county, Penn- sylvania. He lived on his farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Lancaster county until after the birth of his twelve children, then sold and moved to Juniata county, Pennsylvania, where he settled in Turbett township. April 5. 1834. He then purchased from Jacob Rice a tract of two hundred thirteen acres, on which he erected suitable buildings for the comfort of his family and the proper conduct of his business, including a wool factory and a saw mill for the production of finished lumber. He was a man of superior attainments, was educated in both English and German, and was of the strictest integrity and universally respected. He was a man of industry and economy, and trained his sons in these same sterling virtues. In early life he acted with the Democratic party, but in 1828 became a Whig, voting and working with that party until his death. Like his sires, he was a member of the Amish Mennonite church, strictly observing the austere faith of that denomi- nation. He died in Turbett township, March 23, 1848. He married, in November, 1803. Barbara Zug (Zook), born January 25, 1778, daughter of Rev. Christian and Magdalene ( Blank) Zug, of Whiteland township. Chester county, Pennsylvania, both descendants of Swiss Mennonite families. She survived her husband and died at the Turbett township farm, December 29, 1852 ; children : Christian, married Chris- tianna Shirk; Jacob, married Christianna Kepner: Henry, married Sarah Hertzler: Solomon, married Mary Trago: Daniel, married Mary Weaver ; David, married Phoebe A. Kauffman : Noah (of further men- tion ) : Magdalene, married Casper Schwartzantruber; Nancy, married Jacob Kurtz: Samuel; a child, died in infancy, and John. The last survivors of this family were John and Magdalene.


(IV) Noah, son of Daniel and Barbara ( Zug) Ilertzler, was born in Caernarvon township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. July 29, 1815. died in Old Port Royal, Juniata county, June 6, 1887. He obtained a good education in both German and English, and grew to manhood as his father's farm assistant. He came with the family to Turbett town- ship, Juniata county, in 1834, and remained at the home farm until he was aged twenty-three years. He then, in company with two of his brothers, opened a general country store which they successfully con-


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ducted for several years. He then bought out his partners and con- ducted the business alone until his death. He dealt heavily in grain, and, in addition to his mercantile business, owned and conducted several fertile farms. He possessed unusual business qualifications, and his enterprise carried him into channels of business hitherto unknown in the family. He invested in banks and held directorships in the Juniata Valley Bank of Mifflintown and the Port Royal Branch Bank. He took a deep interest in public affairs, held many township offices, and was a candidate for the legislature. He was a zealous supporter of the Republican party, and while departing from the religious faith of his forbears, was a consistent member of the Lutheran church. His name was a synonym for integrity, and dying he left to his children an ull- sullied character, in addition to a generous store of earthly possessions. He married, in 1845, Susan Garman, born in Dauphin county, Penn- sylvania, June 18, 1817, died December 10, 1901, daughter of John Garman, an early settler of Dauphin county, later moved to Perry county, where he owned two good farms aggregating four hundred acres, there lived and died. He married Catherine Wallower, and both are buried in the churchyard of the Hill Church cemetery in Turbett township, Juniata county, both having been members of that church. Children of John Garman : Catherine, married Jolin Steece, and died at "The Aqueduct," Perry county; Mary, married Dr. David Alter, and died in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Susan, married Noah Hertzler (of previous mention) ; John, a farmer, died in Harrisburg. Children of Noah Hertzler : 1. John G., born November 23, 1848; now a merchant at Old Port, a village near Port Royal; married Euphenia Groninger. 2. David, born December 4, 1850; now a manufacturer of Philadelphia ; married Eliza A. Wolford. 3. Mary Alice, born January 11, 1854; married James N. Groninger, a millwright, and resides at Old Port. 4. William, of whom further.


(V) William, youngest son of Noah and Susan (Garman) Hertzler, was born in Turbett township, Juniata county, Pennsylvania, July 7, 1858. He was educated in the public schools of the township, Air View Academy, and Washington and Jefferson College. from which latter institution he graduated with the class of 1881. He chose the profes- sion of law, and began his study under the Honorable Lewis E. Atkin- son, but his father's health failing, he was obliged to abandon all


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thought of a professional career. With his brother, John G. Hertzler, he then assumed charge of his father's affairs, since which time he has been entirely engaged in business and political affairs. At the death of his father he was appointed one of the executors of his estate and ably administered that important trust. He is a lifelong Republican, and dates his active political life from the year 1881, when he was elected chairman of the Republican county committee, being then but twenty-two years of age, and the youngest county chairman in the state. He held the same position in 1882, and in 1888 had become so well and favorably known that he was chosen to represent his district in the general assembly, being the only Republican elected on the ticket that year, and triumphing by a majority of two hundred and ninety-seven votes. He was renominated in 1890, but in that year was defeated with the entire Republican ticket, though he was defeated by only one hun- dred and forty-nine votes.


In 1889 Mr. Hertzler was nominated by the Republicans of Juniata county for member of the constitutional convention, but declined the honor. In 1892 he secured the endorsement of the Juniata county con- vention, though not that of the Republican district convention, for state senator ; but in 1896 he was again a candidate for the office, and, receiv- ing both the necessary endorsements. was elected to represent the coun- ties of Juniata, Mifflin, and Perry, constituting the thirty-first senatorial district, by a majority of nine hundred and twenty-seven votes. His record in both the lower and upper houses of the state legislature was one of fearless advocacy of the rights of the people and of devotion to the interests of his constituents. He served on important committees, and by his course in the case of needed legislation gained state-wide fame. On January 1, 1902, during the second session of the Fifty- seventh Congress, he was appointed clerk of the committee on war claims of the National House of Representatives by the Hon. Thad- deus M. Mahon, M.C., and served under that appointment five years. He was then reappointed by Hon. Kittridge Haskins. M.C., of Vermont, and served under that appointment in the first and second sessions of the Sixtieth Congress and the first session of the Sixty-first Congress, a total service of seven years and five months, his term expiring August 6, 1909. During his congressional committee service he was also private secretary to the Hon. Thaddeus M. Mahon, M.C., until 1907, and to


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Congressman Benjamin K. Folk until July, 1911, when he was ap- pointed deputy secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which important office he now holds.


Since 1901 Senator Hertzler has served as director of the First National Bank of Mifflintown, and in 1909 was chosen president of that well-known and stable institution. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, being a past master of Union Lodge, No. 324, Free and Accepted Masons, at Mifflintown, and past high priest Newport Chapter, No. 238, Royal Arch Masons, at Newport; and is a member of Lewiston Commandery, No. 26, Knights Templar, at Lewistown; and Zemblo Shrine, Ancient Accepted Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a thirty-second degree Mason of the Ancient Ac- cepted Scottish Rite, belonging to Harrisburg Consistory. His othier orders are the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Mifflintown, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Lewistown. He is interested in all that pertains to the good of the community, especially the cause of education, to which he devoted five years' service on the school board. His life has been a busy and useful one, and few men can point with more just pride to a lifework now just in its prime.


Senator Hertzler is married to Miss Mollie M. Kaufman, a daugh- ter of the late Kurtz Kaufman, and a member of an old Mifflintown family, their union being blessed with one son, Penrose, born August 15, 1898, and now a student in the Lewistown Preparatory School.


The family home is at Port Royal, Pennsylvania, near where Jacob Hertzler first settled in 1834.


STEELE This is an old Mifflin county family, the ancestor, John Steele, who was of German extraction, having been born here, where he resided for a while until his removal to Huntingdon county, where he became a large land owner and farmer. He was a member of the Lutheran church, as was also his wife, who, like himself, was of German descent. She was a Miss Elizabeth Hart- sock before her marriage, and was born in the state of Indiana. Their children, eleven in number, were: Sarah, married (first) J. C. Stever, (second) G. W. Sipe: Susan Jane, married Robert Oakman; Mary Ellen, married William Focht: Rebecca, married Robert Geist; Salina, married S. H. Phesant ; Isaialı ; Charles W., of further mention ; John,




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