USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume II > Part 43
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(II) William Upton Todd, son of Ira and Catherine (Harvey) Todd, was born December 22, 1863, in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He at- tended the public schools in Harrisburg until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered the machine shops of the Pennsylvania railroad in Harrisburg, and served an indentured apprenticeship of twelve hun- dred and forty days. He entered the machinist gang, where he worked for some time. In 1896, because of close attention to his business and a loyal interest in the company's affairs, he was promoted to the fore- manship of the railroad shops in Mifflin, Pennsylvania, and continued in that position until the fall of 1906. At that time he was made
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foreman of the shops at Huntingdon, and still holds that place. He is a Democrat in principle, but votes for the man and the best interests of the country as he sees them rather than with the party. He is pleasant and genial and possesses the requisite faculty of being in accord with his men: in consequence he is always master of every situation. Like his father, who railroaded in Maryland on the Baltimore and Ohio when he was only a lad, he is a thorough machinist. He loves his work and does everything in his power to advance and uplift those who are under him.
He married. April 13. 1900, Bessie Groniger, born in Mifflin county, and died on January 10, 1902, a daughter of Henry Groniger, a farmer of Mifflin county. Mr. and Mrs. Todd had no children.
PORT James Port, son of John and Mary (Fox) Port, was born in Smithfield township, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. January 6, 1824. and died November 3. 1909. In his carlier years he was engaged in the meat trade, but later was a speculator in real estate and a money lender. For a period of seven years prior to his death he was totally blind. He was a strong Republican in his politi- cal principles and a member of the Reformed church. Mr. Port mar- ried, September 16, 1847. Mary Catherine Hoffman, born January 26. 1833, died June 16, 1907. They had children : George A., see forward ; Lewis Edgar, born December 14, 1849, is engaged in the livery business in Huntingdon, and married Rebecca J. Steel: Saralı A., born November 27, 1851, married D. Burkett Wilson, born December 9. 1850; Mary C .. born October 2, 1853, is unmarried : James E .. born February 16, 1856, died August 18, 1891, married Elizabeth Chamberlain; Alexander, born February 19 1858, died February 20, 1891, was a butcher in Hunting- don, married Caroline Moore.
(II) George A., son of James and Mary Catherine (Hoffman) Port. was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, June 27, 1848, and died June 6, 1895. He was engaged in the meat business, in which he was very successful. Republican in his political opinions, he was selected to fill several borough offices to the great benefit of the community. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Port married. February 26, 1871, Eliza Jane, born in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. May 26, 1850, daughter of John McGregor and Rebecca Ann ( Smith )
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Stroup, and granddaughter of Bernard and Elizabeth ( MeGregor) Stroup. Bernard Stroup, Mrs. Port's grandfather, was a resident of Morrison's Cove, Blair county, Pennsylvania. He was a farmer and landowner. He married (first) Elizabeth MeGregor, and (second) Naney MeGregor, a sister of his first wife. Children: James; Robert ; Bernard Jr .; Samuel: William; Peter; John McGregor, see forward; who went west : who also left Pennsylvania; Mary Jane, who married (first) Joseph Bulger, (second) Adam Hamacker ; Anna, married ---; and Sarah, married Peter MeGraw. John Mc- Gregor Stroup, father of Mrs. Port, was born in Blair county, Penn- sylvania, May 16, 1825. His early years were spent on the home farm, and he then entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as a freight conductor. He followed this occupation until his death at Harrisburg, August 4. 1869. At first he gave his allegiance to the Democratic party, but later affiliated with the Republicans. Hc and his wife were members of the Baptist church. He married at Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1849, Rebecca Ann, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Riley) Smith, the former a blacksmith of Blair county. They had one child: Eliza Jane, who married Mr. Port, as stated above. Mr. and Mrs. Port had children: Jennie E., born May 22, 1872, died in infancy ; George Chalmers, born November 25, 1873, is captain of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company police force, at Al- toona, married (first) Ada Barrick, (second) Beatrice Wills ; J. Clyde, see forward; Mary H., born March 27, 1878, died in infancy ; Lewis E., born December 23, 1879. also died in infancy: David Jesse M., born August 31, 1883, is a constable at Huntingdon, and unmarried : Beatrice Ellen, born April 13, 1885. is a graduate of the Moravian Seminary at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania ; Ruth Jeannette, born July 20, 1894.
(III) J. Clyde, son of George A. and Eliza Jane (Stroup) Port, was born in Huntingdon, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1876. His early education was acquired in the public schools, and after a period of attendance at Juniata College, he became a student at Dickinson College in 1898, leaving this institution in 1900. He then commenced reading law with W. W. Henderson, continued this for two years until 1903, and then established himself in the insurance and real estate business, with which he has been successfully identified since that time.
Mr. Port married, December 12, 1906, Maud Heffner, daughter of
John w Snyder,
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Oliver L. and Martha (Heffner ) Stewart. Mr. Stewart was a clothing merchant in Huntingdon, and at the time of his death was the nominee of his district for the state senatorship. Mr. and Mrs. Port have chil- dren: Margaret Stewart, born December 25. 1907; Cathline McGregor. born December 13, 1910. Mr. Port is a stanch Republican, and a mem- ber of the Huntingdon Club.
The Snyder family, of which John W. Snyder, of Hunt- SNYDER ingdon county, Pennsylvania, is a member, has been resident in the state of Pennsylvania since some time in the first half of the nineteenth century, and has been favorably identified with its agricultural and other business interests.
Charles J. Snyder, father of the subject of this sketch, was born near Würtemburg, Germany, and died in Juniata township, in 1863. In 1837 he emigrated to the United States, making the trip in a sailing vessel, and was landed at the city of New York. His stay in that city was of short duration, for very shortly after his arrival here he re- moved to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a farm of one hundred acres in Juniata township. This was already partly int- proved, and Mr. Snyder cultivated it very successfully until 18 -. when he sold it and purchased another farm, of two hundred acres, in the same township, on which he resided until his death. His farm was located about two and one-half miles south of Huntingdon, on the road from Huntingdon to Cassville. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Snyder married in Germany. Anstiena -. also born near Würtemburg. about 1801, died on the home- stead farm. in November. 1873. They had children : Anstiena, married Abraham Corbin, and died in Juniata township: Charles J., died in boyhood : Frederick L., was a farmer in Nebraska, where he died April 18, 1912: Elizabeth C., married John Leffard, and died in Huntingdon. about November. 1905: J. Peter. was a farmer, and died in Juniata township in June, 1908: Mary M., married James Frew, a prosperous resident of the state of Nebraska: Maggie B., married David Eckley. and also lives in Nebraska ; John W., see forward.
(II ) John W .. son of Charles J. and Anstiena Snyder, was born in Juniata township, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, September 30. 1850. He was educated in the public schools of that section, and his
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early life was the ordinary career of a farmer's son, who assists with the farm work as far as his strength will permit. Later he engaged in farming on his own account, buying the family homestead in 1882, and not selling it until 1906. In April, 1883, he removed to Hunting- don, and established himself in business as a teamster. In the fall of the same year he also commenced to deal in coal in a small way, but continued with his teaming work. Late in the year 1907 Mr. Snyder met with an accident which necessitated his giving up his personal attention to the teaming business, and he delegated the supervision of this to his son. In the meantime his coal business had grown to very much larger proportions, and in 1912 he handled two thousand five hun- dred tons of soft coal and six hundred tons of hard coal. He has been actively interested in a number of other business enterprises, and for the past ten years has been a director in the Provident Building and Loan Association. He has been identified with many movements which had for their object the betterment of existing conditions, and has given his political support to the Republican party. For nine years he has served as a member of the borough council, and has been a member of the borough school board for a period of five years. He and his wife are both members of the Lutheran church, and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also with the Improved Order of Heptasophs.
Mr. Snyder married (first) June 30, 1872, Rosanna, who died Feb- ruary 16, 1882, a daughter of Martain Kippert, of Huntingdon. He had children : Charles J., died in infancy ; Maggie B., died in infancy ; Fred- erick L., a drayman in Huntingdon, married Mary Kelly and has seven children. Mr. Snyder married (second) June, 1885, Maggie B. Kip- pert, a sister of his first wife, who died two months after her marriage. He married (third ) February, 1889, Pauline, born in Huntingdon, a daughter of Jacob Leonhard, and they have had children: Elsie M. and' Mildred C.
The Ruperts are of German descent and early settlers of RUPERT Franklin county, from whence came Adam and Mary (Crouse) Rupert, settling in Huntingdon county, along the Ridge, where they lived until death upon their own farm. Both, originally Lutherans, became members of the Church of the
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Brethren (Dunkard ), a faith their descendants adhere to. He was a Democrat in politics, but a very quiet, industrious man, taking little part in public affairs. Children by first wife : 1. Joseph, married Eliza- beth Rupple and lived in different parts of Huntingdon county. 2. Samuel. 3. David, married Margaret Dorlan. 4. John, married ( first ) Martha Wakefield, (second) Widow Allen. 5. Adam (2), married, Jane Corbin. 6. Hannah, married Joseph Hannawalt. 7. Elizabeth, married Michael Bollinger and moved west. 8. Catherine .Ann, married Jacob Goodman, who resides in Big Valley. 9. Sophia, married John Goodman and died in Illinois. At the time of becoming the wife of Adam (1) Rupert, Mary Crouse was a widow. Children of Adam Rupert and Mary Crouse: 10. George (of whom further). II. Wil- liam, married Mary Ann Shenefelt. 12. Mary, married a Mr. Corbin, a farmer of Huntingdon county.
(II) George, son of Adam and Mary (Crouse) Rupert, was born in Huntingdon county in 1828, died at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, April 7. 1863, while in the service of the United States government as a sol- dier. He was a carpenter and pump maker by trade, also engaged in farming. He was a Democrat in politics and at one time was tax col- lector of Brady township. He married, January 10, 1853, Mary S. Boring, born April 15, 1834. who survived him and married (second) April 16, 1869, Jesse Goodman, born May 19, 1838, son of Daniel and Susan (Newkirk) Goodman. Jesse Goodman, a farmer and carpenter. enlisted in Company K, Second Kansas Cavalry, recruited in Omaha, Nebraska, January 15, 1861, and served in the Union army three years and fourteen days, seeing hard service and ranking as second duty sergeant. He resided for a time in Pike county, Illinois, then journeyed to Montana and Utah, remaining in Beaver county, Utah, two years
before returning to Huntingdon. Mrs. Goodman is a member of the Lutheran church; her husband a member of George Simpson Post No. 144. Grand Army of the Republic. He is a Democrat in politics and present assessor of the third ward. Children of George and Mary S. (Boring) Rupert : 1. Jesse W., born October 9, 1853. now a teamster for the Pennsylvania railroad, married Amanda David. 2. Nancy Jane. born November 28, 1855, died 1878, the year of her marriage to Levi Guss, a printer, of Huntingdon. 3. James Lee (of whom further). 4. Edward, born 1861, now a banker of McVeytown, Pennsylvania, mar-
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ried Ella Lamberson. 5. Harry M., born April 12, 1863, died Sep- tember, 1909; married Maud Hatfield.
Mary S. (Boring) Rupert, mother of James Lee Rupert, is the daughter of Zachariah and Elizabeth (Diffenbaugh) Boring, natives of Maryland. Zachariah Boring was a son of an English emigrant, who settled in Maryland, where Zachariah learned the cooper's trade. Later in life he moved to Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, where he pur- chased and cultivated a farm near Mill Creek, dying thereon about 1851. His wife, Elizabeth Diffenbaugh, born January 27, 1800, died in May, 1897, lacking but three years of reaching a full century of years. Zachariah, born about 1790, served in the war of 1812. He was a Whig in politics ; she a member of the Lutheran church; children: I. John, born in Maryland, became a farmer of Huntingdon county, married Barbara Pheasant and died in Mapleton. 2. David, a shoemaker by trade, also a railroad employee, married Zella Grady. 3. Michael, a farmer of Trough Creek Valley, married Rebecca Sloan. 4. Catherine, died aged nineteen years. 5. Jacob, died in infancy. 6. Mary S., mar- ried (first ) George Rupert; (second) Jesse Goodman, both of previous mention. 7. Angeline, married John Potter, a pump maker and farmer of Huntingdon county. 8. Rebecca, married William Lovell and resided in Cambria county, Pennsylvania. 9. Nancy J., died in infancy. The only survivors of this family are Angeline ( Mrs. John Potter ) and Mary S., wife of Jesse Goodman, now living in Huntingdon.
(III) James Lee, son of George and Mary S. ( Boring) Rupert, was born March 27, 1858, in Union township, Huntingdon county, Pennsyl- vania. He was educated in the Soldiers' Orphans' School, in Anderson- burg, Perry county, later taking a business course at Huntingdon, under Professor Kidder. He then entered the printing offices of "The Brethren," established by Quinter & Brumbaugh Brothers, becoming an expert typesetter and continuing in that employ seven years. For the succeeding six years he worked for the J. C. Blair Company until 1890, when he established a printing establishment in Huntingdon, which he has ever since successfully conducted. He does job printing of every variety, has a well-equipped plant and has established a reputation for fine printing and just prices. He is a Republican in politics, but has always closely attended to his private business and never sought political preferment. He is interested, however, in all that pertains to the wel-
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