USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Armstrong County, Pennsylvania her people past and present, embracing a history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume II > Part 59
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Bartholomew Wyant, father of Jeremiah Wyant, settled in what was then Sugar Creek (now Washington) township, clearing a farm upon which he spent the remainder of his life, following farming. He gave all his time to his own affairs, making many improvements upon his land, and was a quiet, unassuming citizen, with no desire to mingle in public matters. He died at the age of sixty-two years, a member of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Wyant married Christina Wolf, who lived to the age of eighty-two years, and they had children as follows: Margaret, Jeremiah, William, Jacob, Luther, Chambers and Addi- son Bartholomew.
Jeremiah Wyant was born May 7, 1841, zens of the borough of Elderton, which he on the old homestead in Washington (then served in various official capacities, holding the positions of school director, tax collector and member of the town council, in which latter office he was serving at the time of his death, which occurred June 29, 1912, in El- derton. He had been in poor health for three years. Mr. Prugh was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church, which he served as elder for twenty-five years, and he was also deeply interested in the Sunday schoo. of which he was superintendent for eleven years, missing but two days' attendance in that period. Sugar Creek) township, and grew to man- hood at his birthplace. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the service of his country, join- ing Company D, 103d Pennsylvania Volun- teer Infantry, and served for three years, being mustered out in. 1865. Among the en- gagements in which he took part were the battles at Blackwater river, Kinston and Ply- mouth, where he was captured. He was first taken to Andersonville, where he was held for five months, was transferred thence to Blackshear Station and later to Savannah and Charleston, and finally to Milan prison, at Florence, S. C. His experiences and suf-
On Sept. 10, 1862, Mr. Prugh married Sarah Elgin, who died in September, 1892, ferings during this period were of unusual the mother of five children, two of whom severity. He was exchanged while at Flor- died in infancy. The other three are: Belle, ence and returned to his regiment. After the born July 3, 1863, unmarried, who lives in war Mr. Wyant settled upon the farm in Westmoreland county ; Herbert, born in 1869, Washington township where he has since
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made his home, a tract of seventy-six acres which when he took possession had com- paratively few improvements. An old log barn and brick house stood on the land, but it was only partly cleared, and he set about to make a desirable estate with a spirit of ambi- tion and enterprise which assured success. He has brought the soil into splendid con- dition by systematic working and judicious management, has erected all new buildings on the place, and keeps the property in excel- lent order, its appearance being a credit to him and to the neighborhood. Mr. Wyant has taken a good citizen's interest in the wel- fare of his locality and has ably filled the office of supervisor for five or six terms; he
the vicinity, and the tree under which he pitched his tent the first winter, while he cleared a place for his house, is still standing. In the spring he went for his young wife, whom he had married the previous August, 1843, and they worked together to improve the property, in time being able to build a fine house and barns. Mr. Mateer was a Democrat and took a prominent part in the public affairs of the locality, holding the office of justice of the peace for twelve years and serving faithfully in various township offices, including that of school director. Being a carpenter, he in 1859 built the school- house which still stands on the farm and is known by his name. He also contributed lib- has also been school director. In politics he erally toward the building of the Presbyterian has always adhered to the principles of the Church of Concord, and was one of the trus- Republican party. Lutheran Church.
Mr. Wyant married Martha Catherine Best, who was born Dec. 25, 1840, and they have had a family of eight children, born as follows: Harvey Adolphus, May 15, 1866 (was drowned when twenty-three years old) ; William, Dec. 15, 1868; Lillie, Feb. 20, 1871 ; John L., Jan. 26, 1872; Anna, Dec. 22, 1873; Charles, Nov. 22, 1876; Margaret, Oct. 22, 1877; James, Feb. 24, 1881.
He is a member of the tees of that congregation. He helped to se- cure good roads in his neighborhood. He was the promoter of the Pine Creek furnace, and in company with James E. Brown, of whom he purchased his farm, established the furnace where the station of that name now stands. Thus he was associated with many movements which marked the progress of his community. He was a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity.
In August, 1843, Mr. Mateer married Elizabeth Ambrose, who was born April 2, SAMUEL S. MATEER, a prominent farmer and stock raiser of Boggs township, Armstrong county, lives on the farm form- erly owned and occupied by his father, and is a member of the third generation of his fam- ily in this county, where his grandparents, John and Margaret (Montgomery) Mateer, settled at an early day. 1823, daughter of Benjamin Ambrose, a farmer of Westmoreland county, who came to Franklin township, Armstrong county, where he reared his family of four sons and three daughters. Mr. Ambrose was a Whig and a Presbyterian. Mrs. Mateer died in 1904. She and her husband had the follow- ing children, all born on the home farm in John Mateer was a native of Cumberland county, Pa., and on coming to Armstrong county settled in Franklin township, where his children were born, viz .: John, Robert, Samuel, Montgomery, Anthony, Rosana, Nancy and Margaret. In 1855 John Mateer, the father of this family, left Armstrong county and moved out to Wayne county, Ill., where he died. He was a Democrat in politics. Boggs township where their son Samuel S. now lives: James E. B., born May 24, 1844, is a farmer of Boggs township (he married Esther S. Lowry) ; John Harvey, born July 31, 1846, is a farmer of Boggs township; Robert M., born Oct. 5, 1848, graduated from Jefferson Medical College and was a promi- nent physician of Elderton, this county, until his death, Jan. 18, 1900 (he married Mary Donnelly) ; Benjamin Franklin, born Dec. 25, Samuel Mateer, son of John, was born Nov. 27, 1818, in Franklin township, Arm- strong county, and died in 1900 in Boggs township. Farming was his principal busi- ness throughout life, but in early life he was also a drover, dealing extensively in stock, 1850, is a retired farmer living in Kittanning ; Samuel S. is mentioned below; Annie Jane, born Oct. 25, 1855, married William C. Cal- houn, a farmer of Boggs township ; Margaret, born March 18, 1858, married Findley P. Wolff, an attorney of Kittanning, and died which he drove to the eastern markets. He June 24, 1910; Mary Elizabeth, born Dec. 10, bought the place of 200 acres in Boggs town- 1860, is the widow of Joseph Banks ; Ambrose ship now owned by his son Samuel, at a time M., born July 16, 1863, is a merchant at Ford when there were neither roads nor bridges in City, this county; Alexander Montgomery,
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
born Oct. 26, 1867, is a farmer of Boggs ship, Armstrong county, and settled in the township. Besides their own large family northern part of Boggs township on a tract of one hundred acres then only partly im- proved. He added another one hundred acres, and devoted the remainder of his life to the improvement of the place, where he lived until his death, in 1900, at the age of sixty-eight. His wife, Esther (Zimmerman), died in 1888, at the age of fifty-eight. Their children were : Sarah Jane, John, Jeremiah, Mary (Mrs. Sam- uel S. Mateer ), Daniel, William and Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. Mateer raised Daniel Cogley, who was born Sept. 7, 1839, and whom they took into their home as an orphan boy of nine years. He still resides on the old homestead with Samuel S. Mateer. He was a Union soldier during the Civil war, enlisting in Au- gust, 1862, in Company K, 155th Pennsyl- vania Regiment, and serving three years with the Army of the Potomac; after his dis- charge he returned to the Mateer farm in Boggs township.
Samuel S. Mateer was born on his present farm May 1, 1853, and there he remained throughout his early life, assisting his father. He was educated in the local district schools. He now owns the old homestead property in- tact, and his progressive methods and skillful management entitle him to a place among the leading farmers of his section. He is one of the substantial citizens of his township, and highly esteemed wherever known.
On Oct. 20, 1891, he married Mary Houser, who was born May 3, 1862, in Boggs township, daughter of Henry and Esther (Zimmerman) Houser, of Goheenville. They have had three children, born as follows: Margaret, June 5, 1893; Elizabeth Bell, April 10, 1898; and Martha, Jan. 22, 1903. Mr. Mateer is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church. He is in sym- pathy with the Democratic party on political questions, but takes no part in such matters, never aspiring to office. His home is the abode of hospitality, and as a neighbor and friend he is well liked in his section.
John and Christina (Clever) Houser, Mrs. Mateer's grandparents, were early pioneers of Wayne township, Armstrong county. They were married in 1824, and had the following children : Henry, George, Daniel, Jacob, John, Sarah, Mary, Levina and Catherine. The mother of this family was born Sept. 4, 1804, in Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland county, Pa., daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Clever, who once lived in Center county, this State, later, in 1800, moving to Westmoreland county. When Christina was ten years old she walked with the family to the Rupp settlement, now the site of Echo, Armstrong county. She was always strong and hardy, and lived to the un- usual age of one hundred years. Her father, Henry Clever, was the only one of the Clever family to escape being massacred by the In- dians, he having been away from home at the time the massacre occurred.
Henry Houser, son of John and Christina (Clever) Houser, was born in Wayne town-
RALPH B. HUBER, who is engaged in the general merchandise business in the borough of Rural Valley, Armstrong county, is a hard- working and enterprising young man whose substantial qualities augur well for his success. He was born at Rural Valley Sept. 15, 1886, son of Joseph B. Huber, and is a grandson of the late Bernard Huber, who settled at what is now Rural Valley in 1850.
Bernard Huber was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, Nov. 6, 1819, and came to America when he became of age. He was a tailor by trade. After his marriage he located at Lan- caster, Pa., where he followed tailoring for a time, and thence removed to Philadelphia, where he lived, in what is now West Phila- delphia, until 1850. Coming to Armstrong county, he bought property and in the fall of that year settled at what is now Rural Valley, where he continued to work at his trade. He had served five years in the German army be- fore coming to America, and when the Civil war broke out he enlisted in the support of the Union, becoming a member of Company G, 78th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer In- fantry, and being at once made orderly ser- geant. 'He was ever afterward known as Ser- geant Huber. He was with the Army of the Cumberland, and served three years. After his return from the army Mr. Huber lived re- tired until his death, which occurred in July, 1891. He is buried at Rural Valley. Mr. Huber was always faithful to his military training and continued to take an interest in such matters, was a member of the G. A. R. and took an active part in its work, and was a man highly respected by all who knew him. His wife, Anna B. (Busenger), was born in Germany, July 6, 1810, and came to America with her parents when three years old, the family settling in Harrisburg, Pa. She died at Rural Valley April 23, 1885, aged nearly seventy-five years. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Huber: Elizabeth, born Aug. 14, 1841, died unmarried ; Lewis F., born June 13, 1843, served during
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the Civil war in Company G, 55th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. Harry White's regiment, and died at Beaufort, S. C., Jan. 5, 1863, at the early age of nineteen, while in the service; Charles H. lives at Rural Valley ; Joseph B. is mentioned below ; Anna M., born Nov. 23, 1850, died in childhood.
Joseph B. Huber was born May 30, 1848, in Philadelphia, and learned the trade of shoe- maker, which he followed for a number of years. He was a young child when the family settled in Rural Valley, and he passed the re- George S. Ramsey, son of James Ramsey, was a man of unusual learning for his day, be- ing a scholar and familiar with the English and German languages. Soon after attaining his majority he settled in Donegal township, Butler county, Pa., where he followed farm- ing in the summers and taught school in the winters until two years before his death, at the age of forty-one years, at that time being auditor of Butler county. He married Eliza Bain, who survived him. She was a daughter of John and Charity (Sanders) Bain, the for- mer coming from Gettysburg, Pa., to Arm- strong county at an early date, settling in Madi- son township, where he cleared a farm from mainder of his life at that place, where he died Feb. 25, 1909. For a number of years he was engaged at the carpenter's trade. He is buried at Rural Valley. Mr. Huber was a member of the Presbyterian Church. He mar- ried Mrs. Hannah .( Ramer) Hoeh, daughter of Robert and Mary (Hertenberger) Ramer, na- tives of Germany who came to this country and settled in Armstrong county, Pa., and widow of Charles Hoeh. She survived Mr. Huber and continues to make her home at Rural Valley. To Mr. and Mrs. Huber were born three children: Ralph B .; Elsie, who married Oscar C. Turney and has one child, Harold; and Wilburt, who died young. By the wilderness on which he lived until his her first marriage Mrs. Huber had two death. To George S. and Eliza (Bain) Ram- sey the following children were born: Wil- liam B., John S. (deceased), James H. (de- ceased), a son that died in infancy, George W. and Perry M. daughters: Mary, who died when eighteen years old; and Flora, who married John Hankinson and had four children, Lawrence, Elsie, Bernard and Russel.
Ralph B. Huber received his early educa- tion at the public schools of Rural Valley and later attended the normal school at Indiana. He then took up the electrical business, which he followed for eighteen months at Yatesboro, this county, and he has since devoted himself to the general store at Rural Valley which he now conducts. He has a wide patronage among the residents of Rural Valley and the neighboring country, and by honorable meth- ods and strict attention to his customers is building up a substantial trade.
Mr. Huber married A. G. Milliron, daugh- ter of Jesse Milliron, of Ringgold, Jefferson county, Pa., and they have one daughter, Evelyn M. Mr. Huber is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He votes independ- ently.
James Ramsey came from Virginia to Arm- strong county, Pa., prior to 1820, settling in Sugar Creek township. He was a tailor, and continued to work at his trade until old age caused his retirement, living to be ninety-six years old. He married a Miss Smith, and they had six children, all now deceased, namely : William ; Harriet, who married John Rowe; Fanny, who married Isaac Colbert; Eleanor, who married Joseph London ; George S., and James F.
William B. Ramsey was twelve years old when he accompanied his widowed mother and the other members of the family from their home in Butler county to the Bain homestead in Armstrong county, and there he grew to manhood. His education was secured in the common schools. For a number of years he worked at Pine Creek Furnace, seven miles from Kittanning, Pa. On Aug. 18, 1862, he enlisted for service in the Civil war, in Com- pany K, 155th Pennsylvania Volunteer In- fantry, for three years or during the war. He took part in the battles of Antietam, Fred- ericksburg and Gettysburg. From the last . named place he was sent to hospital at Wash- ington, D. C., and afterward, on account of poor health, was detailed for light duty, and on April 21, 1864, on account of continued disability, was honorably discharged from a hospital at Philadelphia.
WILLIAM BAIN RAMSEY, justice of the peace, Second ward, Parker City, Pa., was After Mr. Ramsey sufficiently recovered his strength at home he was employed in mining and shipping ore for three years, at Lucinda, Clarion county, Pa., and later from Parker in born in Sugar Creek township, Armstrong county, April 21, 1837, son of George S. and Eliza (Bain) Ramsey, and a grandson of James Ramsey. He is of Scotch-Irish an- company with Major W. P. Mobley, and from Bear Creek to Pittsburgh, Pa., until 1870. He
cestry.
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
then embarked in the coal business, opening coal banks at Parker and Karns City, in Arm- strong county, and at St. Joe, in Butler county, and continued in that business until 1886, when he was elected assessor of the city of Parker. He served in that office for twenty-three con- secutive years. In 1906 he was elected a jus- tice of the peace, holding over his term, under the new law, from May, 191I, to December, I9II, and on Nov. 7, 19II, was reelected, for a term of six years.
Mr. Ramsey was married Oct. 1, 1857, to Georgiana Curren, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Garwood) Curren, of Parker, and eight children were born to them, namely: William C., who is deceased; James H .; Eliza- beth, who is the wife of William Over ; Sarah A., wife of Charles Cratty ; Homer S .; Rob- ert G .; Julia A., wife of Dr. Albert M. Hoo- ver ; and Jacob M. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church for over a half century. He belongs to C. A. Craig Post, No. 75, G. A. R., of Par- ker, which he served as commander for one year, quartermaster for eight years, and at present as adjutant, serving his fifteenth year in that office. Politically he is identified with the Republican party.
JOHN W. CROSBY, of Leechburg, gas contractor and producer, is prominently con- nected with an industry which has had con- siderable influence in the prosperity of the borough. He has made his home there since 1886, and has been engaged in the gas business continuously.
Mr. Crosby is a native of Canada, born Oct. 8, 1858, about forty miles from Montreal, on the Ottawa river. John W. Crosby, his grand- father, was a native of Ireland, and on coming to America first settled in Philadelphia, Pa. Later he removed to Canada, where he be- came a large landowner and at one time also owned a line of stage coaches and a hotel. He was a pioneer in the region in which he set- tled, and he remained there to the end of his days, dying at the age of sixty-five years. His children were: James, Maria, Elizabeth, Sarah A., Jane and John W.
James Crosby, son of John W. Crosby, was born in Canada, and remained with his father, being in his employ. He died in 1865, at the age of about forty. His wife, Elizabeth (Har- ris), died in December, 1908, at the age of seventy-two years. Their six children were : Sarah Ann, Henrietta, John W., James (who was killed in Canada), Emma Jane, and one daughter that died in infancy.
John W. Crosby attended school in Canada until he was about sixteen years old. He then did farm work for a few years, and after- ward clerked in a country store in Canada until 1876, when he started out for Pennsylva- nia. He arrived at Franklin on June 16th, and being out of money continued his journey on foot, walking to Edinburg, a distance of twenty-five miles. There his mother's brother, Thomas Harris, was engaged in the oil busi- ness, and he worked for him two years. At the end of that period he started in the oil business on his own account, at Mecca, in Trumbull county, Ohio, where he remained for one winter, next going to the Bradford (Pa.) oil fields. He was employed there drilling wells. In the fall of 1883 he joined a party of eight persons going out to California, being interested in a company that had a dry washer. They went into the mountains, but the rainy season coming on four became discouraged and turned back. For two months Mr. Crosby and another man were out by themselves, de- pending for food upon the game they shot, but they eventually returned to Los Angeles, where Mr. Crosby found himself stranded. Return- ing to Bradford, Pa., in the spring of 1884, he again went to work with his uncle for a time. He then started in business as an oil well con- tractor, his first well being drilled for the Mc- Calmont Oil Company, of Pittsburgh. About this time the gas excitement was beginning to be felt in and around Pittsburgh, and the Philadelphia Gas Company was organized. Mr. Crosby began to take contracts to drive wells for them, the first one being at Taren- tum, Pa. Two years later, on Oct. 1, 1886, he located at the borough of Leechburg, where he has since resided. He has been in the gas and oil business throughout this period, and has drilled about two hundred gas wells, including some of the largest in this region, comprising Arm- strong, Westmoreland, Indiana, Allegheny, Somerset, Cambria and Clearfield counties. He also drilled an oil well in Greene county for the Standard Oil Company. In 1895 Mr. Crosby organized the Hyde Park Gas Company, owning one quarter of its stock, and six years later, when they sold out to the American Gas Company, they received forty thousand dollars for their stock, although the company was organized with a capital of only twenty-five hundred. He is vice president and general manager of the Gilpin Natural Gas Company of Leechburg, which has several wells in Armstrong county, selling gas to sup- ply the Pittsburgh Shovel Works and the
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
American Sheet and Tin Plate Company's borhood. They all belong to the Episcopal plant, both of which are located in Leechburg; Church, the elder ones having been baptized and he is a director and manager of the Acme Natural Gas Company of Leechburg. On
in the Church of England prior to the family migration. The men of the family are Re- Sept. 27, 19II, he struck a fine well at West publicans, steadfast in their support of the Leechburg, which is now being operated by party. The Brown home is one of the most hospitable in Armstrong county, and guests are cordially welcomed. The homestead owned by them in common is one of the finest in the county, and includes an orchard of apple trees which in I911 bore a banner crop. There are other fruits, and all kinds of vege- the Crosby Gas Company. Few if any men in the gas business have had more experience in that line than Mr. Crosby, and he has been remarkably successful. His success is due as- much to his good judgment and shrewd man- agement as to other causes, and he has the confidence of all who have been associated tables and grains are raised.
with him. He is a director of the Mary Min- ing Company, which has offices in Pittsburgh and owns valuable ore property in Mexico. In 1887 Mr. Crosby was one of the organizers of the Grobheiser & Crosby Furniture Company, of Sturgis, Mich., and served as vice president of that concern. He sold out his holdings in this company in 1892. It is one of the largest table manufacturing establishments in the United States. Mr. Crosby is justly consid- ered one of the influential business men of the borough in which he has so long made his home, and his enterprise and progressive dis- position have been material factors in its growth and advancement.
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On Aug. 15, 1886, Mr. Crosby was married to Mary M. McGeary, daughter of R. D. Mc- Geary, of Tarentum, Pa. They have one son, Frank H. In politics Mr. Crosby is independ- ent. He is a member of the Episcopal Church and socially is connected with the local lodge of Elks.
THOMAS BROWN, a farmer of Kiski- minetas township, was born July 1, 1830, in County Cavan, Ireland, son of Irwin and Mar- garet (Johnson) Brown.
Irwin Brown brought his wife and family of seven children to America in 1851, locating in Armstrong county, Pa. For four years he worked in the rolling mills at Kittanning, and then moved to Kiskiminetas township, where he bought 200 acres of land. On this he lived the remainder of his life, and since his death, in 1891, his children have made their home there, the property never having been divided. His wife passed away in 1889. They had twelve children, eight of whom are living, viz. : Thomas, Elizabeth, Isabell, John, Mary, Alex- ander, Frank and Margaret.
The Brown family is singularly blessed, for these brothers and sisters live together in per- fect unity and happiness. They are excep- tionally intelligent, and capable of bearing their part in the development of their neigh-
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