USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 18
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THEOBALD BENTZ HEIMS, one of
the pioneer citizens of Tyrone, was a man who was highly esteemed for his strength of character and upright life. Ile was a son of Thomas and Anna ( Bishop) Heims, and was born at Littlestown, Adams county, Pennsylvania, January 14, 1821. Thomas Heims was born April 5, 1788, at York, York county, and died at Tyrone. Hle married Anna Bishop, who was born at Littlestown, and died at York, in 1837. Her father, Philip Bishop, was a native and lifelong resident of Littlestown, Adams county, where he died. He was a prominent
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and active member of the United Brethren church. He erected the church of that denomination at Littlestown, of which he was the main pillar and support while he lived. His memory was long cherished at Littlestown, where he was so active in church affairs, and so liberal a contributor to the cause of Christianity.
Theobald B. Heims was reared and re- ceived his education at Littlestown, this State. In 1847 he removed to Berryville, Clark county, Virginia, where he worked at his trade of shoemaker. His brother-in- law, P. Sneeringer, having removed from Littlestown to Tyrone in 1853, and other citizens, among them S. Berlin and the late E. L. Study, of the same place, coming to this growing town shortly after, Mr. Heims looked upon Tyrone as a better town than his Virginia home to adopt as a permanent place of residence. Accordingly he came hither in 1855, and for the first year here, he carried on his trade on .Main street, in the house afterward owned by A. C. Zerbe. IIe soon gave up that work, however, to become interested with Mr. Sneeringer in general merchandising in Tyrone, and lun- bering in Clearfield county. Thereafter he engaged exclusively in the lumber and shingle business and milling, for many years devoting his attention to the business in Clearfield county. In 1877 he extended his operations to Michigan, and carried on his business in that State until 1889, when illness forced him to relinquish all active work. He was a thorough business man, and was prosperous in what he undertook. Having been one of the earliest residents of this town, and having been highly respected for his strength of character and noble traits, Mr. Heims was several times honored by his fellow citizens with election to
municipal offices, having been chosen at different times to the offices of councilman, school director, and justice of the peace. He was for many years a regular attendant at the services of the Methodist Episcopal church, and also took a great interest in the Sunday-school, which he delighted in visiting. A great searcher after the truth, and a patient student of the Bible during his life, he declared in his last days on earth his complete faith in the promises of his Master, and his confidence in a blessed future life beyond the grave.
On March 28, 1847, Mr. Heims married Henrietta Brothers, of Littlestown, this State. To their union were born seven children : Jennie, widow of S. V. Haslett; Thomas C., married Lizzie B. Hess, and is a merchant and coal operator, and president of the Land and Lumber Company, of Clearfield; Lizzie, wife of J. K. Mills, an insurance agent and real estate dealer of Braddock, this State; Charles W., married Clara Leedy, of Harrisburg, who is now dead; Maria O. (deceased); Grace E., wife of Joseph E. Kolbenschlag, who is engaged in the clothing business at Coalport, this State; and May A. Mrs. Henrietta Heims is a daughter of Jacob Brothers, who re- moved from Pennsylvania to Baltimore, Maryland, where he died in 1823. IIe married, in 1812, Elizabeth Shriver, daugh- ter of Andrew Shriver, Jr., who was born at Alsenborn, Germany, and in 1721, with his parents, Andrew and Anna Margaret Shriver, became a pioneer settler of Goshen- hoppe, on the Conawago, where he married Magdalene Maus, and reared a family of nine children. After the death of Jacob Brothers, his widow married John MeIlvain, who was prominent in the Methodist Epis- capal church.
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On May 8, 1890, Theobald Bentz Heims passed away at his residence on Logan street, after an illness of fifteen months, and his remains were entombed in Tyrone cem- etery. His death was appropriately noticed in the press, and one of the Tyrone papers said : that to his family "is extended the sincere sympathy of this entire community, which recognizes that their loss is also its loss, for death has removed not only a be- loved husband and father, but a useful and respected citizen as well."
H ENRY B. HUFF, ex-sheriff of Blair county, a member of the well known business firm of William Beyer & Co., and one of the Union prisoners who was con- fined in the celebrated Libby prison of Richmond, Virginia, was born at Huff's Church, Berks county, Pennsylvania, June 16, 1889, and is a son of George and Caro- line K. (Boyer) Huff. His paternal ances- try dates back to Baldwin Von Hoof (now written Huff), who resided on the family estates near the city of Passau, Bavaria. Hle was famous among the Bavarian knight- hood and nobility, and lost his life in the first crusade in July, 1099, at the storming of Jerusalem. Henry B. Huff's paternal great-grandparents were John Frederick and Susanna ( Kime ) Huff, both natives of Berlin, Germany. The former was born July 8, 1773, and died April 26, 1818, at Iluff's Church, Berks county, this State, so called because of the donation of land at that place by him for a church site and burial ground. The latter was born on Christmas, 1739, and died May 12, 1809. They had four sons and five daughters liv- ing in 1818. One of these sons was George HIuff, sr. (grandfather ), who was born Aug-
ust 1, 1779, at Huff's Church, where he fol- lowed farming and hotel-keeping until his death, in 1845. He married Anna Mull, who lived to be nearly ninety-two years of age. Of their children, one was George IIuff (father), who was engaged in the mer- cantile business at Huff's Church for a short time, and then removed, about 1840, to Norristown, Pennsylvania. From there he went to Middletown, and five years later removed to Altoona, this county, where he died January 19, 1858, aged forty-five years, four months, and twenty-six days. He married Caroline Kreps Boyer, September 16, 1835, at Boyertown, Pennsylvania, which was named for her family. She died at Altoona, February 3, 1876, aged fifty- eight years, four months, and twenty-nine days. Henry B. Huff, on his maternal side, traces his ancestry back four generations, to Jacob Bayer (now written Boyer), who came from Germany with his wife and three sons-Valentine, Philip, and Jacob. The latter had four sons: Philip, Jacob, Daniel, and Henry ( maternal grandfather ), who was born October 19, 1778, and died March 18, 1857. He was a member of the legislature from Berks county in 1823, 1824, 1825, 1826, and 1831. He was one of the early founders of the flourishing borough of Boy- ertown, which was laid out in lots in 1835, and duly incorporated in 1851. He was married March 3, 1800, to Sarah Kreps, who was born February 28, 1784, and died July 7, 1858. They had eleven children, one of whom, Caroline Kreps Boyer, mar- ried George Huff, and was the mother of Henry B. Huff and the Hon. George F. Huff, now a member of Congress from the Twenty-first district of Pennsylvania.
Henry B. Iluff received his education in the common schools of Berks and Blair
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counties. In 1851 he came from Middle- town, Dauphin county, to Altoona, where he worked in the railroad shops until April 17, 1861, when he enlisted in a three months' regiment. At the expiration of his time he re-enlisted in a nine months' regiment, and at the close of his second term of enlistment became a member of Co. D, 184th Pennsylvania infantry, in which he served until July 20, 1865, when he was honorably discharged from the Federal ser- vice at Harrisburg, this State. He served in the Army of the Potomac, and partici- pated in all of its great battles from Fred- ericksburg to Appomattox Courthouse. Ile lost his right eye in one of the terrible charges at Chancellorsville, was captured by the Confederates at Petersburg, and spent nine months in several of the principal prisons of the south before he was ex- changed, in 1864. He escaped from the Charlottesville prison, but was recaptured on the banks of the Cape Fear river, after an exhausting tramp of thirteen days and nights, and was sent to Libby prison, where he remained until exchanged. Returning to Altoona after being mustered out of the Federal service, he was engaged in the dry goods business until 1870, when he was elected sheriff of Blair county, and at the expiration of his term of three years, em- barked in the planing mill business with David K. Ramey. In 1876 he dissolved partnership with Mr. Ramey and went to the Clarion and Bradford oil field, where he met with varying success as an operator until 1884, when he went to Pittsburg, and was engaged for seven years in locating and drilling oil wells in the lower oil fields of western Pennsylvania. At the end of that time, in 1891, he returned to Altoona and became a member of the present prosperous
insurance and real estate firm of William Beyer & Co. . This firm is one of the relia- ble and leading firms of its kind of central Pennsylvania.
On the 27th of December, 1866, Henry B. Iluff united in marriage with Jennie, daughter of David K. Ramey, a resident of Altoona.
Henry B. Huff is a republican in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian church, and MePherson Post, No. 117, Grand Army of the Republic, of Pittsburg. He is a member of Logan Lodge, No. 490, Free and Accepted Masons; Mountain Chapter, No. 187, Royal Arch Masons, and Mountain Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar. IIe is a man of business ability and experi- ence, prompt, and accurate and energetic in whatever he undertakes.
H ENRY J. EVANS, M. D., one of the younger members of the medical fra- ternity in Altoona, and a graduate of the Ilahnemann Medical college, of Philadel- phia, who has achieved success and position in his profession, is a son of John N. and Mary ( Evans ) Evans, and was born January 8, 1855, at Rhymmey, Monmouthshire, Wales. Nicholas Evans (grandfather) was born, lived and died in Wales. He was a carpenter by trade, married, and reared a large family. Among his sons was John N. Evans (father), who was born in Wales in 1825, and lived in his native land until he was thirty-six years of age. In 1861 he came to America with his family, and located that same year in Schuylkill county, Penn- sylvania. He resided there for some time, but later removed to Shamokin, Northum- berland county, where he died in 1885, aged sixty years. Ile was a miner by occupation,
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and took an intelligent interest in, and ac- tively promoted measures calculated to im- prove the condition of the laboring classes of this country. In politics he was a republican, and a Latter-day Saint in religious belief. Ile married Mary Evans, by whom he had a family of eight children : Ann, Elizabeth, Henry J., Nicholas, Mary, Agnes, John A., and Susan. The latter three were born in America and the others in Wales.
Henry J. Evans received his early educa- tion in the common schools of Pennsylvania, and later took a course of training in the Millersville State Normal school, and sup- plemented that by a course at Mt. Pleasant seminary, in Berks county. He then be- came a teacher, and followed that occupation for several years, during part of which time he served as principal of a graded school at Shamokin. While he was yet engaged in teaching, he began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. M. M. Har- ple, of Shamokin, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and in 1879 entered the Hahnemann Medical college, in Philadel- phia, from which he was graduated in March, 1881, with the degree of M. D. IIe soon after located at Tyrone, this county, where he opened an office, and was suc- cessfully engaged in the practice of medicine until December, 1881, when he removed to Altoona. In this city he has since resided, devoting his time principally to his profes- sion, in which he has been very successful, but incidentally interested in coal mining in Cambria county, where his brother, Nicholas, acts as superintendent of the business.
On November 8, 1881, Doctor Evans was united in marriage with Melissa Burley, a daughter of Jonathan Burley, of Tyrone, this county, where he was then practicing.
To this union has been born one son and a daughter. The daughter is named Mary Boynton, and was born September 24, 1882, while the son is Henry Simpson, and his natal day May 28, 1884.
Doctor Evans is a republican in politics, and a member of the First Methodist Epis- copal church, in which he has served for some time as a steward. He is also a member of Mountain Lodge, No. 281, Free and Accepted Masons. Doctor Evans is popular, both as a physician and as a citi- zen, and while attending to a large practice, at the same time takes an active interest in all matters connected with the public wel- fare. He is justly held in high esteem by a very large circle of friends and acquaint- ances, who concede his ability and skill as a physician, while they admire the pluck and energy with which he has made his way in the world in the face of many ad- verse circumstances.
H ENRY B. KENDIG, chief clerk of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's machine shops at Altoona, and a man who saw hard service during the great civil war, and is highly esteemed as a citizen, is a son of Jacob and Susan ( Reifsnyder) Kendig, and was born February 11, 1833, near New- ville, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. The Kendigs are of Swiss origin, and the family was planted in America in the latter part of the seventeenth century by repre- sentatives who emigrated from the blue mountains of the land of Tell and Wink- lereid and settled in Chester county, this State. In later years branches of the fam- ily removed to other sections of the State, one locating in Lancaster county, where Tobias Kendig (grandfather) was born
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about 1769. He was reared and married in that county, but in middle life removed to Cumberland county, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1855, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-six years. Among his sons was Jacob Kendig (father), who was born in Lancaster county in 1809, and there grew to manhood. While yet a young man he removed with his father to Cum- berland county, where he resided until 1847, when he located in Franklin county. He was a blacksmith by trade, and spent most of his life in that occupation. He became quite successful, and in later life engaged in the mercantile business, following that for some years, after which he practically re- tired from active business, and passed his last days in undisturbed quietude. He con- tinued his residence in Franklin county until death removed him from earthly scenes, which event occurred in October, 1891, when he had passed two years beyond the scriptural limit of four-score. In poli- ties he was first a whig and later a republi- can. He married Susan Reifsnyder, a native of Cumberland county, this State, by whom he had a family of five children. She died in 1842.
Henry B. Kendig grew to manhood in Franklin county, and received a good En- glish education in the common schools and at the academy in Shippensburg. After leaving school he learned the tinner's trade and worked at it for a short time, when he engaged in teaching, and followed that occupation for ten years. He taught in the counties of Cumberland, Franklin, and Dau- phin, in this State, and one year in Illinois. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. D, 126th Penn- sylvania infantry, for nine months, was pro- moted to be orderly sergeant, and served ten months before being discharged. Im-
mediately after receiving his discharge he re-enlisted in the 21st Pennsylvania cavalry (July, 1863), and served with that organi- zation until the close of the civil war, hold- ing the rank of first lieutenant. While in action at Boydton Plank Road he was wounded by a carbine ball, and would un- doubtedly have been killed by the shot but for the fact that the ball struck a brass but- ton on the breast of his coat, and its force was thereby greatly broken. It conse- quently inflicted only a flesh wound, from which he quickly recovered. He was dis- charged at Lynchburg, Virginia, on July 8, 1865, and February 1, 1866, came to Al- toona and accepted a position as a clerk in the office of a Mr. Custer, chief clerk in the motive power department of the Pennsyl- vania railroad. He held various clerical posts with that company until 1873, when he was made shop clerk of its Altoona machine shops, and has held that position ever since.
On October 14, 1856, Mr. Kendig was married to Margaret Raum, a daughter of Henry Raum, of Cumberland county, this State, and to their union was born a family of three children, two sons and a daughter. The daughter, Madaline, is the wife of Lieut. M. F. Harmon, United States artil- lery, who is now stationed at Chester, this State, as instructor in the military school at that place. The sons are Sheridan K. and Ekward E., both still living at home with their parents.
In his religious convictions Mr. Kendig is a Baptist, and is a member and trustee of the First Baptist church at Altoona. Po- litically he is a republican, and has served 'as a member of the school board for a period of six years, and of the city council two years. He is a member of Mountain Lodge,
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No. 281, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Stephen C. Potts Post, No. 62, Grand Army of the Republic.
J OHN B. KEEFER, D. D. S., of Al-
toona, is one of that class of men who are self-made, and forcibly illustrate in their lives what can be accomplished by energy and effort in overcoming apparently insur- mountable obstacles. He is a son of Rev. Joseph and Christina (Lukenbach ) Keefer, and was born near Liverpool, in Perry county, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1862. As the name would indicate, the Keefer family is of German descent. Dr. Keefer's pater- nal grandfather, Rev. Joseph Keefer, sr., was born in Dauphin county, where he died near Millersburg at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. He was a farmer by oc- cupation, and having served acceptably for some time as a minister in the River Breth- ren church, he was elected as a bishop in that religious denomination on account of his piety, zeal, and uprightness of life. He married and reared a family, and one of his sons, Rev. Joseph Keefer (father), was born in 1813 in Dauphin county. In 1838 he re- moved to Perry county, where he resided until 1864, when he returned to near Mil- lersburg, in Dauphin county, and has re- sided there ever since. He has followed farming as an occupation, except when en- gaged in ministerial duties. He is a mem- ber of the Brethren, or Dunkard, church, in which he has served for many years as a minister. He is now the presiding officer in his district, and although seventy-three years of age, yet never allows anything to prevent his discharge of every duty of his responsible position. He is a republican in politics, and married Christina Lukenbach,
a native of Dauphin county and a member of the Brethren church, who died at thirty- eight years of age, leaving a family of five sons and three daughters.
John B. Keefer was reared in Dauphin county until he was nine years of age, and then went to an uncle of his, with whom he resided for some time. After this he lived . with various other of his relatives until he was seventeen years of age, when he went to Harrisburg, where he learned the trade of machinist, which he followed at the State capital for three years. He then came to Altoona, remained for one month, and went to Pittsburg, where he worked for some time, and then during the following year worked in Pittsburg, Wheeling, West Vir- ginia, and Martin's Ferry, Dayton, and Cleveland, Ohio. At the end of the year he returned again to Altoona, where he worked three years in the car shops, and during the last year of that time he spent his evenings in the study of dentistry and in attending the International Business college of Al- toona. He pursued his dental studies under Dr. N. P. Duffy, of the Mountain City, and then entered the dental department of the Vanderbilt university, of Nashville, Tennes- see, from which he was graduated in the class of 1888. Immediately after gradua- tion he returned to Altoona and opened an office for the practice of dentistry, which he has followed successfully until the present time.
On February 4, 1889, Dr. Keefer was united in marriage to Mary E., daughter of Harriet Auxer, of Harrisburg. Dr. and Mrs. Keefer have one child, a daughter, named Harriet C.
Dr. Keefer is a republican in politics, and a member of the Church of God of Altoona, of which he is chorister and treasurer. He
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is a member of White Cross Lodge, No. 354, Knights of Pythias, and Altoona Council Lodge, No. 152, Junior Order of United American Mechanics. His dental parlors are on the corner of Eighth and Twelfth streets, and have been carefully fitted up for the convenience and comfort of his patrons. They are fully equipped with all the late inventions and modern appliances of den- tistry. Dr. Keefer is a member of the Cen- tral Pennsylvania Dental society, and the Pennsylvania State Dental society. He has been preeminently the architect of his own career, and the hewer out of his own fortune.
F FRANK M. MORROW is an enterpris- ing, progressive, and popular business man of Blair county, and his dry goods establishment at Altoona is one of the prominent, responsible, and representative mercantile houses of central Pennsylvania. He is a son of Thomas and Jane A. (Seaton) Morrow, and was born in the town of Ligonier, in Ligonier township, Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1856. The Morrow family is one of the old and well known Scotch-Irish families of central and western Pennsylvania. James Morrow, the paternal grandfather of Frank M. Morrow, of Altoona, was a native and a life-long resident of Frankstown, this county, where he married, reared a family, and died. He was a man of good educa- tion, and followed teaching during the period between the revolution and the war of 1812. IIis son, Thomas Morrow (father), was born in 1814, at Frankstown, where he was reared and received a good common English education. In early life he re- moved to the town of Ligonier, in the county of Westmoreland, and within the
famous Ligonier valley, noted for its ro- mantie scenery, and historic places. He was a saddler by trade, and carried on saddlery and harness making at Ligonier until 1862, when he came to Altoona, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1877, at sixty-three years of age. He was a republican in polities, and a member of the Presbyterian church, and married Jane A. Seaton, who is now in the seventy- fifth year of her age. Mrs. Morrow is a native of Ligonier, and now resides at Al- toona, where she is a member of the Second Presbyterian church of that city.
At six years of age, Frank M. Morrow was brought by his parents to Altoona, where he grew to manhood, and received his education in the public schools. Leaving school, his first active employment in busi- ness life was that of serving as a clerk in one of the leading dry goods houses of Altoona, in which he remained until 1876, and during that time familiarized himself with the details of every department of the house, as well as closely studying the correct principles upon which the business was founded. In the spring of the centen- nial year he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, J. M. Bowman, under the firm name of Bowman & Morrow, and they were engaged successfully in the dry goods business until 1882, when Mr. Morrow pur- chased his partner's interest. Since that time Mr. Morrow has gradually increased his stock, and has branched out in different lines of his business until his establishment is now one of the leading dry goods houses of central Pennsylvania. It is eligibly lo- cated on the corner of Eleventh avenue and Twelfth street, and all of its large floor space is essentially necessary for the storage and display of an immense stock of goods,
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and to furnish accommodations for its dif- ferent departments. He handles every variety of dry goods, and secures in his line the finest fabrics from foreign looms, while he makes specialties of the choicest lines of silks, satins, velvets, and dress fabrics in all the latest textures and shades. He sells at reasonable prices the best goods obtainable in the markets, and has thus secured an extensive patronage from all classes of the public. His prices are invariably low, and twenty assistants are in constant attend- ance, while the utmost courtesy and closest attention is the rule of the house. Mr. Morrow is now engaged in the business for which he is eminently qualified, and his successful efforts to meet the wants of the public are appreciated by his patrons. He is a live business man, makes use of the press to let the public know of the latest additions to his stock, and believes in quick sales with small profits as the basis of a sure and successful business.
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