USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 26
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On February 2, 1871, Mr. Gillam married Gertrude E. Gettys, of Mapleton, Pennsyl- vania, and they have four children: Roy D., Charles M., Alwilda G., and Mary L.
James S. Gillam is a republican, a well respected citizen, and a consistent member of the Presbyterian church of Bellefonte. He is a member, at Bellefonte, of Gregg Post, No. 195, Grand Army of the Repub- lic ;. Camp No. 95, Union Veteran Legion ; and Bellefonte Council, No. 1055, Royal Areanum. He is also a member. of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 300, Free and Accepted Masons, of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
D AVID K. RAMEY, whose active busi- ness life has extended over half a cen- tury, stands among the foremost citizens of his native county, and ranks with the largest lumber manufacturers in the State. Ile has lived a busy, enterprising, and use- ful life, and been eminently successful. For more than a quarter of a century he has been a resident of the city of Altoona, and is prominently identified with many of her public enterprises. He is the eldest son of Frederick and Martha (Keller) Ramey, and was born October 8, 1821, at Tyrone Forges, Blair county, Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Francis Ramey, was of French- German stock, and emigrated to America from Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, about 1788, settling in Pennsylvania. He came over in one of the sailing vessels of that day, and the trip occupied six months. His life in this country was brief, as he was accident- ally drowned in the Juniata river, near Petersburg, Huntingdon county, in a short time after his arrival. Frederick Ramey, the father of David K. Ramey, was a native of the province of Alsace-Lorraine, in the great German empire, but came to the United States with his parents in 1788, when only three or four years of age. At an early day he located at Tyrone Forges, then in Huntingdon county, now Blair county, Pennsylvania. He was a forgeman by trade, and became an expert widely known for his skill. In 1826 he removed to Sinking valley, this county, locating on a farm he had purchased there, and con- tinued to reside on the farm until his death, July 4, 1865, at which time he had attained the ripe old age of nearly four score years. Ile and his family were members of the Evangelical Lutheran church. In polities
he was a whig and later a republican. He served in the war of 1812 as a member of the force under the gallant Commodore Perry, on Lake Erie, and took part in that memorable conflict which was heralded to the world in Perry's famous dispatch, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." He married Martha Keller in 1807, and reared a family of ten children, four of whom-two sons and two daughters -still survive : Daniel K., a resident of the city of Hollidaysburg, since dead; Mary, who mar- ried William Beyer (now dead), and she now resides at Edgewood, Iowa; Solomon F., living in Altoona; Eliza, who became the wife of Michael Breidenbough, and lives in Antis township, this county ; and. David K., the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Ramey, wife of Frederick Ramey and mother of David K. Ramey, was a native of Pennsylvania, and a devoted member of the Lutheran church. She passed away peace- fully on December 6, 1861, in the seventy- third year of her age.
David K. Ramey was reared principally on his father's farm, in Sinking valley, this county, and educated in the common schools of his neighborhood, the school term being three to four months each year and very poorly conducted. At the age of eighteen he became an apprentice to the trades of carpenter and house builder, and worked at that business mostly in Hollidaysburg from early in 1840 to 1865, a little over a quarter of a century. During the latter part of this time he was extensively engaged in con- tracting and building. In 1865 he removed to the city of Altoona, then a borough with less than 10,000 inhabitants, and purchased a planing mill, which he successfully con- ducted for a period of nine years. ITe then leased the mill to other parties, who have
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had it ever since, though he still owns the property. In 1870 Mr. Ramey formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Thomas MeCauley, now deceased, and purchased a large tract of timber land in Clearfield county, this State. A little later they bought a still larger body of timber land in the same county, and since that time Mr. Ramey has manufactured and marketed more than one hundred million feet of lum- ber. He now owns about thirty-three hun- dred acres of coal land in Clearfield county, on which are four coal mines in successful operation. These mines are leased to differ- ent coal companies. Mr. Ramey is also in- terested in large tracts of land in the States of Kentucky, Nebraska, and Kansas, besides owning considerable city property in Al- toona, Pennsylvania. IIe is now mainly engaged in looking after his various real estate interests.
On February 22, 1844, Mr. Ramey was wedded to Catherine Leamer, a daughter of Jacob Leamer, of Clearfield county, this State, since deceased. She died April 28, 1863, leaving six children, of whom five are yet living, two sons and three daughters : Frederick, residing in Altoona; Jennie, the wife of Harry B. Huff, of this city; Susan, who married T. Blair Patton, formerly post- master of this city, but now general super- intendent of the reformatory at Hunting- don, Huntingdon county; Samuel S. B., who is in the life insurance business in Al- toona; and Catherine, who wedded William F. Windgard, and also resides in this city. In August, 1865, Mr. Ramey was again married, this time to Annie R. Knight, formerly of Maryland, and to this union was born a family of five children, one son and four daughters: David W .; Bertha, now the wife of William L. Pennock-
(see his sketch ) ; Misses Lorene, Alice, and Annie Rebecca.,
Politically Mr. Ramey is a republican and an uncompromising temperance man, and although he has served as a member of the city council at the urgent solicitation of friends, he takes no active part in politics, and cares nothing for official position. He has been a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church since 1839, and is one of the founders of the Second Lutheran church of this city. He is a stockholder and di- rector in the electric street car line of Al- toona, and was largely instrumental in the organization of that enterprise. He is also a stockholder and one of the directors, and was one of the organizers, of the Altoona Iron Company. He was one of the first to subscribe to and encourage the Altoona Hospital association, and has served as one of its directors since the founding of the same, and is at this time president of the board of directors of the Missionary insti- tute, located at Selins Grove, Snyder county, Pennsylvania, and also a member of the board of directors of the theological semi- nary of the general synod of the Evangel- ical Lutheran church, and an earnest worker in and liberal giver to the enterprises of the church of his choice.
SMOND W. GARDNER, cashier of the First National bank of Hollidays- burg, and a young man of fine education and unusual business qualifications, is a son of William H. and Lucy ( Thompson ) Gard- ner, and was born June 15, 1860, at Wil- more, Pennsylvania. The Gardners are of Scotch-Irish descent, and have been residents of Pennsylvania for several generations. William H. Gardner (grandfather) was
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
among the very early settlers of Centre county, this State. He was a prosperous far- iner, and died in that county about 1858, aged seventy-five years. His son, William H. (father), was born in Ferguson township, Centre county, September 24, 1826, and died at his home on Allegheny street, Hol- lidaysburg, Sunday, July 15, 1888, at the age of seventy-two years. At the time of his death he was cashier of the First Na- tional bank of that city, and was widely known as a kind, loving, genial man. In 1843 he entered the store of Gilbert L. Lloyd, at the Summit, Cambria county, as a clerk. From thence in 1845 he moved to Jefferson, now Wilmore, Cambria county, where in 1849 he entered into partnership in the mercantile business with Messrs. Gil- bert L. Lloyd and Arthur Hill. He re- mained in successful business at that place for a number of years. About the outbreak of the late civil war he removed to Wash- ington, D. C., to accept the position of a division clerk in the treasury department. He resided in the national capital for some years, when he came to Hollidaysburg, where he entered what is now known as the First National bank, and about 1868, on the death of Mr. Robert Johnston, was appointed cash- ier of the bank and held that position up to the time of his death. Much of the pros- perity of this institution is due to the ex- vellent management and untiring energy and zeal of Mr. Gardner, as cashier, who was a man of great financial ability, and was thoroughly acquainted with the bank- ing business in all its forms. He was mar- ยท ried on Thursday, March 21, 1850, to Lucy Thompson, daughter of Austin and Sarah M. Thompson, of Cambria county. To this union was born a family of seven children, four of whom survived the father: Austin
T., died June 9, 1887; Arthur L., deceased June, 1865 ; Harry A., cashier of the Second National bank of Altoona; Nannie M., died February 13, 1877; Osmond W., the subject of this sketch; Sallie S., and William H., jr., the three latter residing at home. Mrs. Gardner survives her husband and resides at her elegant home in Hollidaysburg. She is a native of Cambria county and a mem- ber of the First Presbyterian church. Her father, Austin Thompson, was a native of Farmington, Connecticut, and came to Cam- bria county, Pennsylvania, before the old portage railroad was constructed. He was employed for some time as superintendent on a division of this road, and died at his home in Wilmore, Cambria county, in 1870, at the advanced age of seventy-one years. Ile was a republican in politics, and served as justice of the peace for many years. He was a farmer, but also engaged extensively in merchandising and lumber dealing in his later years.
Osmond W. Gardner was reared in the city of Hollidaysburg, and educated in her public schools and academy. He was a quick, bright student, and easily mastered the ordinary English branches. After leav- ing school he entered the First National bank at Hollidaysburg as a clerk, and served in that capacity until 1888, when, on the death of his father, he was promoted to be cashier and has since occupied that respon- sible position, discharging his duties with an ability and accuracy that win confidence and give the utmost satisfaction to all who have business with the bank. He is un- married, and resides with his mother on Alle- gheny street. IIe is a member of Juniata Lodge, No. 282, Free and Accepted Masons, and a stanch republican in political belief, as was his father.
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THOMAS P. GHEER, proprietor of the
leading planing mill at Bellwood, and a prominent contractor and builder of that village, is a son of John and Amelia ( Pat- terson ) Gheer, and was born September 4, 1851, near Bellwood, in Antis township, Blair county, Pennsylvania. His paternal grandfather, Jacob Gheer, was a native of Cumberland county, this State, born in 1774, and was of old German stock. He lived in Cumberland county until 1839, when he removed for a few months to a farm near Worcester, Montgomery county, but not liking the location, he returned to Perry county, and in 1840 settled in Sher- man's valley, near Landisburg, where he purchased a farm and resided until his death, February 8, 1859, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. He was a farmer, and devoted his entire life to agricultural pursuits. In politics he was an old-line whig, but after Jackson's first term as presi- dent, his admiration for Old Hickory led him to espouse the cause of democracy, and he was thenceforward an ardent Jacksonian democrat. Jacob Gheer was twice married, first to Anna Margaret Thomas, by whom he had four sons and four daughters, and after her death wedded Sarah Fleming. By this second marriage he had a family of five children. Of the first family of eight chil- dren, all are now deceased except John, the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born November 7, 1814, near Mechan- iesburg, Cumberland county, this State, and when seventeen years of age learned the trade of cabinet making. He worked at that trade continuously for nearly sixty years, and became widely known. In 1843 he removed to Blair county, and in 1874 located in the village of Bellwood, building and occupying the first house erected west of the Pennsyl-
vania railroad. In politics he was a dem- oerat until James K. Polk became president of the United States, when he identified himself with the then almost unknown Re- publican party, and has remained an adherent to that political organization to the present time. Perhaps it would not be too much to claim for him that he is the oldest republican now living in Blair county. He has served as justice of the peace, both in Antis town- ship and the borough of Bellwood. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Bellwood, and has held official position in his church since 1844. In 1840 he was married to Amelia Patterson, a native. of Williamsburg, this State, by whom he had a family of three children : Jane Margaret, a teacher by profession, who went to Japan in September, 1879, as a representative of the Women's Foreign Missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is now stationed at Nagasaki; Anna M., who mar- ried Daniel A. Hicks, a locomotive engineer on the Pennsylvania railroad; and Thomas P., whose name heads this sketch. After the death of Mrs. Gheer, in 1851, Mr. Gheer united in marriage with Mary A. Bell, a native of Carlisle, Cumberland county.
Thomas P. Gheer was reared in Antis township, this county, and his education was obtained in the common schools of his neighborhood. After leaving school he learned the cabinet makers' trade with his father, and worked at that occupation about two years. In 1873 he located at Bellwood as a contractor and builder, and has been successfully engaged in that business at that place ever since. In 1878 he erected his present planing mill, located on Second street, where he manufactures his own build- ing supplies and does a large general busi- ness. llis trade in this line has grown to
.
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
such an extent that he now regularly employs about seventy-five men. His contracting business is also the largest in the borough. In both lines he has been eminently success- f'ul, but here, as in every other important en- terprise, success has been won by indefatiga- ble industry and constant watchfulness.
On May 27, 1875, Mr. Gheer was united by marriage to Ada Renner, a daughter of Abram Renner, of Petersburg, Huntingdon county, this State. To Mr. and Mrs. Gheer has been born a family of four children, two sons and two daughters: Martha M., John R., Charles W., and Amy.
In his political affiliations Mr. Gheer has always been republican, and has served one term, 1889, as burgess of the borough of Bellwood. He is an active and influential member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and has served as superintendent of the Methodist Sunday-school in Bellwood for a period of nearly ten years. He is a member of Bellwood Lodge, No. 819, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of Bellwood Castle, No. 128, Knights of the Golden Eagle. He is also a member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America.
JAMES HARVEY WILSON, now res-
ident of Tyrone, and who was for over a quarter of a century one of the prosper- ous and substantial farmers of Tyrone town- ship, is a son of James and Martha ( Cress- well) Wilson, and was born at Sinking Valley, Tyrone township, Blair county, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1830. James Wilson was a member of the Wilson family of Adams county, where he was born May 9, 1784. At twenty-three years of age, in 1807, he left his native county and came to the famous Sinking valley, then in Ilunt-
ingdon county, a pleasant and productive vale of limestone land lying between Canoe ridge and Brush mountain. He purchased a fine farm of two hundred acres of land near the present village of Sinking Valley. He was a surveyor by profession, and fol- lowed surveying and farming until his death, which occurred January 1, 1851, when nearing the close of the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was an old-line whig in politics, held the office of justice of the peace for twenty years, and was well in- formed on the political issues of his day. He was an active worker in church affairs and Sunday-school matters, and served for many years as an elder of the old stone Presbyterian church of Arch Spring, of whose Sunday-school he had been superin- tendent for several terms. His life work was a labor of usefulness for the benefit and improvement of the community in which he resided for nearly half a century. In 1822 he married Martha Cresswell, and to them was born a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters : Harriet, born September 24, 1823, and died February 2, 1879, who married Thomas Crawford, and after his death, in Sinking valley, in 1853, became the wife of Thomas Ward; Charles S., born March 31, 1825, and died in New York in 1890; Matthew C., born Novem- ber 16, 1826, and died in the city of Al- toona in 1873; Minerva, born July 23, 1828, is the widow of Jacob Covode, and resides at Sharpsburg, Allegheny county ; James II., born October 28, 1830; Smith, born April 7, 1832, is now a resident of near Hutchinson, Kansas; Anna E, born August 3, 1834, and is the widow of Miles D. Gray, of Tyrone, whose sketch appears in this volume; and Sarah M., born De- cember 4, 1836, and is the wife of John
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Hommer, who resides at Cambria Mills, in Cambria county. Mrs. Martha Wilson was born July 19, 1797, in Huntingdon county, and passed away at her home in Sinking val- ley, May 14, 1878, aged eighty-one years. She was a daughter of Matthew Cresswell, a farmer and Presbyterian of Stone valley, Huntingdon county, who married Sarah Leonard, and reared a family of twelve.
James H. Wilson was reared in the beau- tiful Sinking valley, whose wonderful sink- ing run has been an object of wonder for more than a century. He received his edu- cation in the subscription and early com- mon schools of his neighborhood, and en- gaged in farming, which he followed suc- cessfully until four years ago. He owned the home farm, which he sold in 1888, and came to Tyrone, where he has lived a re- tired life ever since. He is a firm republi- can, who believes that the prosperity of this great country will be best promoted when the administration of public affairs is in the hands of the party of Lincoln, Grant, and Harrison. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, in which faith he was reared, and to the teachings of which he has ever been true.
On December 24, 1874, Mr. Wilson mar- ried E. Josephine Fleck, daughter of Adam W. and Mary A. Fleck, of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania.
James H. Wilson resides in a pleasant and well appointed home on Washington avenue, where he and his amiable wife are happy to welcome their many friends.
JOHN G. KLINE, a member of the enterprising and successful contracting and building firm of Kline, Parker & Co., of Altoona, and who served in the pioneer
corps of General Thomas' army at the great and decisive battle of Nashville, is a son of William and Ann (Gurdner ) Kline, and was born in York county, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1840. His paternal grandfather, John Kline, came from Germany to the United States when a young man, and settled in York county, where he followed farming until 1847, when he died at the advanced age of eighty-five years. He married, and his son, William Kline (father), was born and reared amid the Bald Hills in York county, in which he died in 1849, when in the forty-first year of his age. He learned the trade of locksmith, and carried on the locksmith and coffee mill manufacturing business at New Market, in his native county, until his death. He was a member of the United Brethren church, and an old-line whig with abolition proclivities, and married Ann Gurdner, a native of York county, and a member of the United Brethren church. They reared a family of six children, one son and five daughters. Mrs. Kline died in Philadelphia in 1865, at the age of fifty-one years.
John G. Kline was only nine years of age at the death of his father, and was then taken to Dauphin county, where he grew to manhood and received his education in the early common schools of Pennsylvania. Leaving school, he went to Harrisburg, where he secured the contract for carrying the mails from the post-office to the mail trains. At the end of one year he surrendered his contract, and spent three years in learning the trade of carpenter with Updegroce & Jones, of Harrisburg. He then worked suc- cessively at the Eagle works, of Harrisburg, on the canal department of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Salem, Ohio, and Hollidaysburg, which he left in 1864 to
1
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
join the pioneer corps of General Thomas' army. He was in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, after which he returned home, and in thirteen days, on January 28, 1865, enlisted for three years, or during the war, in Co. D, 192d Pennsylvania in- fantry. He served until August, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Harper's Ferry, and shortly afterwards went to Re- nova, Clinton county, where he was engaged for three years in contracting and building. Ile then went to Huntingdon, this State, at which place he was superintendent of the Cottage planing mill for nine months. At the end of that time he came to Altoona and engaged in his present contracting, building and planing mill business.
On July 3, 1863, John G. Kline married Martha Tompkins, daughter of George Tompkins, of Hollidaysburg. They have eight children, three sons and five daugh- ters : Irene, Gertrude, Rachel, Mahala, George, John, Rosalinda, and Earl.
In politics Mr. Kline is a firm supporter of the Republican party and its nominees, and has served as a member of the boards of health and trade of Altoona. He is a large stockholder in several building asso- ciations, owns fourteen houses. in his city, and has been a member for some time of the National Mutual and Building associa- tion of New York city. He is also interested in coal and timber lands in Somerset county. Ile is a member of the firm of Kline, Parker & Co., and they do a large contracting building business, besides operating a large planing mill, where they employ several men. They have built a large number of houses in Altoona, besides doing much con- tracting and building elsewhere. Mr. Kline is a practical and skilled workman of wide experience in his line of business, in which
he has always rendered good satisfaction to his numerous patrons. He has good facil- ities for doing first-class work, of which he makes a specialty. Success in most cases is the price of long and persistent labor. Results are not accomplished in a few years, especially in an industry that has to build up to a state of prosperity from a very moderate beginning, such as Mr. Kline had when he started in his present important line of business. Not easily elated by suc- cess, and never depressed by reverses, he has steadily and persistently worked for over a decade in establishing his present flourishing enterprise.
DANIEL PATTEE RAY, deceased, was
for many years a leading tanner in Blair county, and had been a prominent manu- facturer in the city of Philadelphia prior to his location here. He was energetie and enterprising, and possessed of fine business ability. He was the youngest of eight chil- dren born to John and Elizabeth (Pattee) Watkins, and first saw the light on January 5, 1830, at Kearsage Gorge mountains, near Warren, New Hampshire. His mother dying when he was only two weeks old, he was regularly adopted by a Mr. Ray, whose name he assumed. His paternal grandfather was Capt. Jason Watkins, who was born near Warren, New Hampshire, September 26, 1765, where he died March 7, 1840. IIe was a farmer by occupation, and served in the war of 1812, holding a captain's com- mission. He married Sarah Waldin, June 19, 1788, and had a family of eleven chil- dren, all of whom were born at the old homestead, near Warren, New Hampshire. They were : Mollie, born June 5, 1789, and died in 1824; Abner, born July 9, 1791, a
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lifelong resident of Warren, where he be- came prominent in political circles, and died April 21, 1843; Ruth, born December 13, 1795, and died April 18, 1837, having married a Mr. Moon, and had several sons, one of whom became consul to Algiers; Jacob W., born June 9, 1796, and deceased in September of that year; John W., father of the subject of this sketch; Abigail, born March 18, 1800, and died May 7, 1851; Jason, born May 24, 1802, and passed away the following year; Hannah, born Novem- ber 15, 1804, and slept in death September 23, 1883, having married Col. William G. Flanders (a son of Moses Flanders, one of the early settlers of New Hampshire ), who served as an officer in the militia of this State; Ebenezer, born July 13, 1806, and is now deceased; Jason (2), born July 24, 1809, and died in Missouri; and Elizabeth, who was born December 30, 1811, and departed this life April 7, 1844, at the old homestead in New Hampshire.
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