USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
In 1864 Mr. Loudon married Rebecca, daughter of Philip Bridenbaugh, of Sinking valley, and to their union have been born seven children, five sons and two daugh- ters : Michael Grant, Edward W., George W., William H., Calvin B., Mary V., and Sallie E.
William Loudon owns a fine farm of one hundred acres of productive land adjoining and partly within the limits of the village of Juniata, besides several valuable houses and desirable lots in that place and in the city of Altoona. He laid out the larger part of Juniata, and has been largely instru- mental in building up the village. Mr. Loudon is a republican in politics, has always given his party a hearty support, and served his township for several years as a school director. He is one of that useful class of men in every county, whose intelli- gence, integrity and energy give stability to its business affairs.
HENRY A. BOYLES, a highly re- spected resident, successful merchant, and the efficient postmaster of the village of Juniata, whose postoffice was established by the name of Kipple on account of Juni- ata, Blair county, is a son of John and Han- nah (Andrews) Boyles, and was born in what is now Logan township, Blair county,
Frank McClain.
971
OF BLAIR COUNTY.
Pennsylvania, January 8, 1832. The Boyles are of English extraction, and Mr. Boyles' paternal grandfather, Henry Boyles, was a life-long resident of Blair county, where he died in 1833, aged sixty-eight years. He was a hard working man, who married and reared a family of children, one of whom, John Boyles (father), was born in 1809 in what is now Logan township. Like his father before him, he was a hard working man, and died March 15, 1889, when in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Ile was an early supporter of the principles of the Re- publican party, and married Hannah An- drews, who was born in the State of Mary- land, in the year 1817, and passed away from earth at her home in Logan township on October 20, 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Boyles were the parents of six children, five sons and one daughter.
Henry A. Boyles passed his boyhood days in Logan township, received his education in the early common schools of the Key- stone Commonwealth, and learned the trade of carpenter, which he followed at various places in the county until 1868, when he was employed as a carpenter in the shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in Al- toona. At the end of twenty years' con- tinuous labor at his trade in the railroad shops he gave up carpentering to engage in the general mercantile business at the thrifty little village of Juniata (postoffice Kipple), which is at present an eastern suburb of the city of Altoona. Mr. Boyles established the second store of Juniata, en- joys a good patronage, and has prospered in his business. He owns some valuable property, and has a very comfortable home at Juniata. He has been from childhood a stanch republican, always yields an earnest support to his party, and in February, 1890,
was appointed by President Benjamin Har- rison as postmaster at Kipple. He is a deacon of the Evangelical Lutheran church, an active and enterprising business man, and a highly esteemed citizen of the pro- gressive village of Juniata.
In 1855 Henry A. Boyles was united in marriage with Susan Morris, daughter of William Morris, of Centre county. Mr. and Mrs. Boyles have nine children, four sons and five daughters: Blair N., Harry, John C., William B., Mary, Jessie, Cather- ine, Minnie, and Gertrude.
FRANK McCLAIN, who has energet- ically and successfully carved out his own career in life, and is one of the promi- nent citizens and substantial business men of Altoona, is a son of Stephen and Mary (Phlesman ) McClain, and was born in Sink- ing Valley, Tyrone township, Blair (then Huntingdon ) county, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1833. In the initial year of the nine- teenth century, in the westward tide of emigration from Ireland to the United States, was Stephen McClain, of County Derry, who settled in Sinking valley, where he died in 1852, at the age of three seore and ten years. He was born and reared in County Derry, where he received his educa- tion and learned the trade of linen weaver. Ireland at that time afforded but poor opportunities to any but the wealthy for improving their condition in life, and he came to America as a wider and more in- viting field to the skilled laborer and farmer. After coming to Sinking valley he was en- gaged in farming and teaming from ITunt- ingdon furnace to Pittsburg and Baltimore until his death, in 1852. He was a demo- erat in politics, and in religions faith and
17
معجبفيوخـ
272
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
church membership a Catholic. He was an energetic and thorough-going man, and mar- ried Mary Phlesman, a native of Cambria county, and a member of the Catholic church, who died in 1846, when in the fifty- fifth year of her age.
Frank McClain spent his boyhood years in Sinking valley, where he received his education in one of the small log school houses that at that time were so common throughout many of the counties of Penn- sylvania, and within whose narrow walls were educated nearly all of the leading business men of two generations ago. At eighteen years of age he commenced the battle of life for himself, and not waiting for splendid opportunities or easy work, accepted the first honest labor which came to hand, and became a farm hand. He gave good satisfaction to his employer, but in a short time went to Bellefonte, Centre county, where he learned the trade of car- penter, which he followed until 1854, when he came to Altoona, then in its infancy. After a short stay he went west and settled in the town of Davenport, Iowa, where he witnessed, soon after his arrival, the depart- ure of the first railroad engine that ran out of that place. An eighteen months' resi- dence at Davenport satisfied him with west- ern life at that time, and he returned to Centre county, where he became foreman on the erection of the Farmers' High school building, now the Pennsylvania Agricul- tural college. After the completion of this building he engaged, in 1862, in the mer- cantile business there, and was postmaster for three years at State College. In 1866 he removed to Bellefonte, where he became a member of the firm of Valentine, Blanch- ard & Co., and they erected and operated the first planing mill of that city, which
was run by water drawn from a large dam covering an area of forty acres of land. At the end of two years Mr. McClain withdrew from the firm and associated himself in partnership with D. G. Bush, under the firm name of Bush & McClain. They erected the well known and popular hotel of Belle- fonte which is known as the Bush house, and contains one hundred and forty rooms. They also erected the large and handsome brick business block, now known as the McClain block. In 1871 Mr. McClain dis- posed of his entire business interests in Bellefonte to Mr. Bush and came to Al- toona and embarked in the mercantile business, in which he was engaged success- fully for six years. Two years after his arrival he purchased the land on the corner of Fourteenth street and Eleventh avenue, where he erected the present McClain block, a large and handsome brick structure, whose lower story is used for stores and the upper floors for lodges and flats. Since 1880 Mr. McClain has been largely engaged in con- tracting and building, and has extended the field of his operations throughout central Pennsylvania. He assisted in erecting the Altoona hospital, and many of the present fine residences and substantial business buildings of the Mountain City. In 1888 he enlisted the attention and interest of six others, and they formed a company and opened the beautiful and far-famed Wopso- nonock summer resort, which is six miles north of Altoona. They are adding new attractions every year to the first-class hotel, fine buildings which Mr. McClain has erected on the beautiful grounds of this de- lightful resort.
On June 15, 1870, Mr. McClain married Margaret Caldwell, daughter of Thomas Caldwell, of Bellefonte, this State. Mrs.
973
OF BLAIR COUNTY.
MeClain has been a helpmeet to her hus- band in the truest sense of the word, and he attributes to her wise counsels and perti- nent suggestions a part of his success of the last twenty years. They have had two children : one, who died in infancy; and May, who died in 1885, aged ten years and ten months.
Frank McClain is a democrat in politics, and a member of the St. John's Catholic church of Altoona. Aside from his own particular line of business, he is interested to some extent in the financial affairs of his city, and has been serving for some time as a director of the Fidelity bank of Altoona. He is a tall and striking man of fine per- sonal appearance. He is preeminently a man of energy and enterprise, and thor- oughly conversant with every feature and detail of the different lines of business in which he is so actively and successfully en- gaged at the present time. Like all men who have won their way to success and in- fluential standing, Mr. McClain experienced hard work and trying times in beginning the battle of life with nothing but his trade. He had the will to succeed, never despaired, and worked steadily on until his prospects brightened and fortune smiled upon his efforts. His success is an evidence of the truth that man is the architect of his own fortune, and the many fine buildings which he has erected are a credit and an ornament to Bellefonte and Altoona, and are so many monuments to his energy and enterprise.
BRAM WAITE, now resident of Ty- rone, who was for many years one of the prosperous farmers of Tyrone township, is the second son and third child of John and Esther ( Wagoner) Waite, and was born
in Sinking valley, in what is now Tyrone township, Blair ( then Huntingdon ) county, Pennsylvania, November 12, 1822. ITis paternal grandfather Waite must have been among the early settlers of Sinking valley, as his son, John Waite ( father), was born there in 1787. At that time, and for six- teen years previous, this valley, so won- derful for attractive natural features, was a part of Bedford county. He was a pros- perous farmer for his day, when farming was conducted by the hardest of manual labor, with very few and crude farm imple- ments. He cleared out and improved a good farm, on which he died in 1830, when only forty-nine years of age. He married Esther Wagoner, and to them were born seven children : Daniel, who died in 1865; Mary, wife of Jacob Stover; Abram; John G., who died November 2, 1891, at Tyrone, and whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; Henry (deceased); Eva, wife of George W. Walters, of Altoona; and Esther, who married D. S. Weekland, of Altoona, where they now reside. Mrs. Waite, after her husband's death, continued to reside in Sinking valley for seven years. She then, in 1837, removed to Sharon's Creek, and afterwards settled in Eden valley, near Spruce Creek, where she died in 1874, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years.
Abram Waite was reared on a farm, and received a good English education in the old subscription and the early common schools of Pennsylvania. At an early age he was carefully trained to farming, and when he became of age to do for himself, he engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he followed until 1879. In that year he sold his fertile and well improved farm, near Spruce Creek, and removed to the village, where he resided until 1888, when he came to Tyrone.
274
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Abram Waite was an old-line whig until the dissolution of the Whig and the formation of the Republican party, which he has sup- ported ever since. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church, and while residing at Spruce Creek was an attendant of the Methodist Episcopal church of that place, and an active worker in its Sunday- school. Mr. Waite is a plain, unassuming man and a useful citizen, and has now re- tired from active business life.
JACOB EMERY McDOWELL belongs
to that class of Altoona's successful busi- ness men who began life under adverse circumstances, but have fought their way up from obscurity to independence and honorable distinction. None know better than he that "there is no excellence without great labor," and that no success worthy of the name is achieved without untiring effort. Ile is a son of Robert A. and Mary E. (Shaffer) McDowell, and was born March 17, 1847, at Newton Hamilton, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania. The McDowells are of Scotch-Irish extraction, and for several generations have resided in this State. Robert A. McDowell (father) was a native of Mifflin county, who, in 1855, came from Newton Hamilton to Altoona, Blair county, where he was employed as a carpenter in the car shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for some years. About 1859 he removed to Decatur, Illinois, and engaged in contracting and building at that place. He remained a resident of Decatur for a period of twenty years, after which he re- turned to Altoona and lived in the city until 1887, when he removed to Denver, Colorado, where he now resides in the eightieth year of his age. He some time
ago retired from all active business, and is passing the evening of his days in peace and comfort. He has been a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics is a steadfast republican. Ile mar- ried Mary E. Shaffer, a daughter of Jacob Shaffer, of Newton Hamilton, Mifflin county, and to their union was born a family of four children. Mrs. McDowell died in 1851, aged twenty-nine years. She was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Her father, Jacob Shaffer, was one of the early settlers of Mifflin county, and died there at the advanced age of eighty-three years. After Mrs. McDowell's death, Mr. McDowell, in 1855, wedded Mary Harbold, of Altoona, and by his second marriage has seven children.
Jacob Emery MeDowell came from Mifflin county to Altoona with his parents in 1855, when only eight years of age, and with them went to Decatur, Illinois. From Decatur he went to the city of Chicago, where he obtained a position as elerk in a wholesale house, and remained there until 1869. In that year he came back to Altoona, and has resided in this city ever since. When a boy he attended the public schools in Altoona and later at Decatur, Illinois, and acquired a good English education, to which he after- ward added by extensive reading. On his return to this city he became a clerk in the general store of his uncle, William Mc- Dowell, and held that position until 1874, when he embarked in the general mer- chandise business on his own account in this city. At first his business was not large, but he devoted his best energies to building it up, and by honest dealing and careful attention to the wants of the public, was soon on the highway that leads to suc- cess. Ile has prospered during his business
275
OF BLAIR COUNTY.
career of nearly two decades, and now owns one of the largest and best stocked general stores to be found in the east side of Al- toona, located at the corner of Seventh street and Seventh avenue. He is also a stockholder in the Mountain City Electric Light Company. In addition to his various business interests he also owns considerable valuable real estate in Altoona.
On September 23, 1873, Mr. MeDowell was married to Mary E. Swartz, a daughter of John Swartz, deceased, of the city of Altoona. He is a member of the Eighth Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, and is also a prominent Mason, holding member- ship in Logan Lodge, No. 490, Free and Accepted Masons; Mountain Chapter, No. 9, Royal Arch Masons ; and Mountain Com- mandery, No. 10, Knights Templar. He is also a member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, and of Elmo Castle, No. 54, Knights of the Golden Eagle. In politics Mr. McDowell is a republican, but while giving his party a right loyal support, is in no sense a politician. He is a genial, affable gentleman, and holds the esteem of all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance, either in business or socially.
H ON. SAMUEL CALVIN, a man whose
name will always stand high in the legal history of Blair and surrounding coun- ties, possessed many of the qualities which command respect and win popular- ity. A factor in the business life and a leader in the political affairs of the county, he always supported what he thought to be right, and openly denounced what he be- lieved to be wrong in public affairs. Ile was a son of Matthew and Mary Calvin, and was born in Columbia county, Penn-
sylvania, July 30, 1811. Distinguished an- cestry and the line of ancestral descent in a new country, or under a republican form of government, are subjects that do not receive the close attention which is paid to them in an old country, or under a monarchial form of government. Samuel Calvin came of a sturdy, honorable, and honest family, and his father, Matthew Calvin, left his native county of Chester, Pennsylvania, to settle in Columbia county, where he soon became influential and prominent as a citizen, and well respected and highly esteemed as a man and a friend.
Samuel Calvin received his education at the then well known and famous Milton academy. After graduation Mr. Calvin as- sumed charge of Huntingdon academy, and was its principal for nearly two years, during which time he had as pupils many men who afterward became distinguished in public and political life, among whom were Judge W. A. Porter, Gen. Titian J. Coffey, of Washington, District of Colum- bia, and Col. William Dorris, of Hunting- don, Pennsylvania. He read law with James M. Bell, of Huntingdon, and was ad- mitted to the bar at the April term of court in 1836. In July of that year he came to Hollidaysburg, where he was successfully engaged in his profession for forty years. For some years before his death, in 1890, he withdrew from the active practice of his profession, and gave some time to the pub- lication of his views concerning the cur- rency question.
In 1848 he was elected as a whig mem- ber of the thirty-first Congress, to represent the district composed of the counties of Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Centre. In that illustrious Congress, where some of the most talented and able states-
276
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
men of America were engaged in heated contest over the slave question, Mr. Calvin was not an idle looker-on. As a protec- tionist, he chiefly directed his efforts and made his speeches with the view of secur- ing adequate protection to American indus- tries. At the expiration of his term in Congress he was offered a renomination by his party, but declined it to return to the practice of law. As a lawyer he gave con- considerable attention to the details of his case, and by close examination of his op- ponents' position, he prepared himself with all the authorities possible to meet any and every conjectural exigency. In important cases his preparation was elaborate, and while employed in a great many important cases in Blair county, he was also called frequently into adjoining counties, and was a constant practitioner in the supreme court of the State. He was regarded "as the soul of truth and professional honor," ranked as an able jury pleader, a wise coun- sellor, and an able lawyer. He was often eloquent, and his fine literary taste and ex- tensive reading gave him a mine of knowl- edge to draw upon for choice illustrations and appropriate examples in his speeches and addresses. As a citizen, he always en- joyed the respect and confidence of his fel- low townsmen, and was largely instrumen- tal in securing the erection of Blair county and establishing its county seat at Holli- daysburg. He was a warm friend of the common school system and higher educa- tion, and served as a school director for over thirty years, during which period he was president of the school board for nine years. In 1862 he helped to organize and served as a private in the ranks of a militia com- pany which marched to Chambersburg to help repel a threatened Confederate inva-
sion of Blair county. In 1863 he again served as a private in a company raised to take part in repelling another expected Confederate raid into the county.
During his life Mr. Calvin was always active in politics. He was a political econ- omist of the school of Henry C. Carey, and, like him, wrote extensively upon the tariff and currency, advocating the protection of American industries, and contending for the abolition of the National banks as banks of issue, and the substitution of a paper currency based upon the faith of the gov- ernment. He went to his rest at the end of a long and useful life on March 12, 1890, and his remains lie entombed in the Lu- theran cemetery.
December 26, 1843, he married Rebecca S., daughter of John A. Blodget, of Bed- ford, Pennsylvania. They had three chil- dren, two of whom : Eliza, wife of Dr. G. W. Smith, and Matthew, survive.
Matthew Calvin was educated in the com- mon schools and academy of Hollidaysburg and university at Lewisburg. IIe read law with his father, and was admitted to prac- tice in the courts of Blair county, and is now a practicing lawyer in Hollidaysburg. He is also interested in various lumber enterprises. May 14, 1873, Mr. Calvin was chosen a republican delegate at large to the State Constitutional convention, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Hugh McAllister. IIe was likewise a member of the last revenue board in Pennsylvania.
ALFRED M. COWEN, the popular proprietor of Cowen's Steam laundry of Altoona, is a son of Edward and Ellen (Marsden) Cowen, and was born in the famous Tuckahoe valley, in Logan town-
ـالاجــ
277
OF BLAIR COUNTY.
ship, Blair county, Pennsylvania, November 29, 1848. Edward Cowen ( father ) was born in Morrison cove, this county. He learned the trade of miller, which he followed at various places, and operated a flouring mill in the Tuckahoe valley for several years. He was a member of the Evangelical Luth- eran church, and an old-line whig in poli- tics, and died in the city of Altoona in 1854, at forty-one years of age. He married Ellen Marsden, a native of Morrison cove, and a member of the Lutheran church, who passed away in 1888, when in the seventy- fourth year of her age. They were the parents of nine children, five sons and four daughters.
Alfred M. Cowen spent his boyhood and youth in Morrison cove, received his educa- tion in the common schools, and then learned the trade of carpenter, which he followed continuously and successfully in various parts of the county for fifteen years. At the end of that time, in 1880, he embarked in the laundry business, in which he has con- tinued successfully until the present time. Ilis establishment is at No. 1005 Fourteenth street. It is a steam laundry, thoroughly equipped with the latest improved steam washers, ironers and dryers, and all other machinery needed in such an establishment. All work turned out is in first-class condi- tion, without injury to the material. Mr. Cowen has acquired an enviable reputation for superior work and reliable business methods, and enjoys a very liberal and sub- stantial trade in Altoona. Labor-saving machinery and public laundries in all the cities of this country have revolutionized the old and wearisome home washing by hand, and Mr. Cowen has given Altoona the advantages of a publie laundry as com- plete in its arrangements as is possessed by
any other city in the State. He has made a thorough study of his present business in all of its details, and fully understands the needs of his numerous patrons. In addition to his laundry, Alfred M. Cowen owns some very valuable real estate in the Mountain City. He is a republican in politics, and a member and trustee of the First Baptist church of Altoona. He is also a member of Altoona Lodge, No. 473, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Mountain City Lodge, No. 281, Free and Accepted Masons.
In September, 1877, Mr. Cowen was united in marriage with Joanna Dough- erty, a native of the State of Virginia, and then a resident of the city of Altoona. To their union has been born a family of four children, two sons and two daughters: Blanche May, John Allen, Jessie, and Al- fred B.
DE WALT G. ACKER, an industrious
and comfortably situated farmer of Huston township, is a son of John and Elizabeth (Garner) Acker, and was born in Clover Creek valley, Huston township, Blair county, Pennsylvania, October 16, 1849. His paternal grandfather, Henry Acker, was born in central Pennsylvania, but passed the larger part of his life in Huston township, where he died on July 13, 1848, at the age of seventy-two years, ten months, and thirteen days. He was an early settler in Clover Creek valley, in which he owned a farm of two hundred acres of land which was almost entirely in the woods when he purchased it. He was a democrat, and an active and zealous member of the Reformed church. He married Susanna Ditch, by whom he had ten children, mine sons and one daughter. One of these sons, John Acker (father), was born in 1806, in Hunt-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.