USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 32
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
sylvania railroad. He is a member of the First Evangelical Lutheran church, Lodge No. 79, Knights of Pythias, and Lodge No. 473, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Yon is straightforward in his business transactions, endeavors to accommodate his patrons, and is well respected as a citizen.
D AVID SHELLEY KLOSS, cashier of
the First National bank of Tyrone, and a man of-recognized financial ability, is a son of Daniel and Margaret ( Shelley) Kloss, and was born in Juniata county, Pennsyl- vania, August 25, 1860. His paternal great- great-grandfather, Emile Kloss, came from one of the provinces of Germany, and set- tled at some time during the last century in what is now Lehigh county, where he reared a family of children. His son, Daniel Kloss (great-grandfather), married and reared a family of twelve children, six sons and six daughters, all of whom married, reared large families, and lived to a good old age. In 1808 he settled in Union (now Snyder) county, where he purchased a farm on Mid- dle creek, married a second time, and lived there until his death. His eldest son, David Kloss (grandfather), was born near Kutz- town, Berks county, and at twelve years of age came with his father to Union county. He afterward moved to Freeburg, that county, in 1819, where he purchased a flour- ing mill, and was also engaged in rafting grain on the Susquehanna river, in which latter employment he was, on several occa- sions, seriously hurt, but having a rugged constitution, and possessing great will power, he recovered to a great extent from . his injuries. In 1883 he purchased a farm on the bank of the Juniata river. He was an old-line whig and a strong Lutheran,
.
286
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
and married Margaret Kantz, by whom he had eleven children, six sons and five daughters : David, who died young; Amelia, who died in two years after her marriage with Samuel Kingrich; Elizabeth, died in infancy; Gideon, who was a prominent merchant of Cairo, Ohio; Caroline, wife of llenry Kepner, a well known citizen of Port Royal, Pennsylvania ; Charlotte, widow of George Snyder, who was a prosperous clothing merchant of Mexico and Port Royal, where Mrs. Snyder still resides; Re- becca, wife of Rev. Daniel Kloss, pastor of the Congregational church of Highland, Kansas; Rev. John, a minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal church; and Henry, now retired from business, and a resident of Mexico, this State. Daniel Kloss, the fourth son, and father of David Shelley Kloss, was born near Freeburg, Snyder county, August 25, 1832. He received a good English edu- cation, and was engaged for several years at Vandyke, this State, in the general mer- cantile business. He gave most of his time and attention to farming and dealing in real estate, but within the last few years re- tired from all active pursuits, and is now living near Mexico, this State. Ile is a prohibitionist in politics, and is quite an aggressive advocate of the principles of his party. In religious belief he is a Lutheran, and has been for many years a ruling elder in the church of that religious denomina- tion at Vandyke. He was married in No- vember, 1859, to Margaret Shelley, and to them were born eight children : David Shel- ley; Nora E., wife of Rev. William E. Leisher, who is now pastor of the Evangel- ical Lutheran church of Oakland, Maryland; Isadore; Charles F., now a student of Penn- sylvania college, Gettysburg, this State; and four who died in infancy.
David S. Kloss was reared in his native county, and received his education in Airy View academy, of Port Royal, Pennsyl- vania. After the completion of his academic course he resolved upon entering into the business world, and in order to more fully qualify himself for a commercial pursuit, he entered Eastman's Business college, at Poughkeepsie, New York, from which in- stitution he was graduated in January, 1882. In the fall of that year he became teller of the West End Savings bank, of Pittsburg, and served acceptably in that capacity until 1886, when he resigned in order to assume charge of the banking house of Parker & Co., of Mifflintown, Juniata county. At the end of three years' service he reorganized that banking house, and it became the First National bank of Mifflintown, of which he served as cashier until July, 1890, when he accepted his present position as cashier of the First Na- tional bank of Tyrone.
On August 12, 1886, Mr. Kloss was united in marriage with Lizzie M. Esplen, of Pitts- burg, and their union has been blessed with two children : Henry Esplen and Margaret Belle.
D. S. Kloss is a member of the Young Men's Christian association and the First Presbyterian church of Tyrone. He is a member and the treasurer of Tyrone Lodge, No. 494, Free and Accepted Masons, and Tyrone club, the leading social organization of that place. He is interested in several business enterprises of his borough, where his services have been valuable in adjusting and righting up disordered finances and confused books. He is treasurer of the Tyrone school board, and a stockholder and treasurer of the Tyrone Opera House Company, and the Home Electric Light
J. J. Front.
OF BLAIR COUNTY.
289
Company. Mr. Kloss is a pleasant, courteous gentleman, a well respected citizen, and a thoroughly qualified and eminently practi- cal business man. In the history and de- velopment of Tyrone, as an industrial centre of Pennsylvania, a most interesting chapter is that of the rise and progress of her bank- ing institutions. Among these the First National bank is entitled to worthy mention, and its volume of business transactions is rapidly increasing under the conservative but safe financial methods of Mr. Kloss, who is an advocate of those sound conservative principles which alone can secure perma- hent success to any bank and perfect secur- ity to its depositors.
THOMAS J. TROUT, one of the many
successful business men of the city of Altoona, who has for the last decade repre- sented several active and reliable insurance companies of the United States, and now has one of the leading fire agencies of Al- toona, is a son of Thomas G. and Mary A. (Smith ) Trout, and was born in Antis township, Blair county, Pennsylvania, April 27, 1857. ITis paternal great-grandparents were natives of England, and settled in America during the latter part of the eighteenth century. Their son, John Trout (grandfather), was born on the vessel that brought his parents to this country. At an early age he became a resident of what is now Antis township, where he resided until his death. He cleared out a large farm, married, and reared a respectable and indus- trious family of children. His son, Thomas G. Trout, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born on the home farm in 1815, and received his education in the subserip- tion schools of his neighborhood. At an
early age he turned his attention entirely to agricultural pursuits, which he has followed successfully ever since. Mr. Trout, who is now in the seventy-sixth year of his age, has a pleasant and comfortable home, and owns a very good and well improved farm of two hundred acres of land in Antis township, of which he has been a life-long resident. He married Mary A. Smith, who is a member of the Smith family of Bedford county, which is one of the industrious and thrifty Pennsyl- vania German families of this State. They have reared a family of six children, three sons and three daughters. Thomas J. Trout grew to manhood on the farm, and received his elementary education in the common schools. He pursued his academic studies at Bellwood, and in 1870 entered the Al- toona Business college, from which com- mercial institution he was graduated in 1872. His first active employment in busi- ness life was as a retail cigar dealer, but he elosed his establishment at the end of one year, and in 1873 became a clerk in the Altoona office of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He served in that capacity for a short time, and then went to Chicago, Illi- nois, where he was a teacher for several years in the West Chicago Commercial college. At the end of that time, not being desirious of remaining longer in the metropolis of the great west, he returned to his native State and opened and conducted an insurance office at Bedford, the county seat of Bedford county, where he remained for five years. In 1883 he came from Bedford to Altoona, where he established, in that year, his present large and successful insurance business.
On February 22, 1872, Mr. Trout was united in marriage with Virginia H. Neall, of Philadelphia, and their union has been
18
--
290
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
blessed with four children : Nellie, Virginia, Margaret, and Neall. Virginia died August 8, 1890, at the age of five years and nine months.
Thomas J. Trout is a republican in poli- tics, and a member of Lodge No. 79, Knights of Pythias, of Altoona. He is a member of the city board of trade of Altoona, secretary of the Working Men's and the Jefferson Building associations, and the representa- tive of the Reading Trust Company for loaning money in Altoona. For nearly ten years Mr. Trout has conducted a large and continually increasing insurance business. Among the companies which he represents are: the Continental, of New York city; the Reading, of Reading, Pennsylvania; the Firemen's Fund, of California, Penn- sylvania; Fire and Spring Garden Fire, of Philadelphia; Queen Insurance Company, of New York; Connecticut, of Hartford, Connecticut; Firemen's, of Chicago; and the Travelers' Accident, of Hartford, Con- necticut. Fire insurance, of which Mr. Trout has made a specialty, is one of great importance to property owners, and closely concerns all branches of business. It offers an opportunity to the industrious and en- terprising of preserving and securing the results of their labors when invested in buildings, and Mr. Trout, having control in Altoona of the business of some of the foremost fire insurance companies, is en- abled to offer superior inducements and insure prompt adjustment of all losses
that may occur. He is also agent for several steamship lines, and handles foreign drafts. He has prosecuted his present business with his usual characteristic en- ergy, and his remarkable success has been accomplished by his own persistent efforts.
HENRY J. AUKERMAN, a descendant
of one of the old and substantial families of southwestern Pennsylvania, and the sec- retary of the Railroad Men's Christian as- sociation of Altoona, is a son of Joseph and Mary A. (Jeleson ) Aukerman, and was born in Unity township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 8, 1852. His pa- ternal grandfather, Lewis Aukerman, came from Germany, and settled in Unity town- ship, Westmoreland county, where he died in 1833, aged sixty-three years. Ile cleared out a large farm in a section of country that was then largely covered with heavy forests, and the present generation know but little of the hardships endured by the early settlers of central and western Pennsylvania. He married, and reared a family of nine chil- dren, three sons and six daughters. One of the sons was Joseph Aukerman, the father of Henry J. Aukerman. Joseph Aukerman was born and reared on his father's farm, and after receiving a limited but practical education in the old subscription schools of this State, commenced life for himself on a small farm, which he tilled until his death, March 22, 1857, at thirty-five years of age. He married Mary A. Jeleson, of English- Irish descent, who died in Pittsburg, this State, February 26, 1879, aged fifty-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Aukerman reared a family of six children, two sons and four daughters.
IIenry J. Aukerman grew to manhood on the farm, and was carefully trained to good business habits. He attended the common schools of his native township, and then learned the trade of carpenter, which he continuously and successfully followed for twelve years in Altoona, where he worked during that time in the car building shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He
291
OF BLAIR COUNTY.
left the employ of that company on March 1, 1882, to accept his present position as general secretary of the Railroad Men's Christian association of Altoona.
On July 16, 1873, he wedded Elizabeth C. Detwiler, a daughter of Joseph Detwiler, of Altoona. To their union have been born four children, two sons and two daughters : Albert R., William M., Clara U., and Irene M.
Henry J. Aukerman is a republican in politics, and a member of the First Evan- gelical Lutheran church, of which his wife and children are members. He is a man of good judgment, who is never carried away by excitement or hastened to take any step without a careful and dispassionate con- sideration of what is proper to do under the circumstances.
C HRISTIAN LIEBEGOTT, a success-
ful cabinet maker, furniture dealer, and undertaker of Duncansville, who commands a large trade in his line of business, is a son of Henry and Catherine (Yingling) Liebe- gott, and was born at Bergheim, Germany, November 29, 1857. Henry Liebegott was a native of Germany, and was born at Pleightanbaugh, that country, February 12, 1820, and afterward removed to Bergheim. In 1870 he left his native country and crossed the Atlantic in search of a home in the new world. Landing at New York, he soon settled at Martinsburg, this county, where he has ever since resided. He is a cabinet maker by trade, which he now fol- lows at Martinsburg. IIe' supports the Democratic party, and is an attendant of the Evangelical Lutheran church. In 1847 he married Catherine Yingling, by whom he had four sons and one daughter, three liv-
ing: George, married Annie Hicks, of Roaring Spring, and is employed as fore- man in one of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's carpenter shops in Altoona; Henry A., married Hannah Yingling, of Sharpsburg, and is one of the most exten- sive farmers in that vicinity; Catherine, wife of Gust Layman, of Altoona, who is in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; and Christian.
Christian Liebegott served as an appren- tice under his father and learned the trade of cabinet maker, which he has followed mainly ever since. At present he is resi- dent at Duncansville, where he is engaged in cabinet making, and operates a large undertaking department. He also owns a large store in the same building with his undertaking department. His building is large and commodious, and he commands an excellent trade in his line of business. He was formerly situated in two rooms of the opera house building, which was recently destroyed by fire, by which he suffered a loss of about four thousand dollars.
On December 29, 1881, Mr. Liebegott married Annetta Furrey, of Woodbury, Bedford county. To this union were born three sons and two daughters: George II., was born November 1, 1882; Minnie, who was born October 8, 1884; Letta M., was born May 12, 1887; Martin Luther, born November 25, 1889; and Harvey M., who was born February 22, 1891.
He is a member of C. N. Hickok Encamp- ment, No. 200, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Cove Lodge, No. 368, at Woodbury, Bedford county. He takes an active part in the Blair County Under- takers' association, of which he has been a member for several years. In religious
-
292
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
affairs he leans to the faith of the Evangel- ical Lutheran church, of which he is a reg- ular attendant. Mr. Liebegott is a sup- porter of the Democratic party, and stands high as an energetic and reliable business man.
.
JOHN W. WALTER, M. D., a courte- ous and skillful physician of Altoona, who has won well-deserved success, is a son of George W. and Eve (Waite ) Walter, and was born in the village of Water Street, Morris township, Huntingdon county, Penn- sylvania, May 30, 1855. His paternal grand- father, Philip Walter, was a resident of Canoe valley, Huntingdon county, where he died. He was a millwright by trade, and married and reared a family. His son, George W. Walter, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born June 18, 1823. He received his education in the schools of his neighborhood, and learned the trade of cabinet maker, which he followed for many years. He afterwards engaged in farming, but has now retired from active life, and resides in Altoona, Blair county. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and married Eve Waite, who is a daughter of John Waite. They have five children, three sons and two daughters : Clara L. ; Dr. John W .; Philip Mentz, who married Ella Parker, and is now a resident of Altoona; Esther Ann, who married Charles Stehley, of the Mountain City; and Harry Clark, a blacksmith of Altoona, who married Mollie Ritchie.
John W. Walter was reared in Hunting- don county, and received his education in the common schools, and Logan academy, of Bell's Mills, Blair county. Leaving the academy, he served as principal of the Alle- gheny Grammar school, of Logan township,
Blair county, for several terms, and thus earned means sufficient to undertake the study of medicine. He read with Doctor Graham, of Altoona, and then entered the Homeopathic Medical college, of Philadel- phia, from which institution he was grad- uated in March, 1883. After graduation he returned to Altoona, where he has remained until the present time in the successful practice of his chosen profession.
Dr. John W. Walter is a democrat in pol- ities, and has been a member of the United Brethren church of Altoona for years. Doc- tor Walter stands deservedly high as a man and citizen, and while always interested in everything of public import, yet never neglects his practice, which is rapidly in- creasing.
JACOB A. RHODES, one of the older residents, and a substantial farmer of Huston township, is a son of Abraham and Lena (Bare ) Rhodes, and was born at Enter- prise, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in December, 1815. His paternal grandfather, Abraham Rhodes, sr., was a son of Daniel Rhodes, who was a native of Franklin county, from which he came to near Fred- ericksburg, this county. Abraham Rhodes, sr., was killed when only twenty-seven years of age by a tree falling on him in Morrison's Cove, at a place known by the name of the Burnt Cabins. He was a farmer by occupation, and a member of the Mennonite church, and married and had two children, Abraham and Samuel. The elder son, Abraham Rhodes (father), was born in 1784, in Franklin county, and after his father's untimely death was chiefly reared by his grandfather, Daniel Rhodes, and later removed into what is now IJuston township. He purchased a tract of six
293
OF BLAIR COUNTY.
hundred acres of land, which was in the woods, and cleared out a very productive farm. He was a democrat and afterward a republican in polities, and died June 9, 1854, at seventy years of age. Mr. Rhodes was an active member of the Mennonite church, and married Lena Bare, who died in 1836, leaving nine children, six sons and three daughters. After her death Mr. Rhodes married Mrs. Elizabeth Clapper for his sec- ond wife.
Jacob A. Rhodes was reared in Hunting- don and Blair counties, received his educa- tion in the old subscription schools of that day, and engaged in farming, which he has. steadily and successfully pursued up to the present time. He owns one hundred and fifty acres of his father's farm, and in addi- tion to farming raises some stock.
On April 7, 1857, Mr. Rhodes married Nancy Wolfkill, who was born in Hunting- don county in 1824. They have had three children : Emma, wife of Charles Stultz, who is engaged in farming with his father- in-law; Maggie, now dead; and Mary, who is engaged in the millinery business at Martinsburg.
In politics Mr. Rhodes is a republican. Ile is a consistent member of the Evangeli- val Lutheran church, and a well respected citizen of his community.
HA ARRY E. CRUMBAKER, D. D. S.,
one of the rising young dentists of Altoona, who holds a diploma from the Vanderbilt university of Nashville, Tennes- see, and has been in successful practice since 1888, is a son of Levi B. and Barbara A. (Harpster) Crumbaker, and was born September 7, 1865, in Frankstown town- ship, Blair county, Pennsylvania. The fam-
ily is descended from old German stock, and was first planted in this county by Jesse Crumbaker (grandfather), who removed from Virginia to what is now Frankstown township, about 1840, where he died in 1873, aged seventy-one years. He was a prosperous farmer, and owned and operated two fine farms in that township. He was a republican in politics, and a member of the Dunkard church. He married, and reared a large family. Levi B. Crumbaker (father) was born in this county about 1838, and died at his home here in 1890, at the age of fifty-two years. He was a farmer by occu- pation, but for twenty years taught school during the winter months, becoming known as a very popular and successful teacher. In 1881 he retired from school teaching, and moved into the city of Altoona, where he lived until his death. He was a republican in politics, a member of the Second Evan- gelical Lutheran church of Altoona, and was widely known as a kind-hearted, liberal- handed Christian gentleman, who had the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He married Barbara A. Harpster, and to them was born a family of six children. She was born in Frankstown township, this county, and now resides in the city of Al- toona, being in the fifty-third year of her age. She is a devoted member of the Sec- ond Evangelical Lutheran church, and is greatly esteemed.
Harry E. Crumbaker was reared partly on his father's farm in Frankstown town- ship, and partly in Altoona. His education was obtained in the public schools, and after completing his studies there he ob- tained a situation in the rolling mills in ' Altoona, where he was employed for five years. He then commenced to study den- tistry in the office of Dr. N. P. Duffy, of
294
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Altoona, and later entered the Vanderbilt university at Nashville, Tennessee, and was graduated with honors from that institution in 1888, standing the third best general examination in the class of thirty-three. The same year he located in Altoona for the practice of dentistry, forming a partner- ship with Dr. J. S. Mardis, under the firm name of Mardis & Crumbaker. This firm existed until October, 1891, when it was dissolved and Doctor Crumbaker succeeded to the business, remaining in the old office. He has won a good standing in his profes- sion, and now does a large and prosperous business in fine dentistry.
In his political affiliations Dr. Crumbaker is a republican, but takes little part in active politics, preferring to devote his time and energies to his chosen profession, in which he has already won an enviable reputation.
H ENRY C. DERN, senior partner in the firm of Dern & Pitcairn, proprietors of the daily and weekly Tribune, at Altoona, was born at Double Pipe Creek, Carroll county, Maryland, March 9, 1830, and his parents were Isaac and Susan ( Koons ) Dern. The Derns are of German descent, and have long been residents of Maryland. The father of Henry C. Dern was born in 1787. He learned the allied trades of cooper, carpenter and cabinet maker, and followed one or the other of these occupations most of his life. IIe served in the war of 1812, was an ardent whig in politics, and a great admirer of the peerless whig leader, Henry Clay ( for whom he named his son, the subject of this sketch). He was elected and served for many years as justice of the peace in Carroll county, and dur- ing the civil war was an enthusiastic friend of the Union cause. He died at Middleburg,
Carroll county, Maryland, March 9, 1862, on his seventy-fifth birthday. During most of his life he was an active, influential member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and mar- ried Susan Koons, a native of Carroll county, by whom he had a family of six children. She was born in 1805, was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died in 1839, at the early age of thirty-four years.
Henry Clay Dern was reared principally at Middleburg, Carroll county, Maryland, where he received a limited education in the schools of that day, frequently working during the summer months in his father's cooper shop. His youthful mind was early drawn toward the "art preservative of arts," and in his seventeenth year he left home and went to Westminster, the county seat of Car- roll county, where he became an apprentice in the office of the Carroll County Democrat, a weekly paper, owned and edited at that time by Joseph M. Parke and J. T. II. Bringman. In that office he remained until he had acquired a pretty thorough knowl- edge of the printing business, when he re- moved to New Bloomfield, Perry county, Pennsylvania, and was for two years em- ployed in the office of the Perry County Freeman. He afterward worked at his trade in the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore for some time, and in the fall of 1855 went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he secured a po- sition in the composing room of the Cin- cinnati Commercial, upon which Murat Hal- sted was then a reporter. In less than a year Mr. Dern returned to Bloomfield, Penn- sylvania, where he was married, and where he continued to live until May, 1858, when he removed to Altoona, this county, and purchased William M. Allison's half interest in the Altoona Tribune, the other half of the paper being owned by Ephraim B.
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.