USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 33
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McCrum. Under the firm name of MeCrum & Dern these gentlemen continued the pub- lication of that journal for a period of eighteen years, when, on January 20, 1876, Mr. McCrum retired, and Mr. Dern asso- ciated his nephew, Dr. Hugh Pitcairn, with himself in the publication of the Tribune. The style of the firm was then changed to Dern & Pitcairn, and has so remained to the present time. Doctor Pitcairn was at that time a resident of Altoona, but is now a practicing physician in the city of Harris- burg, so that the editorial and business management of the paper devolves upon Mr. Dern. On April 14, 1873, MeCrum & Dern issued the first number of the Daily Tribune, which, after an existence of two years, was discontinued until January 28, 1878, when it was revived by Dern & Pit- cairn, and has ever since appeared regularly. The weekly edition is still continued, is in- dependent in politics, and has a circulation of two thousand copies; while the daily is a republican newspaper, with a circulation of nearly four thousand. Some years ago the proprietors erected a substantial three- story brick building on Twelfth street, be- tween Eleventh and Twelfth avenues, which was especially designed for a printing house, and has ever since been the home of the daily and weekly Tribune.
On August 14, 1856, Mr. Dern was wed- ded to Miss Rebecca Witherow, a daughter of John Witherow, of Perry county, this State. To Mr. and Mrs. Dern has been born a family of nine children, six of whom are living, one son and five daughters: Annie L., who married W. E. Blanchard, of Altoona; Carrie E., wedded to William W. Murray, also of that city; Emna R., who married Joseph Ritchey, of the same place ; Nellie, the wife of Frank Delo, who is also
a resident of Altoona; Mary W. and Harry C., the latter two living at home with their parents.
Politically Mr. Dern has been a republi- can since the organization of that party, and has done much as a journalist to strengthen and build up his party in central Pennsyl- vania. He has served in Altoona as school director for twelve years, as a member of the borough council for five years, and was one of the first members of the city council. He is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Altoona, and is now serving as a deacon and trustee of his church. He has long been a member of Mountain Lodge, No. 281, Free and Accepted Masons ; Moun- tain Chapter, No. 10, Royal Arch Masons ; Mountain Council, No. 9, Royal and Select Masters; and Mountain Commandery, No. 9, Knights Templar.
PHILIP SHELLY, a prosperous farmer
of Woodbury township, is the fourth son and sixth child of Abraham and Bar- bara (Smith ) Shelly, and was born in Mifflin, now Juniata county, February 4, 1810. Ilis paternal grandfather, John Shelly, was a school teacher and a native of Juniata county, in which he died at an advanced age. Abraham Shelly ( father ) was a native of Schuylkill county, and at an early age went to Juniata county, from which he came, in 1819, to what is now Blair county, where he was among the early settlers of Woodbury township. He was a weaver by trade, but gave his time after coming to this county to tilling the farm of two hun- dred acres which he had purchased in Woodbury township. Ile was a whig and republican in politics, and an active mem- ber and deacon of the German Baptist
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
church, and died in 1848, at seventy-three years of age. In 1798 Mr. Shelly married Barbara Smith, who died January 2, 1863, aged eighty-eight years. To them were born seven children, four sons and three daughters : Jacob, Abraham, Sarah Brown, John, Mollie, Philip, and Barbara Longa- necker. Of these children all are dead except the subject of this sketch.
Philip Shelly came with his parents, in 1819, to Woodbury township, where he grew to manhood on his father's farm. He received his education in the common schools, and then engaged in farming and stock-raising, which he has followed suc- cessfully up to the present time.
In November, 1836, he married Mary, daughter of Emanuel Castle, of Dauphin county. To Mr. and Mrs. Shelly were born five children who grew to ma- turity : Samuel, Levi, and Barbara, now dead; David, who married Nancy Snively, and is a merchant of Woodbury township; Daniel, married Sarah Snowberger, and has been engaged for some time in farming; Catherine, living with her father. Mrs. Shelly died September 19, 1882, aged sev- enty years.
Philip Shelly is a republican in politics. He is a consistent member of the German Baptist church, and a worthy and well re- spected citizen of his township.
ANDREW J. CRUM, senior partner in the planing mill firm of Crum & Mc- Neel, at Altoona, and an energetic business man, who for many years has been prom- inently identified with that business in this city, is a son of Nicholas and Minerva (Houck) Crum, and was born October 18, 1851, in Todd township, Huntingdon county,
Pennsylvania. The Crums are of German descent, but have been citizens of this coun- try from early times. Henry Crum (grand- father) was a native of Maryland, but re- moved to Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, becoming one of the earliest settlers of that county. He was a miller by trade, and lived in Huntingdon county until his death, at an advanced age. He married and reared a large family, among his sons being Nich- olas Crum (father), who was born in Hunt- ingdon county in 1809, and lived nearly all his active life in that county. Some eighteen months prior to his death he removed to Mifflin county, where he died in 1877, at the age of sixty-nine years. He was a re- publican in politics, a miller by occupation, and married Minerva Houck, by whom he had twelve children. She is a native of Huntingdon county, a member of the Luth- eran church, and now resides at Markles- burg, that county, in her seventy-second year.
Andrew J. Crum grew to manhood in his native county, and received his education in the common schools there. In 1875 he went to the Pacific slope and spent three years in California, engaged in farming and fruit growing. He then returned to Hunt- ingdon county, this State, where he farmed one year, after which he removed to Cam- bria county, and spent one year with the lumber firm of Plack & Glunt. In 1881 Mr. Crum came to Altoona, and two years later became a member of the Union Plan- ing Mill Company of this city. He was a partner in this company until 1889, when the business was reorganized, and the firm became Plack & Crum. At the end of a year Mr. Plack withdrew and the firm name was changed to Crum, Coll & Co. They did business for one year, and were succeeded
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
by Glunt & Crum. In 1892 Mr. Glunt sold his interest to J. G. MeNeel, and the firm name was again changed to Crum & Mc- Neel. These men have a fine planing mill and a large business, employing from twenty to thirty-five men.
On April 15, 1880, Mr. Crum was married to Sue B. Piper, a daughter of John Piper, of Huntingdon county. She is an intelli- gent and capable woman, and very popular among her many friends. Mr. Crum is a republican in politics, but takes no active part in the heated contests which mark our oft-recurring elections.
ROF. JAMES B. BOWLES, one of
those who have been largely instrumen- tal in the advancement of the educational interests of the city of Altoona, during the latter quarter of the nineteenth century, is a son of Robert and Jane ( Ross ) Bowles, and was born at Concord, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, October 13, 1839. John Bowles (paternal grandfather ) was born in Scotland, but before reaching the age of manhood, he crossed the dark Atlantic to find a home in the new world. He was one of the early settlers of Franklin county. Samuel Ross ( maternal grandfather ) was a native of the Emerald Isle, but at some time during his early life he came to America and located in Maryland, where he became a planter and slave owner, but afterwards gave freedom to his slaves and removed to Franklin county, Pennsylvania, where he died at a ripe old age. Robert Bowles (father) was born in Franklin county in 1796, where he learned the saddlers' trade, and in which business he was engaged until a few years prior to his death. Dur- ing the latter part of his life he resided
upon a farm in Fulton county, where he died at the age of fifty-two years. In 1817 he married Jane Ross, a native of Maryland. For sixty years of her life she had been a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died in 1871 at the advanced age of seventy-one years.
James B. Bowles was reared in Fulton county, where he received a good academic education. Influenced with a desire for knowledge, he worked with unflinching zeal, and at the age of sixteen he began teaching, and has been engaged in that pro- fession ever since. In the autumn of 1862 he enlisted in the civil war, and for nine months served as a private in Co. A, 125th Pennsylvania infantry, and at the expiration of that time received an honorable discharge at Harrisburg. He was twice drafted dur- ing the war, but was exonorated soon after being drafted the first time, as he was the only support of his mother; the second time he paid three hundred dollars, and was thus exempted. He was in several severe con- flicts, one of which was the battle of Chan- cellorsville. In 1858 he removed to Al- toona, and taught school in this county for four terms. In 1863 he began teaching in Altoona, where he has ever since been suc- fully engaged in that profession, and is now principal of Madison school, Eighth ward. On December 28, 1875, J. B. Bowles was united in marriage with Mary L. Beeler, daughter of Peter Beeler, of Sharpsburg, Maryland. To their union have been born four sons and one daughter: Ross, Crawford M., Kyle II., Chester W., and Jane E.
In religious sentiment J. B. Bowles closely adheres to the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is a class leader. In politics he is a democrat, and has always been in- terested in the success of his party. He is
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
also a member of Altoona Lodge, No. 473, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Fred C. Ward Post, No. 468, Grand Army of the Republic. Having taught in the city of Altoona for over a quarter of a century, he has witnessed the advancement of its edu- cational interests from their infancy to their present prosperous condition. When he began teaching in Altoona there were only sixteen schools, now there are over one hun- dred schools. His whole life has been spent in teaching in the public schools of Penn- sylvania. During his first term in the city of Altoona there were about one thousand pupils in the public schools, now there are about five thousand pupils. He visited Al- toona in its infancy, September, 1853.
JAMES H. HOGUE, M. D., one of the
young and progressive physicians of Altoona, and a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Baltimore, Maryland, is a son of Joseph and Sarah Ann (Calwell) Hogue, and was born at Watson- town, Northumberland county, Pennsylva- nia, November 5, 1860. His paternal an- cestry is traced back to Scotland, where nearly two centuries ago a member of the Hogue family became wearied with the per- secution which he suffered from the civil authorities of that country on account of his dissenting from the established religion of Great Britain, and in order to enjoy re- ligious freedom came to the then province of New Jersey. He was the founder of the llogue family of America, from whom Dr. Hogue is descended. One of his sons grad- uated from Princeton college, and after- wards removed to Pennsylvania, where one of his descendants, Joseph Hogue ( father), was born in 1809, in Northumberland
county. . Joseph Hogue was reared and re- ceived his education in his native county, and then engaged in the general mercantile business, which he pursued for many years in Northumberland, Snyder, Montour and other counties. He was a whig and repub- lican in politics, served as a postmaster for over thirty years, under the administration of both whigs and democrats, and died in 1868, aged fifty-nine years. He married Sarah Ann Calwell, who died in 1863, aged thirty-eight years. They had six children, of whom four sons are living and two daughters died when young. The sons are : Daniel C., who served in the late war suc- cessively as a member of the 131st Penn- sylvania infantry for nine months, the 28th regiment of emergency men for thirty days, and the 202d Pennsylvania infantry until the close of the war, and then returned to Wat- sontown, Northumberland county, where, after being engaged for some time in the manufacture of nails, he embarked in his present lumber business; Dr. Davis A. (see his sketch in this volume); Edmund B., a conductor on the Wilkesbarre & Western railroad; and Dr. James H.
James H. Hogue was reared at Watson- town, where he received his education in the High school of that place. Leaving school, he commenced the study of medi- cine with his brother, Dr. Davis A. Hogue, of Watsontown, and after twelve months' reading became a student in the West Penn hospital of Pittsburg, where he re- mained for two years. During the time that he was studying in the hospital, he was also attending lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, Maryland, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1885. After grad- uation he opened an office for the practice
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
of his profession at Du Bois, Clearfield county, where he remained but three months, and then went to Coalport, in the same county, at which place he practiced for two years. He then (1887) came to Al- toona and formed a partnership with Dr. John Feltwell, which continued until May, 1891, since which time Doctor Hogue has been in partnership with no one. He is a general practitioner, but makes a specialty of diseases of women. His close study of the different complicated diseases that came under his observation in the West Penn hospital has been of great value to him in his successful treatment of many obstinate and chronic cases that had baffled the skill of the ordinary physician. He gives his time to his profession, and has a good prac- tice. He is a republican in politics, and a member of Coalport Lodge, No. 481, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows; Blair County Medical society ; and the Pennsyl- vania State Medical society.
On October 18, 1888, Doctor Hogue was united in marriage with Rose, daughter of George McDowell, a land owner of Clinton county, Pennsylvania, who resided upon one of his three large farms, which he kept con- stantly rented. To Dr. and Mrs. Hogue has been born one child, a son, Herbert MeDowell.
EV. DAVID H. BARRON, D.D.,
the esteemed pastor of the First Pres- byterian church of Hollidaysburg, and the oldest pastor in continuous service of the Huntingdon presbytery, is a son of John and Jane C. (Ferguson ) Barron, and was born at Pine Grove Mills, Centre county, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1828. His pa- ternal grandfather, John Barron, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and came in early life
from his native county of Antrim, Ireland, to Centre county, this State, where he fol- lowed farming as an occupation. His son, John Barron (father), was born in Centre county during the last year of the eigh- teenth century, and received a good educa- tion. He followed farming until 1852, when he removed to Muscatine county, Iowa, where he died in 1857, aged fifty- eight years. He was a prosperous farmer, a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and an old-time democrat. He married Jane C., daughter of Thomas Fer- guson, of Scotch-Irish descent, and a native of county Antrim, who became one of the early settlers of Centre county, where Fer- guson township was named for him. Mrs. Barron was born in Ferguson township, and reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, of which she became a member in early life. After her husband's death, in 1857, she removed to Cass county, Missouri, where she passed away in 1874, at three score and ten years of age.
David H. Barron was reared in Centre county until he was thirteen years of age, when he went with his father to what is now Fulton county, where he remained until 1852. In that year he entered Jeffer- son college, at Cannonsburg, in Washington county, from which well known institution of learning he was graduated in the class of 1855. Immediately upon graduation he entered the Allegheny Theological semi- nary, from which he was graduated in 1858. In the same year he was called to assume pastoral charge of the Presbyterian church at Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland county, and then within the bounds of the Redstone presbytery. He remained with that people until 1861. On May 26th of that year he preached by invitation to the First Presby-
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
terian church of Hollidaysburg, and on August 4, 1861, received a call from the last named congregation, which he ac- cepted. He was dismissed in the usual way from the presbytery of Redstone to that of Huntingdon, and preached his first sermon in Hollidaysburg on the second Sabbath of September, 1861. On Tuesday, November 12th, he was formally installed by Revs. G. W. Thompson, G. W. Zahnizer, David Ster- rett, and D. X. Junkin, and has continued to faithfully and efficiently serve this people from that day until the present time, a period of over thirty years.
On September 2, 1858, Dr. Barron mar- ried Mary J., daughter of James McCul- lough, of Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. His married life has been very pleasant, and to him and Mrs. Barron have been born four children, of whom one son and two daugh- ters are living : James M., now book-keeper in the Baltimore office of the Diamond Match Company ; Jane P., and Eliza M.
In 1882 Washington and Jefferson col- lege conferred the degree of Doctor of Di- vinity upon Rev. Barron for his earnest, successful, and long continued efforts in the cause of Presbyterianism and Christianity. Dr. Barron has always been a democrat in political sentiment, and is a pleasant and courteous gentleman. IIe is a logical, earn- est, and impressive speaker, whose efforts are well received by his hearers. He was for three years a director of the Western Theological seminary . in Allegheny, and was largely instrumental in founding the Ladies' seminary, of Hollidaysburg. Dr. Barron was also instrumental in securing the erection of the present beautiful and fine church edifice of the First Presbyterian church, and its neat and handsome parson- age. The corner stone of the main build-
ing of the church was laid September 9, 1869, and in the box deposited within it are sermons of Dr. Barron and other minis- ters. The church was not completed until the fall of 1871, and cost about sixty thous- and dollars. The membership of the church is three hundred and thirty-one, while the Sabbath school has one hundred and seventy pupils. The church structure is a monument to the faith of the members of the church and their liberality, and to the persistent and untiring efforts of Dr. Barron.
J ACOB SHINDEL LEISENRING, a
member of the Blair county bar, and who has, by force of energetic application to his profession, acquired a practice that ranks second to none in this section, is a son of Gideon and Louisa Henrietta (Shindel ) Lei- senring, and was born at Selinsgrove, Snyder county, Pennsylvania, April 2, 1847. The family is descended from old German stock, and was planted in America prior to 1750, by John Conrad Leisenring ( great-great- grandfather), who emigrated from Heidel- berg, Germany, and settled in what is now Montgomery, but was then Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania. From there he soon after removed to White Hall, Lehigh county, where the original tract of land purchased by him, and the mansion he erected thereon, are yet in the possession of his descendants. From him sprang Conrad Leisenring, who had among other children a son named Peter, born at White Hall, who grew to manhood, and about 1794 married, and had as his second child Gideon, the father of the subject of this sketch. Peter Leisen- ring (grandfather ) removed to Northumber- land county with his family early in 1803, where he resided until his death, about
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
1830. He was one of the prominent men of that county. ITis children, four in nun- ber, were all well provided for, and his son Gideon (father), in the division of his estate, came into possession of the old homestead, near Sunbury, a valuable piece of property. Gideon Leisenring was born at White Hall May 29, 1802, went with his father's family to Sunbury, where he grew to manhood and married Louisa Henrietta Shindel. He lived there until 1845, when he removed to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in several extensive business enterprises until he removed to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1858. He was a resident of the latter city at the commence- ment of the civil war, and was among the most pronounced and fearless advocates of the Union cause. His home was the resort and refuge, as he was the advisor and con- fidant, of the more timid loyalists, and he was amongst those to whose efforts is owing the fact that Maryland refused to secede from the Union. From his residence floated the first United States flag given to the breeze in Baltimore after the historic 19th of April, 1861. At the close of the war he removed to Charlestown, Jefferson county, West Virginia, and engaged in business there. He continued a resident of that place until his death, in March, 1880, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. Ile was a man of intense activity and energy, and of a most positive and determined char- acter - qualities which peculiarly marked him in the early days of the rebellion, in Baltimore, and in the reconstruction period, in Virginia.
The wife of Gideon Leisenring, Louisa Henrietta Shindel, was a descendant of John Peter Shindel, a native of Erlenbach, Germany, from whence he emigrated to the
United States and settled in what is now Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, about 1751, and there died May 29, 1784. On August 21, 1766, at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was born his son, John Peter, who served for a long period in the legislature of the State, and was one of the justices of that county for many years. He died September 17, 1829. His son, also named John Peter, was born at Lebanon October 3, 1787, and there mar- ried Susan Mccullough about 1809. He became a minister of the gospel in the Evangelical Lutheran church, and won very considerable distinction as a pulpit orator. He spent most of his married life at Sun- bury, this State, to which place he removed in 1812, and where he died October 26, 1853. Ile was familiarly known as " Father Shindel" throughout the Susquehanna val- ley, where he is yet held in tender recollec- tion by many of the older citizens. Ilis daughter, Louisa Henrietta, was born Octo- ber 21, 1811, married Gideon Leisenring in 1828, and died at Selinsgrove March 27, 1853. She was a pure, earnest and noble Christian woman, and a most loving and affectionate wife and mother. Her death was deeply mourned in the community in which she had resided. Many of the descendants of both John Conrad Leisen- ring and John Peter Shindel are prominent in business and professional circles through- out the United States.
Jacob Shindel Leisenring was reared partly at Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and partly in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. HIe was educated at the Missionary insti- tute, Selinsgrove, and in the common schools of Baltimore. While yet a mere boy, he served for a time in the Union army, having enlisted in Co. G, 1st Pennsylvania independent batallion. At the close of the
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war he located at Charlestown, Jefferson county, West Virginia, where he read law with Hon. William H. Travers, and after finishing his course of reading, was admit- ted to the bar there in 1870. He at once removed to Tamaqua, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, where he became associated for a time with C. F. Shindel, a prominent member of the bar of that county. Early in 1872 he removed to Hazelton, Luzerne county, where he was admitted to the bar April 11, and was engaged in practice there until September of that year, when, having received the appointment of district attor- ney of a newly organized judicial district in the western part of Kansas, he removed to and located at Hays City, Ellis county, that State. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1873, locating at Altoona, this (Blair) county, in June of that year, where he has since resided in the practice of his profes- sion, to which he has devoted the strictest attention, and as a result thereof he now enjoys the distinction of having, perhaps, the largest and most lucrative practice of any attorney in Blair county. He has been for years the solicitor of the First National bank of Altoona, and has the reputation of being an exceedingly safe counselor. His attention is almost exclusively directed to commercial law.
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