USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 34
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On September 1, 1875, Mr. Leisenring was united in marriage with Anna M. Cherry, of the city of Altoona. To them have been born two children: Henrietta Sarah, who was born July 31, 1876; and Annie Lydia, born November 23, 1877, and who died July 27, 1878.
Politically Mr. Leisenring is a stanch re- publican, and during his residence in West Virginia (when an active adherence to the principles of his party was not always safe ),
he took an active part in the politics of the State, but since locating at Altoona he has paid little attention to practical politics. IIe is the author of "Leisenring's Book of Forms," a valuable. book to the general practitioner, and a recognized authority in its particular direction. He has long been a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has held a number of important positions, and is past commander of S. C. Potts Post, No. 62, de- partment of Pennsylvania.
In business methods Mr. Leisenring is determined and aggressive; in manner somewhat blunt and brusque, but no one stands higher in the estimation of his closer acquaintances, and in the opinion of his professional brethren, than he does.
WILLIAM L. METZKER, one of the comfortably situated farmers of Huston township, is a son of Isaac and Anna (Lantz) Metzker, and was born in North Woodbury township, Blair county, Pennsylvania, No- vember 21, 1833. The Metzker family is of German descent, and John Metzker, the paternal grandfather of William L. Metz- ker, was a native of Blair county, and died one and one-half miles east of Martinsburg, aged fifty-six years. He was a farmer, a democrat, and a member of the Brethren in Christ church. He married, and had a family of thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. His son, Isaac Metz- ker (father), was born in Blair county, and died in North Woodbury township, September 18, 1891, aged eighty-two years, seven months and eighteen days. He was a farmer, and a democrat, and served for several years as a deacon of the German Baptist church. He owned a farm of one
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hundred and twenty acres of land, and mar- ried Anna Lantz, by whom he had ten children, three sons and seven daughters. She died February 26, 1880, aged sixty-six years, six months and eighteen days.
William L. Metzker was reared on a farm, and, like all farmers' sons of that day, received his education in the last of the subscription schools and the early free schools of Pennsylvania. He was carefully trained to farming and farm management, and leaving school, engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he has followed with good success up to the present time.
In 1874 Mr. Metzker married Barbara Stoner, a daughter of John and Lydia (Brumbaugh ) Stoner, of near Martinsburg.
The brothers and sisters of William L. Metzker are as follows: John L. Metzker, born April 8, 1842; Samuel L. Metzker, born March 10, 1848, and died October 20, 1883; Rebecca Metzker, wife of Isaac Eversole, born February 7, 1836; Catharine Metzker, now the wife of John Kensinger, born April 23, 1838; Nancy Metzker, wife of John Hyping, born May 10, 1840; Vir- ginia Metzker, wife of Christian Sturm, born February 5, 1844-now dead; Eliza Metzker, wife of Samuel Hudson, born February 18, 1846; Anna Metzker, wife of Henry Graul, born November 4, 1852; Elizabeth Metzker, wife of George D. Paul, born November 1, 1854.
In politics William L. Metzker is a dem- ocrat of the Jacksonian type. He owns, near Martinsburg, a very good farm of one hundred and eighteen acres of land, of which seventy-five acres are under cultiva- tion. Mr. Metzker is a careful and success- ful farmer, and has given close attention to the improvement and development of his farm.
JOHN K. PATTERSON, a well estab-
lished and successful member of the Blair county bar, and a substantial citizen and influential republican of Altoona, is a son of Thomas and Isabella ( McConaghy) Patterson, and was born at Newry, in Blair township, Blair county, Pennsylvania, Sep- tember 15, 1857. His father, Thomas Pat- terson, is of Irish descent, and was born in 1814 in the old and celebrated city of Dub- lin, once a great seat of learning and the capital of the now fallen kingdom of Ire- land. He received his education in the schools of Ireland, which are noted for the thoroughness of the knowledge which they impart. Leaving school he followed farm- ing, and was variously engaged in different kinds of work until 1854, when he sailed for the United States as being a wider field for individual effort and business success than that of his native land. Upon arriving in this country he came to Pennsylvania and settled at Newry, this county, where he has resided until the present time. He is a farmer by occupation, and owns a well im- proved farm of one hundred and fifty-nine acres, on which he has erected excellent farm buildings and a fine house. He has given his time for several years to farming and fruit growing, in which agricultural pursuits he has met with good success. He is a republican in politics, and a member and elder in the Presbyterian church at Newry. He married Isabella McConaghy, who is a member of the Presbyterian church, and was born in 1820, near Dublin, in Dublin county, province of Leinster, Ireland.
John K. Patterson spent his boyhood days and grew to manhood on his father's farm at the railroad village of Newry, in the far-famed and beautiful Juniata valley. He
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received his education in the common schools and the old Hollidaysburg academy, of this county, and after leaving school was employed for three years as a fireman on a train on the Pennsylvania railroad. IIe then engaged in teaching, which he fol- lowed for six years, and at the end of that time entered the law office of N. P. Mer- vine, of Altoona. After completing the required course of reading he was admitted to the bar of Blair county, June 20, 1887, and immediately opened an office in the city of Altoona, where he has already obtained a very good practice for the few years that he has been a resident of the Mountain City. In addition to the practice of law he gives considerable attention to real estate, in which he has dealt largely and successfully during the last five years. Mr. Patterson owns some very valuable property, and is one of the heaviest tax-pay- ers of his city.
On October 22, 1890, he united in mar- riage with Margaret Hegarty, daughter of Oliver Hegarty, a resident of Altoona.
John K. Patterson is a member of the Third Presbyterian church, which was or- ganized in Altoona, and of Portage Lodge, No. 220, Free and Accepted Masons. He is a stanch republican, and was a delegate to the State convention of his party which met, in 1890, at Harrisburg to nominate a candidate for governor. In that convention- he supported General Hastings as being the man best fitted to fill the gubernatorial chair of the Commonwealth of the Keystone State, and as being the republican least liable to defeat in the great contest which afterward made Robert E. Pattison, the nominee of the Democratic party, governor of Pennsylvania. Mr. Patterson takes an interest in municipal as well as in political
affairs, and after serving as president of the select council for two terms, he was elected by his fellow citizens as a member of the present common council. He is pleasant and courteous, but firm and determined withal, and has achieved enviable success both as a lawyer and a business man.
C OL. JESSE R. CRAWFORD, of
Gaysport, ex-register and recorder of Mifflin county, and who was prominently identified for several years with the iron industry of Blair county, is a son of Capt. James and Rachel (Reynolds ) Crawford, and was born in Mifflin county, Pennsyl- vania, June 28, 1810. His paternal grand- father, James Crawford, was born in Ire- land and settled in Juniata county, where he followed his trade of weaver until his death, in 1823. He was a democrat, and a member of the old seceder Presbyterian church, and married Anna Black, by whom he had six children : Samuel, Captain James, David, Esther, Jane, and one other. Capt. James Crawford ( father ) was born in County Derry, Ireland, and settled in what was Mifflin, but now Juniata county. He was a farmer by occupation, a democrat in poli- tics, and a member of the old seceder Pres- byterian church. He was commissioned captain in the State militia, and commanded a company which served along the southern shore of Lake Erie prior to Commodore Perry's great naval victory on the waters of that lake. Captain Crawford died at the age of eighty-three years. He married Rachel Reynolds, of Cecil county, Maryland, who died in 1827, aged thirty-eight years. She was a daughter of Jesse Reynolds, who was a native of Cecil county, Maryland, and removed to Juniata county, where he died
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in 1830, aged sixty-eight years, and left a family of eight children: William, Mary, Rachel, Susan, Catherine, John, Hannah, and Benjamin.
Jesse R. Crawford was reared in Mifflin county, where he received his education, and resided in Mifflin county until 1851, when he removed to Hollidaysburg. The next year he came to Gaysport, which he left in 1866 to become superintendent of Mahon- ing furnace, at Lowellville, Ohio, which position he held for five years. He was then variously employed up to August 31, 1870, when he returned to Gaysport, and was a member, for two years, of the iron manufacturing firm of Crawford, Johnson & Co., which operated during that time a furnace in Freedom township, Gap furnace and Rebecca furnace in Huston township. In 1873, when Mr. Crawford withdrew from the above named firm, he established a foundry at Osceola, Clearfield county, which he operated for two years, and at the end of that time retired from active life.
On April 14, 1835, Mr. Crawford married Margaret P. Wingate, of Mifflin county, and to their union have been born eight children : Jane B., who died in childhood; Maria M., widow of B. M. Johnston; Rachel R., mar- ried to James A. B. Melvin, a former mer- chant and present real estate dealer of Hollidaysburg; Mary E., widow of Samuel Slade; James R., who was a clerk for the Cambria Iron Company, and died October 16, 1865, from the effects of a blow received at the hands of an employee of the com- pany ; William W., married Annie E. Derno, and is a clerk in the railroad freight depart- ment at Altoona.
In politics Colonel Crawford is a demo- crat. IIe has served his borough as school director as secretary and president, and has
been a member of the common council. HIe was elected and served two terms, from 1840 to 1846, as clerk of the orphan courts and recorder of deeds and register of wills in Mifflin county. During his official terms he was commissioned by Governor Porter as a notary public. In 1861 he was instru- mental in raising a regiment of Pennsyl- vania infantry, of which he was commis- sioned lieutenant-colonel, but as it was not called into active service he resigned. Col. Jesse R. Crawford is a member of the Pres- byterian church, a respected and popular citizen of his borough, and has been for some time enjoying the fruits of his many years of active business life.
DAVID OVER, editor and senior pro-
prietor of the Hollidaysburg Register, and a prominent and influential citizen of Blair county, a son of John and Catherine (Zollinger) Over, was born April 5, 1825, in Bedford, Bedford county, Pennsylvania. The ancestry of the Over family can be traced back to 1718, when two brothers of that name left their German home near the Rhine to locate in the new world. They settled near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and became the progenitors of a now numerous family, members of which served in our revolutionary struggle, the war of 1812, the war with Mexico, and the civil war, and have always been identified with good citizenship in the old Keystone State. John Over (father) was born in Franklin county, this State, but removed to Bedford about 1820, and lived at that place until his death, in 1857, at the age of sixty-three years. His wife, Catherine Zol- linger, was a native of Franklin county, and descended from German stock planted in
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
America about 1720. She died in 1873, in the seventy-fourth year of her age. IIer ancestors also served in the revolutionary war. John Over was a cigar maker and tobacconist by occupation, a whig in poli- tics, and served as a soldier in the war of 1812. By his marriage with Catherine Zollinger he had a family of eight children. Ife and his wife were members of the Ger- man Reformed church.
David Over was reared at Bedford and received an education in the public schools of that village. After completing his studies and leaving school he served an apprentice- ship at the printing business; but about that time came the excitement attending the war with Mexico, and young Over laid down his printer's stick, enlisted in Co. L, 2d Pennsylvania regiment, and marched away to the plains of Mexico to do battle in behalf of his country. He served during the war, and when the struggle was ended came back to Bedford, and, resuming the peaceful pursuits of civil life, in 1850 pur- chased and assumed editorial charge of the Bedford Inquirer. In 1856 he was elected treasurer of Bedford county on the Ameri- can ticket, and discharged the duties of that position with satisfaction to the public. He successfully conducted the Inquirer until 1864, when he disposed of that journal, and during the next year took charge of the Lewistown Gazette, which he edited and pub- lished for one year. In 1868 he removed to Hollidaysburg, where he became editor and senior proprietor of the Hollidaysburg Register, and has continued to occupy that position to the present time. In 1880 he was a delegate to the National republican convention at Chicago, and was one of the "immortal three hundred and six" who stood by General Grant in that convention.
In 1886 Mr. Over was elected by his party friends as treasurer of Blair county, and in the management of that office again gave public satisfaction.
In 1853 he was united by marriage to Elmira Farquhar, a daughter of William N. Farquhar, of Bedford. To them was born a family of six children, two sons and four daughters: Virginia, now the wife of S. C. MeLanahan, of this county; Francis J., who married Annie Bailey, and is now postmaster of Hollidaysburg, and a partner with his father in the Register printing establishment; Julia, married Harry II. Gardner, cashier of the Second National bank of Altoona; Nellie, living at home with her parents; William Henry (de- ceased ), and Mary Elizabeth (deceased ).
In political cireles Mr. Over has long taken an active and leading part, and in the editorial management of his paper has helped to strengthen his party in this sec- tion of the State. He has also advocated and aided such public and private enter- prises as tended to the development of the county, State, and nation.
JOHN F. WILSON, the senior member of the substantial firm of Wilson & Isen- berg, and one of the most energetic and suc- cessful business men of Tyrone, is a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Van Valzah ) Wilson, and was born at Spring Mills, Centre county, Pennsylvania, December 6, 1845. His pa- ternal grandfather, John Wilson, was a life- long resident of Union county, where he died. His maternal grandfather, Dr. Rob- ert Van Valzah, who was an able physician and a zealous Presbyterian, came in early life to Union county, where he married and died, leaving several children, of whom and
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among their descendants are to be num- bered seven successful physicians. Peter Wilson, the father of John F. Wilson, was born on February 18, 1798, in Union county, and subsequently went to Spring Mills, Centre county, where he owned and oper- ated a large tannery until his death, March 14, 1886. He owned several good farms, and was one of the wealthy and influential men of his section. Ile was a whig and republican in politics, and a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church, of whose Sunday- school at Union, Pennsylvania, he had been superintendent for over half a century. On January 18, 1827, he married Elizabeth Van Valzah, who died at Spring Mills, Sep- tember 20, 1868, aged sixty-five years. Their children were: Dr. Robert V., born October 1, 1827, was graduated from Jeffer- son Medical college, of Philadelphia, and practiced successfully in Clearfield county till his death, February 13, 1878; Nancy J. born March 12, 1830, and died May 12, 1879; Mary E., born January 28, 1832, and died January 17, 1874; Rev. James D., born April 3, 1836, graduated from Amherst college at twenty-two years of age, and died May 10, 1888; Rebecca E., born January 22, 1837, and died February 21, 1840 ; Margaret, born January 28, 1841, and died April 29, 1841; Sarah H., born October 1, 1843; and John F., born December 6, 1845.
John F. Wilson received his education in Tuscarora academy and Wilson seminary, of Massachusetts, and then came to Tyrone, where, in 1872, he formed a mercantile partnership with J. F. Van Valzah, under the firm name of Van Valzah & Wilson. They commenced business in a room 20 x 120 feet in the Sneeringer block, which they filled with general merchandise, and soon afterward established a carpet depart-
ment in a suitable room in the second story of the same .building. This partnership continued successfully for nineteen years, when it came to an end by the death of Mr. Van Valzah. In July, 1891, Mr. Wilson formed a partnership with S. B. Isenberg, under the firm name of Wilson & Isenberg. They have one of the largest mercantile establishments of Tyrone, carry a heavy and choice stock of goods, and command a very extensive and remunerative trade. Their establishment is on Pennsylvania avenue, and has been specially fitted up for the suc- cessful prosecution of their line of business.
On September 5, 1872, Mr. Wilson mar- ried Mary E., daughter of Jacob and Anna Markley, of Columbia, Lancaster county. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have three children : John, born May 28, 1873; Thaddeus, born July 5, 1876; and Robert, born March 29, 1879.
In politics John F. Wilson is a republi- can. He is a ruling elder of the First Pres- byterian church of Tyrone, and a member of Tyrone Lodge, No. 494, Free and Ac- cepted Masons; Mountain Chapter, No. 189, Royal Arch Masons; and Mountain Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar. Mr. Wilson is a man of fine personal ap- pearance, pleasant, prompt, and active, and has been for the last twenty years one of the useful and representative business men of Tyrone.
R OBERT HI. SPENDLEY, a shipper of the best grades of anthracite and bi- tuminous coals, and whose office is in the Schenk block, Altoona, was born in Broome county, New York, and has been engaged in the coal business in Cambria and Blair counties since 1885, and resides at Ilolli- daysburg.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
A NTHONY S. MORROW, a member of
the banking house of Gardner, Morrow & Co., of Hollidaysburg, ex-prothonotary of Blair county, and president of the Cresson, Clearfield County & New York Short Route railroad, is a son of Samuel and Catherine (Shoemaker) Morrow, and was born at Me- Connellsburg, Fulton county, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1823. His paternal grandfather was of Scotch-Irish descent, and came from the north of Ireland to the United States with two brothers, John and James, who settled in the Cumberland valley, Penn- sylvania, and afterwards served as soldiers in the American army during the war of 1812. Samuel Morrow (father) was born in Cumberland, and removed to Fulton county early in the present century. He settled at McConnellsburg, where he conducted a tail- oring establishment until his death, in 1840, at fifty-four years of age. He was a whig, and although quite a politician, yet never sought for any office. He was an energetic business man, and married Catherine Shoe- maker, by whom he had several children. Mrs. Morrow was born in Franklin county, became a member of the Presbyterian church, and died at Martinsburg when in the eighty-fourth year of her age. Her father, Anthony Shoemaker (maternal grand- father), came from Strassburg, Germany, and died at MeConnellsburg, while his widow lived to be one hundred years old.
Anthony S. Morrow was reared at Me- Connellsburg until he was fifteen years of age, when he went to Martinsburg, where he became a clerk in a general mercantile store. Ile soon sent for his mother and the family to come to him, as they were de- pendent upon him to a considerable extent for support. In 1847 he and another young man formed a partnership and purchased
the store in which he had served as clerk, and operated it until 1852, when Mr. Mor- row disposed of his interest in it in order to embark in the foundry business, which he conducted very successfully until 1861. In October of that year he was elected on the republican ticket as prothonotary of Blair county, and was successively re-elected in October, 1864, 1867 and 1870. He served four successive terms of twelve continuous years, and no other prothonotary of the county ever served as long, a fact which well attests his efficiency and energy as a public officer. In February, 1874, he retired from the office of prothonotary and became a member of the private banking firm of James Gardner & Co., of Hollidaysburg, which title was immediately changed to the present firm name of Gardner, Morrow & Co. They do a large business, and have the confidence of the people as well as of the different State and National banks.
On November 23, 1848, he married Mary Crawford, daughter of David Crawford, of Blair township, Blair county, Pennsylvania.
In politics Mr. Morrow is a republican, and still takes an active part in the interests and success of his party, which he has rep- resented frequently in county, congressional and State conventions. He owns consider- able real estate in the county, and is a mem- ber and trustee of the First Presbyterian church of Hollidaysburg. Mr. Morrow has branched out into several lines of business outside of banking. He is one of the pro- jectors and stockholders of the Juniata Gan- nister Company, and the Cresson, Clearfield County & New York Short Route railroad, which was completed in 1885, and of which road he has been president since its comple- tion. Ile is also connected with the Martins- burg Water Works, and other enterprises.
OF BLAIR COUNTY.
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The banking house of Gardner, Morrow & Co. is the last of several firms which have succeeded to the ownership and operation of that branch of the Farmers' Bank of Lan- caster, established in Hollidaysburg about 1850. It was under the management of Richard R. Bryan, and closed in a short time under a State law prohibiting branch banks. Bryan then, with James Gardner and others, organized under the firm name of Bryan, Gleim & Co., and bought the ma- terial of the branch house. They conducted a general banking business for several months, when the firm changed to Bryan, Gardner & Co., which continued until 1859. From that year until 1874 James Gardner conducted the business. He then associated himself with Mr. Morrow and others, under the firm name of Gardner, Morrow & Co., and have carried on most successfully a general banking business.
J AMES T. WILSON, M. D., a gradu- ate from the University of Pennsylvania, and a popular physician, who has been in successful practice at Tyrone for nearly thirty years, is a son of George and Agnes (Cunningham ) Wilson, and was born Feb- ruary 29, 1840, at the village of Alexandria, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. George Wilson (father) was a native of Mifflin county, this State, where he was born in 1799, but removed in early life to Hunting- don county, locating at Alexandria. There he resided until his death, in 1850. He was a carpenter and cabinet maker by trade, and also owned a machine shop, where he demonstrated the possession of great natural genius by doing the most difficult machine work for a wide section of country. Ile gave an ardent support to the Democratic
party, and was an active and influential member of the Presbyterian church, in which he served as elder for many years. He married Agnes Cunningham, a daughter of Jeremy Cunningham, by whom he had a fam- ily of nine children. The eldest of these was a son, Jeremy, who served during the civic war as a volunteer surgeon in the hospitals at and near Washington city. He married Frances Becker, and became a prominent artist, winning high regard in artistic circles by the excellence of his paintings. He was a student of P. F. Rothermel, the distin- guished painter of the "Battle of Gettys- burg" (for which the city of Philadelphia paid the sum of twenty thousand dollars) and traveled abroad with Mr. Rothermel for three years, studying and copying the works of the old masters in the capitals of Europe He now resides at Alexandria, Huntingdon county. The second child was a daughter named Mary, who became the wife of Liv. ingston Robb (now deceased ), and resides in Woodcock valley, Huntingdon county The third was David, who married Mary Hoffman, and is now serving as sheriff of Huntingdon county. He enlisted in the 14th Pennsylvania infantry in 1861, and served three months. The fourth was Anna. who married Carroll C. Dewey, a merchant. and banker (now retired ) of Canton, Illi- mois. The fifth was a daughter named Martha (now deceased), who studied art. and became a teacher in drawing and paint- ing at Birmingham and Glens Falls, New York, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and other places. The sixth was Prudence, who be- came the wife of John G. Cresswell, a bag- gage master running on the Pennsylvania railroad, between Harrisburg and the city of Philadelphia. Harriet N. was the seventh of the family, and is now an artist, engaged
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