USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 52
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Samuel and J. Martin, served in the civil war, and another, William, was also in the employ of the government. 1
E. R. C. Blackburn grew to manhood on his father's farm in the county of Bedford, and attended successively the common, select and normal schools of that county, acquir- ing a fine English education. Hle engaged in teaching during the winter season, and followed that vocation for ten years. While still teaching he began the study of dentistry, and in the fall of 1875 commenced practice at Philipsburg, Centre county. In 1883 he entered the Pennsylvania college of dental surgery at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1884, with the degree of D. D. S. He soon after located in the city of Hollidaysburg, where he practiced his profession for a period of three years, and then removed to Altoona, where he has ever since given his time and atten- tion to the various branches of dental sur- gery. His work is always first-class, and by his energy, skill and ability he has suc- ceeded in building up a fine practice in this city, and won an honorable standing in his profession.
On January 12, 1876, Doctor Blackburn was married to Gulielma Blackburn, a daughter of Abram Blackburn, of Bedford county. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, and of the Pennsylvania State Dental society. In politics Doctor Black- burn is an ardent republican, and takes an intelligent interest in the advancement of the policy of his party. He is an affable, pleasant and popular gentleman.
ELIAS CLINE BELL, a prominent Odd Fellow, and master machinist of the Hollidaysburg Iron and Nail Company of Hollidaysburg, is a son of Capt. Robert
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
and Anna (Cline) Bell, and was born in Allegheny city, Allegheny county, Pennsyl- vania, January 5, 1842. ITis paternal grand- father, John Bell, . was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in North Ireland in 1750. Ile came to Pennsylvania, and settled near the boundary line of Huntingdon county. In 1804 he crossed the mountains on horseback, with his wife and son, Robert (father), then only four years of age, and settled at Shenango Flats, Lawrence county, where he died in 1814. His son, Capt. Robert Bell (father), was born on the right bank of the Juniata river, in the first year of the present century, and learned the trade of blacksmith, which he afterward followed for some years in Pittsburg, where he was commissioned by Governor Porter as cap- tain in the Pennsylvania militia. He served as a councilman of Allegheny city, being elected from the Third ward, and afterward was elected for a term of five years as an alderman from the same ward. He was a republican in politics, and a member and trustee of the United Presbyterian church, and died in 1884, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. He married Anna Cline, who died in 1888, aged eighty-four years. To Mr. and Mrs. Bell was born a family of seven children, of whom were: Mary, Hen- rietta, John, Elias Cline, Lucinda, and Mag- gie, all of whom died except Mary and the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Bell's parents, whose name was Cline, were of French and German descent respectively, and while on their way from New Jersey to western Penn- sylvania caught small pox, from which they both died, and left two sons and one daugh- ter-Mrs. Bell - who were taken and reared by a family who lived near to where the parents died, in Clinton township, Alle- gheny county, Pennsylvania.
E. C. Bell was reared in Allegheny, and received his education in the public schools of that city. Leaving school he learned the trade of roll turner, which he followed until July, 1862, when he enlisted in Co. K, 123d Pennsylvania infantry. He was in the bat- tles of Second Bull Run, Antietam and Chancellorsville, and participated in the famous charge of Humphreys against the old stone wall at Fredericksburg. He was honorably discharged from the Union ser- vice in May, 1863, and in 1866 became an employee of the Hollidaysburg Iron and Nail Company. After working in the vari- ous departments of their rolling mill for fifteen years, he was appointed, in 1880, to his present position of master mechanic.
On February 19, 1867, Mr. Bell married Sarah Jane MeCleary, a grand-daughter of Adam Holliday, the founder of Hollidays- burg (see historical sketch in this volume). To their union have been born ten chil- dren : Robert (deceased) ; John, now dead; James G., now serving his apprenticeship as a machinist ; Carrie A .; Mary ( deceased ) ; Harry, now dead; Lucy ; Elias C., jr .; Nel- lie; George, and Sarah J.
Mrs. Bell is remarkably young looking for her years, and is a very pleasant and intelligent woman. She was born April 23, 1849, at Levansville, Somerset county, and is a daughter of David and Caroline (Holliday ) MeCleary. Her grandfather, Andrew MeCleary, was a Scotch-Irishman, who came from the north of Ireland and settled in Clarion, and afterward at Yellow Creek, Bedford county, where he died. Ilis son, David MeCleary, was born at Yellow Creek in 1821, and learned the trade of saddler, which he followed at Somerset and then at Hollidaysburg, where he died in February, 1864. He was a democrat, and
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
a member of the Lutheran church, and had ten children : George and Martha (twins), Rose, Mrs. Sarah Jane Bell, Anthony, Wilkes, Andrew, Johnson, and Mary and Anna (twins). Mrs. Bell's grandmother, Hannah (Lane) MeCleary, was of Scotch- Irish descent, and was a near relative of James Buchanan, being cousin to Harriet Lane, the niece of the president.
Elias C. Bell is a republican in politics, and a member and steward of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a member of the Artisan Order of Mutual Protection; Col. G. Murray Post, No. 61, Grand Army of the Republic; and Hollidaysburg Lodge, No. 119, and Apallachian Encampment, No. 62, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has been a member for twenty- six years. Mr. Bell has passed the chairs in his lodge and encampment, and served for two successive terms as district deputy grand master of his county district. He owns fine property at Hollidaysburg, and a beautiful residence and one hundred and fifty acres of the best farming land in the county, one mile from Hollidaysburg.
D ANIEL M. BARE, a worthy descend- ant of an old and honorable family, distinguished for integrity and uprightness of life, and a public-spirited citizen of Roar- ing Spring, who has contributed largely to the prosperity of his town and the success of its religious and educational institutions, is a son of Daniel and Elizabeth ( Mathias ) Bare, and was born in Sinking valley, in what is now Tyrone township, Blair (then Iluntingdon ) county, Pennsylvania, Octo- ber 24, 1834. The Bare family traces its ancestry back to Germany, and the founder of the American branch of the family set-
tled in Lancaster county between one and two centuries. ago, when the great city of Philadelphia was but a mere village and the province of Penn contained only a few thousand inhabitants. A lineal descendant in the fourth or fifth generation from him who planted the Bare family in the Garden county of the State was Daniel Bare, the father of the subject of this sketch. Daniel Bare was born in 1787, in York county, and died at Roaring Spring May 23, 1869, when in the eighty-second year of his age. IIe was reared on a farm, and carefully trained to those habits of industry for which the family was noted. He was ener- getic, active, and honest, and soon became prominent and respected in his community, where he owned an extensive farm and operated a large flouring mill. In 1864 he removed to Roaring Spring, where he was associated with his son, D. M. Bare, in milling and merchandising, until his death, five years later. IIe was an old-line whig and republican in politics, and an active and influential member of the River Broth- ers church, a branch of the Dunkard church. The life of Daniel Bare was straightfor- ward, unfaltering and unchequered, and well worthy of imitation. His habits were extremely plain, simple, sensible, temper- ate, and industrious, and he was highly esteemed for his many good qualities. He married Elizabeth Mathias, who was a na- tive of York county, and died in 1857, aged fifty-nine years. She was a daughter of Jacob Mathias, a respectable and well-to-do farmer of York county, who lived to be seventy-five years of age.
Daniel M. Bare passed his boyhood days on the farm, and received his education in the common schools of his neighborhood. At an early age he left school to assist his
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father on the farm and in the mill during the summer seasons, while the winter months he passed in teaching. In 1860 he quit teaching, and a year later assumed charge of a store and a flouring mill at Pattonsville, in Bedford county, which were the property of himself and father. In 1864 he removed to Roaring Spring, and although several mercantile ventures at that place had failed, yet he and his father pur- chased a store and flouring mill, both of which became profitable investments. At the end of four years, in 1868, he erected his present fine flouring mill, which he leased in 1880. In 1865 he, with others, formed a partnership, under the firm name of Eby, Morrison & Co., and erected the present paper mill at Roaring Spring. They built a second mill in 1880, at Tyrone, the firm name having changed to Morrison, Bare & Cass, in 1876. Mr. Bare then became resident manager of the Roaring Spring paper mill, which he supervised until 1886, when he purchased his partners' interests in it, and has operated it successfully ever since. This mill gives employment to about one hundred and thirty persons. In the same year that he purchased the paper mill he organized the Roaring Spring Blank- book Company, of which he is the chief stockholder and controlling power. He erected a fine two-story factory for the manufacture of blank books, and employs within its walls a force of thirty men and sixty girls, while he keeps from three to four men on the road to take orders for his paper and blank books, now in demand in hundreds of cities, towns, and villages.
On January 13, 1857, Mr. Bare married Sarah Eby, daughter of George Eby, of Huntingdon county, and whose paternal and maternal ancestors, the Ebys and
Lutzes, were among the pioneer settlers of that county. . To Mr. and Mrs. Bare have been born four children : Clara S., wife of Mr. E. G. Bobb, a clerk in the office of D. M. Bare & Co .; Ella, who married Dr. A. L. Garver, manager of the blank book fac- tory; Ina, who died in 1866; and Anna, who is at home with her parents.
Daniel M. Bare is an active member and a ruling elder of the Church of God, to which he is a liberal contributor. He is a ! republican from conviction, has served for. several years as a member of the town council, and is ever alive to any measure calculated to benefit Roaring Spring, which owes most of its prosperity to the estab- lishment of his paper mill and factory. He labored hard to bring the Morrison Cove railway to Roaring Spring, served for a long time as 'a director of the Newry Railroad Company, and acted continuously as postmaster of his town from 1864 to 1884. In religious and educational matters he always takes a deep interest, and is now engaged as a member of the board of pub- lication of the Church Advocate, of Harris- burg, and has been a trustee for eight years of Findlay college, of Findlay, Ohio. A successful experience of a third of a cen- tury has given Mr. Bare a thorough knowl- edge of men and business. He has secured a comfortable competency for himself, but while engaged in that laudable work he has never forgotten his church or town and their welfare, to whom no man is a more generous and liberal contributor.
WILLIAM VOGT, a successful business man, and the proprietor of one of the oldest and largest clothing houses of Ty- rone, is a son of Francis Henry and Cath-
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
erine ( Fischer) Vogt, and was born in the Rhein-Palatinate, kingdom of Bavaria, Ger- many, June 6, 1839. Ilis paternal grand- father, Christof Vogt, was born in Bavaria in 1742, and died in that kingdom January 3, 1812. Ile was engaged in the culture of grapes and the manufacture of wine, and married Anna Barbara Sauer, who was born in Nieder Kirchen, in the year 1773, and died in Bavaria November 26, 1851. To them were born, in their Bavarian home, a family of five children, three sons and two daughters. One of these sons, Francis Henry Vogt, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born October 13, 1803, reared in Bavaria, of which he was a life- long resident, and in which he died March 9, 1840. On January 9, 1834, he married Catherine Fischer, daughter of George Fischer, a grape culturist and wine manu- facturer, born in 1754, in Koenigsbach, Ba- varia, where he died in 1817, and who married Salome Glosser, who was born in 1744, and passed away on September 16, 1816. To Mr. and Mrs. Vogt were born three children : Frederick, who married Magdalene Feuchter, was born May 9, 1835, and died October 13, 1890, in Tyrone, where he was known as a clothier, and later as a hotel keeper; a daughter, who died in in- fancy; and William. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Vogt continued to reside in Bavaria until 1852, in which year she came to America with her two sons, and lived on a farm near Newry, with an only sister. and husband. She was born in Ba- varia, February 4, 1811, and died in Tyrone, April 21, 1891, when in the eightieth year of her age.
William Vogt was reared in Bavaria until he was twelve years of age, and then was brought by his mother to near Newry, where
he remained for two years, engaged on his unele's farm and attending school. Ile received the principal part of his education in the excellent and justly celebrated public schools of Germany. At fifteen years of age he went to Roaring Springs, where he entered the trade of blacksmith, which oc- cupation he was engaged in at different places in Huntingdon and Blair counties, remaining at his trade until March, 1857, the expiration of his apprenticeship. Mr. Vogt came to Tyrone in the fall of 1855, at a time when, comparatively speaking, it had no reputation, with scarcely a name, being yet in its infancy, there being only about fifty houses in the town proper, with no branch railroads. In 1857 he be- came a clerk in the general mercantile store of S. Ettinger, which style of firm was shortly thereafter changed to S. Ettinger & Ullman. At the end of two years this firm opened a large establishment in Philadel- phia, this State, and Samuel Ettinger re- moved from Tyrone to that place and es- tablished a manufactory of ready-made clothing, under the firm name of S. Ettinger & Ullman, the latter remaining in charge of the Tyrone store until the following year, when he also removed to Philadelphia, and the Tyrone store was converted from a gen- eral store into a ready-made clothing and furnishing store, under the management of Mr. Vogt. IIe held this position up to 1866, when he became a member of the firm, under the style of Ettinger, Ullman & Co., which continued until 1869, in which year Mr. Vogt purchased his partners' in- terests, and since then has conducted the establishment very successfully.
On November 23, 1869, he married Georgia Etta, daughter of Pius Sneeringer, one of the leading citizens of Tyrone,
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
and whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Vogt have six children, five sons and one daughter : Austin S., who is book-keeper of the First National bank of Tyrone; Frank W., now a clerk in his father's store; Rose Mary, at home; Charles J .; Albert L., and Ber- nard A., who are attending school.
William Vogt is a democrat in politics, and a member of St. Matthew's Catholic church, which was founded about 1851. Mr. Vogt carries a heavy stock of clothing, carefully selected, to meet the varied wants of his numerous patrons, and makes a specialty of gentlemen's fine furnishing goods. He keeps constantly on hand a full assortment of samples of suitings for special orders. The business career of William Vogt is one of interest, and well proves what can be accomplished in the mercantile field by any young man whose capital solely consists of energy, enterprise, and an in- domitable determination to succeed.
ILLIAM G. WARING, a grandson of William Waring, the emigrant of 1821, and the elder brother of Robert War- ing, was born near Hereford, England, in 1816, and came to Philipsburg, Pennsylva- nia, in 1833. He was inclined toward lit- erature and natural science, and taught different schools in Centre county from his seventeenth to his thirtieth year; when, on account of declining health, he abandoned teaching and became a nurseryman. He called together the first county teachers' institute, which met during the first week of October, 1850, in the old Oak ITall school house (since used as an Evangelical church ) in Centre county, where Mr. Waring was teaching at the time. It consisted of about
ten spirited teachers, who met and com- pared methods and experiences. The peo- ple were greatly interested, and the meet- ing was a success. The next institute was held at Howard, in the same county, in 1852. Full particulars of the Oak Hall school house institute are to be found in Vol. 1 of the Pennsylvania School Journal, for January, 1853, page 359. He called together the first county teachers' institute in the State, about 1846, and it continued its annual sessions until the institute was adopted as a part of the school system of Pennsylvania. He was equally active and influential in the agitation which resulted in establishing the office of county superin- tendent. From 1856 to 1861 he was en- gaged at the Farmer's High school-now the State Agricultural college-in superin- tending the grounds and buildings, and the opening session. After the death of his wife and two sons, he removed to Tyrone, this county, where he had purchased some land for nursery purposes, in 1851. He had also built a small house here before the town was laid out, and when no other house 'stood within the present borough limits excepting a farm house at the big spring, where the residence of Hon. Samuel Me- Camant now stands. Mr. Waring has three sons, all residents of Tyrone, and since his travels in Europe, from 1867 to 1869, he has lived near them in quiet seclusion, making amateur experiments in fruit and plant culture, and writing weekly for the agricultural columns of the New York Tribune, and occasionally for other period- icals. ITis eldest son, W. George, widely known as a chemist, metallurgist and mining engineer, is temporarily in New Mexico, conducting works for reducing silver ore. Ilis second son, Edmund, is a fruit grower
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
and house fitter, has a large family, and is a zealous advocate and exemplar of social improvement. Frank R., his youngest son, is an architect, a member of the planing mill firm of F. D. Beyer & Co., and a leader in social improvement and all good words and works.
SPARR FAMILY. Christian Sparr came from Germany about the year 1700, as near as can be ascertained. Of the number of his family we know noth- ing, except one son, Frederick, who was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and reared a family of seven children; Chris- tian, born November 6, 1752; Catharine, born October 17, 1755; John, born August 30, 1758; Susan, born November 3, 1760; Frederick, born May 15, 1764; Margaret, born October 14, 1766; and George, born June 18, 1770. The above record was taken from a German Lutheran Bible, printed by John Andrew Endress, 1770, Newenberg, Kingdom of Bavaria, which has been handed down from one generation to another, and is in the possession of Christian D. Sparr, of Williamsburg, at the present time. George and Frederick lo- cated in Virginia, John remained in Ches- ter county, and we are unable to give any record of the three daughters.
Christian Sparr, son of Frederick Sparr, became a wagon-maker by trade, which occupation he followed for a number of years, and then turned his attention to farming. He was married to Mary Sifert, near Reading, Lancaster county, about 1782, and afterward moved to Foutz's Valley, in Perry county, where they remained a few years, and then went to the vicinity of Boalsburg, Centre county, about the year 1815. Three years later, in 1818, they
came to the vicinity of what was then Akestown, Huntingdon county, now Wil- liamsburg, Blair county. Here he pur- chased from Adam Smith what is now known as the J. D. Hliek farm, where he remained during life. His family consisted of seven children, five sons and two daugh- ters: John, born October 18, 1783, died November 16, 1853; Elizabeth, October 18, 1783, died August 8, 1824; Jacob, Decem- ber 23, 1785, died November 26, 1877; Isaac, December 1, 1788, died July 8, 1847; Samuel, May 9, 1792, died March 14, 1867; David, September 13, 1795, died March 5, 1857; Margaret, October 27, 1797, died May 15, 1832.
Jolin Sparr, son of Christian Sparr, be- came a wagon-maker by trade, which oc- cupation he followed a number of years, and then turned his attention to farming. IIe was married to Sarah Foutz, and reared a family of five children: Mary, Elizabeth, Isaac, Lewis, and John, all of whom are dead at this writing. He was married a second time, to Mrs. Susan Bar, formerly Susan Everhart, and to them were born three daughters: Catharine, Ellen, and Rachel. Ellen is dead, and Catharine lives in Boalsburg, Centre county, with her two daughters, Florence and Sallie Riley. Rachel lives at State College, Centre county, with her husband, Charles Shaffer, and family, two sons and three daughters, all grown to maturity.
Elizabeth, daughter of Christian Sparr, married Edmund Jones, of Philadelphia, and reared a family of six children .: John, Jehu, Mary, Edmund, Sarah, and Samuel, all of whom, to the best of the writer's knowledge, are dead.
Jacob Sparr was a farmer, and resided two miles east of Boalsburg, in Centre
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county, from 1815 until his death, in 1877. ITe marrried Catharine Hoffman about 1805, and to them were born thirteen children : Samuel, Elizabeth, Polly, David, Peggy, Margaret, Susanah, and Nancy, who lived to maturity, the other five having died while in infancy. Elizabeth, married David Reed, and of their children only one is living, Sarah, who resides with her two aunts on her grandfather's homestead. David married Mary Jones, of Philadel- phia, and after her death, Mrs. Rebecca Myers, and lives at Boalsburg. He had no children by either marriage. Peggy and Nancy live on the old homestead, near Boalsburg, aged seventy-four and sixty-two years, respectively.
Isaac Sparr succeeded his father as a farmer on the homestead, where he spent his life. He married Mrs. Eliza Hart about 1845, and to them was born one child, Anna Mary, who married J. D. Hicks, and at death left two children, Hattie and Wil- liam B., who are the present owners of the old Sparr homestead of four generations ago.
Samuel Sparr was a farmer, and pur- chased lands from A. Patterson and Wil- liam Potter, one and one-fourth miles south- east of Williamsburg, where he ended life. He married Susan Dunlap, of Boalsburg, Centre county, February 22, 1819, and they had seven children : Mary Ann, Christian, Christian D., Daniel, Catharine, and Sam- uel. Mary Ann was born December, 1820, and died January 26, 1855. She married Jacob Kylor, April, 1841, and had three children : Rebecca Jane, Samuel, and Jacob. Jacob Kylor died March 30, 1847, and she married Christian Shinafelt in November, 1849, and to them were born two children : Catharine and Polly An. Rebecca Jane Kylor was born August 3, 1841, married
Blair Woodcock in 1859, and they had three children : Adessa, Annie, and John- nie. Blair Woodcock was killed at the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864. She then married Matthew Flaig, in 1866, and they had eight children : Wil- liam, Dorothy, Julia, Lizzie, Harry, Sam- uel, Jolin, and James, and resides at Wil- liamsburg. Adessa Woodcock married Harry K. Hammond in Altoona, and has six children. Annie Woodcock was born August 21, 1863, and married James P. Baker, of Carrolltown, Indiana county, re- sides in Dubois, Clearfield county, and they have two children, William and Foster. Samuel Kylor was born August 5, 1844; at the age of seventeen enlisted in the United States army and served four years, and then went to Iowa, where he married Mrs. Win- nie Stome. Jacob Kylor was killed at the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, aged eighteen years. Christian Sparr died at the age of two years. Christian D. Sparr was born May 9, 1828, married Martha J. Dunlap, of Boalsburg, Centre county, November 1, 1850, and had seven children : Sarah, James, Levi, Anna, a son who died in infancy, Samuel and Jacob ( twins). Martha Jane Sparr died January 15, 1871, and he married Catharine E. Enyeart, No- vember 21, 1872, and resides near Williams- burg. Sarah Sparr was born January 2, 1852, and died October 8, 1861. James Sparr was born August 11, 1853, and mar- ried Mary E. Stephens, of Kansas, May 14, 1880, resides at Monett, Missouri, and has four children : James, Howard, Martha, and May. Levi Sparr was born June 17, 1855, and resides near Williamsburg. Anna Sparr was born January 22, 1857, married, October 18, 1883, Henry C. Burley, of Ty- rone, and they have two children, Delia S.
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