USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 55
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
an industrious man, and a consistent mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. Hle married Hannah Geissinger, a daughter of John Geissinger, a miller and farmer of near MeCauleystown, Huntingdon county, who served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and married Hannah Sellers, who lived to see her ninety-fourth birthday. Solomon and Hannah (Geissinger) Raugh reared a family of six sons : John, who was a soldier in the late war and is now dead; William, went west and is now engaged in farming in Iowa; Sellers, a miller by trade, served as a soldier in the 125th Pennsylvania in- fantry, and is now a resident of Bellwood; James, served in the late civil war as a private in the 53d Pennsylvania infantry and participated in the battle of Gettys- burg; Oliver M., a coach maker by trade and a resident of Iowa; and David A.
David A. Raugh was reared on the farm and attended the common schools. Leaving school he learned the trade of miller, which he followed successfully for thirty years in Huntingdon county and at Bellwood. He came to Bellwood in November, 1882, and in 1891, about five months previous to retir- ing from milling, he embarked in his present furniture business. His establishment is a two-story structure, 21 x 50 feet in dimen- sions, well arranged and heavily stocked with all kinds of parlor, library, dining- room, and office furniture in all the leading and most fashionable designs. Mr. Raugh is a reliable dealer, and the honorable way in which he conducts his business meets the 'commendation of his patrons. Although but fairly launched in his business, yet his trade is already very flattering and promises to increase to large dimensions in the future.
David A. Raugh is a republican in politics, a consistent member of the Methodist Epis-
copal church of Bellwood, and a reliable and successful business man. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Bellwood.
Mr. Raugh married Susan Smith, who died and left six children : Mary, who died at eighteen years of age ; James, now dead; Carrie, wife of Calvin Elder, of Bellwood; Patience, who married Charles Lytle ; Samuel, and Clarence. After his first wife's death Mr. Raugh was united in marriage with Ella Aurandt, and to this second union have been born two children : Daisy and Sellers.
D ANIEL LAUGHMAN, one of the most successful coal operators and the senior member of the firm of D. Laughman & Co., is a son of Daniel, sr., and Catherine (Fetterow ) Laughman, and was born on the bank of Big Conewango creek, in York county, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1826. Daniel Laughman, sr., was born on the east bank of the Susquehanna river in 1797, removed from Big Conewango creek in 1831 to Harrisburg, and from there went, in 1851, to Darke county, Ohio, where he died in 1869, at the age of seventy-six years. Ile was a shoemaker by trade, but was mainly engaged in farming. He was a prosperous farmer, an active member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and a strong Jacksonian democrat, who was always genial and jovial in political campaigns, during which he did much effective work in the interests of his party. He married Cather- ine Fetterow, who was born on Big Cone- wango creek, and stood high wherever she was known as an amiable, Christian woman. She was a member of the Evangelical Luth- eran church from her childhood, and in
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
1875 came to reside with the subject of this sketch, at whose house she died in July, 1888, at the advanced age of ninety-one years. She was a very active woman, kept her strength and mental powers well up to the time of her death, and had seen much of pioneer life. Mrs. Laughman was a daughter of Michael Fetterow, who was a native of Wales, and came to York county, from which he went out as a soldier in the war of 1812, and in which he died upon his farm in 1826, when in the eighty-first year of his age.
Daniel Langhman was reared near Har- risburg, and received a limited education in the early free schools of Pennsylvania, but which he has largely supplemented by reading and observation. Leaving school he was employed until 1850 as a clerk in different general mercantile stores of IIar- risburg, and then engaged in the confec- tionery and bottling business, which he followed for two years, when his health became impaired by close confinement and he left the capital of the State for a visit to his parents in Ohio and a tour of the great west. Somewhat improved in health by his trip he returned to Harrisburg, and in order to more fully recruit himself physic- ally by an outdoor life, he became (early in 1853) a brakeman on the Pennsylvania Central railroad. On May 1st, of that year, he was promoted to conductor of a freight train, which he ran until September, 1859, when he resigned, without having a single accident happen to his train in all that time, a fact which drew forth the warm con- mendation of the officers of the railroad company. In the succeeding month of October-having removed to Altoona in 1854-he engaged in the clothing and gentlemen's furnishing goods business, in
which he continued until 1868, when he disposed of his establishment and stock of goods. During a portion of this time, from 1859 to 1864, he acted as agent of the Adams Express Company. In the following year, after retiring from the clothing busi- ness, he formed a partnership with James II. Dysart, under the firm name of James. II. Dysart & Co., and purchased a coal mine in Cambria county, from which they shipped coal until 1881, when Mr. Dysart died. Mr. Laughman then purchased the interest of his late partner from the heirs of the latter, and continued operating the mine until 1881, when he admitted his son-in-law, J. Chester Wilson, to partnership with him- self, under the firm name of D. Laughman & Co. They mine and ship a large amount of coal to both eastern and western mar- kets. Mr. Laughman is also interested in several other coal mines.
In 1850 he married Mary A. Jones, daughter of John Jones, and who died in 1872, leaving four children : Annie M., wife of J. Chester Wilson, of Philadelphia, who is a member of the firm of D. Laughman & Co .; William D., now assistant foreman in the telegraph and electrical shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Altoona ; Ira, who was a bright young man and a very fine singer, died March 1, 1885, while attending the Union Theological sem- inary of New York city, where he was preparing for the work of the ministry ; and Jennie, who is still at home. On April 3, 1873, -Mr. Laughman was united in mar- riage with Ellen, daughter of John Miller, formerly of Hollidaysburg, and by his second marriage had two children, a son and a daughter: John M., who died May 10, 1881, at the age of seven years; and Clara W.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Daniel Laughman is a republican in poli- tical affairs, served as treasurer and coun- cilman of Altoona before it became a city, and since then held the office of jury com- missioner for one term. He is a deacon and the treasurer of the First Presbyterian church of Altoona. Ile is one of the most substantial and highly respected citizens of his city, resides in a beautiful home at No. 1010 Lexington avenue, and has won his own way in life from early manhood, when his only capital was natural ability and a pair of willing hands. He is a member of Mountain Lodge, No. 281, Free and Ac- cepted Masons ; Mountain Chapter, No. 189, Royal Arch Masons; and Mountain Com- mandery, No. 10, Knights Templar.
D ANIEL K. REAMEY, the proprietor of the American House at Hollidays- burg, and one of the most widely known and active business men of his section of the county, is a son of Frederick Reamey, and was born at Tyrone Forges, Hunting- don ( now Blair) county, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1812. His paternal grand- parents came from Alsace, France, and settled near Reading, Berks county, where the father followed his trade of forgeman. Frederick Reamey (father) was five years old when his parents came to Berks county, where he learned the trade of hammerman, which he followed at Tyrone and Spang's forges, excepting.while he served in the war of 1812, until old age compelled him to retire to his farm in Sinking valley, where he died. In 1806 he married a daughter of Daniel Keller, who built the first mill near Petersburg, and who died at the Falls of the Ohio, at nearly one hundred years of age, after having achieved con-
siderable distinction as an inventor. Mr. and Mrs. Reamey reared a family of twelve children, of whom Daniel K., the subject of this sketch, was the fourth in order of age.
Daniel K. Reamey had to assist his parents and did not even receive the privileges of the crude and primitive schools of his boyhood days, but having an ambition to secure an education he learned to read and write and acquired some knowl- edge of arithmetic after he attained his majority. By reading and observation he added continually to his stock of knowledge until he became a fair scholar and a well- informed man. When sixteen years old he learned the trade of carpenter under Thomas Maitland, of Birmingham. After- wards he worked in Philadelphia, Mobile, Alabama, and Jeffersonville, Indiana. In 1836 he went to Hollidaysburg in the em- ploy of Jacob Taylor, carpenter and builder. Two years later he became a master builder himself. Among other structures he built the Hollidaysburg Female seminary, the seminary at Williamsport, the first court- house of Blair county, the Lutheran church at Hollidaysburg, and the Methodist Episco- pal churches in Hollidaysburg and Altoona. About the year 1856 Mr. Reamey purchased the American House at Hollidaysburg, which he has continuously conducted as a hotel for the last thirty years. He is a man full of energy, as his success in business evidences. Like all men he has his likes and dislikes, his friends and his enemies, and too often was not given credit for his many acts of charity. He is a man who has traveled extensively during his lifetime, having been in every state and territory of the United States, and in Canada, Mexico, and South America. About ten years ago he also took an extensive trip through
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Europe. He can relate many reminiscences of his travels which are both interesting and instructive. In 1844 the bankrupt law swept from him fourteen thousand dollars, and left him five thousand dollars in debt. Ile refused to take the benefit of that law himself, and afterwards paid every dollar of his indebtedness. At one time in early life Mr. Reamey was captain of the Hollidays- burg Grays, and during the late war gave time and attention and means in aid of the Union cause for which he never would re- veive any compensation.
On June 29, 1842, Mr. Reamey married Mary, daughter of Lazarus Lowry. To this umion were born the following surviving children : Mrs. D. D. Horrell, of Henrietta, Pennsylvania ; Mrs. L. S. Hoopes, of Holli- daysburg; Lazarus Lowry Reamey, a lieu- tenant in the United States navy; and Mary R. Reamey. Mr. Reamey's first wife died October 17, 1870, and he married, in , October, 1877, Mary E. Gardner, who is a daughter of Ex-Sheriff Gardner, of Adams county.
Daniel K. Reamey is a republican in politics, and has won a competency in life by his own unaided efforts. His success is not phenomenal, yet is remarkable, as few men would have overcome the obstacles which he: encountered and mastered in early life.
JOHN H. WEAVER, M. D., a physi- cian of Altoona in active and successful practice, is a son of Henry and Hannah ( Rubaker) Weaver, and was born at Luray, Blair county, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1831. His paternal great - grandfather, Jacob Weaver, was of German descent, and served as a fife major in the American revolution. At the close of that struggle he settled
twelve miles west of Philadelphia, where he was approached upon one occasion by an Englishman who wanted to buy his claim against the United States for revolutionary services, but he indignantly declined to accept the offer. Ile afterwards removed to Centre county, and died at Newry, this county. He was a carpenter and cabinet maker by trade, and was an early settler of the section of Blair county in which he lived. Of his sons, one was Henry Weaver (father), who was born at Newry, Blair county, in 1808, and died in Altoona, De- cember 23, 1877. Ile was a carpenter and cabinet maker by trade, and in 1867 removed from Newry to Altoona, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death. He was a member of the First Evangelical Lutheran church of Altoona, and married IIannah Rubaker, who was a daughter of Abraham Rubaker, and died in 1872. They reared a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters : Dr. John II .; Margaret; Samuel, a carpenter of Whitesville, who served as a soldier in the Federal army during the late civil war; Philip, who also served in the Federal army; Eliza; Jane; Mary Martha, and Calvin B., who resides at Allegheny furnace, this county.
John II. Weaver grew to manhood in his native neighborhood, and received his edu- cation in the common schools. He read medicine for a few months with Dr. Stewart, of Perryville, Jefferson county, and in 1861 came to Altoona, where he was engaged in building operations for some time. Ile then resumed his medical studies under the tutelage of Dr. Finley, and at the end of eighteen months entered the medical de- partment of the university of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1873. Immediately after graduation he
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
returned to Altoona and practiced until 1874, when he went to Claysburg, where he remained for five years. At the end of that time he returned to Altoona, where he has been in active practice ever since, ex- cepting the year 1887, which he spent in Caroline county, Maryland, in which he had purchased a large farm about the com- mencement of that year. Dr. Weaver is a republican in politics, and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church of Altoona.
Dr. John H. Weaver married Susanna C. Blose, daughter of George Blose, of West- moreland county. To Dr. and Mrs. Weaver have been born five children, three sons and two daughters : Martin Luther, who married Maggie Zeth, and is a farmer and fruit grower of Caroline county, Maryland; Maria Marinda, wife of Samuel S. Richards, of Altoona, who is agent for the Bear Creek Oil Refining Company; George, who died young; Mary Jane, married to Samuel L. Shaw, a saddler and harness maker by trade; and Charles II., who died young.
ERY REV. EDWARD A. BUSH,
V. F., a courteous and scholarly gen- tleman and the present pastor of St. John's Catholic church of Altoona, was born at Montreal, Canada, June 5, 1839. He came to the United States in 1850, after the death of his parents. His preparatory studies were made at St. Francis and St. Vincent colleges, of Pennsylvania and Bardstown, Kentucky. He then entered St. Michael's seminary, of Pittsburg, under the presidency of Very Rev. James O'Con- 101, D.D., afterwards bishop of Omaha, and commenced his theological course, which he finished at the same institution, where he had Rev. James Keogh, D. D., as his pro-
fessor of divinity. After the completion of his theological course, he was ordained to the priesthood on February 7, 1863, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Domenec.
After ordination he remained at the sem- inary as professor of theology until January 7, 1864, when he was appointed rector of St. Francis college, Loretto, Cambria county, where he remained in the discharge of the duties of that position up to the spring of 1868. He then went to St. Michael's semi- nary, where he was professor of theology until March, 1870, in which month he was appointed rector of St. Michael's church at Loretto, where he was faithfully engaged in pastoral labors for twenty years. At the end of that time, in the spring of 1890, he became rector of St. John's Catholic church of Altoona, and during the same year was appointed Vicar Forane by Rt. Rev. R. Phelan, D. D., Bishop of Pittsburg.
St. John's Catholic congregation wag or- ganized in 1852 by Rev. John Walsh, of Hollidaysburg, and its pastors since then have been : Rev. John Tingg, 1854; Rev. John Walsh, 1876; Very Rev. Thomas Ryan, 1880; Revs. T. Briley, T. P. Smith, and J. O'Reilley succeeded in turn as acting pastors till 1890, when Very Rev. Edward A. Bush became pastor.
The first church building was a small frame structure, erected in 1854, which was succeeded in 1875 by the present substantial and commodious brick structure on Thir- teenth avenue, near Thirteenth street. As has been said, the early history of this church is one of small beginnings, but the earnest and self-sacrificing labors of its pastors have brought it up to its present prosperous condition. Its membership, under the efficient and practical labors of Father Bush, has increased to nearly two
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Peu. E. G. Bushr
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thousand souls. Father Bush is a fine theologian and an active and energetic pastor, and has labored faithfully and with good success for the mental and moral advancement of his large and important congregation.
DAVIS A. HOGUE, M. D., a resident physician of Altoona since 1891, and who was for sixteen years prior to that time one of the most prominent and successful physicians of Clearfield county, is a son of Joseph and Sarah Ann (Calwell ) Hogue, and was born in Union county, Pennsyl- vania, March 30, 1854. During the early years of the last century, religious persecu- tion distracted Scotland, and many left its shores and came to America, where they could enjoy the freedom of religious wor- ship. Among the number who bid farewell to their Scottish homes on this account and settled in the province of New Jersey, was a Mr. Hogue, of whom Dr. Davis A. Hogue is a lineal descendant. This Mr. Hogue, like the majority of the Scottish Dissenters and Covenanters who came to America to secure religious freedom, was interested in the intellectual education of his children as well as in their moral and religious train- ing. It is most probable, but not certain, that he married in his native land of Scot- land, and one of his sons, of whom there is nothing preserved to show whether he was a native of the old world or born in the new, entered Princeton college, from which he was graduated. From this son, whose Christian name cannot be obtained, and of whose history, after leaving Princeton, but little is known, beyond the fact that he was a good citizen, was descended Joseph Hogue, father of Dr. Hogue. Joseph Hogue was born in 1809, in Northumberland county,
in which he was reared and received his education. Leaving school he was engaged during the remainder of his life in the general mercantile business in Northumber- land and adjoining counties. He was a whig during the earlier years of his life, and when that party went down under the reverses that it suffered in 1852, he identified him- self with its successor, the Republican party, which he supported until his death. He was appointed as a postmaster under a whig administration, and held that office continuously for a period of over thirty years. He was a man of business ability, and died in 1868, when in the fifty-ninth year of his age. He married Sarah A. Cal- well, and to them was born a family of six children, four sons, and two daughters who died when quite young. The sons are : Daniel C., a former nail manufacturer, but now a lumber dealer of Watsontown, North- umberland county, who served nine months in the 131st Pennsylvania infantry, thirty days in the 28th regiment of emergency men in the Cumberland valley, and then enlisted in 202d Pennsylvania infantry, in whose ranks he remained until the close of the war; Dr. Davis A .; Edmund B., who has been in the employ of railroad com- panies for several years, and is now serving as a conductor on the Wilkesbarre railroad ; and Dr. James II., of Altoona, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume.
Davis A. Hogue spent his boyhood days at home, and received his education in the common schools and at Loretta, Cambria county. Leaving school he read medicine in the office of his uncle, Dr. G. W. Calwell, of Glen Hope, Clearfield county, and then en- tered Jefferson Medical college, Philadel- phia, from which institution he was gradu- ated in the class of 1875. Immediately
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
after graduation he returned to Glen Hope, where he practiced with his unele, Dr. Cal- well, for one year, and then went to Maidera, in Clearfield county, where he remained for two years. At the expiration of that time he removed from Maidera to Houtzdale, a town of nearly two thousand inhabitants, in the same county, where he soon built up a large practice, and remained there for thirteen years. In the spring of 1891 he came to Altoona, as being a wider field for the practice of his profession than what he had enjoyed at Houtzdale, and his expectations have not been disappointed, as he has already a good and rapidly increasing practice.
On November 3d, of the Centennial year, Dr. Hogue was united in marriage with Maggie Feltwell, daughter of Joshua Felt- well, of La Jose, Clearfield county. To their union have been born three children, two sons and one daughter: Grace, Dan and Davis (deceased ).
Dr. Davis A. Hogue is a democrat in politics. The encouraging success which he has won in Altoona has been secured by his ability and skill as a physician, and is such as attended his long and active practice in Clearfield county.
JAMES CONDRON, one of the promi-
nent business men of Blair county and a large real estate owner and lumber dealer, residing in Hollidaysburg, is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Lochard ) Condron, and was born September 12, 1813, in Frankstown township, Blair county, Pennsylvania. The family is of French descent, and was planted in America at a very early day. James Condron (grandfather) was a native of Lancaster county, this State, and removed
to what is now Blair, but was then Hunt- ingdon county, settling near Frankstown. Later he went to Ohio, locating in the vicin- ity of the city of Columbus, where he died. Jacob Condron (father) was also born in Lancaster county, but came with his father's family while yet a lad to what is now Blair county, and was reared on a farm near Frankstown, where he continued to live until 1839, when he removed to Indiana county, and resided there until his death, which occurred in the spring of 1865, when he had attained the age of seventy-seven years. He was a farmer and carpenter, and built a great many barns for the farmers of his locality. He also constructed boats or arks to transport flour and grain on the Juniata river, and in times of high water would run these loaded boats to Columbia. After removing to Indiana county he was exclusively engaged in farming. He was a whig in politics, and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. Ile married Elizabeth Lochard, by whom he had a family of children. She was a native of Fort Littleton, this State, and died in Indiana county in 1872, aged eighty-two years. She also was a life-long member of the Evangelical Lutheran church.
James Condron was principally reared in the township of Frankstown, where he at- tended the common schools - taught at that time in log school houses-until he had attained the age of sixteen years, when he secured a position as clerk in the general store of Washington Webb at Canoe Creek, this county. IIe remained with Mr. Webb about five years, and then went to Rockhill furnace as acting manager of the store and furnace owned by James A. Bell, and con- tinued in that position for three years. In 1841 he formed a partnership with Samuel
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
Good, under the firm name of Good & Condron, and embarked in the general mercantile business at Canoe Creek, this county. This partnership continued until 1844, when Mr. Condron withdrew, and removing to Frankstown, began a general merchandise business at that place in his own name. Here he found a field for his energy and fine business ability, and was not long in organizing a large and lucrative trade. He handled flour, feed and grain in large quantities, and sent several boats loaded with grain to the city of Philadel- phia. He shipped as high as twenty thou- sand bushels of wheat from his store in one year. In 1857 Mr. Condron removed hiş headquarters to Hollidaysburg, where he has resided and been engaged in business ever since. In addition to his general store he began operating the ore mines here, and successfully conducted this combined busi- ness until 1870. He also began handling lumber shortly after removing to Hollidays- burg, in which trade he is still engaged. In addition to all his other enterprises he be- came a dealer in real estate, and has bought and sold about fifteen thousand acres of Cambria county farming and timber lands. Hle still owns some twenty thousand acres of this land, on which is located a steam saw mill, at Dysart station. This station stands on his land, and is now surrounded by quite a village. He has been a large and very successful dealer in lumber for many years. He has also been something of a contractor and builder, having erected many fine houses in Hollidaysburg, among them being the opera house in that city.
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