USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 66
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27, 1885, he came to Tyrone in the employ of the Tyrone Iron Company, as book- keeper at the forges. IIe continued to dis- charge the duties of that post until Sep- tember, 1886, when he was promoted to the position of superintendent of the works, including the forges and rolling mill. The forges were established in 1809 and rebuilt in 1870, while the rolling mill plant was added in 1883. It is equipped with three regenerative gas heating furnaces, supplied with a sixteen-inch train of rolls, and has an annual capacity of twelve thousand tons, principally charcoal, boiler, tube, and skelp iron. The forge department has eight knobling fires, one double run-out, and one steam hammer. The blast is op- erated by water power, and the annual capacity is about five thousand tons of fin- ished products.
Under the supervision of Mr. Sholly the iron company has created a pleasant little village near the works, known as Neal- mont. It already contains fifteen elegant houses, standing on lots forty by one hun- dred and fifty feet, and each built on a separate plan and painted in a different tint, thereby avoiding a monotonous ap- pearance, usual in such villages.
On October 20, 1878, Mr. Sholly was united in marriage to Frances G. Eaton, a daughter of John and Eliza J. Eaton, of the city of New York. Their union has been blessed by the birth of five children : Lizzie J., Frank P. II., Dora S., Margaret II., and one other.
In politics Mr. Sholly is, a stalwart re- publican, giving the "grand old party" a right loyal support, but entirely without political ambition himself. IIe is a mem- ber of the Protestant Episcopal church, and takes an active part in the work of his
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church. Some five years ago he had a room fitted up at the Tyrone forges in which he has ever since successfully con- ducted a flourishing Sabbath school.
SOLOMON S. LEIIMAN, a well known citizen of North Woodbury township, and who has now retired from active life, is a son of John and Mary (Secrist ) Lehman, and was born in Taylor township, Blair county, Pennsylvania, November 7, 1832. John Lehman was born near Chambersburg, in Franklin county, and came, in 1804, to a section of Taylor township, which was then heavily timbered. He purchased, for eight hundred dollars, a forest tract of two hun- dred acres of land, which he cleared and converted into a valuable and well improved farm. He died, aged seventy-seven years, three months and eight days. Mr. Lehman was an old-line whig and republican in pol- ities, and served for a number of years as a school director. He was a deacon, and afterward an elder of the Reformed church, of whose faith and teachings he was an earnest advocate. He was twice married. Ilis first wife was Mary Secrist. By his first marriage he had ten children, seven sons and three daughters : Jacob, Catherine Stoner, Samuel, John, now dead; William, Solomon S., Barbara Guyer, Mary A. (de- ceased ) ; and Christian and David, who are both dead.
Solomon S. Lehman was reared on the farm, received a good common school edu- cation, and has always followed farming. He owns two fine farms in North Woodbury township, whose area aggregate two hun- dred and fourteen acres of very fine and well improved land. He resides almost within the limits of the borough of Martinsburg,
and has a neat and tasteful home. Mr. Lehman is a, republican in politics, has served as school director and member of the council of his borough, and has fre- quently represented his township in repub- lican county conventions. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church of Mar- tinsburg, and has within the last few years retired from active life.
On January 26, 1862, Mr. Lehman mar- ried Mary A. Brown, and to their union have been born six children, two sons and four daughters: Emma J., wife of John Fersy, a farmer of Martinsburg; Minnie, married George C. Allen, who is engaged in farming in North Woodbury township; Anna, wife of William S. Tipton, a farmer; Effie, Roy, and Homer.
THOMAS LOUDON, of Williamsburg, is one of that class of men who, in the battle of life, with no capital but ability and energy and unwearied labor, have won honorable position and financial standing. He is a son of William and Mary (Mat- thews ) Loudon, and was born at Allegheny furnace, Blair county, Pennsylvania, Jan- uary 27, 1817. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Loudon, was a native of Ireland, and when a youth came to Pennsylvania, where he settled at Lebanon, in Lebanon county. He was a farmer, and married and reared a family of five sons and two daugh- ters. His son, William Loudon (father), was born June 27, 1792, in Lebanon, and came to the site of Altoona, where he pur- ceased one of three farms upon which the principal part of the Mountain City is built to-day. He died in Altoona, January 2, 1864, at seventy-two years of age. Ile was a whig and afterward a republican in poli-
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ties, and served successively as supervisor of Allegheny township and supervisor of the poor for Blair county. IIe was a mem- ber and a deacon of the Evangelical Lu- theran church, and married Mary Matthews, by whom he had nine children, eight sons and one daughter, of whom four sons and the daughter are living, and for a fuller his- tory of Mr. Loudon, see sketch of his son, John Loudon, which appears in this vol- ume. Mrs. Loudon was a daughter of Abraham Matthews (maternal grandfather), who was of German descent, and in 1820 came from eastern Pennsylvania to Alle- gheny furnace, where he followed his trade of carpenter until a few years before his death, in 1850, when in the eightieth year of his age. He married and had a family of six children, five sons and one daughter.
Thomas Loudon received his education in the subscription schools, and assisted his father on the farm until he was twenty-two years of age, when he went to work on the Pennsylvania railroad, which he soon left to engage in boating on the old canal be- tween Philadelphia and Hollidaysburg. Leaving the canal he worked for a short time at an iron furnace, and afterward, in 1846, bought the farm in Woodbury town- ship, on which he has resided ever since 1861. Mr. Loudon also owns a good farm of one hundred and twenty acres near Clo- ver Creek, and another farm of the same amount of acres in Sinking valley, besides a valuable house and lot in Altoona, and a splendid tract of timber land on the ridge back of that city.
On February 22, 1844, Mr. Loudon mar- ried Eliza J. McCauley, daughter of Daniel and Nancy MeCauley, of Juniata township, and who died August 28, 1891. To Mr. and Mrs. Loudon were born ten children,
eight of whom are living: Lucinda, wife of John II. Lyken, of Huntingdon; Ellen, who married George M. Eichholtz, a farmer and very successful teacher of Frankstown; Sallie B., wife of George Speilman, who is engaged in farming; Margaret, wife of David Speilman, who is a farmer; Idella; Grace A .; James, who married Laura Wertz; and William M., who is engaged in business in San Francisco, California.
Thomas Loudon has served continuously as an elder and deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran church since 1839, and has been a member and deacon since 1861 in the Williamsburg church of that religious de- nomination. He is an active republican in politics, and has served Woodbury town- ship as supervisor for one year, and as school director for over twenty-five years. IIe is a member and past grand of Orphans' Home Lodge, No. 314, Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Williamsburg. Thomas Loudon is self-reliant but prudent, coura- geous but cautious, and can claim with jus- tifiable pride that he has been the architect of his own fortune, and that commencing life as a poor boy has, by his own unaided efforts, won honorable standing and a com- petency.
EDWARD H. LYTLE, one of the young and successful business men of Martinsburg and central Pennsylvania, is a son of Edward H., sr., and Elizabeth (Shoenberger) Lytle, and was born in the city of Philadelphia, May 2, 1859. Ilis paternal grandfather, Gen. William Lytle, was a native of Pennsylvania, and at an early day went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he purchased a part of the present site of that great city, in parts of which he erected some of the first houses. He
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
was a civil engineer by profession, was ap- pointed by President Jackson as surveyor general of the northwestern territory, then comprising the present States of Wisconsin and Michigan, and made extensive surveys of the lands within their boundaries. He was a democrat in politics, ranked high as a prominent man in the country northwest of the Ohio river, and held many offices of trust and responsibility.
General Lytle married Elizabeth Noel, by whom he had five children : William II., Eliza A. McAllister, Major John S., of the United States army ; John Stahl, Gen- eral Robert, who served as a United States senator from Ohio; and Edward H., sr. The youngest son, Edward II. Lytle, sr., was born at Williamsburg, Clermont county, Ohio, September 5, 1809, and followed civil engineering as a profession. He was resi- dent in early life at Pittsburg, afterward returned to Ohio, and in 1841 came to Blair county, where he was manager of Rebecca furnace, in Huston township. He was a democrat in politics, a member of the Pres- byterian church, and married Elizabeth Shoenberger. To their union were born seven children : Sarah, wife of Dr. C. W. White, of Barre, Massachusetts; Eliza A., married Judge Hemphill, of West Chester, this State; Fannie, wife of P. II. Page, who is in the insurance business in Pittsburg; Florence, who married O. H. Ohrmsby, who is in the insurance business in Altoona; Caroline, wife of Joseph G. Ohrmsby, as- sistant treasurer of the Valley Gas Company of Pittsburg; Ida, wife of John Johnson, a civil engineer of North Carolina; and Ed- ward H.
Mrs. Lytle is a daughter of Dr. Peter Shoenberger, who was born in Lancaster county, graduated from Jefferson Medical
college of Philadelphia, and afterward came to Pittsburg, where he practiced his profes- sion for some time. Owing to declining health he removed to Juniata forges, where he practiced for a short time, and then pur- chased the forges. After operating them for a short time, he widened out the field of his iron business until he owned and most successfully operated Marietta furnace, near Philadelphia, the Shoenberger rolling mills of Pittsburg, and Sarah, Bloomfield, Re- becca, Elizabeth, and Martha furnaces, of Blair county. He also built and operated the Upper, Middle, and Lower Maria forges. He was the most successful ironmaster that the State of Pennsylvania has produced, and ranked as one of the leading iron manufac- turers of the United States. Dr. Shoen- berger was a republican in politics.
Edward HI. Lytle was reared near Mar- tinsburg, received his education in Dr. Farr's Latin school, of Philadelphia, and for sev- eral years has been engaged in the manage- ment of his mother's estate of thirty-three thousand acres of land lying in Blair, Bed- ford, Huntingdon, and Cambria counties. He is 'a democrat in politics, always gives the attention required to his affairs, and has shown ability and good judgment in the management of his business.
JACOB W. LAW, a substantial farmer of North Woodbury township, and one of the highest degree Odd Fellows of Blair county, is a son of Jacob and Catherine (Rhodes) Law, and was born at Hickory Bottom, Bedford (now Blair) county, Penn- sylvania, August 23, 1847. Jacob Law was born on the present site of Henrietta, then in Bedford county, July 5, 1817. Ile followed farming for a few years near his
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
birthplace, and then came to near Curry- ville, where he still resides. He is a repub- lican in politics, and served several terms as supervisor of his township. He is a member of the Reformed church, in which he has- served both as a deacon and an elder. He has been afflicted within the last few years, and at the present time is not able to attend to his farm and business. He married Catherine Rhodes, and to their union were born four children, three sons and one daughter: John, Paul, Jacob W., and Mary.
Jacob W. Law was reared on the farm, received his education in the common schools, and has been engaged ever since in farming near Newry, in North Wood- bury township, where he owns a valuable and well improved farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres of good grain and grazing land. Mr. Law has been assiduous in cultivating and building up his land, and has taken great pains to improve his prop- erty, which is considered to be very desir- able in a section noted for having some very fine and valuable farms. He is one of that class that recognizes the truth that patient industry and perseverance are necessary to any marked degree of success in agricultural pursuits. His farm is eligibly located in regard to church, school, and market.
Jacob W. Law was united in marriage with Kate Brown, daughter of Daniel Brown, of North Woodbury township. To their union have been born two children : Mary and Clara.
In politics Mr. Law is a stanch republi- van, but takes no decided or prominent part during campaigns or at the polls, although he heartily supports the principles and nominees of his party. He is a member of the Reformed church, in whose teachings he
was reared. He has been an Odd Fellow for many years, having attained to the royal purple or highest degree of the order in the United States. He is a member of Roaring Spring Lodge, No. 545, and Mar- tinsburg Encampment, No. 271, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has held ap- pointive offices in both lodge and encamp- ment.
JOHN H. MORROW, a pleasant and intelligent gentleman, of Arch Spring, and a descendant of the old pioneer Mor- row and Moore families of the Juniata valley, is a son of Maj. Robert and Mar- garet (Moore) Morrow, and was born in Tyrone township, Huntingdon (now Blair) county, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1812. The name of Morrow was originally written Murray, and the paternal grandfather of John H. Morrow was Robert Morrow, a native of Ireland, who came, about 1770, to Path valley, in Huntingdon county, which he left about 1779 or 1780 to settle in Sinking valley, in Tyrone township, where he died about 1810. He was annoyed fre- quently by Indians, and had several narrow escapes from them. With others of the early settlers he often retired to some of the frontier forts upon the alarm of an Indian invasion, and generally went armed to the field. He was a farmer and kept a small store, and made two or more trips to Ireland to lay in a stock of goods. He was a fine penman and a good scholar, and his store ledgers, dating back to 1772,which are in the possession of John H. Morrow, are kept well, and show the unusual busi- ness ability and excellent education of Robert Morrow. He married a Miss Coch- ran, and reared a family of three children, two sons and one daughter: Maj. Robert;
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
James, who married Nancy Stewart, and died in 1841, aged fifty-six years; and Re- becca, who married James E. Stewart. Maj. Robert Morrow ( father) was born in P'ath valley in 1777, and was brought by his parents to Sinking valley, where he resided on the homestead until his death, which occurred in 1855, when he was in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He was a good farmer for his day, and cleared out a large part of his farm. He was a whig and republican in politics, and served as a ma- jor in the Pennsylvania militia. IIe mar- ried Margaret Moore, and they had eight children, six sons and two daughters. Mrs. Morrow, who died in 1866, at eighty-eight years of age, was a daughter of Joseph Moore, who was of Irish descent, and set- tled, before the revolutionary war, in Sink- ing valley, where he had several times to defend his home against the attacks of In- dians. He died about 1807, and left a fam- ily of six daughters.
John HI. Morrow was born and reared on the old homestead, received his education in the common and subscription schools, and then engaged in farming, which he has followed most successfully up to the present time. He owns a farm of two hundred and fifty-six acres of good land, of which one hundred and fifty-six acres are well im- proved. His farm is fertile and one of the best in the county.
In politics Mr. Morrow was an old-line whig until that party went out of existence and then identified himself with the Re- publican party, whose principles he has supported ever since. He gives his time largely to farming and stock-raising, yet keeps himself well informed upon the cur- rent events of the day, and ever takes a deep interest in the advancement and im-
provement of the community in which he resides. Mr. Morrow is a member of the Presbyterian church at Arch Spring, in which he has always been an active worker, and of which he has served as trustee for several years. He is a good citizen, a suc- cessful farmer, and an intelligent and up- right man.
M ARTIN BELL, one of the prominent citizens and leading business men and ironmasters of the Juniata valley, was born in Blair county, and was a son of Edward and Mary ( Martin ) Bell. His paternal grandfather, John Bell, was one of the pio- neer settlers of Blair county, who faced all the privations of frontier life, and risked the dangers of captivity and death at the hands of the merciless Indian to establish homes for themselves in the beautiful Juniata valley. His son, Edward Bell ( father), was born March 17, 1769, and died April 14, 1852. IIe was a large land holder, founded Bellwood, and became one of the early ironmasters of central Pennsyl- vania. He married Mary A. Martin, daugh- ter of Rev. James Martin, of Scotch-Irish descent, and reared a family of nine chil- dren, seven sons and two daughters. One of their sons was the late Rev. A. K. Bell, D. D.
Martin Bell was reared in his native county, received a good practical education, and at an early age engaged in the iron manufacturing business, in which he became prominent.
IIe married and reared a family of chil- dren, of whom one daughter, Margaret, is the wife of Judge John Dean, whose sketch appears in this volume.
Martin Bell was of an inventive turn of mind, and not wishing to have his furnaces
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
in blast on Sundays, he rebuilt the stack and so arranged matters that the fires could be banked each Saturday night with ease and safety, and work again resumed on the following Monday morning. In 1836 he utilized the gas which had hitherto escaped unused from the tunnel head, and in conse- quence Elizabeth furnace was the first in the country to use the escaping gas for the production of steam. These improvements were patented in 1840, and Martin Bell became entitled to a royalty from all iron- masters using gas, but being of a generous nature he never pressed his claims, and probably did not realize more than three thousand dollars in all for his valuable in- vention. IIe became wealthy though, and the furnace is now owned by his heirs.
JACOB MCCLELLAN, one of the thrifty farmers of Frankstown town- ship, is the second child and eldest son of George and Sarah ( Myers) Mcclellan, and was born in Tuckahoe valley, Blair county, Pennsylvania, October 29, 1836. Ifis pater- nal grandfather, Jacob Mcclellan, removed to Sinking valley, where he resided for some years. IIe then went to MeCamant's old forge, where he remained until his death. He married, and reared a family of nine children, of whom were: Annie, Eliz- abeth, James, William, John, George, and Jacob. George Mcclellan, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a common laborer, an old-line whig in politics, and married Sarah Myers. To their union were born eight children, three sons and five daughters: Hannah, Jacob, Elizabeth, Sarah, Theresa, Fannie, Scott, and William.
Jacob MeClellan was reared in Blair county, received his education in the early
common schools of Pennsylvania, and com- menced life for himself as a teamster. In a short time he quit teaming, went to Al- toona, where he worked for several years in the shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and at the end of that time pur- chased his present farm in Frankstown township.
Mr. MeClellan was united in marriage with Jane E. Baird, daughter of Jonathan Baird. To their union have been born eight children, four sons and four daughters : Joseph, married Jane Stover, and is a gas plumber of Altoona; Rose Anna, wife of David Coughenour, who is employed in the shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany at Altoona; Sarah (deceased ) ; Grant, Minnie, Lulu, Jacob, and William, now dead.
Jacob MeClellan owns a good farm of eighty acres of land, which he carefully cultivates. Politically Mr. Mcclellan is a straight republican, and always votes for the nominees of that party. He is a good farmer and a careful business man.
JAMES McMASTER is one who has made such commendable use of his op- portunities as to raise himself from com- parative obscurity to a prominent place and honorable standing in the general mercan- tile business at Newry and among the lead- ing merchants of Blair county. He is a son of Francis and Mary ( Null ) McMaster, and was born at Woodbury, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1851. Francis MeMaster was born in Adams county in 1820, and at ten years of age was brought to Claysburg, this county, from which, in a short time, he went to Martinsburg, where he has resided ever since. Ile re- ceived his education in the rather limited
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
schools of his day, and learned the trade of carpenter, which he followed until of late years, when he retired from active life and invested in real estate near Martinsburg, where he now owns three large farms. IIe married Mary Null. To their union were born seven children: Catherine, John, James, Lewis, who married Martha Me- Graw, and is engaged in the general mer- cantile business at Duncansville; Thomas, married, and has charge of one of his father's farms near Martinsburg; Ellen, Anna, and one that died in infancy.
James McMaster passed his boyhood days at Martinsburg and in its immediate vicinity, and received his education in the common schools. With no capital but his hands and plenty of energy, he went out into the world when but a boy to fight the battle of life for himself. He commenced at the bottom rung in the mercantile busi- ness-as a clerk in a small country store- but by his aptitude for business, prompt- ness and energy rose rapidly to better po- sitions in larger stores, and eventually had saved and acquired means sufficient to em- bark in the mercantile business at Newry for himself. Here the exercise of the same qualities which had made him popular as a clerk rendered him successful as a mer- chant. Slowly but steadily he enlarged his stock and increased his trade until his house was of such size and importance as to equal any of the larger mercantile estab- lishments in the different towns of central Pennsylvania. In order to transact his present business he occupies three large buildings. The main one is divided into departments and devoted to general mer- chandise, while the second is used as a hardware house, and the third is utilized as a grain and feed store. In addition to his
extensive mercantile business, which aver- ages twenty thousand dollars per year, he is engaged in the lumber trade, and has large yards near his principal place of busi- ness, at the old Knox stand, which he has so enlarged, remodeled, and refitted that it hardly bears any resemblance to what it was formerly in appearance.
Mr. MeMaster married Margaret Me- Graw, daughter of Elwood McGraw, and to their union have been born five children, two sons and three daughters. Maria, Lizzie, and Katie are the names of the daughters.
James McMaster is a democrat in poli- ties, and has served as school director and as treasurer of his borough, in which offices he served faithfully and with satis- faction to the public. He is a member of the Catholic church, and ever responds cheerfully to the support of the church and the cause of Christianity. Mr. MeMaster has great capacity for work and wonderful energy for overcoming obstacles, and has met with remarkable success in his various and varied business enterprises.
S AMUEL R. SCHMUCKER, senior member of the firm of Schmucker & Co., and one of the leading and most influ- ential business men of eastern Blair county, is a son of George . and Mary ( Royer) Schmucker, and was born at Cove forge, Woodbury township, Blair county, Penn- sylvania, August 10, 1827. His paternal grandfather, Rev. John George Schmucker, D. D., was born in Germany in 1770, and at fourteen years of age, in 1784, came with his two brothers to eastern Virginia. He afterwards went to Philadelphia, where he studied theology under Dr. Helmuth,
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
alid was called to his first charge at York, tins State. After twelve years of faithful service he went to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he remained two years, at the end of which time he returned to York, and re- mained there until 1850, in which year he came to Williamsburg, this county, at which place he died in 1855. Dr. Schmucker was one of the most able and prominent Luth- eran ministers of Pennsylvania, and at his death his body was carried to York and buried in front of the Lutheran church there, for whose upbuilding he spent the letter part of his life. ITis son, George Schmucker (father) was born at York in 1794, and died at Tipton, Iowa, in 1879, at eighty-five years of age. IIe was engaged sitecessively in the mercantile business at Martinsburg, and from 1845 to 1854 was in partnership with his brother-in-law, John Royer, in the iron business at Cove forge. During 1855 he went to Tipton, Iowa, where he purchased a large tract of land and resided there until his death. He was an upright and just man, and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and in 1819 married Mary Royer. She was a daughter of Daniel and Catherine (Stoner) Royer, and a grand-daughter of Capt. Samuel Royer, who commanded a company at the battle of Brandywine, where he was wounded. George and Mary ( Royer) Schmucker were the parents of eight chil- dren : John, of Eldorado, Kansas; Samuel R .; Daniel, a druggist of Des Moines, Iowa ; Martin L., of Cove forge; Catherine, widow of Robert McKee, and resides at Tipton, Iowa; Ellen (deceased); Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Wampler, a grocer of Tipton, Iowa; and Melissa, now dead.
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