USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > Cambria County pioneers; a collection of brief biographical and other sketches relating to the early history of Cambria County, Pennsylvania > Part 5
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John Royer, the subject of this sketch, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on November 22, 1778. We first hear of him as a clerk at Chambers' Iron Works, about four miles from Loudon, in Path valley, Franklin county. These works embraced Mt. Pleasant furnace and forge, which were built about 1783 by three brothers, Wil- liam, Benjamin, and George Chambers. The works were burned in 1843. In 1800 John Dunlap built Logan fur- nace, near Bellefonte, in Centre county, and about 1805-6-7 John Royer and his brother-in-law, Andrew Boggs, operated this furnace under lease from Mr. Dunlap, the firm name being Boggs & Royer.
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JOHN ROYER, HUGUENOT.
We next hear of Mr. Royer as the builder, between 1808 and 1810, of Cove forge, in Blair county, then Hunt- ingdon county, Pennsylvania, on the Frankstown branch of the Juniata river, about seventeen miles east of Holli- daysburg. Mr. Royer carried on Cove forge for ten or twelve years. In the spring of 1821 he moved from Cove forge to Williamsburg, in Huntingdon county, and in the same year he was the successful Whig candidate for the lower branch of the Pennsylvania Legislature, defeating Da- vid R. Porter, the Democratic candidate, also an ironmaster, who was at the time one of the owners of Sligo forge, on Spruce creek, Huntingdon county, and who was elected Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania in 1838 and again in 1841, serving six years. In 1823 Mr. Royer moved from Williamsburg to a point on the Kiskiminitas river below Saltsburg, but on the Westmoreland side of the river, to engage in the manufacture of salt in company with his brother-in-law, Andrew Boggs, who had laid out the town of Saltsburg in the winter of 1816-17 and had given it its name.
From the Kiskiminitas river Mr. Royer moved to Pitts- burgh in the spring of 1826, where he opened an iron warehouse. At the end of three years, in the fall of 1829, the Pennsylvania Canal having been completed to Blairs- ville, Mr. Royer changed his residence to that place, where he acted as the agent for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Transportation Company, goods then being trans-shipped at Blairsville and hauled over the Northern Turnpike to. Huntingdon, where they met the eastern division of the canal. Some time in 1832 Mr. Royer moved to Saltsburg, again engaging in the business of making salt, this time at " Boggs's Works," about two miles east of Saltsburg, on the Westmoreland side of the Conemaugh river. In the spring of 1834 Mr. Royer transferred his lease of the above named salt works to George W. Swank and moved to Johnstown, becoming the agent of the Pennsylvania and Ohio line of boats and cars for the transportation of freight and pas- sengers between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Portage Railroad was opened for business in the spring of that year. In this occupation, for which he was admirably fitted, Mr. Royer spent the next eight or ten years, when ill-
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health compelled him to retire. He was succeeded by Wil- liam I. Maclay. In the fall of 1838 Mr. Swank also moved his family to Johnstown, where he died on May 29, 1856, at the age of 46 years and a few weeks. He was born in Westmoreland county in 1810 and was my father.
Mr. Royer died at his residence on Washington street, then called Canal street, east of Franklin street, on March 5, 1850, aged 71 years, three months, and thirteen days. His popularity at Johnstown is attested by his election in 1841 as the Whig candidate for the lower house of the Legis- lature from the district composed of Somerset and Cam- bria counties. Ill-health prevented him from being a can- didate for re-election in 1842 and Major John Linton be- came the Whig candidate and was elected.
Mr. Royer was a man of more than ordinary ability. His disposition was genial and his manners were courtly. He was a gentleman of the old school. Mrs. Royer, whose maiden name was Jane Boggs, also a native of Franklin county, but of Scotch-Irish ancestry, survived her husband many years, dying at Johnstown, at the home of her son- in-law, Hon. Cyrus L. Pershing, on October 28, 1869, aged 85 years and seven months. She was born on March 13, 1784. The remains of both Mr. and Mrs. Royer now rest in Grand View cemetery. To Mr. and Mrs. Royer were born eleven children, only two of whom are now living, Sarah Jane, who became the wife of Robert Bingham, and Mary Letitia, who married Hon. Cyrus L. Pershing. We give their names as follows : Catherine, wife of Gen. Edward Hamilton, John Boggs, Samuel J., Theodore, Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Charles D. Pearson, Alfred, Nancy, wife of William L. Shryock, Alexander, Sarah Jane, wife of Robert Bingham, Andrew Francis, and Mary L., wife of Hon. Cyrus L. Pershing. On Sunday, January 22, 1899, Alfred Royer, the last survivor of John Royer's sons, died at the residence of his brother- in-law, William L. Shryock, in Johnstown. Alfred Royer told us that he was the captain of the first train of freight cars that passed over the Portage Railroad from Johnstown to Hollidaysburg. This was in the spring of 1834. For more than fifty years the name of Royer has been prom- inent in the business and social life of Johnstown.
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MAJOR JOHN LINTON.
MAJOR JOHN LINTON.
PREPARED AND PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION IN SEPTEMBER, 1881, AND SINCE REVISED.
IN the latter part of the eighteenth century there lived in County Derry, Ireland, a Scotch-Irish farmer named William Linton, who had three children, William, Mary, and John. John, the youngest, was born in 1773. He was well educated, his studies embracing the higher mathematics, surveying being a branch which he had completely master- ed. While still pursuing his studies he became involved in the political troubles which culminated in the Rebel- lion of 1798 and was forced to fly to America. Landing att Baltimore he obtained employment as a clerk. In a short time he removed to Greencastle, Franklin county, Pennsyl- vania, where he was first employed as a clerk and after- wards opened a general store, which he kept for several years. Here he met and about 1801 married Ann Park.
The father of Ann Park was Robert Park. In 1794 the Park family emigrated from Ireland to Philadelphia, where the father, who was a teacher of mathematics, soon after- wards died. His widow subsequently married Colonel James Johnston, a surveyor, who had served in the Pennsylvania Line during the Revolution. His home was near Green- castle, to which place the children of Robert Park removed with their mother, and where Ann Park, as we have stated, married John Linton. The remaining children of Robert Park were all married at Greencastle. Elizabeth married John Agnew ; John married Mary Lang, the daughter of Rev. James Lang, a Presbyterian minister ; and Mary mar- ried Ninian Cochran, a surveyor of Cumberland, Maryland.
About 1806 John Linton removed with his family to Frankstown, Huntingdon county, now Blair county, where he and his brother-in-law, John Agnew, opened a general store. Soon afterwards the firm was dissolved and John
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Agnew removed to Ebensburg, Cambria county, where he resided for several years. One of his daughters, Maria, married Dr. David T. Storm, a physician of Johnstown.
John Linton removed from Frankstown to Johnstown in 1810, where his early education as a surveyor was brought into requisition for the support of his family, conveyanc- ing being in those days part of a surveyor's profession. He surveyed many tracts of land in Cambria county and wrote the articles of agreement and the deeds for their convey- ance. In 1811 he was elected one of the commissioners of Cambria county, taking his seat with the board on the 26th of October of that year. The board consisted of James Magehan, Andrew Anderson, and John Linton. In October, 1814, his term of office expired, and in October, 1815, he was re-elected for another term of three years and was qualified on November 6, his associates being John Rhey and James Magehan. John Agnew was elected clerk of the board. The minutes of the board show that John Linton acted with the commissioners for the last time on the 9th of April, 1818. In the minutes of the board, dated August 6, 1818, in the handwriting of Moses Canan, clerk, we read that "David Price and Joseph Burgoon, the com- missioners, in conjunction with the court of common pleas, appointed Richard Lewis as commissioner until the next general election, in the place of John Linton, deceased." He died on July 25, 1818, aged 45 years. His remains now rest in Grand View cemetery. Soon after his removal to Johnstown John Linton was appointed postmaster of that place, an appointment which he held until his death. He was succeeded in this office by Shepley Priestley. The first postmaster at Johnstown was John Beaty, who made his first quarterly return on July 1, 1811, but the date of his appointment can not be given, as the records of appoint- ments made during that period have been destroyed by fire. His successor, John Linton, was appointed on July 17, 1811, being the second incumbent of the office.
At the time of his death John Linton resided in the building on the corner of Main and Franklin streets, the site of which was afterwards occupied by the drug store of C. T. Frazer. A few years after the death of her hus-
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MAJOR JOHN LINTON.
band Mrs. Linton purchased the upper half of the square of ground lying between Market and Walnut and Main and Locust streets, upon which had been erected a large build- ing that had been used as a public house. This building stood on the site of the residence afterwards occupied by John Dibert. Mrs. Linton died on April 2, 1835, at the age of 54 years. Her remains rest beside those of her husband in Grand View cemetery. Her house was the social centre of Johnstown for many years. She and her husband were Presbyterians in their religious belief. Mrs. Linton was the first person in Johnstown to use bituminous coal as a do- mestic fuel. She used it in a grate about 1822.
John Linton was the father of six children, all of whom survived him and their mother. Their names were Mary, Robert Park, Jane, John, Eliza, and Louisa. Mary married John Matthews of Johnstown and died in 1855 at Fairfield, Iowa. Her husband, who did not long survive her, had but recently removed to Fairfield. When comparatively a young man Mr. Matthews was elected a member of the State Legislature from the district composed of Somerset and Cambria counties, and upon the opening of the western division of the Pennsylvania Canal in 1830 he was appoint- ed the first collector of tolls in Johnstown. Robert married Phobe Levergood, daughter of Peter Levergood, the leading citizen of Johnstown. She died in 1842. Robert P. Linton died in March, 1879, after having filled the office of sheriff of Cambria county for three terms, being elected in 1831, 1837, and 1858. His oldest son, Colonel John Park Linton, who died in 1892, was well known as a prominent citizen of the State as well as a lawyer and soldier. Jane mar- ried Joseph Chamberlain, a native of Vermont, who had been a resident of Johnstown for several years. He was a civil engineer by profession. He removed to Cleveland about 1846 and died in 1866 at his home in that city. While residing at Johnstown he served one term as one of two representatives of Somerset and Cambria counties in the Legislature. Eliza married Dr. Charles G. Phythian, a native of England but practicing his profession at Johns- town. He removed to Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1844, where his wife died in 1855. One of her children, Robert Lees,
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has distinguished himself as an officer in the United States Navy, attaining the high rank of commodore. Louisa mar- ried S. Moylan Fox, a native of Philadelphia and a gradu- ate of West Point. At the time of his marriage he was. engaged as a civil engineer on the Portage Railroad. John, the last to be noticed of the children of John Linton and Ann Park, married Adelaide Henrietta Lacock, the young- est daughter of General Abner Lacock, of Beaver county, on September 1, 1831.
John Linton, the second, after receiving a fair common- school education at Johnstown and Pittsburgh, entered the store of Silas Moore at Ebensburg as a clerk when he was about 16 years old, where he remained about two years, at the end of which time he engaged in business for himself at Johnstown, buying a stock of goods from Shepley and Thomas Priestley and opening a store on Main street. In a few years his old employer, Silas Moore, became a part- ner with him in his store, when the business was consider- ably enlarged and the store was removed to the southwest corner of Main and Franklin streets, now "the bank cor- ner." Mr. Moore's interest was soon afterwards purchased by Mr. Linton, who continued the business without a part- ner for several years, when a partnership was formed with his brother-in-law, Joseph Chamberlain, and the store was removed to the northeast corner of Main and Clinton streets, where a brick store-room was built by the firm. This building was destroyed by the Johnstown flood, at. which time it was owned by Jacob Wild. This partnership was continued for many years. During its continuance the firm engaged in various contracts upon the public improve- ments then in progress in the western part of the State. We remember the sign of this firm, Linton & Chamberlain.
About 1840 John Linton was elected captain of the Conemaugh Guards, a volunteer military company, which he commanded until about the time of his removal from Johnstown to Rochester, Beaver county, in 1853. This com- pany was organized as early as 1835, in which year Gov- ernor Ritner, in accordance with the action of the company, commissioned Joseph Chamberlain as its captain. In 1849 Captain Linton was elected inspector of the brigade to
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MAJOR JOHN LINTON.
which his company was attached, which position conferred upon him the title of major, by which he was ever after- wards known. He served as brigade inspector for several years, and whether as Captain Linton or as Major Linton he was always popular with officers and men.
Political as well as military honors were early conferred upon John Linton. His first vote was cast against Andrew Jackson and he became one of the most active members of the Whig party of Cambria county. In October, 1842, he was chosen a Whig member of the lower branch of the Legislature from the district composed of Somerset and Cambria counties, which was entitled to two members. In the session of 1843, following his election, he secured the partition of the district and the erection of Cambria county into an independent district, entitled to one member. Al- though the county was Democratic so great was the popu- larity of John Linton that he was nevertheless re-elected to the Legislature in October, 1843, defeating David Somer- ville, the Democratic nominee. He was not again a candi- date for the Legislature for several years afterwards, but in 1845 he was the Whig candidate for prothonotary, but was beaten by 31 votes, through the defection of a rival aspirant for the nomination. His successful competitor before the people was Joseph McDonald, the regular Democratic nomi- nee. In 1850 Dr. William A. Smith, of Ebensburg, repre- sented Cambria county in the lower branch of the Legisla- ture, and during the session of that year Cambria and Bed- ford counties were united in one legislative district, entitled to two members. At the election in the fall of that year Dr. Smith of Cambria and John Cessna of Bedford were the Democratic nominees and John Linton of Cambria and Samuel J. Castner of Bedford were the Whig nominees. Cessna and Linton were elected. In 1852 John Linton was a Presidential elector on the Whig State ticket, Winfield Scott and William A. Graham being the Whig candidates for President and Vice President. This was John Linton's last appearance as a candidate for any public office.
In 1845 John Linton, having retired from the mercantile business, formed a partnership with William Huber and Jacob Myers for the manufacture of pig iron, and in that
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year the firm commenced the erection of Somerset furnace at Forwardstown, in Somerset county, a few miles from Johnstown. The furnace was put in blast in 1846 and in 1847 Mr. Linton disposed of his interest in the enterprise and bought the interest of Peter Levergood in Mount Ver- non furnace at Johnstown, which had been built in 1845 and 1846 and was the first furnace at Johnstown. John and Robert P. Linton and John Galbreath became the sole owners of the furnace, under the name of Lintons & Gal- breath. This firm was succeeded by Rhey, Matthews & Co.
In 1849 John Linton formed a partnership with George Merriman, of Crawford county, and Colonel Thomas J. Power, of Beaver county, for the construction of one mile of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Johnstown. The work extended from a point just west of the dam in the Cone- maugh, near the eastern end of Conemaugh borough, to Cambria City, and was completed in 1850. It embraced. the masonry for an iron bridge over the Conemaugh just. west of Johnstown. In this year the firm agreed to build about three miles of the Pennsylvania Railroad immedi- ately east of the viaduct over the Conemaugh river east of Johnstown, and extending almost to the village of Summer- hill. On the completion of this work in 1853 the firm se- cured a contract for the construction of a bridge over the Beaver river and about two miles of roadbed below Roches- ter for the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Wheeling Railroad, and Major Linton's presence being required to superintend the work he removed his family to Rochester. The contract. was completed in 1855. In this year George Merriman, John Linton, and others took a contract for the construction of eight miles of the Pittsburgh and Erie Railroad. Work on this contract was suspended in 1857, owing to the finan- cial difficulties of the railroad company.
From 1857 until the beginning of the civil war in 1861 Major Linton was not actively engaged in any business. In May, 1861, his old business associate, Colonel Power, who had been placed in charge of the Virginia railroads leading to Washington, sent for him to assist in rebuilding some of the lines which had been destroyed. He was commissioned major by the Secretary of War, Simon Cameron. In this
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MAJOR JOHN LINTON.
service and in the construction for the Government of steamboat wharves on the Potomac at and opposite to Georgetown Major Linton was engaged until late in the year 1862, when he returned to Rochester. From this time until 1872 he was engaged in various enterprises, after which year he remained in retirement at Rochester.
Major John Linton was born at Frankstown, Blair county, on May 12, 1809, and died at Rochester on Decem- ber 5, 1894, aged 85 years, six months, and a few days. His wife Adelaide was born at Beaver on June 12, 1808, and died at Rochester on November 1, 1895, aged 87 years, four months, and a few days. They rest in Beaver cemetery.
Ann Park's brother, John Park, came to the wilds of Indiana county in 1795 with Colonel Johnston, who had become his stepfather. In 1798 John Park bought a tract of land on which the town of Marion now stands, and in 1799 he erected a log cabin on the southwest corner of the town, the first house within its limits. Here he died in 1844, at the age of 68 years. Mary Park, who married Nin- ian Cochran, removed to Johnstown about 1827, after the death of her husband. A daughter, Arabella, came to Johns- town with her mother and a few years afterwards married Selah Chamberlain, a brother of Joseph Chamberlain, and she and her husband were for many years residents of Cleveland. When a young man Selah Chamberlain was a clerk in the store of Linton & Chamberlain. Mrs. Cochran died at Johnstown in 1834. A few years after the death of her husband, Colonel Johnston, the mother of the Park children went to Johnstown to live with her daughter, Mrs. Linton. Here she died on May 31, 1831, aged 82 years.
In No. 2 of Vol. IV of The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (1880) appeared a sketch of General Lacock, prepared by the writer of this sketch. General Lacock, who was a native of Virginia, was frequently a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, a Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania from 1811 to 1813, and a United States Senator from the same State from 1813 to 1819, and held many other positions of honor and useful- ness, dying at his home near Freedom, Beaver county, on the 12th of April, 1837, in his 66th year.
4
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General Lacock is entitled to honorable mention in any detailed reference to the early history of Johnstown. After his term in the Senate had expired he took an active part in advocating the policy of uniting the Delaware and the Ohio by a State line of canals and railroads. From the sketch of his life above referred to we copy the following details : " On the 11th of April, 1825, five commissioners were appointed to make a complete survey of a route for the contemplated improvements, and General Lacock was one of these five, the others being John Sergeant, William Darlington, David Scott, and Robert M. Patterson. General Lacock's commission, signed by Governor J. Andrew Shulze, was dated May 16, 1825. On the 25th of February, 1826, the Legislature authorized the commencement of work on the canal and appropriated $300,000 for its prosecution. General Lacock, who was a member of the board of Canal Commissioners, was appointed by the board the acting commissioner to supervise the construction of the western division of the canal from Pittsburgh to Johnstown. Mainly under his direction this portion of the canal was subse- quently built. The first canal boat built or run west of the Allegheny mountains was named the General Abner La- cock. It was a freight and passenger packet and was built at Apollo, then Warren, in Armstrong county, about 1827, by Philip Dally, under the auspices of Patrick Leonard, of Pittsburgh."
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THE BUILDING OF THE CAMBRIA IRON WORKS.
THE BUILDING OF THE CAMBRIA IRON WORKS.
FROM THE BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION, AUGUST 1, 1888.
IN 1833 George S. King, a merchant of Mercersburg, Franklin county, then 24 years old, came to Johnstown, having heard that it presented opportunities for business that were worthy of his attention. When he saw the town and listened to the sound of the saw and the hammer on ' every hand he at once concluded that he had been wisely advised and promptly opened a store on Main street. In this and other mercantile enterprises at Johnstown he was very successful during the next few years.
In 1839 and 1840, impressed with the necessity of de- veloping the manufacture of pig iron at or near Johns- town, Mr. King diligently searched for iron ore in its neigh- boring hills and found it in such quantities and of such satisfactory quality as to encourage him to embark in the business of making pig iron. In 1840 or 1841, at Ross fur- nace, in Westmoreland county, he tested the ore that he had found in the hills near Laurel run, a few miles below Johnstown. In 1841 Cambria furnace was built on Laurel run by George S. King, David Stewart, John K. Shryock, and William L. Shryock. It was successful from the start. It was soon followed by five other furnaces in Cambria county, as follows : Mill Creek, built by John Bell & Co. in 1845; Ben's Creek, built by George S. King & Co. in 1846; Eliza, five miles west of Ebensburg, on Blacklick creek, commenced by Ritter & Rodgers in 1846 and completed by Ritter & Irvin in 1847 ; Mount Vernon, at Johnstown, built by Peter Levergood & Co. in 1846 and subsequently owned by Lintons & Galbreath and Rhey, Matthews & Co .; and Ashland, six miles north of Gallitzin, built by Joseph A. Conrad and Hugh McNeal in 1847. All these furnaces have long been abandoned. All used charcoal. The divid-
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ing line between Cambria and Indiana counties passed through the stack of Eliza furnace.
Having established the pig iron industry in Cambria county Mr. King turned his attention to the conversion into iron rails of the pig iron that was made at the furnaces near Johnstown or that might be made at new furnaces. The building of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was com- pleted to Pittsburgh in 1852, convinced Mr. King that the road itself would furnish a market for a large part of the product of a rail mill if one were built at Johnstown. The rail mill that was then nearest to Johnstown was at Brady's Bend, in Armstrong county. Rails were not then made at Pittsburgh. In 1852, therefore, Mr. King visited New York and Boston to explain to capitalists in those cities his scheme for building a rail rolling mill at Johns- town. In the following letter, written at our request, Mr. King gives the details of his eventually successful but al- ways laborious and often disappointing efforts to establish the Cambria Iron Works. Mr. King writes us as follows :
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