Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1, Part 20

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 20
USA > Pennsylvania > Centre County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 20
USA > Pennsylvania > Clarion County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 20
USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 20

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Henry Dale, a brother of the Captain, died at his home at Oak Hall in 1896. He was born at the Dale homestead November 9, 1828, and throughout life was one of the county's most successful farmers. He took a deep interest in the Patrons of Husbandry, of which he was an

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

influential member. He belonged to the Lu- theran Church of Boalsburg, and was one of its main supporters and pillars. He was an honest, upright Christian gentleman, highly honored and respected by a large circle of friends. He left, surviving him, a widow and four children, namely : Charles is a farmer near Lemont; Catherine M. is residing at Centre Hall; Alice is the wife of H. F. McGirk, of. Altoona; and Miss Anna M. is at home.

Austin W. Dale was born April 22, 1847, at the Dale homestead near Oak Hall, where he is now residing occupied in farming. He was mar- ried, in 1868, to Catherine Keller, a daughter of David Keller, of Boalsburg, and the children born to the marriage were: Luther K., April 20, 1870; Clement G., October 8, 1871; Chris- tian K. (deceased), December 14, 187 -; Mar- garet E., April 3, 1878, died January 20, 1879; and Ellen E., January 10, 1880. The mother of these died March 29, 1883, in her thirty- fourth year, and September 25, 1884, Mr. Dale was married to Rachel E. Meyer, who was born August 8, 1847, a daughter of Henry and Cath- erine (Hoffer) Meyer, of near Boalsburg. Henry Meyer was a son of Henry Meyer, Sr.

Alfred A. Dale, a well-known attorney at Bellefonte, where he has been engaged in the prac- tice of law for nearly a quarter of a century, was born and reared on his father's farm, where his early years and young manhood was passed not unlike that of the general farmer's son. His early schooling was received in the common schools of the neighborhood, and in a private school held on the Dr. Hammil homestead. He was prepared for college at the Boalsburg Acade- my, and was graduated from Pennsylvania Col- lege, Gettysburg, in 1874. Immediately after- ward he began the study of the law, under the late D. S. Keller, of Bellefonte, and was admitted to the Bar of Centre county at the August term of court, in 1876. " Al Dale," as he is familiarly called, has taken quite an active part in politics, and in 1892 was one of the Republican nominees for the General Assembly; but with the rest of that ticket he was defeated at the election in the Democratic land-slide of that year. The home

paper in commenting on Mr. Dale's nomination said: "In A. A. Dale the voters of Centre county have a man whose ancestors were among the very earliest settlers of Centre county. Mr. Dale was born here, raised on the farm, and always took a deep interest and active part in all that pertained to the best interests of the county. He is, without doubt, one of the best qualified men for the Legislature that has been nominated in the county for years."

R OBERT MCCAY FOSTER was born No- vember 14, 1860, at the old Foster home- stead, State College, Penn. He is a son of Capt. Robert M. Foster, who was born in Union county, in 1826, where he grew to manhood, and married Miss Delilah Smith, a descendant of a well- known German family, of Snyder county.

Soon after his marriage, Capt. Foster pur- chased a tract of land, about 130 acres, adjoin- ing the lands owned by State College, and settled down to agricultural pursuits. He was a devout Presbyterian, and in his political affiliation he was a Democrat, patriotic to the core, and pos- sessing the qualities which fitted a man for leadership. The war of the Rebellion called him from his private life to serve in defense of the government. He raised Company C, 148th Reg- iment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, of which he was commissioned captain, and so distinguished himself by his gallant conduct, that at the battle of Gettysburg he held the rank of acting colonel. On the second day of that momentous struggle, while in charge of his command, in the wheat field, he met a soldier's death. His widow died December 27, 1895, and both lie buried in Branch Cemetery. State College, Pennsylvania.

Robert M. Foster was the youngest of six children, of whom Thomas and William are now engaged in the wholesale grocery business, in Philadelphia, three daughters having died in in- fancy.

The subject of this sketch was very early in life thrown upon his own resources, but with a noble mother's care, and by his own industry and economy, managed to get a good public-school education, and finally in 1878 entered Pennsyl- vania State College. After completing his course, he accepted the position of bookkeeper for the firm of Smith, Foster & Co., the prominent wholesale grocers of Philadelphia, with whom he is now connected. His knowledge of business, his integrity and faithful services, so endeared him to his firm that, upon the recent death of the senior member, he was honored by being made one of the executors. In 1896 he received nomination for member of the House of Repre- sentatives. The campaign of that year was hotly contested, and notwithstanding the Republican nominee for president, Hon. William Mckinley, carrying the county by over 400 majority, he, as a candidate on the Democratic ticket, carried the county by 580. His work as a legislator was so pleasing to the G. A. R., that, when the vacancy on the Commission of Soldiers' Orphan Schools was caused by the death of Hon. McCauley Cook, his appointment for this position was requested by them. The Speaker of the House, Hon. H.

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

K. Boyer, when making this appointment said that "it gave him 'much pleasure to do so," owing to the fact that Mr. Foster's father, Capt. Robert M. Foster, was killed at the battle of Gettysburg. His Legislative record is above re- proach. His work, pertaining to measures bear- ing upon educational matters, has been very commendable.

In 1893 Mr. Foster was married to Mary Ella Snyder, a daughter of Thompson A. Snyder, a retired engineer and veteran of the Civil war. They have one son, Robert M. Foster, Jr. In private life Mr. Foster is very domestic. His home is, at all times, open to his friends, of whom he has many. He is popular among all classes, generous to the fault, and a native of the place. It is his pride to be most honored where he is best known, and, as his influence has extended, none have given him more hearty esteem and appreciation than the people who have watched his progress from boyhood.

JAMES HAMILTON. This venerable Chris- tian gentleman, and esteemed citizen of Belle- fonte, who has lived a score or more of years beyond man's allotted time on earth, and who is probably the oldest native citizen of Centre county now living-at the age of ninety-three years-is residing in a comfortable home made happy by the presence of the good wife-an octogenarian-the two passing the evening of their lives amid plenty and in the enjoyment of good health. At this writing (January 4, 1898), Mr. Hamilton is in reasonable health for a man of his age, and, as has been his usual habit, he has just completed making presents to his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mr. Hamilton's parents were Joseph and Rachel (Carr) Hamilton, the parents of both of whom came from Ireland and settled in Centre county some time in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Joseph Hamilton was a son of a sea captain, and was only a boy when brought to America by his mother, and by trade became a shoemaker. The grandfather of our subject on his mother's side was James Carr, a farmer in the vicinity of Pine Grove. Our sub- ject was the only child of Joseph Hamilton; the mother was twice married, her second husband being John Morris, whom she married when young Hamilton was small, so that Mr. Morris is the only father that he remembers. By the second marriage were born: Wharton, Jonathan, Reuben, Elizabeth. Margaret and Jane. When James was a mere lad Mr. Morris met with an accident by which he was crippled, so from

necessity he early began to labor and assist in the support of the family, receiving his schooling at intervals in the subscription schools of his neighborhood as best he could. At the time of his birth (April 4, 1804) his parents were living about a mile west of Pine Grove, on what is now the Ross farm. Subsequently they removed down to Dunlop's, and at the age of six or eight years the lad, James, entered the employ of Boggs & Boyer, then operating Logan Forge and Furnace, as successors of John Dunlop. He began by sifting iron with a hand riddle, which occupation he followed four years at 30 cents a day, commencing his work before sunrise and continuing until sundown. From the age of thirteen until he was nineteen he worked at Stop's Gap, driving team, or working at whatever he could do, and during this time he had the advantage of three months' schooling, at night only. In 1815 the iron works were leased by the Valentine Brothers, who subsequently, in connec- tion with William A. Thomas, purchased them and enlarged them, and with these gentlemen young Hamilton remained employed at the works, rising step by step until he became their manager at the Furnace. While with both these men he was regular in his business habits-not losing a day's time in upward of sixteen years; learned habits of industry and economy, was courteous, kind and affable to all, which made him a popular and useful citizen, and led the way to the success in life he has attained. He received $300 a year, and boarded with George and Abram Valentine. From his savings early in the "forties" he purchased two hundred acres of land of George Meese, the father of John Meese, a merchant of Bellefonte; some twenty or more acres were cleared and under fence, and on it was the stone house built by George Meese in 1824. Here Mr. Hamilton retired and led a farmer's life for upward of forty years, when he moved to Bellefonte. He was one of the active men of Pleasant Gap neighborhood in religious matters, and in 1850, when the Methodist Church Society was formed, he and M. P. Weaver were appointed a building committee for erecting a house of worship. Subsequently, in 1875, a new church edifice was built costing some $3,000. which later became the property of the two gen- tlemen above named.

In January, 1841, Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage with Hannah Waddle, a native of Centre county; born at Rock Forge April 26, 1817, a daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Ben- ner) Waddle, and to the union were born: Abram V. married Catherine Marton; Sarah mar- ried E. D. Satterfield, now deceased; Laura is

JAMES HAMILTON

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the wife of Capt. Samuel H. Williams, promi- nent in business circles of Bellefonte; Merrilla married William Dawson; and Mary is the wife of John Noll; all are residents of Bellefonte. Mr. Morris, stepfather of our subject, died about 1824, and the former's wife, whose declining years were made pleasant and comfortable by the son, James, died near the end of the year 1865.

Mrs. Hannah (Waddle) Hamilton descended from one of the many prominent families of Cen- tre county. Her maternal grandfather, Gen. Philip Benner, and his father before him, were both patriots of the Revolution, the latter being captured and imprisoned. After the Revolution, the General was engaged in the iron business in Chester county, this State, the place of his nativ- ity. He married Ruth Roberts, and in 1792 pur- chased the Rock Forge lands on Spring creek, Centre county, to engage in the iron business, and from that forward until his death was prom- inently identified with that business and the busi- ness interests and property of Centre county. He brought workmen with him from Chester county and commenced his improvements in May, 1793, at Rock, erecting a house and sawmill; and in 1794 he erected his first forge, and the first in what is now Centre county, the forge making iron that year. He then erected a gristmill, and in 1799 a slitting mill. In 1800 he built another forge, and afterward added a nailmill, furnace, etc. He was an earnest Democrat, and was twice a Presidential elector.

Thomas Waddle, the father of Mrs. Hamil- ton, came from Chester county with Gen. Ben- ner; was his bookkeeper and general utility man, married one of his daughters, and passed an act- ive business life, dying in Centre February 25, 1825, aged forty-eight years. His wife Hannah died April 11, 1854, aged sixty-seven years. Re- ferring to some early surveys of what is now Centre county, a writer says: "The old Wad- dle place is on the survey in the name of Edward Crawford, Warrantee of July 1, 1784. The Waddle farm, owned by Joseph Allender at his death, and sold to Gen. Benner in 1805, was probably one of the oldest settled places on Lo- gan's Branch. Allender bought of Col. Thomas Hartley in 1793."

The children of Thomas Waddle were nine in number: Ruth B., married to William Wilson, of Cedar Springs; Eliza; Philip Benner, late of Patton township; Mordecai, late of Spring town- ship, who served as sheriff of Centre county from 1854 to 1857; Mary, the wife of Samuel Griffith, of Bellefonte; Hannah, the wife of our subject; Thomas, a resident of Jersey Shore; James; and Sarah, who married Mark Williams; all are now

deceased excepting Sarah, Mary, Thomas and Hannah; seven were living in 1882. The family was remarkable for longevity of life. Philip Ben- ner Waddle was one of the constituent members of the M. E. Church of Fillmore, organized in 1843, at which time he was appointed a class leader, and served as such uninterruptedly fifty- two years.

Returning to our subject and wife, we will add that they are a remarkable couple-their lives spanning almost a century of an eventful period of the country's history, and a wedded life of fifty-seven years. Hale and hearty for one of his years, father Hamilton retains a face almost free from wrinkles, one that wears a kindly smile for every one. He retains his mental faculties, and both the senses of seeing and hearing are good. He has been almost free from sickness throughout his long life, hardly experiencing an ache or pain. His first Presidential vote was cast for Gen. Jackson. Later he became a Whig and then a Republican. He has been a member of the M. E. Church since-1840. The wife, too. is well preserved, and is as active and sprightly as most women of fifty. She, too, has been identified with the M. E. Church from her early years.

ROF. LOUIS E. REBER, M. S. The Pennsylvania State College has enlisted in its service a corps of instructors whose intelli- gence and professional skill are an honor to the institution, and their loyalty and devotion to her best interests has brought to a happy realization that noble ideal which has established, in the name of the Commonwealth, the means whereby the pathway to knowledge is made easy of access. Among those who have labored most effectively to build up the college, Prof. Louis E. Reber, Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering, is deserving of special mention, as it is mainly to his zealous efforts that the department owes its foundation and steadily increasing success.

Prof. Reber's ancestry on both sides was of German stock; both parents, however, were na- tives of Pennsylvania, the father, Jacob Reber. born in 1809, and the mother, Elizabeth Ehr- hart, in 18 -. Their marriage occurred in Cen- tre county, and here they afterward made their home, in Nittany Valley. The father died in 1877. and the mother in 1881. They were suc- cessful farming people. Their children were: Amanda, wife of John H. Beck, a farmer and merchant of Lock Haven, Penn .; Abigail, wife of John M. Krape, a retired merchant of. Salona, Penn. ; William F., who was the Executive clerk

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of Pennsylvania under Gov. Pattison, and now a resident of Philadelphia; Henrietta, the wife of H. H. Walker, of Lock Haven, Penn .; Mary E., who died at the age of seventeen; and Louis E., our subject.

Prof. Reber was born at Nittany, Centre coun- ty, February 27, 1858. In 1880 he was gradu- ated from The Pennsylvania State College. After two years spent in teaching and further study at that institution, he devoted one year to post- graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1884 he returned to The Penn- sylvania State College to take charge of the de- partment of Mechanic Arts. In 1886 the chair of Mechanical Engineering having been estab- lished, he became Professor of Mechanical En- gineering, a title which, in connection with that of Dean of the School of Engineering, he still holds.

Prof. Reber is a member of the American So- ciety of Mechanical Engineers; of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers; of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Society for the Pro- motion of Engineering Education. He was com- missioner for the State of Pennsylvania to the Paris Exposition of 1889, and assistant executive commissioner, in charge of collecting and in- stalling Pennsylvania's Mining Exhibit at the World's Fair in Chicago, and, later, judge of awards in the Machinery Department.

HTON. PHILIP E. WOMELSDORF, ex- member of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth from Centre county, and a prom- inent mining engineer, was born in Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., Penn., September 17, 1859.

The ancestry of the Womelsdorf family on the paternal side emigrated from the province of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, sometime in the seventeenth century, and founded the beautiful little town of Womelsdorf in Berks county, Penn. From them has descended a large number of the Germans of that region, who for their great patience, confidence and steadfastness of pur- pose, are distinguishable as the true types of the Pennsylvania Germans. Womelsdorf was laid out in 1762, by John Womelsdorf, and is noted as being one of the points at which the "Father of his Country " stopped - Gen. Washington having remained over night there, November 13, 1793. On his mother's side, the Mills were Puritans, and the records show that many of them have won distinction in the Revolutionary war for their loyalty and bravery. Mr. Womels- dorf was educated in the common schools of the

town in which he was born, and was graduated therefrom in June, 1876. He then spent one year in a business college, and another in work- ing in the tanneries of Warren county. Early in 1878 he entered the services of his brother, A. J. Womelsdorf, and the Girard estate in Schuyl- kill county, as a mining engineer, and for four years worked in a very large number of the great anthracite coal mines of that region, in his pro- fession. He came to the bituminous region in 1882, operating at Houtzdale, Osceola and Phil- ipsburg, and since that time he has been inter- ested in the development of the mines of these and other bituminous regions, and is still actively pursuing that profession. In September, 1894. he was nominated for the Legislature by the Re- publicans of Centre county, and was elected the same fall. He served the county in this position very creditably to himself and acceptably to his constituents. His colleague from the county was the Hon. Harry R. Curtin. Two years later both gentlemen were again nominated for the same position, but were defeated at the elec- tion by the present members of that body, who are Democratic in politics. After their second nomination the press in October, 1896, thus al- luded to them: " For Assembly our candidates are Harry R. Curtin, of Boggs township, and P. E. Womelsdorf, of Philipsburg. They have both served one term in the Lower House; they have both been candid, upright and unceasing in the discharge of their legislative duties. Each one has come up to his present position from the ranks of labor. They are both examples of what honest labor, good morals and intelligent action will achieve."

Mr. Womelsdorf is a man of acknowledged ability, honorable, honest and upright in his deal- ings with his fellow men, and as a recognition of his manly qualities he was elected a member of the town council of Philipsburg, a position he held three years. On September 21, 1882, our subject was married to Mary A. Bechtel, and their children are: Philip Campbell and Frances B.

A V. HOYT, of Philipsburg, Centre county. is an expert civil and mining engineer, an. his success demonstrates the wisdom of choosin .. an occupation that is in line with one's inclina tions. He is of a studious turn of mind, an aside from his scientific work has read extensivel. of the best literature. His family, which is ci English origin, has been identified with Clear- field county. for many years, his paternal gran ! father, with several brothers and sisters, havn .. come from Vermont to Pennsylvania in 1819.

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Mr. Hoyt was born at Clearfield, Penn., Jan- uary 30, 1851, and his early years were spent at the old home in Clearfield county. At the age of thirteen he accompanied his parents to Osceola and there took advantage of the public schools, preparing for a collegiate course. His bent toward engineering manifested itself with unusual clearness, and in 1865 he began to study in that line. Later he attended St. Francis College, at Loretto, Penn., for two years, and then began practical work in his chosen profession, assisting in railroad surveys. After a time he opened an office in Philipsburg, but in 1875 he went west to engage in professional work in California and Nevada. During his stay of five years on the Pacific coast, for fifteen months he edited the Independent, a weekly newspaper at Cherry Creek, Nev. The price-$10.00 per year or twenty-five cents per copy-would indicate to an Eastern journalist that he had struck a bonanza; but in that land of inflated prices he was able merely to hold his own, and finally sold the paper and went out of the business. Returning to Philipsburg, he resumed his regular work, and has since continued it with signal success. Mr. Hoyt is married and has five children, four girls and one boy: Edwin F., Mary, Juanita, Joseph- ine and Jenevieve. Mr. Hoyt is racognized as a progressive and scholarly man, being secretary of the Philipsburg Board of Trade. In political faith he is a Republican, and is recognized as one of the active workers of his party. Mr. Hoyt's one brother is in the Government employ under the civil service law, as an architect, and at present writing is U. S. superintendent of con- struction at Little Rock, Arkansas.

COL. JAMES F. WEAVER. The history of a State as well as that of a nation is chiefly the chronicle of the lives and deeds of those who have conferred honor and dignity upon society. The world judges the character of a community by that of its representative citizens, and yields its tribute of admiration and respect for the genius, learning or virtues of those whose works and actions constitute the record of a State's prosperity and pride. Among the prom- inent and leading citizens of central Pennsylva- nia is Col. Weaver, whose home is in Boggs township, Centre county.

A native of that county, he was born in Spring township, November 6, 1830, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Poorman) Weaver, natives of Dauphin and Centre counties, Penn., respectively. During his early life the father, in company with his brother, Daniel, engaged in

milling, leasing a mill at Bellefonte in 1808, but his later days were spent in farming in Spring township. He and his brother Daniel erected the stone building on Allegheny street in Belle- fonte, then known as the Centre County Bank. now known as the late residence of R. C. Cur- tin, Esq. During the war of 1812 he was drafted, but sent a substitute. In religious be- lief he was a Presbyterian, and his political sup- port was ever given the Democratic party. He died in 1841, aged fifty-eight years. His wife was called to her final rest in 1847, at the age of sixty-two years. She was the daughter of Mi- chael and Mary A. Poorman, natives of Pennsyl- vania, who early became residents of Centre county, where they spent their remaining days. The paternal grandfather of our subject was John Frederick Weaver.

The Colonel is one of a family of nine chil- dren, who in order of birth are as follows: Mary A. (widow of W. A. Davidson), residing in Chi- cago; David, who died in 1879; Harriet, who married John P. Harper, but both are now de- ceased; George B., deceased; Michael P., of Centre county; John J., of West Union, Iowa; William, who died when young; and James F., the subject of this sketch.

When Col. Weaver was but ten years of age, his father died, and Hon. James Gilliland was appointed his guardian; but he continued to live with his mother until the age of sixteen. After reaching that age he was bound out to learn the carpenter's trade; but owing to ill health he was compelled to give it up. He then entered a printing office, with his brother George B., in Clarion county, Penn., and on the completion of his apprenticeship worked at the business in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore for about a year, after which he returned to Bellefonte, where for the following year he followed mer- chandising. In 1852 he purchased the Centre Democrat, remaining as the editor and proprie- tor of that paper for two years and a half, when he sold out and engaged in mercantile pursuits at Milesburg until after the outbreak of the Civil war.

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Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1, Part 20

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1358

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1358