Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 3, Part 5

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1332

USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 3 > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 3 > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Centre County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 3 > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Clarion County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 3 > Part 5

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George Ament, the father of Esther ( Ament) Blose. was born December 2, 1758, in York coun- ty. Penn., a son of Philip Ament, who came from Germany. Philip died when George was young. and the son was bound out. He was badly treated by the family into which he went. At about the age of eighteen he joined the Continen- tal forces, and was with General Washington during that terrible winter at Valley Forge. He had a brother who also was in the Patriot army, and was captured by the British, and died while a prisoner; and he had a half-brother who resid- ed near Salem, Westmoreland county. On Sep- tember 19, 1786, George Ament married Esther Markle, and nine children came to this union: Jacob (died in his youth), George, Susannah (married to John Hill), Elizabethi (married to Frederick Berlin). Philip, Esther (married to John George Blose), .Mary (married to Jesse Walton), Sarah (married to Elias Berlin), and Catharine. The parents, after the birth of two | States service in 1803, and served as a member

of their children, moved to within two miles of the present site of Salem Cross Roads, on the head waters of Turtle creek in Franklin township, Westmoreland county, where the husband built a gristmill and a sawmill. Export, a mining town, has recently been built on the old farm. His death occurred December 11, 1843; and she died in Westmoreland county, September 10, 1854. She was born in Berks county, Penn., September 13. 1766. It is related of her, that after the removal of herself and husband to West- moreland county, at such time as her husband was away from home in pursuit, or in search of Indians who had been committing depredations and killing the settlers, she would take her two children-Jacob and George-and go out into a little meadow that wascleared, and remain in the willows along the streamn "on which the mills stood, that she might be in a safer place and more readily escape with her children, if an at- tack was made by the Indians. At the mill the settlers had a block-house into which they gath- ered during perilous times for protection against the Indians.

. The Markle family is a very old American family. Gasper Markle, the father of Esther ( Markle) Ament, was a native of Holland. He was twice married, and had a large family, of which, Catharine, Mary, and Hannah, sisters, and Joseph, Gasper, and John, brothers, are all of those whose names are now known to the rela- tives in Jefferson county.

George Ament Blose, is a native of Jefferson county, and was born on his father's farm, No- vember 13, 1842, where he was reared. At an early age he developed a desire for knowledge, and was a persistent inquirer for information be- fore he could read. which he could do at five years of age. By the time he was eight he had read a large " History of the United States, " and when a few years older he read Scott's . Life of Napoleon." He attended the country public school each winter for a term of three months, from the time he was five years of age; but dur- ing the fall of 1859 and early part of 1860, he went to Salem Academy, walking with his cousin to and from his uncle's, a distance of three miles. He also attended a select school at Whitesville during the summers of 1860, '61 and '62, under the principalship of Samuel Miller Davis. In the winter of 1801-62 he taught his first school at the Bath school house, in Perry township, Jefferson county; and was thereafter engaged in teaching through the winter, except- ing the period he was in the army. until he en- tered college, in 1870. He enlisted in the United

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of Company C, Second Battalion, Pennsylvania

1880. Prof. Blose and family reside on the old Infantry, and was discharged in 1864. During + homestead, where they cared for their invalid this service he contracted malarial poisoning, which came near causing his death. After his return home from the army he attended Covode Academy the latter part of the summer of 1864, and Glade Run Academy the summers of 1865 and '66. During the spring term of 1867, he was at the Edinboro State Normal School. In Sep- tember, 1870, he entered the junior class of Penn- sylvania College, at Gettysburg, Adams county, and was graduated in 1872 with the degree of A. B., and at the commencement of that college in 1875, he received the degree of A. M., i conferred by the Faculty. He boarded him- self during a part of the time when preparing !

himself for college, and while in college, be- cause he had to practice the most rigid econ- omy, to enable him to pursue his studies. From the spring of 1868 to the fall of 1870, when not engaged in teaching, he carried on the farm for his parents, who were old and poor. After his graduation he returned home and taught a part of the time in various places, and farmed some until 1875, when he was elected county superintendent of schools of Jefferson county. When he went into office he found a great many inefficient teachers employed, and deemed it nec- essary to raise the standard of eligibility to the position of teacher much higher than it had before been in the county. As a result of that he rejected many applicants, but the change proved very beneficial to the schools. He taught Normal Schools during each summer of his in- cumbency for the benefit of the teachers. He was engaged in teaching up to the fall of 1880, when, owing to failing health, he prac-

tically retired from the profession. As a teacher Prof. Blose has the reputation of being, at all times, a rigid disciplinarian, and a most thorough worker in the school-room. He did not teach for the purpose of keeping order. but it was impossible for him to teach without good order. He was always conscientious, eager to have his pupits learn, and spared no efforts to produce that result. Some of his former pupils are in the ininistry; some practicing medicine, and some are in the legal profession.

Markle, Catharine, Samnel Bond. Seth Vivian. Mabel Clare, Clyde. Sarah Agnes, Hazel. Laird and Lilian Reuel. His wife was the daughter of Jonas and Catharine . Knarr, Raybuck, and was the youngest of thirteen chillen. Her mother died in August, 1871, and her father in October.

mother Blose until her death. In the fall of 1882 their house was destroyed by fire, and every- thing in it, including the Professor's library worth in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars. Prof. Blose was admitted to the Bar of Jefferson county in September, 1886, having prepared himself under the direction of Wm. M. Fairman, Charles M. Brewer and Hon. Wm. P. Jenks. Although he has never located as a practitioner, he has done some work in that line. His health failed him, so that since 1888 he has been able to do but little. In 1876 he prepared a historical sketch of Jefferson county for Dr. William H. Egle's . History of Pennsylvania: " and a history of the schools of Jefferson county, for the " School Report of 1877." He is the author of an article on the schools of Jefferson county that appeared in "Caldwell's Atlas." In iss; he prepared a history of education in Jefferson coun- ty. which appeared in the " History of Jefferson County." edited by Miss Kate M. Scott. In Oc- tober, 1892, he was admitted as an attorney to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania.

A NDREW' P. COX, M. D., a prominent phy- sician of Big Run, Jefferson county, is one of the representative citizens. He has not only displayed marked ability in professional and busi- ness life, but as a mere youth he demonstrated his courage and patriotism by his service as a soldier in the war for the Union.

Dr. Cox is of English descent, his grandpar- ents having crossed the ocean early in this cen- tury to make their homes in Allegheny county, Penn. The Doctor's father. the late Robert Cox. was quite young at the time of this removal. and the greater part of his life was spent in Al- legheny county, where he engaged in farming, being by disposition inclined to a quiet occupa- tion free from the distractions incident to more public pursuits. His death occurred in 1882. and his wife. Caroline Fisher, who was a native of Allegheny county, survived him until 1894. when she. too, passed to the unseen world

The carly life of our subject was spent at the old home in Allegheny county, where he was

On May 26, 1877, Prof. Blose was married to Louisa Jane Raybuck, and to the marriage have come eleven children: Esther May. Jeremiah : born in 1843. He made the most of the course of instruction offered in the local schools which with private study gave him an admirable founda- tion for his later intellectual work. In 1863 ho enlisted in Company G. 4th Pennsylvania C'as - alry, and served until the close of the war. His regiment took part in many important battles, and

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was commanded by Col: George M. Covode, son Hon. John Covode, the famous Abolitionist, who represented his district in Congress as a member of the lower house and also as a Senator. Dr. ( ox was neither captured nor wounded during his term of service, and for some time he was detailed in a clerk at General Sheridan's headquarters. On his return home he became bookkeeper at Pittsburg, and later went to Big Run to enter the employ of A. M. McClure & Co. In 1875 he began the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph Shields, of Punxsutawney, completing his prep- aration by courses in the Jefferson Medical Col- lege of Philadelphia, Cincinnati College of Medi- cine and Surgery, Cincinnati, Ohio, and a post- graduate course being taken later in the New York Post-Graduate College and Hospital. In 1877 he began the practice of his profession where he has ever since continued. His success in his chosen work has not prevented him from taking an active part in local affairs, political, business and social. He is a director of the Citi- zeus Bank of Big Run, and has been its president, and he served two terms as postmaster of that town, having been appointed, as a stanch Repub- lican, first by Grant and then by Hayes.

In 1872 Dr. Cox was married to Miss Anna E. Cochran, daughter of Joseph Cochran, Esq., a well-known citizen of Bell township, Jefferson county. Four children, Milo, Ethel, Walter and Raymond, brighten their home. Mrs. Cox is a leading member of the M. E. Church, and the the Doctor is identified with the I. O. O. F., G. A. R., and the Masonic Order, in which he has attained the 32nd degree. He is a mem- ber of Pittsburg Commandery. No. 1. K. T. The Doctor has now retired from the active practice of medicine. and passes the greater portion of his time in travel, having visited Europe and the West Indies, spending one winter in Florida, and. the one just past, at Savannah, Georgia.

P HILIP W. MUTH (deceased). This State owes much to the indomitable energy and wise forethought of the hardy German race, of which so many worthy representatives have found homes among ns. Unlike some of our other for- eign-born citizens, they do not crowd into the already congested cities, and their homes, scat- tered about through the sparsely settled districts, speedily become centers of development for the lorces of civilization. The subject of this sketch. who came to America as a lad of ten years, pos- sessed in a high degree the excellent qualities of his people, and his history is most appropriately

given here among those of other prominent men of this section.

It was in 1853 that his parents, Charles and Elizabeth (Echot) Muth, both natives of the pro- vince of Nassau, Germany, crossed the ocean with their little family to secure the wider op- portunities which America affords. They located first at Catfish Furnace, in Clarion county, Penn., where Mr. Muth found employment. After a few years of hard work and close economy he pur- chased a tract of wood land in McCalmont town- ship. Jefferson county, and established his home there. clearing and improving the place as time passed by, and rearing his children to habits of industry. His wife died in Clarion county, and when all his children were grown he returned to the Fatherland to spend his last years, his death occurring in 1875. Our subject was the eldest of a family of eight children. (2) Earnestina was born in Germany, and is now the wife of John Reiter, a farmer in Brady township, Clear- field county. They have children as follows: Charles, Lizzie, Willie, Samuel, Jessy, Frank, Aaron, Rosanna and George. (3) Philip C., born in Germany in 1844, was educated there, attending school only three months after coming

to this country. He married Miss Mary Reiter, of Jefferson county, and located for a time on his father's farm in McCalmont township. They now reside on another farm in the same town- ship. near Eleanor, and have had eleven children: Lydia, who married George Knarr, a farmer near Kreamer Station, Jefferson county: Magda- lene F. L., who married Philip Pifer, of McCalmont township, Jefferson county, and has one daughter: Thomas W .: Ella; Daniel; Willis; Mina: Idella; Orphie; Nora and Charles. (4) Christian, who was born on the Atlantic, during the voyage from the Fatherland, is now the owner of one of the best farms in Henderson township, Jefferson county, situated about two miles north of Big . Run. He married Miss Elizabeth Shepler. of the same county, and has had nine children: Isaac, William, Henry, Eva, Isala, Sarah, Ruth, Samuel and Oliver. (5) Henrietta was born in Clarion county, and grew to womanhood in Jef- ferson county. She married Jacob Heiburn, a farmer in Bell township, Jefferson county, where they resided for a few years. He then moved to Oil City to engage in mercantile business, but i after some years he sold out and came back to his home in Jefferson county, where he has since remained. They have seven children: Emma. . now Mrs. John Sieyres, of Big Run, James, Angust, Mary, Charles, Sarah and Irvin. (7) Adam, who was born in Clarion county, married . Miss Maggie Weisgarver, and resides on a farmi

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near Curwensville. They have' a large family. (8) Ludwig, who was born in Jefferson county, married Miss Sarah Twitheart, of the saine county, and settled in Punxsutawney, where he engaged in the manufacture of birch beer. His wife died there, and he moved to our subject's neighborhood, where he made a purchase of the Charles Weber farm. For a few years he fol- lowed farming, and then engaged in lumbering, continuing until his death in 1887. He left one son. Martin I.

The late Philip W. Muth was born January 17, 1843 in Germany, and as he was old enough to be of assistance to his parents at the time of their removal to this section he took an active part in the work of clearing the old homestead. In early manhood he married Miss Magdalene Reiter, daughter of John and Mary Reiter, well- to-do agriculturists of Henderson township, and began to make a home for himself, purchasing one hundred acres of wood land in the same township, one mile north of Big Run. He first erected a log house and barn, but as he cleared the estate and brought it under cultivation he was able to make better improvements. In 1885 he built a large bank barn, and in 1889 a fine two-story frame residence was erected, and at present it is an attractive and comfortable home. He was held in high esteem throughout the community, and took an active part in local affairs, being one of the leading Democrats of the locality. For three years he served as school director, and for one term he held the office of township assessor. He and his estimable wife were prominent members of the M. E. Church, of Big Run, and their children were reared in that faith. Mrs. Muth passed from earth on May 1, 1892, and four years later, on April 8, 1896, Mr. Muth also breathed his last.

They had nine children, all of whom are liv- ing: (1) Mary E., born March 29, 1868, re- ceived a common-school education, and is now the wife of George W. Zufall, a farmer in Hen- derson township. They have four children- Charles, Cyrus. Miles and Luther.' (2) Miss Minnie H., born May 19, 1869, was educated in the common schools, and is now at home. (3) ALBERT A., born June 15, 1871, grew to man. hood on the homestead, and after attending the public schools during boyhood he entered Grove City College, in Mercer county, Penn., in 1892, and continued his studies for three years. He expected to graduate, but owing to the death of his father he was obliged to return home and take charge of the farm and family, being the ad- ministrator of his father's estate. He is a very worthy young man, talented and energetic, and

is much respected by his associates. (4) William .C., born September 18, 1873, married Miss Au- gusta Winslow, of Big Run, and resides in Hen- derson township, where he follows the sawinill business. They have one daughter, Bertha. (5) Lavina, born July 18, 1875, married John W. Zufall, a farmer of Jefferson county, Penn., and they have one son, Orval. (6) George. born April 18, 1877, (7) Miss Maggie I., born March 19, 1880, (8) Alice M., born June 29. 1882, and (9) Priscilla, born June 6, 1885, are all re- siding on the homestead. Martin I. Muth. the son of Ludwig Muth, deceased, is at present liv- ing with his uncle on the homestead.

J OSHUA RHOADES (deceased) was for many years one of the prominent and highly es- teemed citizens of Knox township, Jefferson county. His entire life was spent on the old family homestead, where his birth occurred on the Ist of April, 1843-

Daniel and Rebecca (Doverspike) Rhoades, his parents, the former a native of New York, and the latter of Schuykill county, Penn., were married near New Bethlehem, Clarion Co., Penn., and in 1835, came to Jefferson county, locating in Knox township, where they spent their remaining days. They were members of the Evangelical Church, and in politics Mr. Rhoades was a Republican. He died in August, 1852, at the age of fifty-five, and his wife died in 1878, at the age of seventy-five. Their children were: Lavina, deceased wife of Fred Gillhouse, who was killed in the army; Rev. Henry, a re- tired Evangelical minister of Tionesta, Penn., who was in the army; Catherine, who died in childhood; George Washington, a farmer of Knox township, Jefferson county: Mary (deceased); Susan, wife of George Horner, an oil driller of Pennsylvania; Rachel, deceased wife of Daniel Upplinger, a farmer of Knox township; Daniel, also a farmer, of the same township: David. who was killed in the army; Joshua; and Amnelia A .. wife of David Gould, a farmer and lumberman of Coolspring, Jefferson county, who served in the Civil war.

Joshua Rhoades, of this review, assisted in : the labors of the home farm until August 26, 1863. when, at the age of twenty years, he responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting in Com- pany A, 76th P. V. I. In a skirmish he was wounded by a sharp shooter, a ball passing through his cheek and lodging in his right arm. This piece of lead is now in the possession of Mrs. Rhoades. Mr. Rhoades remained at the front until the close of the war, although his injury rendered

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him a cripple for life. He followed farming and lumbering as a lifework, and by the careful "con- duct of his business interests accumulated a com- fortable competency. He was the owner of the Rhoades homestead, comprising 140 acres of val- uable land underlaid with coal.

Joshua Rhoades was married, May 12, 1870, in Indiana county, Penn., to MISS SARAH PIF- FER, who was born in that county September 24, 1848. Her paternal grandparents were John A. and Margaret (Bishop) Piffer, natives of Ger- many. The latter came to America, and lived with her children in Indiana county. The ma- ternal grandparents, George and Eve (Winning) Peffer, natives of Germany, came to the United States in 1829, and located on a farm in Indi- ana county. The parents of MIrs. Rhoades, Rev. John and Eve (Peffer) Piffer, were also born in the Fatherland, and in 1835 crossed the Atlantic, establishing a home in Indiana county, where they remained until 1885, when they be- came inmates of the home of Mrs. Rhoades. The father died April 24, 1887. For many years he was a prominent minister of the Evangelical Church, and also carried on a mercantile estab- lishment at Marchand, Penn., until 1885. He was married in January, 1842, to Miss Peffer, whose birth occurred January 10, 1824. Their children were: Elizabeth, who died in early life; Mary, wife of John Hoop, a farmer of Indi- ana county; Mrs. Rhoades; John, who died at the age of thirty-nine years and six months; Maggie, wife of William Steffy, a farmer of Indiana county: Lydia, wife of John Zener, an agriculturist of Marchand, Penn. ; Samuel, who operates a tannery at Du Bois; and Susan, wife of John Nolph, a farmer and carpenter of Brookville, Pennsylvania.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Rhoades are: Mary A., wife of George Ishman, a lum- berman of Knox township, by whom she has four children -- Mina L., Birgie O., Orrel O., and Iva V .: Nora L., who died December 11, 1875; Sadie C., wife of M. J. Walters, a lumberman of Cambria county, Penn., by whom she has one child; J. William P., who died December 25, 1879: Cora M., of Patton. Penn. ; and Emma S., an accomplished young lady at home.

Our subject was an industrious and energetic man whose business methods were above ques- tion, and who commanded the confidence and respect of all who knew him. He supported the Republican party, and held a number of local offices, discharging his duties in a most prompt and commendable manner. He held member- ship with the Evangelical Church, was one of its active workers, and held among other offices

those of class leader and Sunday-school super- intendent. He had a host of warm friends who esteemed him most highly. He inet his death by drowning, while bathing near Fuller's Station, August 30, 1881, and all who knew him mourned his death. He left his family in comfortable cir- cumstances, and, more than all, transmitted to them an untarnished name.

M ARION. M. DAVIS, a prominent attorney of Reynoldsville, Jefferson county, was born February 10, 1843, in Indiana county, Penn., of which county his father, William T. Davis, was also a native, and there spent his en- tire life engaged in agricultural pursuits, dying in 1890. His widow, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Ansley, was born in the State of In- diana, and is still living at the age of seventy-five years.

The primary education of our subject was re- ceived in part in the common schools of Indiana county, and at Glade Run Academy. When the Civil war broke out, responding to his country's call for troops, he enlisted in Company A, 61st P. V. I., and went to the front, and, at the bat- tle of Fair Oaks, Va., he received a very severe gunshot wound. After a year and three months in active service with that regiment he was hou- orably discharged, but later enlisted for a six- months' period. On his discharge from the United States service he returned to Indiana county, where he attended the previously mentioned academy, completing a course of law. After this he went to Kansas, where he practiced law for one year, then returning to Pennsylvania he went from there to West Virginia, where he taught school for a time; thence he moved to Pennsylvania, and taught there two years prior to commencing the practice of law in Reynolds- ville, in 1872, since which time he has been one of the leading members of the Jefferson County Bar. A man of progressive ideas, fine attain- ments, high minded, one who has made the most of his opportunities, Mr. Davis has risen to a formost place among the representatives of the local legal fraternity.

In 1869 Mr. Davis was united in marriage with Miss Martha Le Bowser, of Indiana coun- ty. Penn., and four children have blessed their union, namely: Althea M., wife of J. W. Stephenson, of Brooklyn. N. Y. ; Charles S., a mining engineer, now of Michigan: Marie, wife of Dr. De Vere King, a dentist of Reynoldsville. Penn., and Elizabeth. The parents of these are consistent members of the Baptist Church: so- cially, Mr. Davis affiliates with the Masonic fra-

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ternity; in politics he is an ardent Republican but has never cared for office, though he has. filled a number of local positions. The com- munity finds in him one of the most valued and highly respected citizens, the Bar one of its most able members, and his associates a most loyal friend.

E ADWARD CRAWFORD. Comparatively few men can attain the highest offices in civil or military life, but commerce offers a broad and almost limitless field in which one may ex- ercise his powers unrestrained, and gain a lead- ership as the head of a chosen calling. Drawing the lessons which we do from the life of Mr. Crawford, we learn that the qualifications neces- sary for success are a high ambition and a reso- lute, honorable purpose to reach the exalted standard that has been set up.

Mr. Crawford is one of the leading and suc- cessful lumber dealers of Jefferson county, own- ing a lumber yard at Falls Creek, in Washington township, where he resides, and also one in Pitts- burg, Penn. He was born in Washington town- ship, Jefferson county, in 1852; a son of Samuel M. and Elizabeth (Osburn) Crawford. The father was born in 1829 in that county, and the grandfather, Samuel Crawford, was a native of Indiana county, Penn., coming of Scotch ances- try. At an early day the latter located in Jeff- erson county, where he cleared and improved a good farm, and there continued to make his home until his death. He is supposed to have been murdered. His wife departed this life in Wash- ington township, Jefferson county.

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Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 3, Part 5

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1332

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1332