USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and personal history > Part 16
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and personal history > Part 16
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Eli McMillan married Catherine A., born on the home farm at Walker's Mills, educated in the public schools, daughter of John P. H. Walker, of Somerset county, a large landowner, stock dealer and farmer, whose family consisted of seven other children, namely: Mrs. J. B. Davis, of Ursina; Mrs. Jennie Thompson, of Ursina; Mrs. Shultz, of St. Louis, Missouri; Mrs. Harriet Campbell, of Neodesha, Kansas; John Walker, of Confluence, Pennsylvania, a veteran of the Civil war; and Mrs. Samuel Philson, deceased, of Berlin. The children born to Eli and Catherine A. (Walker) McMillan were as follows: Mary Ellen, deceased, was the wife of Mahlon Glotfelty; Ann Amelia, widow of Dr. E. H. Glotfelty; she is now living in Re- dondo, California, with her brother, Dr. Edwin H. McMillan; John N., a retired business man, residing in Hagerstown, Mary- land; Emma C., wife of Dr. A. F. Speicher, a practicing physi- cian of Los Angeles, California; Roas B., deceased; Susan E., wife of Frank Liston, of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania; William Thomas and Edwin H., twins; the former will be mentioned in the following paragraphs, and the latter graduated from the School of Pharmacy in Philadelphia, conducted a drug store in the west for several years, then entered the Northwestern University of Chicago, where he took a medical course, gradu- ated as M. D. and is now practicing his profession in Redondo, California; he is unmarried. Eli McMillan, the father of these children, died April 10, 1906; his wife, Catherine A. (Walker) McMillan, died July 4, 1900.
William Thomas McMillan, M. D., attended the public schools of Accident until the age of sixteen years and then the normal school for two years. In 1889 he entered Mount Union College, in Alliance, Ohio, pursued a special course, and
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in 1893 was graduated in the business and normal courses with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He taught at Lake City, Co- lumbia county, Florida. 1892-93, and in Garrett county, Mary- land, 1893-94. In the fall of the latter year he entered Jeffer- son Medical College, Philadephia, from which institution he was graduated in May, 1897. The same year he commenced the practice of his profession, locating in Centerville, Somerset county, Pennsylvania. The following year he removed to Salis- bury and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, A. F. Speicher, M. D., which connection continued until April 1, 1899. He then took up his residence in Meyersdale, where he has since continued to reside, and began the active practice of his chosen profession, making a specialty of X-ray treatment and sur- gery.
In addition to being a general practitioner, Dr. McMillan is the physician for the Somerset Coal Company, the most ex- tensive company of its kind in the county, and for four years served in the capacity of president of the board of health of Meyersdale. He keeps well informed along the lines of his profession by membership in the Somerset County Medical As- sociation, State Medical Society and American Medical Asso- ciation. Besides being an excellent and conscientious physi- cian, Dr. McMillan is a practical man, possessing sound judg- ment in business affairs. He is a stockholder in the Meyers- dale Sheet Steel Company, the Stewart Creek Coal Company of West Virginia, the Chelsea Coal Company of Kentucky and of several other tracts in the soft coal region, and is a stock- holder and director in the Meyersdale Commercial College. He is a member of the Lutheran church, in which body he takes an active interest and to which he contributes liberally. He affiliates with the following fraternal organizations: Knights of Pythias, of Meyersdale; Knights of the Golden Eagle, Fra- ternal Order of Eagles, of Meyersdale, and the Royal Arcanum. He is a staunch supporter of the Republican party. Dr. Mc- Millan is an enthusiastic automobilist and has just completed a twelve hundred mile trip through and over the Alleghenies and the eastern states.
Dr. McMillan married. December 23, 1897, Elsie M. Wal- ter, daughter of William H. Walter, of Centerville, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and they have one child, William Thomas, Jr., born May 23, 1900. The home and office of Dr. McMillan is on Main street, Meyersdale.
JOHN NELSON DAVIS.
John Nelson Davis, of Springs, is the son of Nelson Davis, who is supposed to have been a native of Philadelphia. He married Sarah, daughter of Daniel Baker, of Grantsville, Mary-
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land, and they were the parents of three sons: John Nelson, see forward; William, born in 1837, Civil war veteran; Peter, born in 1839. Daniel Baker, grandfather of Sarah (Baker) Davis, was a native of Philadelphia, a clockmaker and silver- smith by trade. He removed to Berlin, Somerset county, where he followed his trades. Daniel Baker, Jr., learned the trade with his father, married and removed to Grantsville, Maryland, where he followed the same occupation, and there Sarah (Baker) Davis was born.
John Nelson Davis, eldest son of Nelson and Sarah (Baker) Davis, was born April 8, 1835, in Elk Lick township. His educational opportunities were limited to irregular at- tendance at the public schools. At the age of twelve years he was bound out to Joseph Christner, of Elk Lick township, one of the stipulations being that he was to have three months' schooling in each year, but received instead that amount of in- struction in three years. At the expiration of that time, being then fifteen years old, he was released, and after much diffi- culty secured a living by working on shares for farmers, trad- ing his share of produce for shoes and clothing, very little money being then in circulation and business being mostly trans- acted by exchange. Being too poor to buy books, he worked for a Mr. Smith, of Salisbury, two months in return for in- struction, and later began to buy books and study at odd hours. He also attended the school presided over by Jost J. Stutz- man in the old red school house at West Salisbury, walk- ing four miles each way through the woods, which were at that time infested by wild beasts, and reaching home about midnight.
In 1855 he taught a joint school at Solomon Wiltrout's, Elk Lick township, and the following year taught school No. 6 at Keim's sawmill, in the same township. In 1857 he was the teacher of school No. 7, at Lewis Bockes', also in Elk Lick town- ship; from 1858 to 1860 taught school No. 9 at Samuel Folk's, and from 1860 .to 1862 was the instructor of school No. 8 at Adam Ringer's; both these schools were in Elk Lick township. For twenty-two years he served as school director, and about the latter half of this period was district superintendent and was instrumental in getting buildings in every subdistrict. When he had succeeded in this he resigned, refusing re-election. During his superintendency of schools he published an exhaustive and complete tabular statement, showing the condition of the schools for each term. He also visited each school in the township twic each month during all these years. He put his whole heart into the cause of education and the result of his labors is manifest in the intelligence of the present generation of the community where they reside. For two years he was tax col-
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lector for the state and county and also bounty and school tax collector.
For a short time after his resignation as teacher he was engaged in clearing land for his father-in-law. On October 24, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and Seventy- first Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, serving as first sergeant until discharged, August 6, 1863. After return- ing home he was for a time disabled by disease, which he had contracted while in the army. In 1864 he was employed by his father-in-law, and when stronger returned to his old work of clearing land, farming for three crops on cleared land in pay- ment for the clearing. In 1865 he moved to Summit Mills and there worked two years and a half for Samuel Flickinger, after which he moved back to his father-in-law's, by whom he was again employed in clearing land. He then turned his attention to the "shook" business, in which he was engaged until about 1870, after which he was clerk in a steam sawmill near Garrett, and at the same time conducted the "shook" business, for which he received eighty dollars monthly. Until 1879 he was clerk and superintendent in a foundry at Salisbury.
He worked at different places until 1880, when his house burned down and he was appointed industrial statistician of Altoona, Pennsylvania, and ten years later was made enumer- ator for Elk Lick township. During this period he was en- gaged in farming, and for three years before his appointment as enumerator operated a sawmill. Mr. Davis is an accom- plished surveyor, his superiority having received recognition from the court of Somerset county. It was he who laid out and constructed additions to Salisbury, graded the streets of Salis- bury, and his maps are those now used in court. He has an extensive engineering outfit.
In March, 1865, Mr. Davis was baptized into the German Baptist church at Summit Mills, Summit township, and in the beginning of October, 1879, was elected and installed deacon at that place. He moved into the Elk Lick congregation in August, 1880, and by letter he and his wife became members of the "Peck church" of the last named congregation, and which by division was changed from "Peck church" to the "Maple Glen congregation" of the western district of Pennsylvania. Prior to the formation of the Maple Glen congregation, at a meeting held May 15, 1886, at the Peck church, Mr. Davis was elected to the ministry. He was advanced to the second degree of the ministry September 17, 1887, and September 27, 1896, he and L. A. Peck were ordained elders in charge of the Maple Glen congregation, to officiate alternately. In politics Mr. Davis is a Republican.
Mr. Davis married, June 28, 1861, Dinah, daughter of
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Samuel Schrack, of Summit township, and they have been the parents of the following children: Harvey E., born February 14, 1862, died December 26, 1862. Mary and Nancy (twins), born June 28, 1864. Samuel, born June 20, 1867. William, born February 22, 1869. Annie, born May 17, 1871. John D., born May 31, 1873, died February 6, 1876. Ida, born January 14, 1876, died September 4, 1879. Peter Sherman, born October 7, 1877, completed a course in surveying and has taken up his father's work, regrading the streets of Salisbury, and also has charge of the surveying of the trolley line from Salisbury to Meyersdale. Edward W., born October 17, 1879. James G., born September 28, 1882. Sydney, born October 14, 1884.
ALBERT ELI TRUXAL, D. D.
Dr. Albert E. Truxal, pastor of the Reformed church of Meyersdale, was born near Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and is one of the five sons of Elder William Truxal, late of Pleasant Unity, Pennsylvania, all of whom are or have been active and efficient elders or deacons in their respective churches.
Dr. Truxal was baptized and confirmed by the late Dr. N. P. Hacke, who was for more than fifty years pastor of the First Greensburg church. The preparatory education of Dr. Truxal was received at an inland academy and at Westmore- land College, then situated at Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. In 1866 he entered the sophomore class of Franklin and Mar- shall College, graduating with honor in a class of eighteen, the majority of whom studied for the ministry. From this college he received, in 1892, the degree of doctor of divinity.
Through the influence of Drs. F. K. Levan and J. A. Peters he was led to study for the ministry and took a full course in the theological seminary at Mercersburg and Lancaster. Dur- ing this period he spent two summers in Center county as prin- cipal of Penn Hall Academy, and during his last year served also as a tutor in the college. He was examined for orders by his old pastor, Dr. Hacke, and at the annual meeting of West- moreland Classis, in the spring of 1872, was licensed to preach. A few months later he was ordained to the ministry of the Re- formed church and installed by Somerset Classis as pastor of the Somerset congregation, from which he had received a call before leaving the seminary.
After remaining eight years in this pastorate he accepted a call to Irwin, Westmoreland county, and seven years later to the Brush Creek charge, adjoining Irwin. This charge he served also for seven years, and then was called to his present church in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania. This last call he accepted, not from inclination, but strictly from a sense of duty. All the churches that he has served prospered spiritually and finan-
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cially under his ministrations, and during the whole of his ministry, from the beginning, he has never failed to present clearly and forcibly the claims of the church in general to his people, in consequence of which all the branches of church work in his charges have been sustained and none languished or were overlooked. During the first year of his pastorate a new church was dedicated at Centerville, Dr. E. E. Higbee preaching the dedicatory sermon. Several years afterward Dr. Truxal saw the necessity of having a Reformed church at Rockwood, a rail- road town ten miles from Somerset, and with sixteen members of small financial ability he organized a congregation, secured a lot on the main street, and, acting as building committee, so- licitor, treasurer and contractor, erected a neat church and had it dedicated practically free of debt. When he resigned the charge was divided. At Irwin, during the first few years of his pastorate, the membership of the church was largely in- creased and an old debt was liquidated. He then interested himself at Larimer Station, two miles west of Irwin, organized a congregation, erected a church and had it dedicated without the incumbrance of a debt.
The Brush Creek charge was composed of three congrega- tions and one preaching point when Dr. Truxal became pastor. During the first year of his labors a church was dedicated at Manor, and during the third year an excellent country church was built at Denmark Manor. In the fifth year of his pastorate a congregation was organized and a church erected at Harrison City, and at the close of the sixth year the charge was divided, two congregations giving as much to the support of the pastor as the four had previously given. At Meyersdale the member- ship has been largely increased, an old debt has been paid, the church remodeled and the congregation has under consideration the enlargement of the edifice.
Dr. Truxal is a son of western Pennsylvania, and all his labors have been thus far limited to that region. In the work of Pittsburg Synod he has always taken a leading part, while in the development of the home field and in causes of a general character he is ever found in the front rank. A few years ago he performed a prominent part in the work of seminary endow- ment and recently assisted Professor Hartman in raising funds for the college. He has aided his brethren of the synod in the dedication of more than a dozen churches. Notwithstanding the labor in his pastorate and in the synod, he has not neglected his studies, but has read, thought and written on various sub- jects connected with theology under its modern aspect. He has kept himself in touch with the live questions of the day and is a frequent contributor to the columns of the "Reformed Church Review." Many of his articles have attracted the at-
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tention of the leading thinkers in the church, and his paper in this theological quarterly on "The Confession and Freedom of Thought" has called forth numerous favorable comments. He is a deliberate, pleasing, forcible pulpit orator, progressive in his views and is regarded as one of the strong men of his de- nomination.
Early in his ministry Dr. Truxal was elected president of Pittsburg Synod, and for many years the Synodical Board of Home Missions has numbered him among its members. He has been at different times connected with the following educational and benevolent organizations: Board of Literary Institutions, Orphans' Home, Beneficiary Education, Publication and Visit ors to the Theological Seminary, his association with the last- named body having been maintained for sixteen years. He has also been a member of various important synodical committees and frequently a delegate to the General Synod. At the pres- ent time he is a member of three church boards and has shown himself faithful and efficient in every position to which he has been called by his brethren.
Dr. Truxal married in 1876 Eva, daughter of Curtis and Emma (Kiernan) Kooser, of Somerset, and a sister of Judge F. J. Kooser, of the Somerset county bar. She was one of a family of twelve children born to Mr. and Mrs. Kooser. Chil- dren of Dr. Albert E. and Eva (Kooser) Truxal are six: Al- bert Park, assistant cashier of the Second National Bank of Meyersdale; William Curtis, graduate of Franklin and Mar- shall College, and preparing for the profession of law; Cyrus Walter, now in his senior year at Franklin and Marshall. Col- lege; Emily K., graduate in music from the Woman's College, Frederick, Maryland; Rebekah, student at the Woman's Col- lege; and Evelyn, a pupil in the Meyersdale high school.
PHILIP PORTIFIELD RITTER.
Philip Portifield Ritter, a dentist of prominence of Mey- ersdale, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, was born June 11, 1850, in Frederick county, Virginia, the son of Isaac H. and Amanda (Grandstaff) Ritter, and grandson of Adam Ritter.
Isaac H. Ritter (father) was also a native of Frederick county, Virginia, born in 1822, died in 1879. He followed the occupation of a farmer. His wife, Amanda Grandstaff, the daughter of Phillip Grandstaff, was born in Shenandoah county, West Virginia, died January, 1904, and they had the following children: Philip Portifield, of whom later; Joseph A., born in 1853, now deceased; he was a painter by occupation and lived in Meyersdale; Isaac Lemuel, born in 1866, a dentist, and re- sides in Frostburg; William G., born in 1855, a farmer of Shen- andoab county, West Virginia. Isaac Ritter owned property
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in Virginia, on which the battle of Winchester was fought. He was a Baptist in religion and a Republican in politics.
Philip P. Ritter, the first born, obtained his early education in private schools, which he attended until he was about sixteen years of age. He then attended school that was under the direc- tion of the Reformed church at Edinburg, Virginia, remaining there until about 1870, and doing carpenter work in connection with his studies. He removed to Salisbury, Pennsylvania, in 1871, and worked there at his trade of carpenter until 1872. He then entered a drug store and studied pharmacy. He re- mained there until 1874, when he received the position of pre- scription clerk in a drug store at Falls City, where he continued until April, 1876, when he returned to Salisbury, and took up the study of dentistry with Dr. Beachy, of that place, continu- ing in the study of this profession until January, 1877, when he removed to Rumnia, West Virginia, and practiced there for one year. He then, 1878, entered the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, from which he was graduated in 1884. He im- mediately settled in Meyersdale, and has since been located there, engaged in an extensive and profitable practice. Dr. Rit- ter is a Democrat in politics, and served his township as school director for one term, and president of the school board for the same time. In 1889 he was the candidate of his party for the legislature and received the highest vote ever given a Demo- crat for that office in this county. Fraternally he holds mem- bership in the F. and A. M., No. 554, and Hebron Chapter, No. 272, R. A. M., of Meyersdale. In church relations he is a Lu- theran.
Mr. Ritter married, in 1873, Miss Helen DeHaven, of Salis- bury, who died June 27, 1885. He married for his second wife Miss Lucy Kyle, October 13, 1892. She is the daughter of Edgar Kyle, ex-sheriff of Somerset county. Dr. and Mrs. Rit- ter have one child, Phyllis, born November 3, 1895.
JOHN DAVID MICHAEL ARMBRUST.
John David Michael Armbrust is a man of great natural force of character and versatility. In the course of a long and useful life he has followed many trades and professions. He comes of sturdy German stock, his grandfather being John George Armbrust, who married Agnes Heintz.
John Armbrust, father of John D. M. Armbrust, was born in Perousen, in the district of Heinsheim, Germany, December 18, 1776. He married Catharine Schettler, born August 26, 1782, daughter of John and Anna Maria Schettler. Both John and Catharine (Schettler) Armbrust were members of the Lu- theran church. They had twelve children, three of whom were born in Germany and nine in America. Those born in Germany
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were: Maria Catharine, August 25, 1801; a daughter born De- cember 11, 1802; Fredericka, January 20, 1804. These were all born in Wuertemberg. The other children were born in West- moreland county, Pennsylvania. They are as follows: A son, October 16, 1806; Elizabeth, November 23, 1807; John, Feb- ruary 8, 1810; Jacob, April 19, 1812, married, August 30, 1838; Maria, April 28, 1814, lived but a few hours; Daniel, April 19, 1815; William, January 4, 1819; John David Michael, February 13, 1820; and Maria Ann, June 23, 1822, died in infancy.
John David Michael Armbrust, son of John and Catharine (Schettler) Armbrust, was born Febraury 13, 1820, at Greens- burg, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. His early educa- tion was received in the public schools, and he afterward taught both German and English in the schools of Hempfield township, Westmoreland county. He followed a variety of trades and professions, among them being the following: Printer, car- penter, painter and decorator, chairmaker, cabinet maker and undertaker. At one time he helped his father print and edit a German newspaper at Adamsburg, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. He also took photographs at Apollo, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, and later bought the boat "Artist," which plied on the canal between Apollo and Johnstown, stop- ping at Townsends, Livermore, Saltsburg, Blairsville, Center- ville, Nineveh, and Johnstown. After the war for ten years he practiced photography at Buffalo and White Sulphur Springs, Bedford county, Pennsylvania. He took up his residence for a time at Natrona, where, in addition to working at cabinet-mak- ing and undertaking, he conducted a real estate office. He then went to East End, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he opened a fire insurance and real estate office, but later returned to Apollo. In 1880 he moved to Meyersdale, Somerset county, Pennsylva- nia, where he was in the photographic business for over ten years and where he still resides. Mr. Armbrust's record as a soldier is that of great bravery, daring and endurance. In 1838 he enlisted in the Greensburg Blues Infantry, which was disbanded after one year. He next enlisted in a company which was organized a few miles from Greensburg and called the "Farmers' Infantry." He then moved to Adamsburg and joined the Adamsburg Artillery, then, having moved to Apollo, he joined the Apollo Blues Infantry. He held almost all ranks in these companies until in 1854 Brigadier-General Anderson, of Freeport, Allegheny county, appointed him brigade quarter- master, with the rank of major, in command over Allegheny, Indiana, Jefferson and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania. In this capacity he served from 1854 to 1859. His uniform was of dark blue cloth, trimmed with gold lace, a red sash, sugarloaf hat, six inches high, decorated with a plume, partly red and
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partly white, which was eight inches in height. The horse had a blue saddle cloth trimmed with gold lace, white bridle reins, and leather tassels at the head. After so much experience in playing soldier he was now to know what real war meant.
In 1862 Mr. Armbrust enlisted in Captain Charles Rut- land's company of infantry, under the command of General Allabaugh. He enlisted as a private, but was soon raised to the rank of a corporal, and later to that of sergeant by Colonel Speakman, in the One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment, Company B, Pennsylvania Volunteers, his only son, James P. Armbrust, sixteen years of age, being in Company A of the same regiment, as a drummer. The first battle in which this regiment was engaged was the battle of Antietam. They set out from Washington on a forced march, with eight days' ra- tions. On this march Mr. Armbrust's strength gave out under the weight of the accoutrements, each soldier being obliged to carry his gun, knapsack, shelter tent, overcoat, dress coat, extra shoes, rubber and woolen blankets, sixty rounds of cartridges, and various other articles of clothing. Mr. Armbrust fell out of line and was unable to rejoin his regiment until about nine o'clock that evening. His son came back to meet him and helped him with his load. At Antietam he was sent to the field hos- pital. After the battle of Antietam General Allabaugh ap- pointed him his body guard sergeant, with the rank of sergeant- major. When in camp he had charge of the general's teams, and when the camp was broken of General Tyler's teams in addition. He was told to keep in the rear, but at the engage- ment of Snicker's Gap, the army turned off the main road and as he kept the road he soon found himself at Snickersville, about two miles in advance of the army and within the Confederate lines. There was a small field of corn near by and he ordered his men to lower the bars of the fence and let the horses eat their fill. They remained on the road until midnight and about ten o'clock the next morning an orderly informed him of the position of the army. Finally they made their way back to the main body of the army and. as the pickets had not yet been sta- tioned, they had no difficulty in passing through the lines. All the headquarter officers had been obliged to sleep the previous night without tents, as they were in the wagons under Mr. Arm- brust's charge. The general, after inquiring where he had passed the night. remarked that it was a wonder that they had not been captured. A few days after this they went on to War- renton. At Warrenton he ordered his men to help take down a rail fence and carry the wood to headquarters, as the general said he wished headquarters to be supplied before any other place. After this was done the general inquired where the wood had come from and ordered that it should all be replaced,
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