USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and personal history > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and personal history > Part 5
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Mr. Schell married, at Somerset, August 7, 1890, Mary Sullivan Endsley, daughter of Andrew Jackson Endsley, a Endsley, born at Somerset. Pennsylvania, May 12, 1891; and prominent Methodist divine, wife, Catharine Sullivan Johnson, the great-granddaughter of Captain Patrick Sullivan. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Schell are: Wilbur John, born at the same place, January 23, 1900.
PERRY F. SHAFFER.
Perry F. Shaffer of Somerset, Somerset county, Pennsyl- vania, was born October 4. 1868. the son of Henry and Eliza- beth (Hoffman) Shaffer. Henry Shaffer (father) was a native of Quemahoning, Somerset county, born in 1820, and was a farmer by occupation. His wife, Elizabeth Hoffman, was born
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in 1823 in Quemahoning, a daughter of John Shaffer. Their children : John (deceased), Sarah, Amanda, Benjamin, Will- iam, Cyrus, Frank, Herman, Nancy, Perry F., of whom later. Perhaps there is not a more able, better informed, more scientific and zealous member of the medical profession in Som- erset county than Dr. Perry F. Shaffer, and it is a well known fact that the Somerset contingent is always in the lead in all scientific and medical researches. Dr. Shaffer came to Somer- set from Bedford, Pennsylvania, twelve years ago. He is an alumnus of the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical College, where he graduated with class honors, passing a rigid examination, with a per cent of 100, perfect in every branch of study. The Eclectic Medical College is an institution from which have come forth hundreds and even thousands of the leading physicians now practicing in America, and is recognized as one of the most com- plete and thorough colleges to be found anywhere. Their en- tire system of practice is an advanced method of battling with the numerous diseases that afflict mankind, and the more that is known of this modern and skillful method of treatment the more popular it becomes with the people.
When, twelve years ago, Dr. Shaffer came to Somerset, a young man little more than twenty-three years of age (hav- ing graduated soon after he was twenty-one), his practice was small. This, however, he soon increased to large proportions by his successful manner of treating patients and his thorough diagnosis and watchful care. He is one of the self-made, in- dustrious young men, a skillful master of every detail of the medical profession. He is an expert in the treatment of ail- ments peculiar to this country, and believes strictly in the in- troduction and application of everything that will reduce human suffering, and cure the many ills to which the human family is subject. He is always reasonable in his charges, careful and conscientious in his treatment, and is a progressive and capable practitioner, possessing the confidence and esteem of the community at large.
Dr. Shaffer married, October 3, 1888, Bertha Wertz, born February 13, 1866, a daughter of Emons and Emaline (Phil- son) Wertz. Of this marriage one child was born, Nellie, Octo- ber 18, 1889.
ARTHUR O. BARCLAY, M. D.
Arthur O. Barclay, a practicing physician of Somerset, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, was born October 31, 1874, in Bakersville, a son of Simon P. and Amanda (Shaffer) Bar- clay. He is of German descent, his great-grandfather having emigrated to this country from Germany. His grandfather, Samuel Barclay, was a native of Somerset county. He had
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the distinction of raising the largest steer ever raised in Penn- sylvania, which weighed forty-two hundred pounds.
Simon P. Barclay (father) was born April 12, 1844, in Lavansville, Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He follows the occupation of a farmer and stock raiser, and is an ardent Re- publican. He married Amanda Shaffer, daughter of Henry and Susan (Hoffman) Shaffer, both natives of Jenners, Penn- sylvania, the former a farmer by occupation. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer were the parents of the following children: John, Cyrus, Amanda, Mary, Sadie W., Benjamin, Franklin, Her- man, William, Nancy and Perry. The following named chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Simon P. Barclay: Nettie A., Arthur O., of whom later; Cora I. and Loyal Wilmington.
Arthur O. Barclay decided on a medical career, and studied for his profession in the Eclectic Medical Institute, of Cincin- nati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in the year 1902. He served for eighteen months in the Seton Hospital at Cincinnati, and then returned to Somerset, where he has since been estab- lished in practice. He is in every way well qualified for the work which he has chosen, and has built up an extensive and lucrative practice.
He married, August 25, 1898, Margaret M. Ream, born August 2, 1879, in Jennerstown, a daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Gumbert) Ream, the former a farmer and stock raiser. Her grandfather is Charles Ream, a farmer of Berlin, who is still living and active at the advanced age of eighty-two years.
REV. PETER VOGEL.
The grandfather of Rev. Peter Vogel, of Somerset, was Tobias Vogel, of Bischofsheim, on the River Tauber, Baden, Germany. By occupation he was a tailor. Mr. Vogel, having served his full time in the German army, became an earnest Republican, and, because of his leadership in the agitation which finally broke out in the Revolution of 1848, found it wise to leave for the United States as the land where his political doctrines were acceptable. This he did in 1831, and settled on a farm three miles west of Butler, Pennsylvania. In religion he was a devout Roman Catholic. Mr. Vogel married Eliza- beth Ginsthaler, a native of the same part of Germany as him- self, and they were the parents of three sons: Albin, of whom later; Frantz Josef, who lives on a farm near Altamont, Illi- nois; and Philip, who recently died on the old homestead, near Butler.
Albin (or Alvin) Vogel, son of Tobias and Elizabeth (Ginsthaler) Vogel, was educated for the Roman Catholic priesthood in German schools. He was sixteen years old when he came to the United States, and was so proficient in Latin
Peter Vogel.
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that he became the interpreter for the family by finding a priest, with whom he could, of course, converse in that lan- guage, in places where no German was spoken. The broken fortunes of the family, because of their political views in Ger- many, compelled him to stay at home and help on the farm.
Mr. Vogel married, about 1839, Maria Ursula Flick, who came from Rhenish Bavaria, about the time when the Vogels emigrated from Bischofsheim. Her education was that of the ordinary German schools, and her faith also Roman Catholic. Two sons were born to them: Peter, of whom later; and Tobias. Mr. Vogel, at the early age of twenty-eight, fell a victim to smallpox, as did his younger son, Tobias, who died two weeks before his father. Neither had been vaccinated. His widow, in the course of time, married again, and her death occurred in 1878, in central Illinois.
Peter Vogel, son of Albin and Maria Ursula (Flick) Vogel, was born September 4, 1841, three miles west of Butler, Penn- sylvania, and was four and a half years of age at the time of the death of his father. His mother's second marriage re- sulted in his being largely cast among strangers, and changed his whole course of life. His early years were spent in a Ger- man-speaking community and he learned English in his "teens," having before that attended German schools.
Having become convinced that he could serve his God bet- ter as a Protestant, he worked his way through Eureka Col- lege, Eureka, Illinois, graduating in 1866, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and later receiving that of Master of Arts. He entered the ministry of the Disciples of Christ, declining several professorships in colleges, and also pulpits in Brook- lyn, New York; St. Louis, Missouri, and Bloomington, Illinois, that he might serve smaller places in Wisconsin, Illinois, Mis- souri, Iowa and Pennsylvania. He has been pastor of the Somerset Disciple church longer than any other one person, first in 1870 and 1871, and again in 1883 to the autumn of 1887, when literary work, in addition to the cares and responsibili- ties of his pastorate, so reduced his vitality that he was forced to abandon both and became official court reporter for the Six- teenth Judicial District, Bedford and Somerset counties, a posi- tion which he still holds in Somerset county, which now con- stitutes by itself the Sixteenth Judicial District. Meanwhile he has been preaching, largely as a gratuity, for nearly all the leading denominations of the county, in case of the illness or absence of their pastors. During his pastorates, and in addi- tion thereto, he has founded or restored thirteen congrega- tions, delivered numerous temperance lectures, and prepared young people for academies and colleges. He is the author of two books, "Sabbath Discussion," (now out of print), and
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"The Tale of a Pioneer Church," a history of the Somerset Disciple church, which has rescued from oblivion many im portant facts and documents, and of which Hon. B. F. Meyers, of Harrisburg, in review, said: "This is the only book that gives the real origin of the Republican party." Mr. Vogel is now preparing a poem on the Lord's Prayer, entitled Pater Noster, to be published in book form early in 1907. Because of the horrors of slavery Mr. Vogel forsook the Democracy of his ancestors and became a Republican, and because of the tremendous havoc of the drink traffic has for years been a Prohibitionist. By the latter organization he has been several times nominated for the legislature.
Mr. Vogel married, October 11, 1866, at New Castle, Penn- sylvania, Maud M., daughter of Matthew and Jane (Barber) Dinsmore, the former a farmer. Mrs. Vogel was educated in New Castle and is regarded as one of the most talented women of Somerset, her addresses and papers in conventions being always notable features. Of the eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Vogel, three daughters are now living: Ella King, assistant principal of the Somerset schools; Virginia Viola, teacher of the pianoforte, and Maud Petrina, who is attending an academic course. Another daughter, Daisy M., recently died in the Philippines, where she and Ella King were govern- ment teachers in the Bulacan high school at Balluag, Daisy having been previously in charge of the department of music in the Edinboro State Normal school and government teacher in Porto Rico. Of the four teachers for the Philippines that Dr. N. C. Shaffer, state superintendent of education, was re- quested by the government to select, Ella King and Daisy M. were two. Mr. Vogel, for a number of years, has devoted his spare moments to special thought and study, it being his pur- pose to end his days in writing books of a critical nature on scriptural and scientific themes.
KNEPPER FAMILY.
Three brothers of the Knepper family in Wurtemberg, Germany, came to America in 1750. One settled in Virginia, one in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and the other farther to the west. From the last named descended all the generations of this name in Somerset county, Pennsylvania.
(I) John Knepper, born 1763, died August 1, 1817, in Brothers Valley township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He married Anna M. Glessner, born 1765, died 1847. She was the daughter of Christian and Elizabeth (Fisher) Wertz. The former was born June 12, 1772, and the latter May 24, 1776. John Knepper and wife, Anna M., had the following children : Elizabeth, born February 23, 1789, died aged eighty-six years;
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Catharine, born June 10, 1790; William, born at Berlin, Penn- sylvania, January 2, 1792; he was a soldier in the war of 1812-14; A. M. (known as "Polly"), born November 2, 1793, died aged fifty-nine years: John, born October 13, 1795; Jacob, born September 4, 1797; Lewis, born December 26, 1799, died at the age of eighty-eight years; Peter, born March 4, 1802, a marble cutter by trade; Judge Jonathan, born July 20, 1804, became sheriff and associate judge of Somerset county, Penn- sylvania; George, born December 12, 1806; Simon, born May 3, 1809, of whom later; Rev. Henry, born August 25, 1812, died aged sixty-six years; Rev. Benjamin, born September 10, 1816, of whom later.
(II) Sinon Knepper, son of John (1) and Anna M. (Glessner) Knepper, born May 3, 1809, died aged fifty-three years. He was a carpenter by trade. He married Nancy, daughter of Christian and Nancy (Fisher) Wertz, January 15, 1834. Their children were: Amanda, born May 20, 1835, mar- ried Joseph Pritts, deceased; Oliver, born June 5, 1837, of whom later; Lieutenant Henry F., born April 19, 1839, of whom later; Amos W., born April 14, 1841, of whom later; William P., born July 25, 1843, served in the civil war, was killed at New Market, and was buried on Southern soil; he was a member of Company B, Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania Regiment; Ellen, born December 31, 1845; married William Weigle; Em- eline, born May 28, 1848, married Samuel Deitz; David, born September 7, 1850, deceased; Cyrus, born August 26, 1852, married Annie E. Pile; Annie born October 6, 1854, married Elwood Rice; Elizabeth, born April 19, 1857, married Edward Horner, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
(II) Rev. Benjamin Knepper, youngest child of John (1) and Anna M. (Glessner) Knepper, born September 10, 1816, died October 3, 1905, aged eighty-nine years. He died at his daughter's house in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of thirteen children in his parents' family. He re- ceived his education in the common schools of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and subsequently took a theological course um- der the instruction of Rev. William Conrad, of Hagerstown, Maryland, who was pastor of the Reformed church at Berlin, Pennsylvania. He entered the ministry when he was twenty- eight years of age, being associated with the Reformed church. For a time he was pastor at Wellersburg, Pennsylvania, then went to Illinois, where he remained eighteen months, but was called back by his people in Somerset county to again become pastor at Wellersburg, Pennsylvania, which he faithfully served for fifty-five years, without intermission. For many years he was the only pastor of his denomination in Somerset county, hence was in great demand in both this and Bedford counties.
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At that early day much of the preaching was in country dis- tricts, and many long trips were made to officiate at funerals and weddings. During his ministry, "Father Knepper" bap- tized over two thousand persons and officiated at more mar- riages and funerals than any other man in Somerset county.
In 1839 Rev. Knepper was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Hay, of Berlin, Pennsylvania. Two children were born of this union: Sophia, deceased, and Mrs. Ann Heller, now living at Connellsville, Pennsylvania. In 1889 he cele- brated his "golden wedding" anniversary. He was buried at Berlin, Pennsylvania. His wife survived him. Among the re- markable and heroic characters of the nineteenth century among the clergy of Pennsylvania, Father Knepper will ever be referred to as among the "bright and shining lights."
(III) Oliver Knepper, son of Simon (2) and Nancy (Wertz) Knepper, born June 5, 1837, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania; died in 1899. He was by trade a carpenter. He served his county as sheriff, and at his death was holding the office of justice of the peace. He was an exceptionally prominent man, and great was the sorrow in the community at his death. He was orderly sergeant in Company H, Two Hundred and Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, during the Civil war. He married Mary Pugh, in 1858; she was born in 1836. The children by this union were: Laura, born May, 1860; Chester M., born 1862; Ada and Cora (twins) ; Edith, Orlo S .. Florence.
(III) Lieutenant Henry F. Knepper, son of Simon (2) and Nancy (Wertz) Knepper, was born April 14, 1839, at what is now called Rockwood, Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He was a school teacher and treasurer of Somerset county. In politics a radical Republican. In religions faith and pro- fession a United Brethren. He served in the Union army dur- ing the civil war, enlisting as a member of Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, and after nine months re-enlisted in the Fifth Pennsylvania Heavy Ar- tillery, and served until the end of the war, receiving a com- mission as lieutenant, having been first sergeant. After he had served one term as county treasurer of his county, Mr. Knepper was made deputy for another term and had full charge of the office. He was one of four brothers who fol- lowed teaching many terms. He was the one of the four who served in the Union cause in the days of the rebellion.
He married, February 14, 1860, Margaret Spangler, born November 10, 1837. Their five children are: Wilson J., born November 26, 1860. now a merchant of Indiana; Norman E., born September 27, 1862, married Emma Weimar, of Somer- set; Almira, born July 22. 1864, married Mahlon Schrock; Ed-
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ward K., born June 4, 1866, now a merchant of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, married Emma Wright, of Bedford county, Pennsylvania; Winnie Grace, born November 7, 1878, a teacher of long service in the schools of Pittsburgh and Johnstown, Pennsylvania-a teacher of rare attainments.
( III) Amos W. Knepper, son of Simon (2) and Nancy (Wertz) Knepper, was born April 14, 1841, at Berlin, Penn- sylvania, in "an old red house still standing." He was schooled in the Somerset county schools and when twenty years of age enlisted in the Union cause, August 14, 1862, as a member of Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment, Penn- sylvania Volunteers. He was in Captain George F. Baer's famous company and was a corporal. He cast his first vote while on the battlefield of Antietam, voting for Abraham Lin- coln, for his second term. He served nine months and was hon- orably discharged at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1863. He participated in the engagements so famous in the history of the civil war-the second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fred- ericksburg. . Chancellorsville, etc. After his return he engaged in merchandising at Somerset, continuing about twenty-five years. Since 1904 he has been actively engaged in the real estate business at Somerset. He is now vice-president of the Somerset Electricity plant and a large real estate owner.
Politically, like all the family, Mr. Knepper is a staunch Republican, and was a candidate for the state legislature in 1902, and was only defeated by a small majority in a three- cornered contest. In the spring of 1906, nominated by Repub- licans for legislator, which is equivalent to election in the coun- ty of Somerset. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post No. 210; Knights of the Golden Eagle, Junior Order of American Mechanics, Farmers' Alliance and Grange, and Maccabees.
He married, January 16, 1868, at New Centerville, Penn- sylvania, Sabinie E., daughter of Joseph and Deliah (Boyd) Smith, of Somerset county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Knepper was one of a family of five children, two of whom only survived. By this union two sons were born: William, November 10, 1868, died when between five and six years of age; Rev. George W., April 3, 1876, and educated in the common and high schools of Somerset, and graduated from the Indianapolis University of Butler, with the class of 1899. After leaving college, he was state secretary and traveling lecturer for the State of In- diana for the Young Men's Christian Association for about two years. He was called home by the death of his mother, March 12, 1900, soon after which said event he took up the work of the ministry, becoming pastor by a unanimous call of the Christian church at Somerset-his native borough-which
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charge he still holds in a most devout and truly creditable manner. His pastorate dates from the spring of 1904.
(IV) Chester M. Knepper, son of Oliver (3) and Mary (Pugh) Knepper, born in 1862, entered the naval school at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1880, and graduated therefrom in 1884. He is still in the United States navy. He was com- mander of the torpedo boat "Mckay" at the time of the Spanish-American war, and was delegated to bring back the remains of Paul Jones from France, in July, 1905, being on the flag ship "Brooklyn." He was married in 1897.
(IV) Orlo S. Knepper, son of Oliver (3) and Mary (Pugh) Knepper, entered the United States Naval Academy in 1891, and graduated in 1895. He was with the Dewey fleet as signal recorder for the boat "Concord," and was one of two to go aboard the captured Spanish ships at Manila Bay, to take the side arms from the crew. He resigned as lieutenant from the "West Virginia," September, 1905, and is now a busi- ness man in New York city. He was married in June, 1905. It might be added that he was with the "Maine" three years, and was only transferred from her a short time before her awful destruction.
(V) Robert O. Bosh, son of P. A. and Larha (Knepper) Bosh, when aged nineteen years, in 1904, also became a cadet in the United States navy.
(IV) Norman E. Knepper, son of Lieutenant Henry F. (3) and Margaret (Spangler) Knepper, was born in the bor- ough of Somerset, Pennsylvania, September 27, 1862. He re- ceived a good common school education, and early in his life became a salesman in a store at Somerset, Pennsylvania, and from that steadily rose to be one of the proprietors, and has for many years been one of the leading dry goods and clothing men of the borough, and is now of the firm of Knepper & Good. Aside from his mercantile business, he has other financial in- terests and has been successful as an investor in coal lands in his native county. Politically Mr. Knepper is a Republican. August 28, 1891, he married Emma Weimer, daughter of John H. and Annie (Roberts) Weimer, of Somerset, Pennsylvania. By this union two children were born: Elizabeth, born No- vember 23, 1893; Henry, Jr., February 22, 1899.
HON. WILLIAM HENRY KOONTZ.
Hon. William Henry Koontz, lawyer, legislator and states- man, of Somerset, Pennsylvania, was born in that place when it was a mere hamlet, June 15, 1830. He came of sturdy Ger- man ancestry, and his family were among the first settlers of Somerset county, his grandfather, Samuel Koontz, removing thither from Lancaster county when the region to which he
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came was an almost unbroken wilderness. His maternal grand- father, Jacob Schneider, came from Germany.
He was brought up amid such surroundings as developed abilities and traits of character which peculiarly distinguished a type of manhood now all but extinct. The common schools of the day, well taught, though totally lacking in text-book equipment such as is now deemed indispensable, afforded him the rudiments of an education altogether insufficient for an active career. He had, however, a thirst for knowledge, and he read with avidity and clear understanding every book ob- tainable, and was fortunate in their being of real worth. It may here be noted that the first time he was ever in a college building was in 1880, when he delivered the commencement address at Lancaster. Determined upon a legal profession as his life work, he became a student in the law office of Forward & Stutzman, in Somerset, and was admitted to the bar in 1851, immediately upon attaining his majority. He at once entered upon practice, and in 1853 his abilities found recognition in his election to the position of district attorney of Somerset county, this marking the beginning of his public career, which was destined to be brilliant as well as highly useful. His ad- vance in his profession was constant and substantial, and he can now look back with commendable pride upon more than a half century (fifty-five years, a most unusual period of ac- tivity) of industrious effort, during which he has been promi- nently connected with very many important trials in his county, and many in other portions of the state. A cause celebre with which his name is closely associated is that of the Nicely broth- ers, charged with murder, the case having run for about two years. General Koontz was one of the leading counsel for the defense, and, after following the case to its end before the courts, he, together with his associates, made the final plea before the Board of Pardons, and his argument, which related to the legal powers of that body, has from that day to the present been quoted and relied upon by the bar of the state.
It is, however, the public career of Mr. Koontz that princi- pally claims attention. Formerly a Whig, in 1856, when that party was hopelessly disrupted, he became one of the organiz- ing members of the new Republican party, and gave his hearty support to its first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont. In 1857 his popularity, his intense enthusiasm and his fiery oratory pointed to him as a leader in a desperate struggle, and he accepted the nomination of his party for the state senate. He was defeated at the polls, with his ticket, but he had added to his friends and further developed his splendid powers. He was a delegate to the famous Republican national convention in Chicago in 1860, and he was among the first to cast a ballot
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