History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Volume III, Part 14

Author: Storey, Henry Wilson
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 940

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Irvin Rutledge married (first). October 23, 1851, Lucetta Hay- maker Colleasure, born October 10, 1826, died August 22, 1876. daugh- ter of John and Margaret ( Graff) Colleasure, and the granddaughter of Barbara (Baum) Graff, who was born near the Burnt Cabins in Path Valley, 1775. All that section of the country was a wilderness and the Indians were hostile. John Colleasure was born in 1800, died December 25, 1875, buried in Doddsville, Illinois. He married, 1824, Margaret Graff, born 1802. died March 24, 1885, buried in Doddsville, Illinois. Children of Irvin and Lucetta H. (Colleasure) Rutledge : Margaret, Lucy, Augusta E., Frank, Elizabeth. William, Irvin and John C., all of whom are deceased except the latter. Mr. Rutledge married (second), 1880. Mrs. Helen (Wines) Cushman, who with John C. Rutledge resides at the old homestead, No. 212 Water street, Johns- town.

John C. Rutledge was educated in the common schools of Johns- town, and his first position in the active business of life was in a woolen mill, where he worked for one year. He then entered the office of the Johnstown Tribune, under the direction of George T. Swank, and labored there for twelve years. A couple of years were then spent in

HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

Alabama, after which he returned to Johnstown and was employed as a printer on the Johnstown Democrat. After five years spent in this work he became foreman of the job department, and held that po- sition three years. He has always been actively interested in the pub- lic affairs of the city, and has done much to further its welfare and improvement. He was elected alderman of the fifth ward of the city in 1902, and has filled that office to the great satisfaction of his con- stituents. He has a thorough, practical way of taking hold of mat- ters that leads immediately to the root of the trouble, if there be any, and his inventive mind and fertile imagination soon find a remedy for the evil. He is popular in both commercial and social circles, and has many friends. In addition to performing the duties of his public office, he is engaged in the real estate and fire insurance business. His po- litical allegiance is given to the Republican party.

HARRY H. SANDERSON, M. D., one of the best known and most popular of the younger generation of physicians in Johnstown, Cambria county. Pennsylvania, is a representative of a family which has been identified with the history of the state, and prominent in its industrial and commercial circles.

Theodore C. Sanderson, father of Henry H. Sanderson, M. D., was born in Ickesburg. Perry county, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1849, son of and Sarah Sanderson. He was educated in the common schools of the township and also in the New Bloomfield Academy and the Pennsylvania College. At the age of sixteen years he volunteered in the Union army and served with bravery and honor until the close of the war. He was engaged in teaching school for five years and in 1873 came to Bedford county, and entered the Huntingdon and Broad Top railroad service, as ticket agent at Hopewell. In a few years he was promoted to be general weighmaster at Saxton. He was made ticket and freight agent and train dispatcher in 1881, and held these positions until January, 1901. when he resigned in order to take his seat in the state legislature as a representative from Bedford county, having been elected thereto by the largest Republican majority given that ticket in 1900. At the close of the session of the legislature he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he became a member of the grain firm of Fickes & Sanderson. He was a member of the Lutheran church, a leader of the church choir for many years, and superintendent of the Sunday school for over twenty years. He was a member of the school board of the borough for twelve years, serving for the greater part of that time as its president. He was a prominent Mason, mem- ber of the Huntingdon Commandery. Knights Templar, and also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His death occurred in January, 1902, and he was survived by his mother, Mrs. Sarah San- derson, three brothers-George W., of Huntingdon; John M., of Roanoke. Virginia : and Elmer E., of Saxton-and one sister, Mrs. Kate Heston. of New Bloomfield. Theodore C. Sanderson married, in 1872, Jane Fickes, who had seven sisters and brothers: Andrew, Sarah, Benjamin, Josiah, Anna, Gibson, and Bella. The children of Theo- dore C. and Jane (Fickes) Sanderson, who were living at the time of their father's death, were: Dr. Harry H., see forward; Charles C., of Everett ; Minnie E. : Frank; Roy; Clyde: Carrie ; and Eugene.

Harry H. Sanderson, M. D., second surviving child of Theodore C. and Jane (Fickes) Sanderson, was born at Hopewell. Bedford county, Pennsylvania, January 14, 1876. He received his education in the

HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

common schools of Saxton, Pennsylvania, attended the Gettysburg Col- lege for three years, then the Hahnemann College at Philadelphia for four years, being graduated from the latter institution in 1900. He commenced his professional practice in Johnstown. Cambria county, Pennsylvania, in November of the same year, and has since been located in that town, where he now commands a large and lucrative practice. He is conscientious and thorough in his work, and has won for himself an enviable reputation among his fellow practitioners. as well as among his patients. He is a member of the Lutheran church, and affiliates with the Republican party.

He married April 5, 1905, Emily Stammler, born September 15, 1883. daughter of Frederick W. and Mary (Fronheiser) Stammler, and sister of George and Bertha Stammler.

MAJOR JAMES HARRISON GAGEBY, deceased, was a splen- did type of the volunteer soldier of the Union during the Civil war, and his brilliant record won for him a commission and promotion in the regular army, which he adorned for many years. He was of Scotch- Irish ancestry, and his military instincts and genius came to him through a long line of honorable forebears, clearly traceable to William, the Norman Conqueror. His grandfather, James Gageby, came from the north of Ireland to the United States in 1774. He settled in Phila- delphia, and was in Independence Hall when the Declaration of Inde- pendence was read. He was doubtless greatly impressed by that dramat- ic event, for he entered the patriot army and with it served and fought during the entire struggle. After the war was over he located in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1836, esteemed and honored, at the advanced age of eighty-six years.

Robert Gageby, son of the revolutionary veteran, James Gageby, was born and reared in Westmoreland county. In 1834, during the building of the Pennsylvania canal and Portage railroad, he came to Johnstown, where he lived during the remainder of his life, dying in 1880, at the age of seventy-four years. He was a man possessing in eminent degree many sterling qualities of head and heart, and took an active and intelligent part in all community affairs. He was a stanch Republican, and firm in upholding his political principles. He married Rebecca Scott, a native of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch extraction, and a descendant of the famous Scott and Stewart families of Scotland.

James Harrison Gageby, son of Robert B. and Rebecca (Scott) Gageby, was born September 5. 1835, within the corporate limits of Johnstown. He received his early education in the public schools of that city, and when about eighteen years of age took a course in Elder's Ridge Academy, then under the charge of Dr. Donaldson. In his early youth he worked with his father in the blacksmith shop of Gageby & Kinley. At the age of twenty-two his love of adventure led him to Iowa, then but sparsely settled, where for three years he followed va- rious avocations. Returning home, the opening of the Civil war ap- pealed to his patriotism and martial spirit, and on April 19. a week after the firing on Fort Sumter, and immediately after Governor Cur- tin had made his call for troops, he enlisted under President Lincoln's first call for three months' men, as a sergeant on Company K, Third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. This company was already in ex- istence as the Johnstown Zouaves, and as such was thoroughly drilled and entirely qualified for active service on the instant. With his com-

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pany Sergeant Gageby served in General Patterson's command in Maryland and Virginia, and was engaged in the battle of Falling Water, Virginia, July 2, 1861. Discharged on the expiration of his term of service, July 30 following, Sergeant Gageby aided in recruiting a com- pany for the Seventy-sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, in which he was to be commissioned. Before its organization was per- fected, however, he enlisted, October 25, in the Nineteenth Regiment United States Infantry, in which he was appointed first sergeant, to date from his enlistment-a fine tribute to his soldierly bearing and qualities. For several weeks he was on duty at Greensburg, Pennsyl- vania, drilling a detachment of the regiment, and subsequently at the headquarters of the regiment, in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the capacity of drill sergeant. He was so engaged until the organization of Com- panies G and H, of the First Battalion of the regiment, when he went to the field as first sergeant of Company G, assigned to duty with the Army of the Potomac. After serving at Harrison's Landing his bat- talion acted as bodyguard to General MeClellan in the campaign through Maryland. It took part in the battles of Antietam and South Mount- ain, and afterward in the battle of Fredericksburg, at which time Ser- geant Gageby's battalion was assigned to the Seventeenth Infantry Regiment, with which it served in that engagement. In March, 1863, his company was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland and as- signed to the First Battalion, Nineteenth Infantry. He was promoted to second lieutenant in Company A, that regiment, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, June 1, 1863, and served as such until the battle of Hoover's Gap, when he was placed in command of Company G, led it in the charge of the brigade of Regulars against a Confederate division, and was brevetted first lieutenant "for gallant and meritorions service in action" upon that occasion. He was returned to Company A just prior to the battle of Chickamauga, in which engagement he was wounded and taken prisoner, September 20, 1863. He was taken to Libby Prison, Richmond, and was there while the famous tunnel for escape was being dug by the prisoners. Colonel Rose, chief of the tun- neling party, advised Lientenant Gageby, Captain E. L. Smith and Lieutenant M. C. Causten that they were to consider themselves as a part of the liberty seeking company, although. on account of the prejn- dices of some of the volunteer officers, they were not permitted to work in the tunnel ; at the same time they were charged to aid in preventing the discovery of the tunnel while work was progressing. Lieutenant Gageby escaped through the tunnel February 9, 1864, but was recap- tured two days later near Charles City crossroads, Virginia, and was returned to the prison and ineareerated in the "middle dungeon" for eight days, when he was taken to Danville, Virginia ; later to Charlotte, North Carolina; to Macon, Georgia; and Charleston, South Carolina; and in the last named city was held for several days under the fire of the Union batteries playing upon it. He was then taken to Columbia, South Carolina, thence back again to Charlotte, North Carolina, later to Raleigh and Goldsboro, North Carolina, and finally to Wilmington, Delaware, where he was released on parole, March 1, 1865, after an im- prisonment of seventeen months and ten days.

Returning to duty with his company, at Lookout Mountain, in May, 1865, he was with his regiment there, and, the war being over, was with it in Arkansas and the Cherokee Nation the remainder of 1865 and in 1866. He was brevetted eaptain September 20, 1865. He was on regular army recruiting service from September, 1866, to March,

HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

1868. In that year he was appointed captain in the Thirty-seventh Regiment United States Infantry, successfully passed examination at Louisville, Kentucky, and joined his regiment at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, in March, 1868. He was engaged in several scouts and expe- ditions against the Mescalero Apache Indians, and in October was or- dered with his company to the Canadian river expedition under Col- onel A. W. Evans, at Fort Bascom. This campaign against the Com- anches continued about four months, the troops being without tents the greater part of the time. The Comanche village on the Salt Fork of the Red River, Texas. was found December 25, 1868, and here the com- mand was actively engaged in battle with the Indians from 10 o'clock in the morning until sundown. In April and May of 1869, Captain Gageby was with General J. R. Brooke on the expedition against the Mescalero and Sierra Diablo Apache Indians, and with his company he fought a brief engagement with them near the big canyon of the Guadaloupe mountains, New Mexico. On August 11. 1869, he was as- signed to the Third Infantry, and with his company (D) served in 1870 guarding the Missouri Pacific Railway in Colorado, where he had several slight skirmishes with Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians. He · was subsequently on duty at Fort Lyon, Colorado, and Camp Supply, Indian Territory, and in 1874 was ordered on reconstruction duty in the south. He was so engaged until August, 1877, when he was or- dered north to serve during the railroad riots in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. He was on duty at Fort Missoula, Montana, from Sep- tember, 1877, to 1878, when he was ordered on recruiting duty. He. rejoined the Third Infantry Regiment in May, 1881, and served with it until April, 1883.

In February, 1889, Captain Gageby came to Johnstown on leave of absence, and was there at the time of the great flood, in which he lost several members of his family, and all his home property. He was placed on duty there by order of the Secretary of War, and served with the National Guard of Pennsylvania until September, 1889, when he was placed on special recruiting service for one year. He was sub- sequently selected by Colonel Mason, of the Third Infantry, for the regular recruiting detail, and was on that duty until he was promoted to major, Twelfth Infantry, July 4, 1892. He was placed in command at Fort Sully, South Dakota, where he remained two years, being then transferred to Fort Niobrara, Nebraska. At the time of his death he stood within two files of a lientenant-colonelcy, which it was his am- bition to reach.

The foregoing military record is one of which any man might well be proud. Courageous in action, firm in the discharge of every duty, he was at the same time one of the most affable, companionable and generous of men, and his friends in the army were perhaps more numerous than those of any other officer of his rank. Although by rea- son of his occupation separated for the greater portion of his life from the scenes of his childhood, it is doubtful if there was at the time of his death (which occurred in Johnstown, July 13, 1896), a man in the community more universally known and more sincerely liked than was Major Gageby. He had a remarkable faculty for remembering names and faces, and was scarcely ever at fault in recognizing and calling by name any person he had ever met. Constantly forming new acquaint- ances, he was never forgetful of old friends. and grasped them to him- self as "with hoops of steel." Coming from a long line of stalwart Presbyterian ancestors, he was of a reverential mind, and was a con-

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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

stant attendant upon divine services, though holding to no special creed. He was a lifelong Republican. He became affiliated with the Masonic Fraternity while stationed in Indian Territory. He was a member of the Grand Army Post in Johnstown, and a companion of the Nebraska Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. His remains are interred at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in Grand View cemetery.

Major Gageby was happily married in 1873 to Matilda Fend, a daughter of Jacob Fend, who died January 29, 1899, and is interred in Grandview cemetery, Johnstown. To Major and Mrs. Gageby was born an only child, Emma, at Fort Missoula, Montana, five hundred and forty-five miles from the nearest railroad point. Miss Gageby was married, November 12, 1904, to Lieutenant George Wilbur Cochen, of Brooklyn, New York, a son of Theodore Cochen. Lieutenant Cochen is an officer in the United States Artillery Corps, stationed at Fortress Monroe, Virginia.

JACOB FEND, deceased, who was a highly respected citizen and one of the oldest and most successful business men of the city of Johns- town, was a son of John and Mary (Gerhardt) Fend, and was born at Funkstown, a village in the vicinity of Hagerstown, Maryland, June 10, 1823. He died January 29, 1899, and is interred in Grand View cemetery, Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

His parents were both natives of Germany, and in 1821 settled near Hagerstown, Maryland, but soon moved to Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, where the father died in 1824, and the mother passed away in 1848. when in the fifty-second year of her age. They were an honest, frugal and industrious couple, who well deserved the respect which was accorded them in the community where they re- sided.

When but a mere child Jacob Fend was brought by his parents to Somerset county, and in 1837 he commenced work in the Kantner woolen factory, one mile east of Stoyestown, at fifty cents per week and board- ing himself. He worked two years in the woolen mill and a year more on a farm, and then learned the trade of millwright with E. M. Smith- ley, who gave him the only opportunity he ever enjoyed in youth of attending school for three months, as Stoneyereek township, where he formerly resided, had refused to adopt the free school system. With Mr. Smithley he also learned the lessons of economy and self-reliance. He worked for eleven years at his trade, and when not contracting re- ceived $2.50 per day. Upon the completion of Benshoff's mill at Johns- town, in 1851, his physicians urged him to find lighter employment if he wished to live. Reluctantly accepting their advice he purchased for $1,260 of John Geis property on Main street, Johnstown, and opened a confectionery establishment and eracker bakery in 1852. His payments were light, only $200 per year withont interest, and he pros- pered fairly well in his new line until the war began, when such a de- mand came for his goods that he could hardly fill the orders that poured in on him. This increase of business remained permanent with him after the war and up to 1882, when he retired from business. He then spent his winters at New Orleans and in California until the great flood came and swept away so much of his property that he was compelled to again engage in business. He had his wrecked residence repaired, opened the same as a hotel, and it was the leading hostlery in that city for several years. From the scattered remnants of his

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property properly managed and the income of the hotel, he was en- abled on November 1, 1893, to again retire from active business with a sufficient competency to provide him with the comforts of life.

Jacob Fend was a Republican in politics, and served in the city council for a number of years, but having been of a modest and re- tiring disposition he never desired a publie office, although serving in obedience to the will of the voters whenever elected to any municipal position. For years he was among the foremost business men of the city, and always identified himself with every movement for the ad- vancement of Johnstown's material interests. As one instance illus- trating his devotion to the development of his city may be cited the great effort of Mr. Fend, in connection with G. W. Osborn, to obtain the necessary amount of subscription that secured the erection of the Johnstown water works. In a score of other ways, more or less promi- nent, he was a potent factor to secure additional advantages for his city or bring to it new enterprises. Mr. Fend was an industrious and persistent worker and an excellent manager, and by prudence and econ- omy acquired a handsome competency. From a boy without a dollar and but little schooling, he not only achieved success in a business point of view, but in the maintenance of a character for integrity. His charities, however, were not ostentatious, and few persons outside of his own family and intimate friends had any knowledge of them. A fine example of a self-made man, his kindly nature, his thoughfulness and consideration won him friends wherever he went.

Mr. Fend married, November 4, 1845, Hannah Probst, a member of the English Lutheran church, and a granddaughter of John Probst, the first iron manufacturer west of the Allegheny mountains in the Ligonier Valley. Mrs. Fend was of French descent. She died August 5, 1878, aged fifty-six years, leaving four daughters: Matilda, wife of Major James H. Gageby, deceased ; Mary. died May 9, 1887, at Los Angeles, California ; Emma, died July 25, 1888, and Ettie, who was her father's devoted companion.

WILLIAM HENRY FREDERICKS, one of the most prominent and highly esteemed residents of Johnstown, Cambria county, Penn- sylvania, vice-president of the Johnstown Dry Grain Company, has a most enviable record to look back upon in his conduct during the progress of the Civil war, in which he was actively engaged. He is a representative of the second generation of his family in this country, his ancestors being natives of Germany.

John Frederieks, father of William Henry Frederieks, was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, July 1, 1802. His education was ob- tained in the parochial schools of his district, which he attended until he had attained the age of fourteen years. He was in his early youth when he commenced the business of life by working on the farms, and in 1832 he determined to come to America, thinking there were better prospects in this country. He accordingly embarked on a sailing vessel with his wife and children at Bremen, and arrived in Bal- timore, Maryland. From there he went to Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and a year or two later went to Williamsport, Maryland, where he re- mained for some years. From there he removed to Cumberland and en- gaged in the hotel business and also in contracting for the Mount Savage Iron Company. He resided there for ten years, and in 1848 removed to Frostburg, Maryland, where he conducted the McCullough House for a period of two years. Two years later he again changed

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his place of residence, this time settling in Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, where he helped to lay the plank road between Berlin and Somerset. He eame to Johnstown in 1853 and engaged in garden- ing, with which he was occupied until 1876 when he retired, and died May 12, 1884. His first home in Johnstown was at the corner of Frank- lin and Washington streets on what is now (1906) known as the Creed property. There he resided for three years, removing to Walnut street, between Main and Vine streets, remaining there ten years, and then bought the property of Robert Hamilton on Vine street, and there he died. He and his wife were members of the First English Lutheran church, and he was a stanch adherent of the Democratic party. He served for one term as street commissioner of Johnstown borough.

John Fredericks married, 1829, Anna Eva Eckert, also a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was injured at the time of the flood of May 31, 1889, and died June 3 of the same year. She and her husband are buried in the Sandyville cemetery. Their children were: 1. Louisa, mar- ried Levi Enfield, now deceased, and she resides in Chicago, Illinois; 2. Mary, unmarried, living in Maryland; 3. Annie, married Herman Memaeamp, resides in Johnstown, Pennsylvania; 4. John M., born in Williamsport, Maryland. He was orderly sergeant to General Banks for a short time. He married Anna Decker, of Johnstown, and re- sides in Braddock, Pennsylvania; 5. William Henry, see forward; 6. Samuel, born in Cumberland, Maryland, married Sadie Miller, both deceased ; 7. Henry, born in Cumberland, Maryland, married there to Annie Stines; 8. Ella, married James Sloan, resides in Lonaconing, Maryland; 9. Charles F., born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, married in Lonaconing, Maryland, Mary Steward : both deceased.

William Henry Fredericks, second son and fifth child of John and Anna Eva ( Eckert ) Frederieks, was born in Cumberland, Maryland, March 30, 1843. His education was limited to attendance at the schools of the district for a period of three months, and the knowledge which Mr. Fredericks has acquired in the course of his life is due solely to his own ambition and unaided efforts. At the age of seven years he was sent to work for a farmer, receiving as compensation what he could eat and as Mr. Fredericks concisely puts it "half of what he could wear." Three years later he was brought to Johnstown by his father, and here he was set to work hauling cinders from Ray's furnace to the river. For this labor he received twenty-five or thirty cents a day. He hired out his services to Jacob Fend in 1855, who was the proprietor of a small confectionery store opposite the present Merchant's Hotel, which at that time was known as the Cambria House, and was under the management of Schaffer & Zimmerman. He held the position of clerk for Mr. Fend until the spring of 1857, when he commenced driv- ing mules in the coke yard and coal mines. About three years later he drove a metal cart in the puddling mills, and followed this oceupa- tion until April 18, 1861.

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History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Volume III, Part 14

Author: Storey, Henry Wilson Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 940

Author: Storey, Henry Wilson
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 940