History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Volume III, Part 27

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

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On Christmas Day, 1858, Mr. Harshberger married Catherine Wertz, daughter of Jacob and Mary (Hoffman) Wertz, of Conemaugh township, and of whose family life more extended mention will be found elsewhere in this work. Children of John M. and Catherine (Wertz) Harshber- ger: 1. Cornelius, born in Adams township, married Jennie Burk- hardt. He was formerly a member of the firm of J. M. Harshberger & Sons and now carries on part of the old home farm and also is a school teacher : he is also a minister of the gospel. 2. George Marion, see for- ward. 3. Mary Catherine, born in Adams township, died aged six years. 4. Melinda Jane, born in Adams township, married Jacob G. Custer, an employe of Cambria Steel Company. 5. Milton, died in in- fancy. 6. Minnie E., married Samuel Pearce, an employe of the Na- tional Radiator Works, Johnstown, and an active minister of the Baptist Dunkard church. ?. Ira L., born in Adams township, married Rebecca Varner, and is a farmer of Adams township, Cambria county. S. Liz- zie, born in Adams township: lives at home. 9. Jacob W., born in Ad- ams township, married Stella Keiper: he is clerk at the Lorain Steel Company's works, Johnstown. 10. Edith May, born in Adams township. . married Samuel Varner, a farmer in Adams township. 11. David, died in infancy.

All the above children were born in Adams township.

George Marion Harshberger has been in some manner identified with the business history of Johnstown for more than twenty years. Ile is a native of Adams township and was born September 28, 1861. His ear- ly life was spent on the old home farm, and he was educated in public and normal schools. After leaving school he taught three terms, one in Adams and two in Richland township. In the early spring of 1883 Mr. Harshberger left the farm and went to Johnstown to enter business pur- snits, for he was an energetic young man and determined to make his own way in life. During the first three years of his stay in the city ho

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worked as clerk for N. B. Hartzell, and for the next five years was him- self proprietor of a grocery store and meat market. This he sold in 1888 and for something more than a year was a commercial traveler for J. Swank, Son & Co., hardware dealers and jobbers. May 31, 1889, he left the road and began the erection of a hotel in Johnstown, and from the time "The Pompeii" was opened until the spring of 1894 Mr. Harsh- berger was its landlord. In 1895, after one more year on the road for a Chicago house, he established a flour. feed, grain and coal business on Bedford avenue, near the Baltimore & Ohio railroad in Johnstown. His partners in this enterprise were his father and elder brother, Cornelius, and the firm style was J. M. Harshberger & Sons. Later on George be- came sole proprietor of the concern and has since continued the business with good success, dealing extensively in farming machinery, agricultural implements and carriages, making a specialty of carriages and vehicles.

Since he came to live in Johnstown Mr. Harshberger has taken an active part in public and political affairs and is known as one of the staunch Republicans of Cambria county. In 1892 he was elected to the common council from the fourth ward, but resigned in 1893 to take the office of city assessor, to which he had been elected for a three years' term. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the various subordinate bodies of the order in Johnstown and has frequently been chosen to offices in each of them.

Mr. Harshberger married, June 21, 1883, Lovina J. Shank, dangh- ter of Jacob and Mary (Stull) Shank, of Adams township. Jacob Shank is a son of Jacob Shank, who came to America from England. The Stulls are of German descent. Mr. and Mrs. Harshberger had six children : Ivy Pearl, who died at the age of six years ; Royal Longfellow, Mabel Gladys. Elsie Vira, Clay Dewey and Mary Catherine Harshberger.

ROSE FAMILY. This family has been prominently represented in Cambria county in three successive generations. The family comes of sturdy English stock, and the energy and tenacity of purpose of the English race is one of the prominent traits of the family. They trace their ancestry in America through William Rose (seven generations) to one of five brothers who emigrated from England to eastern Pennsyl- vania, in the eighteenth century. William Rose first settled at Philadel- phia and from there went to Lancaster county. From Lancaster county he moved to Bob's Creek, near the town of Bedford ; from there he moved to Jenner Cross Roads, Somerset county. Here his wanderings ceased, and after a life of adventure and hardship-such as fell to the lot of the pioneers who wrested this great state from a savage wilderness-he lived quietly until his death in 1847. His grave is in the oldest Baptist bury- ing ground at Jenners Cross Roads.

Allen Rose, son of William Rose, was born in Bedford county, Penn- sylvania, March 20, 1793. He seems to have inherited some of his father's adventurous spirit, for in 1812 we find him located in Somerset county, shortly after which he was in Ohio. After a short stay in Ohio he was for a brief period a resident of Mckeesport, Pennsylvania. He finally settled in Somerset county, purchasing a grist mill in 1826, at Jenners Cross Roads. He operated this mill two years and in 1828 came to what was then called the town of Conemangh, but since 1834 known as Johnstown, Pennsylvania. At this place Mr. Rose was engaged as a contractor and builder. He was by trade a carpenter, and old citizens of the town remember him as a mechanic of more than ordinary skill and genius. In addition to his work as a carpenter and builder, he made

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pumps, and many of the large wooden pumps once so common in this lo- cality were the product of his shop. Allen Rose was a man of earnest piety and was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife was also a devout member. His opportunities for gaining an education, so far as schools and text books were concerned, was limited to such as the Bedford county school system of that date afforded, and was indeed meager. But his knowledge of the Bible was indeed great ; he could quote from the Scriptures with an aptness found in but few persons.

In 1823 he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Freame. By this union were born the following children: Eliza, born February 9, 1824. Wesley J., born April 12. 1826. Marshall, born July 4, 1828. John S., born June 19, 1831. Lewis, born October 5, 1834. W. Horace, born November 12, 1838. George W., born November 28, 1840. Agnes F., born April 4, 1842.

Wesley J. Rose, son of Allen and Elizabeth (Freame) Rose, was born April 12, 1826, at Jenners Cross Roads, Somerset county, Pennsyl- vania, and educated at the common schools. He taught school one term in 1848, in Somerset county. Of his father he learned the carpenter's trade, and in 1854 became a partner of the firm of Pringle, Rose & Ed- son, which firm finally purchased the foundry and machine shop prop- erty of H. S. Smith, located on the present site of Gautier's Mills. This they operated until 1864, when a corporation was formed, known as the Johnstown Mechanical Works. Mr. Rose was made the manager of this plant, serving until 1869, when he resigned his position and went to Cal- ifornia sight seeing and visiting friends. He returned to Johnstown and engaged as a contractor and builder and handled all kinds of lumber and builders supplies. In 1884 his son, Walter E., was taken in as a partner, the firm being styled W. J. Rose & Son. The great flood of 1889 washed their planing mill away and destroyed their entire plant, but as soon as possible after that disaster they, with their characteristic energy and pluck, began to rebuild on a larger scale than before. Another son, R. G. Rose, was taken into the firm of W. J. Rose & Sons and they carried on a larger business than ever before.

Mr. Rose was married to Martha Given. March 14, 1850, at New Florence, by Rev. J. J. Covert. Mrs. Rose was born September 16, 1825. died January 28, 1886. The children of this union were: Elizabeth F., born May 18, 1851, wife of Samuel E. Young, of Johnstown. Pennsyl- vania. Emma J., born August 20, 1852. wife of James F. Gallagher. Maggie T., born March 21. 1824. wife of A. P. Ellis. Hon. John M .. born May 18, 1856. Walter Edson, born March 19, 1858. Harry G .. who was killed in the flood of 1889. Howard J., born June 17, 1862, died February 22, 1863. Annie M., born November 21, 1863. wife of R. L. Taney. Robert G., born May 25. 1865. Frank Z., born September 20. 1861.

Personally Mr. Rose was one of the most quiet. genial. companion- able and exemplary of men. He took a deep interest in all that pertained to the history and early settlement of Cambria county, and possessed a large collection of very interesting relies connected with local history. He also had a gallery of over six hundred photographs of prominent cit- izens of the past and present. This collection of pictures is reproduced in this work. being well worth preserving. Mr. Rose died at 3 o'clock and 15 minutes, on the morning of April 29, 1900, at his residence on the corner of Vine and Franklin streets, Johnstown, aged seventy-four years and twelve days.

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His experience at the time of the great flood in 1889 was not unlike those of scores of others. His home was filled with water, but was not moved, and early next morning he gathered together enough drift-wood to make a raft, on which he found his way to the home of Mrs. Young, his daughter, who had two days before given birth to a child. He found that she had passed the awful night in safety, but further investigation revealed the fact that his son Harry, a prominent and rising young lawyer of the city, who was then district attorney, had lost his life.

From his long residence at Johnstown, Wesley J. Rose was one of the best posted local historians to be found, and he was frequently called upon to verify certain historie questions. Politically he was a Democrat, but never sought office. He did, however, serve as school director many years, and during President Andrew Johnson's administration was col- lector of internal revenue. He was a member of the Johnstown Lodge of Masons, having transferred his membership from Cambria Lodge; he was also an Odd Fellow and helped organize the first Knights of Pythias lodge in his city. In a business way, aside from enterprises before men- tioned, he was a stockholder in the First National Bank, and was a char- ter member of the Grand View Cemetery Association and the Johnstown Water Company. In his religious life he was a devout Lutheran and a man of deep convictions, which he had inherited from a long line of God-fearing ancestors; he despised the shams of those who constantly parade their religion.

The Tribune said of him, "It can be truly said of him, what can be said of but few men, that no one who knew him was otherwise than; his friend. Kind and gentle in his character, vet firm and rugged as the mountains among which he was reared in his purpose and determination to do the right as he saw it, he was one of Nature's noblemen."

The following is extracted from a memorial written by his brother. G. W. Rose: "Thus he lived to a good old age, rounding out more than the patriarchal years allotted to man ; but he had climbed the heights to the parting ways, where slender shadows were falling to the east, and with retrospective glance traced the foot-prints far below trodden in sum- mer's sunshine and winter's frosts amid thorn and thistle, vine and flow- ers, but no backward steps were there. Full of confidence and hope for the future, and with few regrets for the past, turned to rest his weary frame from the burden of toilsome years, and, lulled by the wave-sounds as they dashed on the farther shore, fell into that dreamless sleep which awaits us all and passed beyond the skies.

"Thus it is when the shades of night come on; when the hand of fate sets her seal and touches the eyelids down; when the sands of life are spent and the higher power intervenes to interrupt the dream of life we can only bow in humble submission to the edicts of that power and follow our loved ones to the tomb, and there pronounce a last and loving fare- well, bereft of all save the earthly dust, and the sheen of a beautiful life. as it was entwined and interwoven in the fabric of social intercourse and of an honored and beloved memory. Peace be unto him, through the deep calm of eternal rest."

Walter Edson Rose, son of Wesley J. and Martha (Given) Rose, was born March 19. 1858. at the old Rose homestead, corner of Vine and Franklin streets, Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He was educated at the pub- lic schools of his native town, and early in life associated himself with his father in the contracting business, finally becoming a partner in the well known contracting firm of W. J. Rose & Sons. The father retained his interest up to his death. since which time it has been successfully

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conducted by his sons. under the same firm name. Politically Mr. Rose is an independent voter, supporting the best men for office, regardless of party lines. Ile is of the Lutheran religious faith.

He was united in marriage at Sterling. Logan county, Colorado May. 1890, to Miss Bertha E., daughter of Charles and Sarah (Grum- bling) Crissman, who were formerly residents of Bedford county, Penn- sylvania. The children born of this union are: Allen, born 1892. Charles, horn 1894. Harry, born 1896. Sarah, born 1898. Catherine, born 1902.

JOHN WESLEY COOK, secretary of the incorporated company of Woolf & Reynolds, of Johnstown, is a native of that city, born January 1. 1842, son of William Franklin and Mary Jane (Pickwick) Cook. William Franklin Cook was born in Fulton county, Pennsylvania, on the 23d day of March, 1851, and married, February 13, 1870, Mary Jane Pickwick, who was born on the 31st day of January, 1852, a daughter of John Pickwick. in whose shop was built the first boat run in the trans- portation service between Hollidaysburg and Pittsburg on the old Penn- sylvania canal. The family name of Captain Pickwick's wife was Heff- ner.

John W. Cook was educated in the public schools and Morrell Col- lege in Johnstown, and while a student his vacations were employed in working as office boy, and later in the switch department of the Lorain Steel Company. In 1888. having completed his course in school, he en- tered the employ of Woolf & Reynolds, at first in a minor capacity, but afterward advanced through various positions in the several departments of the company's great mercantile establishment to the secretaryship of the incorporated company in 1902. Besides the duties of his office of secretary, Mr. Cook has charge of the buying and managing of the men's furnishings department.

Since he was twelve years old Mr. Cook has been a member of the Christian church, and has taken an active part in the work of that -o- ciety and its auxiliary branches. He is a member of the church board, of the music committee, and of the special committee to secure a site for a proposed new church edifice. He is a Mason, member of Cambria Lodge, No. 278. F. and A. M., of Johnstown. On March 1st, 1903. Mr. Cook married Elsie Gibson Baker, daughter of Abraham Baker and Ra- chel ( Heffner) Baker, of Altoona. Pennsylvania.

SAGERSON FAMILY. In Ireland the surname Sigerson has been prominently known for many generations, perhaps for centuries. The Sigersons undoubtedly are descended from the Norsemen, as well as the Gael, which fact is indicated both by the name and physical character- istics. Each succeeding generation of the family has produced its noted men, and they have gained distinction in war, in public life and in the professions. One of the best representatives of the surname now in Tre- land is Dr. George Sigerson, of county Tyrone, who is a cousin of Roh- ert Sigerson. of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and of the same generation. In the city of Dublin, Dr. Sigerson stands at the head of the medical profession, and has been honored with appointment to positions of honor. By appointment of Lord Spencer he was a member of the roval commis- sion to investigate the condition of prisons in Ireland. IIe is a member and since 1894 has been president of the National Literary Society of Ireland, which society has been largely instrumental in the restoration and preservation of the ancient Gaelic language. He also is a poet of

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considerable celebrity and an eminent contributor to contemporary sci- ence and political economies. His early work in biology attracted the attention of Darwin, and Tyndall wrote him that his discoveries con- firmed some of his own theories.

Many of the Sigersons, particularly those on this side of the Atlan- tic, have changed their family name to Sagerson, but whether found in the orginal or its modification the name represents a descendant of the ancient house of Sigerson. The American ancestor of the particular branch of the family intended to be treated here was Patrick Sigerson, a native of county Tyrone, a farmer by principal occupation, and who im- migrated to this country about the year 1822. He was made a citizen of the United States in 1828, and cast his first presidential vote for Gen- eral Jackson. Hence it may be assumed that his democracy was of the Jacksonian school, and that most of the descendants of the ancestor have followed in his footsteps in their political affiliations.

After he landed at the port of New York, Patrick Sagerson lived in that city some fifteen or twenty years and was engaged in the charcoal business. From there be came into Pennsylvania and settled first at Hol- lidaysburg. Blair county, removing thence to Washington, Indiana coun- ty. where for several years he carried on a farm. Later on he came to Johnstown, Cambria county, where he worked as a stone mason until he retired from active pursuits. He died in 1872, aged seventy-seven years. ITis widow lost her life in the awful Johnstown flood, May 31, 1889. Pat- rick Sagerson had a brother John who came to this country and died in Indiana county, in this state, in 1856, and two other brothers. Robert and Frank Sagerson, both of whom died in the city of New York.

Patrick Sagerson married, while living in Ireland, Mary Fisher. who bore him ten children : Frank Sagerson. now dead: married a Miss Har- ris, and lived in Savannah, Georgia. Ile was a soldier in the Confederate service during the Civil war. John Sagerson, now dead. He enlisted in a New York regiment for service in the Union army during the Civil war. Ann Sagerson, now dead. She married John Moss, and lived in New York state. James Sagerson, died in California. His wife's family name was Riley. He served in the Confederate army during the Civil

war. Edward Sagerson, died in California. Mary Sagerson, married James MeEnney, and now is a widow living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Patrick Sagerson, died in infancy. Katherine Sagerson, marred Edward Martin, and both were drowned in the Johnstown flood, May. 1889. Sarah Sagerson, now dead; married William McDonald, of Johnstown. Robert Sagerson, of Johnstown : a veteran of the Civil war: married Celia Mc- Dermott, and had ten children.

From the foregoing narrative it will be seen that of the ten sons and daughters of Patrick and Mary Sagerson only two are now living-Mary and Robert Sagerson-the former in Milwaukee and the latter in Johns- town.

Robert Sagerson was born at Hollidaysburg, Blair county, Pennsyl- vania, on the 15th day of July. 1842. His young life was spent at home, where he attended the common school of the district and helped his fath- er with the work of the farm. When the Civil war broke out he was less than twenty years old, and on the 25th of July, 1861, upon President Lincoln's first call for volunteers for three years' service, he enlisted in Company E. Eleventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. and was mustered into service at Greensburg. He was with his regiment in all its movements, and participated in all its battles, except while con- fined in the hospital with wounds. He was first wounded in battle at

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Fredericksburg, Virginia, February 13, 1862, and again at the Yellow House during the engagement at Weldon Railroad.

On October 4, 1864, Mr. Sagerson was mustered out of service with the regiment and returned to Johnstown. Soon afterward he was em- ployed by the Cambria Iron Company as a heater, and was in the employ of that company for the next twenty-five years. In 1883 he left the works and opened a hotel on Railroad street in Johnstown, and carried on business there until the flood of 1889 swept away the buildings and compelled him to find some other means of living. For a short time aft- erward he worked for the Cambria Steel Company and then became an employe of McDermott, Wertz & Co., millers, where he has since re- mamed. Like his father, Mr. Sagerson is a strong Democrat. In 1879 he was a councilman of the borough of Millville, and now he is assessor of the Third ward of the city of Johnstown. He is a member and past colonel of Johnstown Camp No. 60, Union Veteran Legion, and a com- municant at St. John's Roman Catholic Church.

On December 27, 1870, Robert Sagerson married Celia MeDermott, sister of John D. McDermott, senior member of the firm of McDermott. Wertz & Co. Of this marriage ten children have been born, viz: John Leo Sagerson, born December 13, 1812; married Frances Goff. Peter Francis Sagerson, born March 3, 1880; unmarried. He is an artist, and lives in New York City. Mary Sagerson, born June 26, 1882; lives at home. Robert James Sagerson, born December 27, 1883; a student at the Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Katherine Sagerson, born February, 1885; drowned in the Johnstown flood, May, 1889. Agnes Sagerson, born 1887; drowned in the Johnstown flood. Jo- seph Sagerson, born February, 1889; drowned in the Johnstown flood. Florence Sagerson, born August 18, 1890; lives at home. Leo. Sagerson, born June 28, 1892; lives at home. Charles Sagerson, born June 14, 1896 ; died in infancy.

John Leo Sagerson, physician and surgeon of Johnstown, is a native of that city and was born on the 13th of December, 1872. His earlier education was acquired in public graded and parochial schools, and his higher education at St. Vincent's College, Beatty, Pennsylvania, where he was a student three years. Immediately after the incorporation of Johnstown as a city he was appointed to a position in the office of the city treasurer, and later was for four years in the office of the auditor of Lorain Steel Company.

In October, 1894, having determined to enter the medical profes- sion, he matriculated at the Medico-Chirurgical College at Philadelphia, attended upon the courses of that institution for four years, and was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1898. From July of that year until October 1, 1899, he was resident physician at Philadelphia (Block- ley) Hospital, and after leaving that institution began his active pro- fessional career in East Liverpool, Ohio, in association with Dr. James Taylor. On the 1st of January, 1900, he returned to Johnstown, and opened an office for general practice at No. 643 Loenst street. He lived three years in that location and then moved to Lincoln street, where he now lives. In connection with his professional work Dr. Sagerson is act- ively identified with various institutions of Jolinstown. He was president of the Board of Health in 1902-1903, and now is assistant surgeon to the Johnstown Memorial Hospital, and examining physician for the North- western Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Ladies' Catholic Benevo- lent Association of Johnstown, and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Associa- tion of Johnstown. He is a communicant of St. John's Roman Catholic

frahelegerson AD

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Astor, Lenox and Tliden Fourgations, 1969

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church, and deputy grand knight of Johnstown Council, No. 467, Knights of Columbus.

On June 28, 1902, John Leo Sagerson married Frances Goff, daugh- ter of Peter and Sarah (Braddock) Goff, of Johnstown.

GEORGE MUEHLHAUSER, as boy and man has been in some manner identified with the business history of Johnstown about forty years. When he came to live with his sister he was a young German just from the country of his birth, but was a good practical tinsmith, having served an apprenticeship and learned the trade before he left home; but in America he soon found that his German methods of doing work were not the custom here, and he was therefore compelled to learn tinsmith- ing under an American workman before he could hope to secure profitable employment in his line of work in Cambria county.

Mr. Muehlhauser was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, on the 17th day of February, 1848. His father, Lenhardt Muehlhauser, was a native and- a lifelong resident of Wurtemberg, a weaver by trade and a farmer by subsequent occupation, a devoted member of the German Lutheran church, and brought up his children in that faith. He died in 1877. His wife was Veronica Mütter, who also was born in Wurtemberg, and who bore her husband ten children, three of whom came to this country and lived in Johnstown. She died in 1889. The children of Lenhardt and Veronica Muehlhauser are as follows: John Muehlhanser, born in 1836, died in Germany. Mary Muehlhauser, born in 1838; came to America in 1854; married William Young, of Johnstown, and their son, Charles Young, is present mayor of the city of Johnstown. Michael Muehl- hauser, born in 1839, lives in Germany. Lenhardt Muehlhauser. born in 1841, died in Germany. Frederick Muehlhanser, born in 1843, lives in

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History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Volume III, Part 27

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