USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Volume III > Part 52
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Alexander B. Pringle. his son, was reared on the old pioneer home- stead, where he received only the advantages of a common school educa- tion. He remained on the farm until 1861. when he accepted a position with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as one of their freight con- ductors, running between Altoona and Pittsburg. He followed this call- ing until 1864. when he enlisted in the service of his country, becoming a member of Company D, Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, heavy artillery service, where he served until the war ended. He then resumed his old position as freight conductor on the Pennsylvania sys- tem, continuing until 1873, when he bought a farm in Summit township, Cambria county, remaining there and conducting the farm until 1884, when he moved to Conemaugh, where he had lived comparatively a re- tired life until his death. November 12, 1902. Most of his earnings were invested in realty in Conemaugh, where he also owned a large apiary, in the care and cultivation of which he devoted much of his time.
In 1855 Mr. Pringle married Sarah A., daughter of William Bar- nett. of Cambria county, and to this union were born the following children : 1. William N., a practicing physician of Johnstown. married Maggie Kreider. 2. Allison A .. a homeopathie physician, of Elkins, West Virginia. 3. Charles W., of Conemaugh, an engineer on the Penn- sylvania railroad, married Fanny Hitchcock. 4. Harry B., of Cone- mangh. an engineer on the same line: he married Ada Duncan. 5. Ed- gar E., of Conemaugh, and engineer on the same road, married Ella Byers.
The subject of this memoir, the father of this family, was very
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active in church matters. For a half century he was a faithful, con- sistent member of the United Brethren church. He held various local of- fices in borough and township, and held membership with Emory Fisher Post, Grand Army of the Republie, at Johnstown. Of his wife it should be added that she was born in Johnstown, December 12, 1833, and edu- cated in the public schools. Her father, William Barnett, was a county official for many years and was well known and highly esteemed. He died in Johnstown at an advanced age. His wife, Margaret Hamilton, was a sister of David Hamilton, a well-known gentleman of this section of Pennsylvania.
JOHN M. FERRELL, M. D., of Conemaugh, Johnstown, is of Irish ancestry, tracing the history of his family to its original home across the sea. His grandfather, William Ferrell, was born in New Salem, Jefferson county, Ohio, where he led the life of a farmer.
Thomas C. Ferrell, son of William Ferrell, was born at New Salem, Ohio, and was educated in the publie schools and at the State Normal Sehool, Ada, Ohio. He studied law at New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where he was admitted to the bar and afterward prac- tieed his profession for twenty-five years. He served one term as county clerk, and for two terms held the office of mayor of New Philadelphia, where he now lives in retirement, having relinquished his professional labors. He has always been an unswerving Demoerat and is a devout member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Ferrell married Jennie, born in Carroll county, Ohio, daughter of James and Mary (Messenger) Mowls, and four children were born to them: Edith, wife of Thomas Shott, of Sandyville; John M., of whom later ; Minnie, deceased; Michael T., a student in the Bennett Medical College, Chicago, Illinois.
John M. Ferrell, son of Thomas C. and Jennie (Mowls) Ferrell, was born November 20, 1882, in New Philadelphia, where he attended the publie sehools until 1900. He then spent one year at Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, and for one year thereafter served as traveling salesman for a mercantile house. Having made choice of the profession of medicine, he entered Bennett Medieal College, Chicago, and on Sep- tember 17, 1906, graduated from that institution with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Since that time he has been in active practice in Johnstown. Dr. Ferrell, like his father, is a staneh Demoerat. He is identified with no religious organization, but attends the services of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which denomination his mother is a member.
PETER C. SCHULLER, a well-known business man of Johnstown, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, with important interests in the com- mereial and financial world of that city, and proprietor of the Imperial Ice Cream and Bottling Works, is a representative of an honored family of Germany.
Joseph Schuller, father of Peter C. Schuller, was born in Regens- burg, Germany, and there received a good common school education. He learned the trade of shoemaking. which he followed in his native country for some years, and then emigrated to the United States in 1852. He was in the city of New York for a short time and then migrated to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he followed the oceupation of shoemaking for some years, after which he located in Conemaugh township, where he eultivated a farm, and finally removed to Johnstown, where he com- meneed a shoemaking establishment in Railroad street, where he died
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in 1873. He was a stanch Democrat, and a member of St. Joseph's German Catholic church. He married, in Germany, Mary Brandel, who resides with her son in Johnstown, and they had eight children: 1. Frances, wife of George Haberkorn. 2. Mary, wife of Adam Bold. of Springfield, Ohio. 3. Joseph. killed in Cambria Steel Works. 4. Lena, at home. 5. Annie, wife of L. Tedejesky. of Johnstown. 6. Catharine, Sister of Merey known as Sister Rose. 7. John, resides with Peter C. 8. Peter C., see forward.
Peter C. Schuller, son of Joseph and Mary (Brandel) Schuller, was born on the farm in Conemaugh township. Cambria county, Pennsyl- vania. June 27, 1868. He was but five years of age at the time of the death of his father, and he was educated in the parochial schools of the district until he had attained his thirteenth year, when he commenced to work for his own support. He obtained a position with the Cambria Steel Company, as oiler of engines, etc., and remained in their employ in various capacities for a period of five years. He then obtained a po- sition as clerk in the store of John Widman, on Railroad street, and there his faithful and conscientious performance of the duties assigned to him enabled him to rise from grade to grade, until at the end of eleven years he was admitted to partnership in the firm, the business being conducted under the firm name of Widman & Schuller. This arrangement was con- tinned for nine years, when Mr. Schuller sold out his interest to Mr. Widman and purchased the ice cream factory of Richard Bauers, lo- cated on Conemangh street. This is now a part of the present business. One year later Mr. Schuller commenced the bottling of root and ginger beers. mineral waters, etc., and has continued this up to the present time (1907). Since purchasing the ice cream and the bottling business, Mr. Schuller has remodeled and reconstructed both plants, which are com- bined, and he installed the latest and most improved machinery, having the most completely equipped plant in the county. The ice cream busi- ness is purely wholesale, covering Cambria and parts of Indiana, Somer- set and Westmoreland counties, while the bottling business is confined to Johnstown. In addition to this Mr. Sehuller is the treasurer of the Johns- town Baking Company, one of the largest concerns of its kind in the county. He is a man of energetic and progressive methods, and is influ- ential in the business circles of the city. He is noted for the integrity and reliability of his business methods, and has a large circle of friends. He is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party, and is a member of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church and of the Knights of St. George. Mr. Schuller married, June 28, 1892. in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Emma Kurtz, daughter of Mrs. Theresa Rigel, and they have children : Victor, Margaret, George and Robert.
ANICETUS WILLIAM BUCK, who is engaged in the banking business in the borough of Ebensburg, was born March 15. 1858, in Car- roll township, Cambria county, is a son of John Buck. and grandson of Joseph Buek, whose father emigrated from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania. Joseph Buck. son of the emigrant ancestor and grand- father of Anicetus William Buck, was born November 16, 1797, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
John Buek, one of the eleven children of Joseph Buck, was born De- cember 11, 1822. in Carroll township. on the farm commonly known as the John Zern farm, and at that time an absolute wilderness. He was reared in his native county. three miles from Carrolltown, where he built the grist mills known at that time as Buck's'mills, a structure which
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As a umiux and Tilden rou dations. 1909
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is still standing. He engaged in the milling business until 1860, when he was elected sheriff of his county. At the end of his term as sheriff he moved to Carrolltown and engaged in the mercantile business, and de- spite the fact that he was a staunch Democrat was appointed postmaster umder President Grant, serving during both terms of the administration. In 1875 he was elected to the state legislature. He continued his mer- cantile business until the early nineties, when he retired. He is an act- ive member of the Roman Catholic church, and a man of much influence in the community in which he has lived so many years, being now over eighty-three years of age, yet hale and vigorous.
On June 5, 1849, John Buck married Regina, daughter of Peter Sherry, who was born 1804, and who came to this country from Alsace (then a part of France), when his daughter was but three years old, settling in Cambria county, probably in Allegheny township. He was all his life a farmer, supported the Democratic party, was a member of the Roman Catholic church, and died 1887. John and Regina (Sherry) Buek were the parents of the following children : Celestine A., of Car- rolltown : Michael J., physician of Pittsburg: Sylvester H., of Elyria, Ohio; Peter M., who died in 1881 ; James P., of Chicago; Anicetus Will- iam, of whom later ; Mary O., wife of James V. Scanlan, of Ebensburg, commercial traveler for Arbuckles & Company: Ambrose C., of Brad- dock, Pennsylvania: Edward J., engaged in mining near Denver, Col- orado; Anna M., wife of James B. Eck, of Big Bend, Pennsylvania ; Vincent J .. of Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania ; and Lambert M., of Hastings, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Buck. the mother of this large family, is still living, at the age of seventy-seven years.
Anicetus William Buck, son of John and Regina (Sherry) Buck, aequired his education in the public schools of his native place, and at the age of sixteen chose for his calling in life that of a banker. While he was yet in school, the bankers. Collins, Johnston & Company, of Ebensburg, went to Carrolltown to secure a promising young man as a clerk in their banking house, and upon referring the matter to the principal of the schools, the latter informed them that among those un- der his charge was a youth exactly fitted to meet their requirements. The agreement was made, and the following Monday morning Mr. Buck found his school days suddenly at an end. He went to his unsought po- sition as a bank clerk, although he would have preferred to remain long- er in school. So faithful was he to every duty, that at the end of the second year he was made cashier of the bank, being perhaps one of the youngest bank cashiers in the United States. In this position, also, he was successful, and under his management the bank prospered beyond expectation.
About 1888 Mr. Buck and his brother, Dr. Michael J. Buck, then a prominent physician of Altoona, purchased the interest of Philip Col- lins in this bank, and became partners in the institution. Business moved along smoothly until the failure of the banking house of B. K. Jamison & Company, of Philadelphia, which was their eastern deposi- tory. By this event, which occurred in 1889, the Ebensburg bank suf- fered to the amount of forty thousand dollars, more than their entire capital. The whole responsibility of this disaster fell upon the shoulders of Mr. Buck, coming as it did about one month after the death of his partner, Judge Johnston. Mr. Buck, anticipating a run, closed the bank, for adjustment, and called a meeting of its creditors, the result of which was that a judgment for one hundred thousand dollars was given by Mr. Buck, being perhaps the largest judgment ever given by an indi-
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vidual in Cambria county, to a committee of three persons, guaranteeing the payment of the entire liabilities of the bank, an amount exceeding two hundred and sixty thousand dollars. An extension was seenred and the bank was opened for business. Within a period of two years, Mr. Buek having full charge, paid off all claims dollar for dollar and interest and was once more on the road to prosperity. In 1897 Mr. Buck organ- ized The First National Bank of Ebensburg, associating himself with a number of the leading and most prominent business men of Ebensburg. Under his management as cashier the bank has been marvelously success- ful : its standing among similar institutions of the country is indicated in the following extraet from a reeent issne of a Johnstown paper, refer- ring to a statement in the New York Financier:
"The Financier each year collects statements of all the National banks and compiles therefrom a 'Roll of Honor,' embracing those in which surplus and nndivided profits equal the capital stock. To attain a place in this elass in eight years of business, as the First National Bank of Ebensburg has done, is in itself something of an accomplishment; but to attain the standing this institution now enjoys among the six thousand and more National banks of the country, and the nine hundred and ten on the roll of honor, gives Ebensburg a place in the financial world that was not thought of when the First National Bank here was founded, for it now occupies fifty-third place among the banks of the United States, and eighteenth place among those of Pennsylvania."
Mr. Buck is also president of the First National Bank of Carroll- town, his native town, an eminently snecessful institution, as well as the Hastings Bank at Hastings, Pennsylvania, and is the largest stoekholder in all of these institutions.
Mr. Buek is strictly a home man, and is prominent in the Knights of Columbus. He is a Roman Catholic and in politics he is a Democrat, thongh not a striet partisan as ordinarily understood.
Mr. Buek married, in 1879. Hattie L .. daughter of George C. K. Zahm, of Ebensburg. now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Buck are the parents of one daughter: Blanche, who is the wife of Leo F. McKenriek. of Ebensburg, and has one child. Leo Frederick.
JOHN L. STIBICH. Among the enterprising, progressive and pub- lie-spirited citizens of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, must be mentioned the name of John L. Stibich, general manager of the Goenner Brewing Com- pany, a leading industry of Johnstown. He was born in the eity in which he now resides. August 6. 1862. a son of Joseph and Margaret (Pfarr) Stibich. and grandson of Adam Stibich, who resided for many . years at St. Mary's, Pennsylvania. His remains were taken to Altoona, Pennsylvania, for burial.
Joseph Stibich (father) was born in Bavaria. Germany, May, 1826. During his boyhood he eame to the United States with his parents: they landed in Loekhaven, Pennsylvania, from whence they drove overland to St. Mary's. Elk county, same state. Subsequently he was employed in . Brady's Bend, Pennsylvania, and later removed to Johnstown, where he was employed as an ore and coal miner. During the progress of the Civil war he was drafted and served nine months, participating in many battles and skirmishes. After his return home at the expiration of his term of service, he engaged in the grocery business, locating on Broad street. and continued the same until 1889, when the disastrons flood swept everything he owned away. his loss amounting to $40,000. When the city was partially restored to its former state, he again engaged in
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business at the same place and continued for four years. He then dis- posed of the business and purchased and located on a farm in Lower Yoder township, remaining there until the death of his wife, February 22. 1900. He was one of the first settlers of Cambria City, served as councilman in Cambria borough several terms, and was a charter mem- ber of the Cambria Fire Company. He and his wife were members of St. Mary's Catholic Church, and he was a lifelong Democrat, taking an active interest in all that concerned that organization. After the death of his wife he led a retired life until his decease, May, 1905.
Joseph Stibich married. in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, about 1855, Margaret Pfarr, daughter of Bartholomew Pfarr. Their children were : Adam, a wholesale liquor dealer in Conemangh. Joseph, deceased. Eliz- abeth, a sister in Benedictine orders, a Sister of Mercy for the past twen- ty-six years. John L., of whom later. Catherine, wife of Henry Saley, of Johnstown. Mary, wife of William Simpson, of Patton, Pennsylvan- ia. George, deceased, formerly a resident of Johnstown. William, re- sides in Conemaugh borough, married Laura Keifer.
John L. Stibich attended the public schools of Johnstown until eight years of age, when he was sent to St. Vincent's College, Latrobe, where he remained two years and then returned home. At the age of fourteen he went to Braddock with his father and worked in his general store for two years. At the expiration of this period of time he returned to Johnstown and engaged in the manufacture of soda water for his father. conducting the same until the age of twenty-three, when he purchased the business from his father and continued its conduet until 1890, when he disposed of it at an advantageous price. In 1888 he removed the business to 206 Broad street, but in the flood of 1889 he practically lost everything he had. Upon his retirement from the soda water business. he engaged in the brewery business with the firm of Goenner & Co., which at that time were conducting business on a small scale, having a thirty-five barrel kettle, but their business has increased to such an ex- tent that they now (1906) require a two hundred and twenty-five barrel kettle, and have a storeroom which holds over seven thousand barrels of beer. Mr. Stibieh was one of the organizers of the Patton Brewery Com- pany at Patton, Cambria county, and purchased an interest in the Cam- bria Brewing Company in 1903 and 1906. He was also one of the or- ganizers of the Cambria National Bank, and is now a director in the First National Bank of Johnstown, Cambria Brewing Company, Cam- bria & Morrellville Water Company, and has interests in many manu- facturing concerns. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Order of Eagles and Knights of St. George. He is a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, and is a member of the building committee of the church now in course of construction. In political views he is independent, casting his vote for the candidate who in his opinion is best qualified for office.
Mr. Stibieh married, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1886, Catherine Goenner, daughter of Jacob and Caroline (Eager) Gcenner. the former of whom is deceased. Their children are : Stella, graduate of Mt. Aloysius Academy, Cresson, Pennsylvania, June, 1905: Carrie, Mar- garet, a pupil at Mt. Aloysius Academy; Catherine, John, Francis E., Edward and Dorothy.
FREDERICK WILLIAM KRESS, deceased. son of Rev. Karl Kress. a German Lutheran minister of the city of Johnstown, Pennsyl- vania, was born March 20, 1840, in Buedingen, grand duchy of Hesse
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Darmstadt, Germany, and left his native land for this country, when nineteen years of age.
He first attended the public schools in the old country, where he proved himself an apt scholar, then he attended college and became an expert Jingnist, learning to speak correctly many languages. In the old country he was taught the occupation of a clerk. He came to New York City with his brother Charles and sister, Mrs. Lambert, who were then paying a visit to their old German home. He came on to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. and there he was employed as a elerk in various stores for some time. Later he, with David Sinzheimer and George Heiser, Jr., purchased the George Plitt store and conducted it as a firm until he bought his partners out. The first store was where the Kerkendahl drug store now stands. Later he moved into a room in the old Merchants' Hotel, where he remained until his death. He died of apoplexy in 1885. He was a prominent Turner. and was one of the organizers of the Johns- town Turners Society. He was a member of the German Lutheran church and a Republican in politics. For several years he served as a member of the Johnstown school board and as its president.
April 6, 1869, he married Amelia Fronheiser, of Johnstown, the daughter of Jacob Fronheiser and wife, Catherine (Meyer) Fronheiser. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Kress has resided in the old home at No. 530 Loeust street. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Kress are : 1. James Kress, proprietor of the Merchants' Hotel of Johnstown. 2. Frederick Kress, who is a physician praetieing at Lilly, Pennsylvania. 3. Bertha, who married John Sehmeltzle of Altoona, Pennsylvania. 4. Amelia, at home.
WATSON HORNER, of Johnstown, is a son of Jacob Horner, the founder of Hornerstown, a place which is now included in the Seventh ward of Johnstown, and was born January 19, 1844, on the homestead, which was situated near the spot where now stands Emmerling's bottling works, on Baumer street. His grandfather, also Jacob Horner, is sup- posed to have been a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania.
Jacob Horner, father of Watson Horner, was born November 10, 1803, in Cambria county, received a common school education. and worked on the canal as boss of repair gang. owning two boats. He also at one time worked on the old Portage railroad. When the canal was abandoned he retired to his farm and also engaged in burning lime. As the growth of the town increased he laid out his land in lots, which he sold advantageously. He filled the offices of poor director and eoun- cilman, and in polities was a lifelong Demoerat.
Jacob Horner married, September 14. 1828, his cousin, Catharine, born October 30, 1810, daughter of Squire Christian Horner of Geis- town, Cambria county, and later of Somerset county. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Horner consisted of the following children: Jonathan J., deceased, born November 3, 1828, married Lueinda Cover. Aaron, born February 20. 1830, died unmarried in 1853. Simon, born November 24, 1832, married Mary Horner, served in Civil war and died September, 1862, while at home on sick leave. Jacob, born. July 26, 1835. retired, married Mary Shaffer, of Somerset county. Mary, born May 20, 1837, married Oscar Graffe: both died in Johnstown. Nancy, born May 4. 1839, married James Crosby. and died in Braddoek, Pennsylvania. Edwin, born July. 12, 1841, of Martinsburg. West Virginia. married Mrs. Matilda Karns. Watson, born January 19, 1844, of whom later. Allison, born October 23, 1847, of Johnstown, married (first) Anna
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Clark. (second) Rebecca Clark. Jacob Horner, the father, died De- cember 29, 1874, and his widow September 23, 1894.
Watson Horner, son of Jacob and Catharine (Horner) Horner, attended the public schools of Johnstown until his fourteenth year, re- ceiving at the same time, on the homestead, the training necessary to fit him for the life of a farmer. He also assisted in the care of Sandy- ville cemetery, which was situated on a portion of the homestead lands. He was for a time employed in the mills of the Cambria Iron Company. During 1862-3 he was employed by the government as a teamster throughout Virginia and Maryland, accompanying the army on these campaigns.
In 1866 he visited Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, working sometimes as a farm-hand and sometimes on shares. In 1875 he returned home and for twenty-two years took charge of the cemetery. Since resigning his position he has devoted his entire time to the care of his property. He is a representative of the best element in the Democratic party. His wife is a member of the Christian church.
Mr. Horner married. April 23, 1872, at Enterprise, Missouri, Emma Burkholder, and the following are their children: 1. Jacob L .. born July 11, 1873, in Sullivan county, Missouri, educated in Johnstown public schools, graduating from high school, became an apprentice in the Gautier machine shop, remaining until 1904, after which he was for a short time connected with the Franklin plant, leaving there to work for the Haws Brick Works Company. He married, April 18, 1895, Effie, daughter of Harvey and Sarah (Crouch ) Williams, of Johns- town, and their children were Ruth, Harvey, Clyde and Emeline. Jacob L. Horner died in Johnstown, October 10, 1906. 2. Emma B., born De- cember 3, 1874, died December 24, 1874. 3. William. A., born Novem- ber 26, 1875, educated in Johnstown public schools and Bennet & Greer's Commercial College, now employed by Cambria Steel Company. He married Catharine Landis, and has one child, John L. 4. Watson C., born Angust 12. 1877, educated in public schools, graduated from high school, now bookkeeper in office of the Democrat. He married Dora Symonds, and has three children : Dora May, Emma Louise and Elmira. 5. Chester K., born December 21, 1881, attended public schools, two years at high school, now employed by the Cambria Steel Company. 6. Fraser E .. born March 21, 1888, educated in public schools, now em- ployed in Cambria Steel Works. 7. Robert B., born June 12, 1896.
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