Indiana County, Pennsylvania; her people, past and present, Volume II, Part 88

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 884

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ing, Mich .; Mrs. Loretta Allison lives in Taylorsville, Indiana county; Walker W. is a resident of Taylorsville; Mrs. Athlinda Ternwalt lives in Taylorsville; Mrs. Jennie Pattison lives at Pineflats, Indiana county. When David Moorhead died there were thirty-nine grandchildren and eighteen great- grandchildren.

Samuel N. Moorhead attended the ele- mentary and high schools of Mechanicsburg. His first venture as a salesman was made in handling knitting machines, and later he changed to sewing machines. This was in Pittsburg. After his marriage he located in Sewickley, Pa., where he and his wife began housekeeping, remaining there three months. Then he moved to Beaver county, this State, where he was settled for three years, in the spring of 1889 moving to Indiana. He had been here but a few days when the disastrous Johnstown flood occurred. Mrs. Moorhead had just finished a large baking, and when the wagonload of supplies started out that sufferers.

SAMUEL N. MOORHEAD, late of Indi- ana, senior member of the firm of S. N. Moor- memorable Sunday most of it went to the head & Sons, had been established in business

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Upon settling at Indiana Mr. Moorhead es- and afterward lived for two years at Orbi- tablished the business in which he was ac- tively interested until his death, meantime admitting his two sons to partnership. Sev- eral years ago the firm name was changed to S. N. Moorhead & Sons, under which the busi- ness is still operated. By his thorough knowl- edge of the various lines of goods he carried,

sonia, then moving to a farm located at the foot of Jack's mountain. In 1853 he went to Indiana county, settling on a farm at Roch- ester Mills, and later lived at various other places, his death occurring in Jefferson county, Pa., in 1901, when he had reached the advanced age of ninety-one years. Mr. Bee's and his honorable methods of dealing, he first wife died when thirty-eight years of age, gained a wide patronage and built up a lucra- tive custom. He died Jan. 2, 1907, after years of suffering from tuberculosis of the knee joint, which made amputation of the limb necessary. Mr. Moorhead had been a member of the M. E. Church from the age of ten years. In politics he was a Republican. and he was married (second) to Rachel Elder, after her death marrying (third) Mrs. Smith. He was a Democrat in his political proclivities, and his religious belief was that of the United Brethren Church, while his wife was a Presbyterian. His children, all by his first wife, were as follows: Daniel H .; William, who served in the 135th Regiment, Pa. Vol. Inf., during the Civil war, and mar- ried a Miss Best; Mary, twin of William, who married David Buterbaugh; John, who died young; Isaiah, who served in the Civil war, and later married Miss Carothers; George, who married Miss Ferrier, and now lives in Clearfield county, Pa .; and Rebecca, who was the wife of Jonas Hileman, and died in 1912 at Saltsburg, Pennsylvania.

On April 25, 1870, Mr. Moorhead was married to Mary A. Gibson, of Cherryhill township, who was born near Penn Run, in that township, Sept. 11, 1847, daughter of Hiram and Catherine (Wyke) Gibson, and was engaged as a school teacher prior to her marriage. Mrs. Moorhead has been active in the work of the M. E. Church from girlhood. She and her husband had a family of three children: Catherine lives with her mother; Harry, of Indiana, married Blanche Mertz, of West Virginia, and they had five children, Rosella and Creola (twins), Roy, Glenn and Terza; Luviga, who resides in the borough of Indiana, married Bessie McCreery, of Strongstown, Pa., and they have had two children, Thelma and Naomi L., the latter deceased. In the year 1900 Mr. and Mrs. Moorhead adopted from the Industrial Home Margaret, a homeless child of six years, who was at once given the name of Margaret Moorhead, and as one of the family remains with Mrs. Moorhead.

DANIEL H. BEE, veteran of the Civil war, who is now living retired in the borough of Marion Center, Indiana county, after many years spent in business pursuits, was born Oct. 30, 1839, at Orbisonia, Huntingdon Co., Pa., and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Hollenbough) Bee.

The paternal grandfather of Daniel H. Bee was a native of England, and on coming to the United States settled in Cumberland county, Pa., where during the remainder of his life he followed the trade of shoemaker.

John Bee, the father of Daniel H. Bee, was born in Cumberland county, and as a youth learned the trade of shoemaker with his father, later engaging in boating on the canal for a number of years. He married Elizabeth Hollenhough, of Huntingdon county, Pa.,

Daniel H. Bee, son of John Bee, began his schooling in Huntingdon county, and was fourteen years of age when he accompanied the family to Indiana county, where he at- tended school in Montgomery township. Sub- sequently he learned the trade of carpenter, and was so engaged at the time of the out- break of the Civil war. On Aug. 21, 1861, he enlisted, becoming a private in Company A, 61st Regiment, Pa. Vol. Inf., under Cap- tain Kreps, and Col. O. H. Rippey, the latter of whom raised part of the regiment in the vicinity of Pittsburg, and also helped to re- cruit other regiments in Philadelphia. The 61st was attached to the Army of the Po- tomac, 4th Army Corps, under General Keyes, in General Jamison's brigade, and saw active service in some of the hardest-fought engagements of the Civil war, including Fair Oaks, the Seven Days' battle, Richmond, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Fort Stevens. At Spottsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864, Mr. Bee was one of five from his company who volunteered to man a battery at the "Bloody Angle," and was the only one to re- turn unhurt, three of his comrades being killed, and the fourth, John A. Stewart, who afterward became county treasurer of Indi- ana county, being severely wounded. Mr. Bee was miraculously spared in this case, but

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

at Fort Stevens was severely injured in his keeper, who resides at home with her parents. right leg, the mangled limb being amputated The career of Mr. Bee illustrates forcibly in the barracks, three and a half inches below what may be accomplished through a life of the knee. Subsequently he was taken to industry, integrity and perseverance, even when handicapped by discouragement and misfortune. As a soldier he was brave, faith- ful and reliable in the performance of his duty; as a citizen, he has fought the battles of peace with the same steadfastness to duty, the same cheerful spirit, and the same cour- age. Such a life is worthy of emulation by the youth of our land, and should be en- couraging to those whose life paths are laid along difficult lines. Mount Pleasant hospital for three months and then to the Philadelphia hospital at Broad and Cherry streets, where he also re. mained three months, receiving his discharge Sept. 7, 1864. He then went to Harrisburg, where he was informed by the adjutant gen- eral that he had been mustered out at the expiration of his term of service, but had to go to Washington, D. C., to get his bounty money and hack pay. He came home by way of Philadelphia, where he was measured for an artificial limb, which was later sent to his home. On his return he learned the shoe- making trade with his father.

Mr. Bee was married Jan. 23, 1866, to

Elizabeth M. Duncan, daughter of Thomas native of White township, Indiana county, and Jane (McChesney) Duncan, and after his marriage established himself in business man extraction. as the proprietor of a grocery and boot and shoe establishment. He built up an excellent business, keeping two journeyman shoemakers busy, and for ten years had charge of the local telephone exchange. When he felt that he was ready to retire from active business life he disposed of his interests and settled in his comfortable home in Marion Center, where he now makes his residence. Mr. Bee is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he served as steward and class leader for many years. In political matters a Republican, he has been stanch in his support of that party's policies and can- didates. In 1889-90 he served as paster and folder at the State Capitol. His fraternal connection is with Marion Center Lodge, No. 105, I. O. O. F., and he also holds member- ship in John Pollock Post, No. 219, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was com- mander for several years, and with tlie comrades of which he is very popular.

To Mr. and Mrs. Bee there have been born the following children : Zora J., the widow of William M. Fleck, of Marion Center, Pa., and a teacher of music for the last twenty-five years; Hattie M., wife of Dr. W. E. Dodson, physician and surgeon of Indiana, Pa., who has one child, Helen C .; Charles H., a grad- uate of the Indiana normal school, Williams- port (Pennsylvania) Business College and the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, who is now practicing at Summit, Licking Co., Ohio, and who married Clare Poorman, of Marcellus, Mich., and has one child, Daniel Harold; and Mary, a stenographer and book-

WILLIAM HARRISON EMPFIELD, who is now living retired in Brushvalley township, Indiana county, where for years he was en- gaged in farming and storekeeping, is a born April 19, 1837. The family is of Ger-

Peter Empfield, his father, was a native of eastern Pennsylvania and came to what is now Cherryhill township, Indiana county, where he followed his trade of carpenter and millwright. He did such work in many sec- tions of Indiana county, and his later years were spent among his children, who cared for their parents in their old age. Mr. Empfield died in Cherryhill township in 1872, aged eighty-four years, and was buried in the Lutheran Church cemetery. He was twice married, and by his first wife, whose name is not known, had three children: Margaret, who married John Coy; George, and John. His second marriage was to Mary Hart, and their children were: Isaac, now deceased; Nancy, who married Henry Wike, of Pine township; Sarah, who married Cyrus Dumm ; Alexander, who died in Missouri; Henry, living in Missouri; Simon, deceased ; Martha, deceased, who married John Green; William Harrison ; and Caroline, who died unmarried. The mother died while living with her chil- dren and is buried in the Lutheran cemetery in Brushvalley.

William Harrison Empfield was born at Edgy Mill, in White township, and attended school in Pine and Cherryhill townships. Be- ginning work on the farm in early boyhood, he continued thus until 1861, when he en- listed, on July 8th, in Company B, 11th Pennsylvania Reserves, under Col. Thomas F. Gallagher and Capt. Daniel S. Porter (who was later promoted to lieutenant colonel, Capt. H. K. Sloan succeeding him as captain). They participated in the seven days' fight

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

and second Bull Run, on Ang. 29-30, where at home with his parents until he reached Mr. Empfield was struck by a shell in the manhood, when he went West to Painesville, back of the head, carrying the evidence of Ohio, and there did carpenter work, receiv- ing $2.25 a day. Later he had charge of construction and of the docks at Grand River, and was subsequently with the Penn & Lake Erie Dock Company for twelve years as super- intendent, after which he accepted the posi- tion of superintendent of the coal mines for the Webster Coal Gas Company at Bellever- non. In 1900 Mr. Empfield became super- intendent for the East Goshen Company, in Ohio, with residence at New Philadelphia, where he was general manager for ten years. Since then he has been with the Northwestern Construction Company, of Franklin, Pa. Mr. Empfield is thoroughly businesslike, and a good judge of men, and he has always been popular with those under his charge as well as with his employers. He is keen and far- sighted, intelligent in business and in citizen- ship, and has been actively interested in local public affairs wherever he lived. He served two terms as mayor of Fairport, Ohio, to which office he was first elected in 1897. In political sentiment he is a Republican. For twelve years he was postmaster at Rico, where he now lives, his wife attending to the duties of the office. his injuries to the present. He was taken prisoner on the field and after nine days was paroled by the Rebels. Then he was sent to Carver hospital, at Washington, and was dis- charged Ang. 25, 1862, for disability. Re- turning home to Cherryhill township he again took up farming after regaining his health, and he also engaged in the making of shooks for barrels at Nolo, in Pine township, and in Cherryhill and Buffington townships. He carried on that kind of work for over seven years. Later he settled in Brushvalley town- ship on a fifty-acre tract of land, where he became engaged in farming for himself, and he has been farmning and raising stock con- tinuously ever since. He has been located on several different farms during that period, in 1889 buying his present place in Brushvalley township, where he built the house and made other improvements. Meantime he also be- came interested in the mercantile business, which he conducted for some years and which is now carried on by his sons. Mr. Empfield is a good citizen in every sense of the term. In politics he is a Republican, but he takes no active part in the work of the party.

On April 16, 1863, Mr. Empfield married On Feb. 27, 1889, Mr. Empfield married in Pine township, Margaret Irwin, a native Nellie G. Shaffer, of Indiana county, daugh- of Conemaugh township, Indiana county, ter of John Shaffer, and they have one child, Irwin Dale, who is now city editor of the New Philadelphia Daily Times. Mr. Empfield is a Mason, belonging to Temple Lodge, No. 29, of Painesville, Ohio, to the Council, and Knights Templar, Lake Erie Consistory, and Alkoran Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Cleve- land, Ohio. daughter of John and Catherine (Bank) Irwin. Mr. and Mrs. Empfield have had a family of nine children: Mary Catherine, born May 5, 1864, died July 24, 1866; Wil- liam Nelson was born June 18, 1866; Eliza- beth, born July 24, 1868, married Peter J. Bowers, of Buffington township; Sarah Ger- trude, born Jan. 1, 1871, married Sutton H. Murdock, and died Sept. 23, 1903; John Ir- HARVEY B. LANGHAM, of Lovejoy, In- diana county, who is engaged in the lumber and coal business, was born in that vicinity, in Green township, Dec. 7, 1872, and is a son of Josiah and Susan (Conrath) Langham. win, born July 24, 1873, a farmer of Buffing- ton township, married May Findly, of Vin- tondale, Pa .; Altazora, born Sept. 26, 1875, married Alexander C. Hoover, and resides in Brushvalley township; Harry Banks, born William Langham, his grandfather, came to Indiana county in 1836 from eastern Penn- sylvania, settling in Green township, where he took up timbered land, cleared it, and carried on farming throughout the rest of his life. April 19, 1878, who now conducts the general store, married Vivian Cribbs, of Tuscarawas, Ohio; Jennie Belle, born April 9, 1880, mar- ried Alex G. Murdock ; Myrtle married Harry C. Mikesell, of Buffington township, Indiana county. Mr. and Mrs. Empfield have twenty- nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

William Nelson Empfield, eldest son of William Harrison, was born in Cherryhill township, Indiana county, June 18, 1866, and was educated in the public schools of Brush- valley and Buffington townships. He worked

Josiah Langham, son of William and father of Harvey B. Langham, was born in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, and ac- companied his parents to Indiana county in the year 1836. Following in the footsteps of his father, he engaged in agricultural pur- suits all his life. His death occurred Feb.

H1B Langham

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

8, 1901. His wife, Susan (Conrath), also a man, and served twelve years as justice of native of eastern Pennsylvania, was the the peace in Clearfield county. He died at daughter of John Conrath, of Green town- the age of seventy, long surviving his wife, ship, a pioneer settler of Indiana county. She who passed away at the age of forty-four. They had the following children: James S .; John, residing at Pottersdale, Pa .; Robert, of Cleveland, Ohio; William, of Springfield, Ill .; Jean, of Auburn, N. Y .; and Agnes, of New York City. died April 8, 1905, the mother of six children : Mary Ann, who is the wife of S. F. Baker, of Purchase Line, Indiana county ; James W., who lives in Garrett, Ind .; Maggie, who is the wife of P. E. Decker, of Green township; Jennie, who married Stephen T. Gibson, of Clymer, Pa .; Harvey B., of Lovejoy, and Sharp, who is a resident of Dixonville, Indi- ana Co., Pennsylvania.

Harvey B. Langham attended public school in Green township, and as a youth commenced to do farm work. In 1900 he engaged in the sawmill business in Green township, which he has continued to the present time, and in 1905 opened a hardware establish- ment in Lovejoy, which he sold in 1911. Since that year he has conducted his sawmill and also dealt extensively in coal and lumber.

Mr. Langham was married in 1907 to Edna Litzinger, of Hillsdale, Montgomery town- ship, daughter of John and Nannie (Lydick) Litzinger, natives of Indiana county, the former of whom died in 1906, after having been engaged in the milling business for many years. Mrs. Litzinger survives her husband, and resides on a farm at Punxsutawney.

Fraternally Mr. Langham is connected with the I. O. O. F., at Cherrytree, and the Knights of Pythias at Starford. He has in- terested himself in movements for the bene- fit of the community and has served as a member of the school board of Green township.

James S. Kirkwood obtained his education principally through his own efforts, attend- ing night school, and making the most of sim- ilar opportunities. With the exception of three years during which he was employed in a general store, he has been engaged in min- ing, in Tioga, Clearfield and Indiana counties, in 1905 coming to Arcadia, Indiana county, where he was made foreman of Mine No. 41, owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Coal & Coke Company. He has 150 men under his charge, and has proved himself a fit man for this responsible position. He has become closely associated with matters of general in- terest to the district, being a member and clerk of the school board, and a prominent member and worker of the Presbyterian Church, serving as presiding elder and secre- tary of the Sunday school. In politics he is a Prohibitionist, and fraternally he holds membership in the Masons, I. O. O. F., Knights of Pythias and Good Templars.

In 1879 Mr. Kirkwood married Hannah M. Cook, of Blossburg, Tioga Co., Pa., daughter of John and Mary Cook, the former a stone and brick mason ; Mr. Cook was also a Metho- dist local preacher for upwards of thirty years. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kirkwood: Emma B., wife of Matthew M. Van-Der Meide, a truck farmer of Livonia, N. Y .; Adda M., wife of Louis Meacham, of Rochester, N. Y., bookkeeper and paymaster for a wholesale manufacturing company ; Raymond S., a student at the In- diana State normal school; Ethel Agnes, in school ; and Cameron S.

JAMES S. KIRKWOOD is a most re- spected citizen of Arcadia, in Montgomery township, Indiana county, where he has held the position of foreman at Pardee Mine, No. 41, for the Pennsylvania Coal & Coke Com- pany, some years. He is interested in various local matters, being a man of progressive dis- position and possessing the executive ability which makes him a valuable friend of any cause he advocates. Mr. Kirkwood is a na- REV. PAUL MANKOVICH, pastor of the Greek Catholic Church of St. Michael's at Clymer, Pa., was born in Hungary May 27, 1881, son of Cornelius and Helen (Nemes- sanvi) Mankovich, both also natives of Hun- gary. tive of Scotland, born at Carfin, Lanarkshire, April 3, 1855, son of John and Agnes (Sel- vage) Kirkwood. The father came to Amer- ica in the year 1863, but after remaining in the United States six months returned to Scot- land. In 1871 he again came to this country, settling at Arnot, Tioga Co., Pa., where he Cornelius Mankovich is also a priest of the Greek Catholic Church, and he and his wife make their home in Hungary. They are the engaged in mining for twelve years, at the end of that time removing to Clearfield coun- ty, this State, where he also followed mining. parents of eight living children and one who He was a highly respected and intelligent died, five daughters and four sons. 79

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Rev. Paul Mankovich was educated in Hun- Susan, who married Daniel Reynolds; Mary, gary, studying for the priesthood from child- who married Elijah Garrison; and George. hood, and was ordained in 1905. For three George Bolar, only son of John, made his home on the old farm along the Philadelphia and Pittsburg turnpike, in what is now East Wheatfield township, followed farming all his life, and improved the property materially during his ownership. He died there. He was in the Indian wars with his father. He married Jeannette McCoy, and to them were born four children: Eleanor, who married Thomas Bell; John; Mary, who married Hugh Bell and (second) David Palmer; and Daniel, who married Sarah Weir. years following he had charge of churches in his native land, prior to coming to this coun- try, which he did in 1909. For a short time, he was stationed at Brooklyn, N. Y., as as- sistant at the Greek Catholic Church and was then sent to Clymer to take charge of the Greek Church there. He has a flourishing Sunday school in connection with his church, and has brought its affairs into a very satis- factory condition. This is a new church, hav- ing been organized in 1907, by those of the Greek faith in Clymer.

Before his ordination. Rev. Mr. Mankovich was married, in 1905, to Olga Huesko, also born in Hungary, on May 31, 1886, daughter of Michael and Hermia Huesko, natives of Hungary. Rev. and Mrs. Mankovich have had three children : Desiderius, Paul and Theodore. Rev. Mr. Mankovich has built a new brick residence in Clymer since coming here. He is a man of learning and executive ability, and has the welfare of his people at heart.

JOHN A. BOLAR, proprietor of Maple Hill Stock Farm, in East Wheatfield town- ship, is a successful and well-known agri- culturist of that part of Indiana county. The family has been located there since pre-Revol- utionary days, his great-grandfather. John Bolar, a native of England, having crossed the Atlantic when a boy and settled in what was then part of the English domain. He made his home in Wheatfield township, then a part of Westmoreland county, and had ac- quired land and done some clearing before the outbreak of the Revolution. He took up arms in the Colonial cause during the struggle for independence, and returning to Wheatfield township at the close of the war again took up the work of developing a home from the wilderness. The warrant for his land, known as "Bolar's Chance," is dated March 18. 1785, the survey Aug. 3. 1785, and the patent Ang. 22, 1786. When he began work there it was all in the woods, and he built a log cabin and lived the life of the average pioneer, full of hardships and dangers, clearing his land and cultivating it and helping to bring about civilized conditions. Here he spent the rest of his days, dying on his farm. He and his son took part in the Indian troubles which form so thrilling a chapter in the early his- tory of this region. He married Mrs. Mary (Gray) Shaw. and they had three children :

John Bolar, son of George, was born in 1798 on the homestead, and received his education in the local subscription schools. During his early life he was engaged at various occupa- tions, first at the salt works near Saltsburg and later on the Philadelphia and Pittsburg pike, of which he was a stockholder. He finally settled down to farming and followed that calling the rest of his life, operating a tract of 240 acres on which he made extensive improvements, cultivating the land, engaging in stock raising, erecting a dwelling house, barn and other buildings, and becoming one of the prominent men of the vicinity. He took an interest in the general welfare and con- siderable part in public affairs, serving as school director and supervisor, and for many years as justice of the peace. He was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church at Armagh. To his marriage with Elizabeth Amsbaugh was born a large family, namely: Andrew Jackson was born April 18, 1830; Gilson, born Sept. 8, 1832, married Nancy Johnson; Jane Ann. born June 28, 1834, married Charles Killen : Mary Catherine, born Nov. 25, 1835, married William Trendell; George R., born April 4. 1837, married Anna Humphrey : Elizabeth Ellen, born Feb. 25, 1839, married Reuben Ling; Malinda, born June 19, 1841. married (as his second wife) David H. Cramer: Matilda, horn March 26, 1843, was the first wife of David H. Cramer; John A. was born Jan. 1. 1845; Cordelia, born Oct. 1. 1847. married John Hess; Lucinda, born Oct. 20, 184 . is deceased ; Sarah F. was born Jan. 20. 1853: Findley McCoy. born July 4, 1851. married Miriam Spires; Orlando is deceased.

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania; her people, past and present, Volume II, Part 88

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 884

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 884