Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 122

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 972

USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II > Part 122

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vania Volunteer Infantry. John served in the same company and was killed at Fair Oaks. Nancy became the wife of James McMillen, a farmer of Oliver township; Mary was the wife of David Kirkland, and Sarah the wife of James Houser.

Henry Depp aided in the reclamation of the old home farm and continued to be actively identified with agricultural enterprise in Perry township until his death, at the age of seventy- two years. He was a Republican, served in various local offices, and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The latter, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Long, was a daughter of Adam Long. who was of German birth and when young migrated to America. He was a pioneer of Jefferson county and not only developed a productive farm but also gained quite a repu- tation as a successful hunter and trapper. Coming to Jefferson county, he established the family home in Young township, near Punx- sutawney, he and his wife, sterling pioneers of that township, having there passed the resi- due of their lives, the remains of both resting in the old cemetery at Punxsutawney. Of Henry Depp's children the first was Milton, who was born on the old homestead in Perry township and owned a farm adjoining that of his brother Aaron, where he died when about sixty-four years of age. Hannah became the wife of A. B. Siverling and both are deceased. Augustus died in 1861, when about twenty- olle years of age. Hiram is a prosperous farmer in the State of Washington. Eliza- beth is the wife of Joseph Rumbarger, a re- tired railroad man at Blairsville. Pennsylva- nia. Aaron and Moses are twins, the latter now a representative farmer of Bell township.

Aaron Depp was reared on the old home farm and attended the district schools. He early became identified with lumber manufac- turing, eventually developing a large indepen- dent enterprise in the industry. He is the owner of two farms, lying on opposite sides of the village of Frostburg, comprising 240 acres. His fine residence and site at the west end of the village is notable for its beautiful lawns, large barns and other modern improve- ments. Mr. Depp is essentially one of the leading representatives of agricultural and live stock industry, his success being attributa- ble directly to his own ability and well ordered efforts ; his yield of hay alone in 1916 was two hundred tons. He has an interest in a large tract of coal land being developed by the Rochester Coal & Iron Company, on the Hugh

Bell farm in Perry township, which he sold in 1913, the coal right being reserved.

Mr. Depp is liberal and public-spirited, has been called upon to serve in local offices of trust, and is a Republican in politics. In the Masonic fraternity his affiliation is with John W. Jenks Lodge, No. 451, and he is a member of the Williamsport Consistory of the Scottish Rite, besides being an Odd Fellow and an Elk. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church.

In June, 1876, Mr. Depp wedded Jane Grube, born in Bell township, in 1856, and whose death occurred in 1909. She was a daughter of John R. and Louisa (Weise) Grube, the former born in Pennsylvania, of German ancestry, and the latter born in Ger- many, coming as a child with her parents to America and growing to womanhood in Bell township. John R. Grube, was a respected pioneer, and here both he and his wife re- mained until their deaths. Mr. and Mrs. Depp had three children: Omer Blair, born in 1878. is conducting a transfer business in Punxsutawney : he married Bessie Means and they have two children, Lex and Martha Jane. Lillie Pearl, born in 1880. is the wife of Harlan Jordan, of Punxsutawney, and has one son, Lloyd. Helen Louisa is the wife of Dr. H. A. O'Neal, of Knox Dale.

On Nov. 3, 1910, Mr. Depp married Mrs. Jennie (Glontz) Ressler, widow of Frank Ressler and daughter of Henry and Catherine Glontz, pioneer citizens of Beaver township. Mrs. Jennie Depp has two sons by her first marriage, Walter Forest and Ralph Clarence Ressler, the former a druggist and the latter a stenographer and bookkeeper.

WASHINGTON P. ALTMAN. Major Altman, as he is familiarly known, a popular and influential citizen of Jefferson county, is now living retired in the borough of Sykes- ville. He is a member of one of the honored pioneer families of western Pennsylvania and is of stanch German lineage, his paternal grandfather, John Altman, having passed his entire life in Germany ; two of his sons, Jacob and Henry, came to America and were the founders of a now numerous family in Penn- sylvania.

Major Altman was born at Indiana. the judicial center of Indiana county. Pa., on the 24th of March, 1845, and is a son of Henry Altman, one of the two brothers mentioned in the foregoing paragraph. Henry Altman was born and reared in Germany and was a young man when he came to the United States and

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established his home at Indiana, where he was engaged as a contractor and builder, erecting many of the better class of buildings there, a number of which are still standing. He was one of the stanch and honored citizens of Indi- ana county, influential in public affairs of a local order, and though past the age limit at the time of the Civil war insisted in expressing his loyalty by active service as a gallant soldier and officer of the Union forces. He had pre- viously been influential in the State militia. in which he had served many years as colonel of a company at Indiana. When the dark cloud of civil war cast its pall over the national hori- zon he promptly effected the organization of Company K. 105th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made captain, and was in command when he received a severe wound in the memorable battle of the Wilder- ness. His injury incapacitated him for fur- ther service and resulted in his death shortly after he arrived at his home. He was sixty- three years of age at the time of his enlistment, and his death occurred prior to his attaining to the age of sixty-four, his life having been sacrificed in a righteous cause and on the altar of patriotism. Captain Altman wedded Julia Ann Sloan, of Kittanning. Armstrong county, who was about eighty-three years of age at the time of her death. Of their chil- dren, the eldest was Dr. William Altman, one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Jef- ferson county, where he practiced his profes- sion, at Punxsutawney, for forty-seven years. his death occurring in that borough, and his name is held in lasting honor in the county where he long lived and labored in the allevia- tion of human suffering ; Esther is the wife of Alexander Mccullough, of Kittanning; Henry, who now resides in New York City, was a pioneer in mining operations in Colo- rado, where he was closely associated with the distinguished citizen. Governor Tabor, of Denver, who was one of the leading capitalists of Colorado as well as governor of the State; Julia Ann is the widow of William Bowman and resides at Lyons, Iowa ; H. M. likewise is a resident of Lyons: Daniel S. was an hon- ored and influential citizen of Punxsutawney, where he served on the council and for many years was justice of the peace, besides which he held the post of Indian agent in the Dakotas under the administration of President Cleveland : Major Altman was the next in order of birth; Annie is the wife of Dr. Mac Quigg, and they reside at Lyons, Iowa.

To the public schools of his native town Major Altman is indebted for his early educa-

tion, which was supplemented by a course in Indiana Academy. in the same place. For twenty-one years thereafter he served as an efficient and popular teacher in the public schools of Indiana and Jefferson counties, and also in Illinois, Iowa and Colorado. For a time he was principal of the public schools at Punxsutawney, and became well known in Jefferson county many years ago. After his retirement as a teacher and after having served as a gallant soldier in the Civil war, he was appointed chief of police of his native borough of Indiana, an office of which he was the incumbent nine years. For six years thereafter he was in the employ of the Ameri- can Sheet Steel Company at Vandergrift, Westmoreland county, and in March, 1905, he established his home at Sykesville, where he held an important position in the employ of the Cascade Coal & Coke Company until February, 1916, since which time he has lived virtually retired, secure in the high regard of all who know him. A man of fine intellectu- ality and mature judgment, the Major has wielded benignant influence in community affairs in the various places in which he has lived, and has been an influential figure in the councils of the Republican party in Jefferson county. His interest in educational matters has never waned; he served four years as president of the Sykesville board of education.

When but sixteen years of age Major Alt- man showed the same spirit of patriotism that had distinguished his honored father, enlisting in Company A, Ist Battalion of Pennsylvania Cavalry, for a term of nine months; he was made second lieutenant of this gallant com- mand, with which he participated in numerous engagements, including a number of impor- tant battles of the Civil war. After the expira- tion of his term of enlistment he reenlisted, in the 19th United States Infantry, with which he served three years, his activities as a soldier having thus continued for some time after the close of the war. The Major has been an influential figure in the Grand Army of the Republic, and while a resident of Denver, Colo., he had the distinction of serving as department commander of this great patriotic organization in that State. In the same city he served also as judge advocate of the Sons of Veterans, in which he holds membership by reason of his father's loyal service as a soldier of the Union. At Vandergrift he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias; in his native city of Indiana he holds membership in the I. O. O. F .. and at Reynoldsville he main- tains active affiliation with the L. O. O. M.

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The Major and his wife have for many years been earnest members of the Presbyterian Church.

In 1874 was solemnized the marriage of Major Altman to Ella M. Glass, daughter of the late James Glass, of Indiana, this State. Of their children the eldest is William H., who is superintendent of a bridge construc- tion company at Fulton, Ill .; Lulu N. died at the age of twenty-three years; Julia Estella is the wife of Ambrose Deihl, of Uniontown, Pa .; Maria died at age of twenty-one years.

JOSEPH SHAFFER served for more than thirty years as agent for the Adams Express Company at Reynoldsville, and since his retire- ment from this position he has not been identi- fied with active business, but is enjoying the well earned rewards of former years of resourceful endeavor. He lives at Reynolds- ville, and is one of its well known and highly esteemed citizens. Mr. Shaffer is a native son of the Keystone State and at the time of the Civil war he was one of the loyal young men who represented this commonwealth as a valiant soldier of the Union. It may con- sistently be said that this same spirit of loy- alty has continued to characterize him in all the relations of life and has marked him as worthy of the unqualified esteem in which he is uniformly held.

Mr. Shaffer was born in Clinton county, Pa .. on the 16th of July, 1841. and is a son of Philip and Catherine ( Walmer ) Shaffer, who continued to reside in that county until their death, the father having been born there and having devoted his active career to farming. Of the twelve children only two are now liv- ing. Joseph being the elder. and his sister, Elizabeth, the wife of Frederick Brobst, of Lock Haven, Clinton county.

Joseph Shaffer early gained practical expe- rience in connection with the work of the home farm and the common schools of his native county offered the medium through which he laid the foundation for that broader education which he was later to acquire in the course of a significantly active and useful career as one of the world's productive work- ers. He was not yet twenty years of age when the Civil war was precipitated on a divided nation, and his patriotism found significant exemplification when he enlisted at Lock Haven, in Company D. 7th Pennsylvania Reserves, his mustering into the State service having taken place at Harrisburg, and into the United States service in the city of Wash- ington, D. C. During the major part of his

service at the front Mr. Shaffer was stationed with his command in Virginia, and he took part in a number of battles of importance, as well as numerous minor engagements. While participating in the first day's fight incidental to the battle of the Wilderness, on the 5th of May. 1864, he was captured by the enemy, and shortly afterwards incarcerated in Ander- sonville prison, of malodorous fame. Later he was confined in the Confederate prison at Florence, S. C., and his total confinement as a prisoner of war covered about ten months. In February. 1865, Mr. Shaffer was paroled, but his hardships endured in prison had so greatly impaired his health that for some time after his release he was placed under medical atten- tion in a hospital at Annapolis, Md., where he was mustered out on the 29th of June, 1865. In the later years Mr. Shaffer has maintained affiliation with the Grand Army of the Re- public. a loyal and popular member of John C. Conser Post, No. 192, of Reynoldsville. He has held various official positions in this post and continues to be active and influential in its affairs.

After the close of the war Mr. Shaffer returned to Clinton county and there was variously employed until 1875, when he came to Jefferson county and took up his residence at Reynoldsville, where he has remained dur- ing a period of more than forty years and where he served from 1880 to 1914 as agent for the Adams Express Company. He is favored in living in a community in which his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances and with whose civic and busi- ness activities he has been long and loyally identified. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, he and his wife are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias.

In the year 1876 was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Shaffer to Jane J. Brown, daugh- ter of George H. S. and Mary ( Hall) Brown, who came to Jefferson county from Alle- gheny county, and settled on a farm in Union township, where the parents passed the resi- due of their lives. Mrs. Shaffer is now the only survivor in the family of ten children. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer have no children of their own, but in their home they reared Ethel Brown, a foster child, who has repaid their care and affection by true filial devotion. She is now the wife of John Cotter and their home is in the city of Chicago, Ill. ; they have one son. Joseph. named in honor of Joseph Shaffer.

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C. EVERETT HUMPHREY, who resides upon one of the fine farms of Winslow town- ship, the home being situated in the borough of Sykesville, is not only one of the progres- sive and successful farmers and dairymen of his native county but is also a representative of the third generation of the Humphrey family in Jefferson county, where his grand- father. William Humphrey, settled in the early pioneer period when this section of the Keystone State was little else than a wilder- ness. This sterling pioneer cut his way through the forest and settled about seven miles distant from Brookville, in Pinecreek township, where he purchased two hundred acres of heavily timbered land and where he reclaimed a goodly portion to cultivation, be- sides having been one of the prominent pio- neer lumbermen of this section of the State. Both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives on their old homestead farm. Their children were Richard, Mary, Sarah and Samuel. The two daughters married brothers. Mary having become the wife of Wilson Shaffer and Sarah the wife of George Shaffer.

Richard Humphrey. father of C. Everett Humphrey, became one of the prominent and influential exponents of the lumbering in- dustry in this section of the State when this line of enterprise was in its zenith, and he built up a large business as a dealer in lum- ber. maintaining offices in the city of Pitts- burgh. He passed the closing period of his long and useful life at Beaver, judicial center of the Pennsylvania county of the same name. where he died in 1903. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Jane Slack, survived him by about five years and was summoned to the life eternal on the 22d of September. 1908. Of their five children C. Everett was the fifth in order of birth: John H. died when about fifty-eight years of age: George B. is a resident of DuBois: Annie is the wife of Orie H. Broadhead, of Winslow township; Alice is the wife of M. I. McCreight. an in- fluential citizen and prominent banker of DuBois, Clearfield county.

C. Everett Humphrey was born at Pres- cottville, Winslow township, this county, on the 8th of October. 1873, and was a child at the time when the family home was estab- lished at Reynoldsville, where he attended the public schools. Later he went to the schools at Derry. Westmoreland county, where his parents maintained their home for five years. At Reynoldsville he served an apprenticeship to the plumber's trade, and followed the same as a skilled workman a few years. He finally

moved to his father-in-law's farm of 147 acres at Sykesville, and here he has since continued his activities in diversified agricul- ture, besides maintaining a fine dairy herd of about thirty cows, and making daily de- liveries of milk and cream in DuBois, about eight miles distant from the farm. He is a progressive and public-spirited citizen and one of the enterprising young men of his native county, his political allegiance being given to the Republican party.

In 1901 Mr. Humphrey married Effic Alma Sykes, who is a daughter of the late J. B. Sykes, a prominent and influential citizen of Sykesville, a place which was named in honor of this representative family. Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey have five children, Dorsey Orrin. Jacob Richard, Charles Everett, Jr., Frank Clair and Ruth Agnes.

CHRISTOPHER SYPHRIT is a man whose resolute purpose and well ordered endeavors have brought a substantial measure of success in the activities of life, and his prosperity is such as to constitute a fitting reward for many years of earnest and honor- able effort. He is a representative farmer and highly respected citizen of Polk town- ship and belongs to one of the sterling pioneer families of Jefferson county.

Mr. Syphrit was born at Paradise, near Reynoldsville, in Winslow township. Feb. 9, 1846. He is a son of Joseph and Mary (Campbell) Syphrit, whose marriage was solemnized in the year 1835: Mrs. Syphrit was a daughter of J. K. Campbell, a pioneer of the Ligonier valley of Pennsylvania. Joseph Syphrit was born in the Dominion of Canada, on the 15th of January, 1814. a son of Christian and Mary (Shank) Syphrit, and in 1841 came to Jefferson county, Pa., and settled in Winslow township, where he re- claimed a farm from the forest and was for many years actively identified with lumbering, including the rafting of lumber and square timber to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Both he and his wife reached venerable age and passed the closing years of their lives on the old homestead in Winslow township. They became the parents of thirteen children, namely : Rebecca. Susan. Daniel. Mary, Noah. Christopher, Amanda, Lizzie, Priscilla, Joseph, Martin, Julia A. and Maggie.

Christopher Syphrit was reared under the conditions that marked the pioneer epoch in the history of Jefferson county, and as an exceptionally alert and vigorous boy he found ample demand upon his time in the arduous

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work of a pioneer farm and in the various activities involved with early lumbering. As a mere lad he became expert in driving an ox team, and thus his services were in almost constant demand in connection with the re- clamation and other work on his father's farm. The result was that even the primitive pioneer schools found him a pupil only at brief and infrequent intervals, his broader education having been that gained under the direction of that wisest of headmasters, expe- rience. The little log schoolhouse was two miles distant from his home and to reach it he had to traverse the dense forest, in which wolves, catamounts and bear were much in evidence, as were also deer and other game. But the lad had little leisure to devote to hunt- ing, although he saw many of the wild ani- mals that once infested this section of the State. He killed but one deer, and this feat was compassed only after a severe fight in which he received many bruises. He felled the deer at night with an old-time shotgun loaded with slugs, but the wounded animal made a vigorous fight and he finally killed it with a butcher knife. As a boy Mr. Syphrit earned a little money occasionally by the trapping of game and fur-bearing animals. He caught fifteen coons in one cornfield, and an equal number of the wily porcupines became his youthful trophies. He also captured sev- eral wildcats, and in the early days often encountered bands of six or more deer. the animals frequently entering the reclaimed fields of the farmers and feeding with the COWS.

Mr. Syphrit married in the early spring of 1869, and in 1873 he and his wife established their home on his present farm, which he pur- chased after renting the place one year. This well improved tract comprises 150 acres, and it has been principally through the arduous labors of the owner that the land has been re- claimed from the forest and one hundred acres made available for cultivation. Mr. Syphrit cleared the greater part of his pro- ductive acreage and with increasing prosperity made improvements on the homestead, his commodious and attractive house, on a com- manding elevation, having been erected in 1888; one of the two large and substantial barns has been built since 1904. In clearing his farm Mr. Syphrit lumbered off much hemlock timber, the bark of which he sold, this valuable product having in the earlier days been burned as worthless. In his lum- bering days Mr. Syphrit was active in clear- ing many acres of land for others in this

section of the State, when the locality was little more than a forest wilderness, with few roads. Before the construction of railroads he, like other operators, placed his logs in the North Fork, which stream swings around his farm, in close proximity. In buying his land he assumed an indebtedness of $4,400, as he had virtually no financial resources. He continued to pay interest on this indebtedness for nearly two decades, and recurrent finan- cial stringencies kept him, as he has vigorously stated, "with his nose to the grindstone" until his timber and hemlock bark became suf- ficiently valuable to release him from his burdens. He was favored in being physically strong, vigorous and in the best of health, and few could equal him in the physical prowess demanded in the strenuous labors already noted. He has scored millions of feet of lum- ber and each successive season for many years he assisted in rafting timber down the streams, with a reputation as a skillful pilot of rafts on Sandy Lick and Red Bank creeks and also on the Clarion river. He has developed one of the excellent farms of Polk township, re- joices in having been one of the world's workers, and finds his merited reward in the generous peace and prosperity that now attend him. Mr. Syphrit has been loyal to all civic responsibilities, is a Republican in poli- tics, has served as township supervisor, over- seer of the poor and school director. On his farm he has opened a two-foot vein of coal, and also a fine lime bank, from which his son burns from one hundred to one hundred and fifty tons of lime annually, used principally for fertilizing. He and his wife are active members of Zion Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mrs. Syphrit takes a specially deep interest in the work of the Sunday school.

At Perrysville, this county, on the IIth of February, 1869, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Syphrit to Mary Plotner, whose acquaintance he had formed in the home of his sister, the wife of Rev. Abraham Bash- line of Perrysville. Mrs. Syphrit was born in Clarion county, this State, on the Ist of March, 1850, and in the following year her parents. John and Elizabeth (Bowersock) Plotner, came to Jefferson county and estab- lished their home in Polk township. John Plotner was born Sept. 20, 1803, and his wife on the 15th of December, 1811, their mar- riage taking place in Center county, whence they removed to Clarion county, where they resided until they came to Jefferson county. Mr. Plotner here began the reclamation of his farm, but he was not long permitted to con-

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 122

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers Number of Pages: 972

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 972