Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 124

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 124

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Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Brosius the following record is given, and inci- dentally it is pleasing to note that in 1916 there were twenty-seven living grandchildren. The eldest child, Carrie E., born at Langville, Feb. 17, 1876, is the wife of Harry Geist, a farmer of Beaver township, and of their ten children the survivors are Edith and Ethel, twins, Grace, Clyde, Willis, Everett, Homer and Vera. Anna E., who was born at Langville Oct. 29, 1877, is the wife of Calvin Shaffer a farmer of Perry township, and their four children are Haven, Mildred, Ralph and Jackson. Marion B., born at Langville Oct. 22, 1879, is a repre- sentative farmer of Perry township; he wed- ded Lizzie Fleming and they have four daugh- ters, Martha Jane, Helen Louisa, Mary Eveline and an infant. Della Blanche, born Feb. 28, 1883. is the wife of Azza Shaffer, of Ringgold township, and their children are Fred and Ray. Myrtle Belle, born Aug. 7. 1885, is the wife of Leslie Shields, of Clover township, and they are the parents of Gladys and Blair. Edna May, born April 20, 1888, is the wife of Clyde Stewart, insurance agent at Pittsburgh : they have two children, Kenneth and Howard. Dollie Estella, born June 20, 1892, is the wife of Earl Ycaney, and they reside on the old Brosius homestead near Langville; of their six children one died in infancy and the sur- vivors are Clarence. Blanche, David, Mervin and an infant.

Mr. Brosius has been a vigorous and pro- gressive farmer. In January, 1912, after leav- ing his old homestead near Langville, he estab- lished his residence on his present farm of sixty acres, six miles west of Punxsutawney and adjoining his son's farm. He gives his allegiance to the Democratic party, is actively affiliated with the local Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, has served in various township offices in Beaver township and as school director in Perry township, and both he and wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

STANLEY G. AUSTIN is a popular citizen whose executive and technical ability has

brought him preferment as foreman of the well equipped plant of the Elk Tanning Com- pany, at Reynoldsville, and he takes satisfaction in owning the Keystone State as the place of his nativity. He was born in Clearfield county on the 26th of March, 1866, and is a son of Samuel and Margaret Jane (Dean) Austin, both of whom are now deceased. Samuel Austin was born and reared in the State of Maine, a scion of one of the stanch old fan- ilies of New England, and about the year 1851 he became one of the pioneers in connection with lumbering in Clearfield county. He was concerned with extensive himbering opera- tions, including the rafting of timber down the Susquehanna river, and assisted in clear- ing a tract of land that was then known as the Meadow, this work having been done for John E. DuBois, one of the representative pioneers of Clearfield county. Mr. Austin passed the last twenty years of his life at DuBois, where he died in 1895, the remains of both him and his wife resting in the little cemetery near Wilcox.

In his boyhood and youth Stanley G. Austin gained practical experience in connection with farming and lumbering and in the meanwhile he attended the schools of his native county when opportunity offered. A\ part of the old homestead farm of his father was in Winslow township. Jefferson county, and thus he early became concerned with industrial enterprise in the county that is now his home. When seventeen years of age Mr. Austin became as- sociated with the tanning business established at West Reynoldsville by the firm of Hall & Vaughn in 1883, the original firm having sold the plant and business to the present Elk Tan- ning Company in 1893. He learned the tan- ning business in all of its details and since 1895 has held the position of outside foreman for the company, with the supervision of the work of about twenty-five men.

Mr. Austin is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party. He served from 1893 to 1903 as justice of the peace at West Reynoldsville, three years as a member of the borough council and six years on the board of education. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is affiliated with the Protective Home Circle and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, includ- ing the adjunct organization, the Daughters of Rebekah, of which Mrs. Austin likewise is a member.

In 1886 was solemnized the marriage of Stanley G. Austin to Lovina A. Wells, born and reared in Beaver township, a daughter of

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Peter Wells. Though they have had no children they reared two children in their home. one being Addison J. Wells, the youngest brother of Mrs. Austin, who was taken into their kindly care when a lad of nine years and remained with them until he was twenty-four, when he married and established a home of his own. The other foster child, Love Leola Wells, a niece of Mrs. Austin, came to the Austin home when she was but three years old and remained with them until her marriage to D. P. Balger, who is a leather finisher at the plant of the Elk Tanning Company: he is also a skilled automobile mechanic.

GLEN S. HAMILTON, the efficient post- master at Falls Creek. has the distinction of being the youngest person ever appointed to this office. the preferment indicating his un- qualified popularity in the community. He was born at Westville, Jefferson county, July 28, 1891, and is a son of Joseph J. and Maude (Craven ) Hamilton, the former born at Luth- ersburg. Clearfield county. in 1865. and the latter at Richardsville, Jefferson county, in February, 1870.

Joseph T. Hamilton was reared and edu- cated in Clarion county and for a long period of years was a traveling commercial salesman. He then became an exponent of high-class photography, and is now associated with one of the leading moving-picture concerns of Los Angeles. Cal., where he maintains his home. Mrs. Hamilton was reared at Westville. which was then known as Cravens, named in honor of the sterling pioneer family of which she is a representative. Her paternal grandfather conducted a general store at Cravens and in her girlhood Mrs. Hamilton virtually had its management for some time.

William Hamilton, grandfather of Glen S., was born and reared in Scotland and upon coming to the United States settled in Clear- field county. Pa. ; his wife, whose family name was Wilson, died in that county about 1871 and he survived her by a number of years. They became the parents of five children : Ada is the wife of Tames Stover, of Emlenton, Venango county: Andrew W. resides at Du- Bois, Clearfield county : Joseph T .. father of Glen S .. was next in order of birth ; Ames I. is superintendent of the high school at Berke- lev. Cal. : Margaret is a teacher in the public schools of DuBois.

The maternal grandfather of Glen S. Hamil- ton was Thomas J. Craven, who was born in Ireland, of Scotch ancestry, and was a vonng man when he came to the United States. With

his wife, Mary Jane ( Mann), of Troy, N. Y., he resided in turn at Richardsville, Munderf and Westville, Jefferson county. He passed the remainder of his life at Westville, his death occurring shortly after the beginning of the twentieth century. He was a prominent mem- ber of the Beechwoods Presbyterian Church, served twelve or more years as justice of the peace, and was the valued arbiter in minor legal contests, few cases having been appealed after presentation in his tribunal, as all liti- gants had confidence in his justice and integrity of purpose. His political support was given to the Republican party and he was a leader in popular sentiment and action in his community. Of his children the eldest is Frances the wife of O. M. Scaffner, of Saginaw, Mich. : John, who married Jennie Henry, of Dayton, Arm- strong county, was a resident of Jefferson county at the time of his death ; Emma is the wife of Howey Steele, of Punxsutawney ; James wedded Sophia Clark and they reside at Creekside. Indiana county: Jennie married George Tibbetts, of Burlington, Iowa: Anne is the wife of Stiles Kunselman, of Armstrong county : Maude is a resident of DuBois.

Glen S. Hamilton is the only child of his par- ents. His early education was acquired in the public schools of his native town of West- ville, and he was twelve years old when his parents removed thence to DuBois, where he was reared and where he completed the curric- ulum of the high school, from which he grad- uated with the class of 1910. He soon afterward assumed a position in the DuBois postoffice, where he served as night mailing clerk until Jan. 26, 1915, when he was ap- pointed postmaster at Falls Creek. His appointment coming under the administration of President Wilson, indicates his stanch alle- giance to the Democratic party.

On the 15th of October. 1912, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Hamilton to Anna Reed, born and reared at Falls Creek, and who is a daughter of John F. Reed. The two children of this union are Donna L. and Glen S., Jr. Mr. Hamilton is one of the popular young men of his native region and in a fra- ternal way is actively affiliated with the Knights of Malta.

JOHN W. SMITH, who is now living re- tired at Rathmel. Winslow township, was for many years prominently identified with the industrial interests of Jefferson county and is well entitled to definite recognition in this history. Lasting honor attaches to his name for the gallant service he rendered as a soldier

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of the Union in the critical period of the Civil war, and he has ever since shown the same spirit of loyalty and personal responsibility.

Mr. Smith was born in Massachusetts, on the 24th of December, 1844, and is a son of John W. and Mary ( Anderson) Smith, both residents of the State of Virginia at the time they died. John W. Smith, Sr., was born and reared in England, and upon coming to the United States settled in Massachusetts, whence he later removed with his family to Virginia, where he was employed in a cotton mill and died when about fifty years of age. John W. Smith acquired in his youth a good common school education, and early found employment in the same cotton mill in which his father was engaged, in the Old Dominion. Later he was similarly employed in Massachusetts, and when civil war was precipitated on the nation he promptly tendered his aid in defense of the Union. At the age of sixteen, in response to President Lincoln's first call, he enlisted, be- coming a private in Company B, 2d Massa- chusetts Volunteer Infantry, and on the 8th of July, 1861. he departed with his regiment to the front, the command being assigned to the Army of the Potomac. With valor and un- swerving loyalty Mr. Smith continued his serv- ice during the entire course of the great con- flict between the North and the South, partici- pated in the grand review of the jaded but victorious troops in the city of Washington, and there received his honorable discharge on the 22d of June. 1865. He was with his regi- ment in many of the historic and sanguinary battles marking the progress of the war, was with General Sherman in the Georgia cam- paign and the ever memorable march from Atlanta to the sea, and was promoted to the rank of color sergeant of his regiment. Among the more important battles in which he took part may be mentioned the following : An- tietam, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the siege and battle of Atlanta, and the battles of Bentonville and Winchester. besides innumerable minor engagements in which his regiment was involved. He received a slight wound in the right leg. but the injury did not long incapacitate him for active service.

After the close of the war Mr. Smith went to Massachusetts, but within a short time he returned to the South, where he remained for several years variously employed in different Southern States. He eventually made his way to Maryland, and within a short time came to Pennsylvania and located at Lebanon, where he found employment on the old Pine Grove railroad. Later he was a railroad employe at

Safe Harbor, Lancaster county, and from that place came to Jefferson county in 1871. Here for three years he engaged in farming in the Beechwoods district in Washington township, and then worked in the coal mines at Pancoast about five years, when he removed to Clearfield county. About two years later he returned to Pancoast, where he resided about three years. For a few months thereafter he lived at Rey- noldsville, but all of this time had been devoted to coal mining operations. He then established his permanent home at Rathmel, where he was employed in the coal mines until April, 1913, since which time he has lived practically re- tired. He owns a good residence property, and through his past activities accumulated a competency for his old age, though his sane and active life has kept him strong of mind and physical powers, even though he has passed the scriptural span of threescore years and ten. He is a Republican, a valued member of Easton Post, G. A. R., at DuBois, and a member of the Presbyterian Church ; his wife holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In the Centennial year, 1876, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Smith to Mary Elizabeth Clark, born in Jefferson county, daughter of John J. Clark, Jr., and Susan B. (Harris) Clark. Her father was long prominently iden- tified with lumbering operations in Jefferson and other counties in this section of the State. and passed the closing years of his life at DuBois, where he died at the age of sixty- two years ; his widow there continued her resi- dence until she too passed away, at the vener- able age of eighty years. The names of their children are here entered in respective order of birth : Gordon, David, Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. Smith), Wilbur, Frances, Agnes and Leander. John Clark, Sr., paternal grand- father of Mrs. Smith, passed the major part of his life in Wisconsin, where he was a pioneer, but he was a resident of DuBois. Pa., when he died. at the patriarchal age of ninety years. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Hubert, who resides in Indiana county, married Esther Waite (they have no children) : Rosie is the wife of Robert Adams. of Breckenridge, Allegheny county (no chil- dren have been born to them); Mary is the wife of William Kirchartz, of DuBois (they have no children) ; John C., who resides at Rathmel, married Clara Kridler, and they have two children, Ethel and Isabella.

It is worthy of note in this review that when Mr. Smith was a resident of Winslow, this county, he had the pleasure of manufacturing

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the cradle in which were rocked the twin brothers, Alexander and James Waite, both of whom eventually became clergymen of the Presbyterian Church and served as mission- aries in China and India. This cradle was crudely made from lumber taken from the Waite homestead farm, in Sandy Valley. Mrs. Smith received her early education in the schools of Jefferson county and at Glade Run Academy, Armstrong county, and as a young woman was a successful and popular teacher.

AALVIN A. BROSIUS. John Ruskin, the author and philosopher, said: "The sub- stantial wealth of a man consists in the earth he cultivates, with its plants and animals, and the rightly produced works of his own hands." In the rush and nervous turmoil of the twen- tieth century that man really makes most of his life who pays generous and unfaltering allegiance to the great basic industry of agri- culture, who wins from the willing soil its benefices and who finds his labors rewarded with smiling prosperity. One of the substan- tial citizens of Jefferson county is he whose name introduces this review, and the more interest attaches to his career by reason of his being a native, a member of an old and hon- ored family and the owner of a well improved estate that is a part of the old homestead of his parents. In Beaver township lies this fine farm of Mr. Brosius, and here thrift and pros- perity go hand in hand. Here the birth of Alvin A. Brosius occurred April 14, 1859, and he is a son of Michael and Elizabeth ( Johns) Brosius, the latter a daughter of Samuel Johns.

Michael Brosius was born in Northumber- land county, Pa., on the 13th of April, 1824. and passed to his reward in February. 1894, only a few weeks prior to the seventieth anni- versary of his birth. His widow attained the age of seventy-six, her death occurring in 1904. Michael Brosius was a brother of Peter, Jacob and Daniel Brosius, all now deceased, as are also the sisters: Julia, who was the wife of Henry Sowers : Mary ( Polly ), wife of Ben- jamin Sowers; and Kate, who was the wife of William Hines.

Michael Brosius was one of the pioneers of Jefferson county, and reclaimed from the forest the major portion of a farm of one hundred acres, this of course involving lum- bering operations. He amplified his activities by taking a number of contracts for the clear- ing of timber and preparing the logs for rafts that were floated down the streams or sub- jected to manufacture into lumber. In the old house he erected he continued to reside until

1882, when he built the present substantial and commodious one now occupied by his son Al- vin A. He was influential, served as township supervisor and school director, and both he and his wife were devout communicants of the Lutheran Church, he having been one of the organizers of the Berkhouse Church, two miles distant from home, of which he and his wife were active members until their deaths. Of their children the eldest is Emanuel, a representative farmer of Beaver township; Mary Jane is the wife of William Dinger, an- other of the substantial farmers of this town- ship; Adeline became the wife of Daniel Het- rick and continued her residence in this county until her death, in 1900; Maggie is the wife of Daniel Reitz, of Beaver township; Alvin A. was the next in order of birth; Frank is a farmer in Rose township; Emma is the wife of Peter Hetrich, and they live in Iowa; Thomas 11. owns and farms part of the old home- stead; Alice is the wife of George Spangler, their home being in the village of Ohl.

Alvin A. Brosius early began to lend his aid in the work of reclaiming and cultivating the home farm and helped his father in lumbering. He attended the public schools and remained at the home until his marriage, at the age of twenty-four years, his bride being one year his junior. After marriage Mr. Brosius as- sumed the practical management of his father's farm, and finally came into possession of thirty-nine acres of it. He cleared this land from timber and stumps, there being but one field under cultivation, which also he assisted in clearing. He is now the owner of a landed estate of thirty-five acres, and still gives his active supervision to his home farm, four acres of which he sold some time ago to his elder son. llis farm is underlaid with coal. one vein of which has been developed. Mr. Bros- ius is a prosperous and substantial citizen of his native township and receives handsome re- turns from the coal leases on his land. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Lutheran Church, of which his father was a charter member.

On the 23d of April, 1883. Mr. Brosius married Sarah Byerley, who also was born in Beaver township, whose parents at the time of her marriage were residents of Worthville. She is a daughter of George and Lydia ( Het- rick ) Byerley, both born in Northumberland county, and married in Beaver township, where Michael Hetrick, father of Mrs. Byer- ley, was a pioneer settler in what is known as Pansy Hollow. Both Mr. and Mrs. Byerley

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were less than forty years of age at the time of their death, and were the parents of six children : Polly is the wife of Daniel Weary, of Winslow township; Sarah was the next in order of birth; Brack resides at Falls Creek, Clearfield county : Beal is a resident of Emer- ickville, Jefferson county ; Emma is the wife of Philip Plyler, of Winslow township; Jacob resides at Reynoldsville.

Mr. and Mrs. Brosius have three children : Charles, who resides at Watterson, is a railway employe (the maiden name of his wife was Laura Reitz ) ; Ralph wedded Osa Lawhead, and they now reside in the State of Arizona, where he is engaged in ranehing ; Lesta is the wife of John M. Sowers, who conducts a meat market in the village of Ohl.

GEORGE J. BRITTON, late of Snyder township, was a prosperous and respected farmer for fully half a century, some of whose children still maintain the enviable esteem gen- erally accorded him. He was a veteran of the Civil war, equally well bearing his duty as a citizen and commanding the respect of his fel- low men. He was a native of County Derry, Ireland. born Nov. 12, 1840, son of John and Mary (Orr) Britton, who migrated to Amer- ica in 1858.

George J. Britton had preceded them a couple of years, coming with his sister, Mrs. James Curry. He had but few educational advantages, but though principally self-edu- cated, became familiar with the common branches, besides having a liberal education from observation and contact with the world. He lived with his brothers William and Joseph, and worked in lumber camps for David Mc- Garry, also running logs on the streams to Pittsburgh. He and wife in 1866 commenced their domestic life on a farm of fifty acres in Snyder township, where he prospered so that he was later able to add to the original tract. Helping each other in true companionship, they reared their family carefully, took part in church work and were instrumental in fur- thering all good causes, and came to rank de- servedly among the most esteemed and valued citizens. Mr. Britton united with the Presby- terian Church at Brockwayville in 1888, serv- ing that congregation as elder for eighteen vears and till death led a consistent Christian life which gained the warm regard of all. He died in Brockwayville Feb. 24, 1916, having turned the old farm over to his son, James E., some eight years before. Politically he was a Republican.

On May 30, 1866, Mr. Britton married Mary

Jane Crawford, who was born Dec. 2, 1842, on the Crawford farm at Beechwoods, and at- tended the old-fashioned schools of her girl- hood. Five children came to this marriage: Emma Louise is the wife of Daniel Kearney, of Beech Tree; William John, after a course in the public schools at Brockwayville, at- tended business college at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and is now in the employ of the Curry Lumber Company at White Rock, N. C .; James E., who lives on the homestead, married Hattie Atwell, and they have three children, Burton, Donald and Mary ; Annie Mary is the wife of Thomas Kearney, of Brockwayville, and has seven children, Florence, Ruth, Wil- liam G., Catherine, Elizabeth, Luther and Lois; George Chester, a civil engineer at Buffalo, married Sarah Raymond, of Troy, N. Y., and has two children, George Raymond and Lewis Crawford.

In 1861 Mr. Britton enlisted at Rockdale, in response to Lincoln's first call for volun- teers, joining Company H, 105th Pennsylvania Regiment, under Captain Tracy and Colonel McKnight. He remained with that command until wounded in the shoulder and knee and sent to hospital, after his recovery reenlisting as member of Battery B, of a cavalry regi- ment, with which he served until the close of the war.

John Crawford, father of Mrs. Britton, was born in 1810 in County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to this country with his twin brother, Samuel. They settled on a farm at Beech- woods, and there Mr. Crawford spent the re- mainder of his life, dying on his farm when past eighty. He had married Jane Brown, a native of Clarion county, daughter of Stewart and Catherine Brown, who also died on the farm, aged seventy. They were members of the Beechwoods Presbyterian Church. Of their nine children, Stewart A., who married Eliza Mccullough, died at Benezett, Pa., in the winter of 1915-16; Mrs. Britton is next ; Catherine is married to John Rockey and lives in Kansas ; William, deceased, married Nancy McSparran; Sarah is the wife of Lawrence Pickerman, of Brockwayville; Eliza is the wife of John McSparran, of Brockwayville; Mar- garet, Mrs. Archie McSparran, lives in Kan- sas; John W., of Falls Creek, married Minnie Hetrick ; Georgiana, Mrs. Charles W. McCue, lives in Punxsutawney.

JOHN W. SMITH has one of the best patronized general stores in Punxsutawney, and in official as well as business circles has been an influential figure for a number of

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years, taking a good citizen's part in various local affairs upon which the prosperity of the community depends. His sound principles and high standards are so thoroughly familiar to those who have been associated with him in the activities of his choice that his cooperation is welcomed in any enterprise which enlists his interest, and he works cheerfully and effec- tively for any object which appeals to him by reason of its usefulness or worth in other re- spects. As a merchant he has been one of the most successful in the borough. Mr. Smith was born at Smithport, Indiana Co., Pa., son of John G. Smith, a prominent landowner and farmer of that section. He married Margaret Winsheimer, and of the ten children born to them seven reached maturity, namely: Mary A., Elizabeth, Harriet, William W., Sophia, Emma R. and John W. The parents died at Burnside, Clearfield county.

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 124

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