Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 37

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 37

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vived her husband, passing away April 24, 1898. The station called Rasselas, on the N. Y. L. E. & W. Railroad, is on his farm and named in his honor.

Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rasselas W. Brown, three sons and three daughters: (I) Jefferson L., born June 25, 1834, died at the age of sixty-three years. He learned surveying, which he followed more or less all his life. For about a year he owned and published the Elk County Advocate. In 1860 be removed to Onondaga county. N. Y., where he farmed and taught school until his en- listment in 1864 in Company C, 185th New York Infantry. After the war he returned to Elk county and settled at Wilcox, where he ever afterwards made his home. He was in the employ of the Wilcox Tanning Company from 1868, and from April, 1870, for ten years managed and had an interest in the large mercantile business of the company. In 1880 he was elected as a Democrat to the State Leg- islature, was reelected in 1882, and served through the extra session of 1883. Then he engaged in lumbering and banking, as a mem- ber of the Rasselas Lumber Company, whose plant was located on the Brown homestead, and of the banking house in Wilcox bearing his name. He was a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, G. A. R. and Sons of Temperance, and a Presbyterian. serving as elder of the church at Wilcox. In 1855 he married Amanda Il. Merriam, and they had three children, Mrs. Emmet G. Latta, Emma G. and Frank Ras- selas. ( 2) William Wallace Brown, LL. D., born April 22, 1836, taught school and in 1857 entered Alfred ( N. Y. ) College, and was with- in two months of graduation when he enlisted in what became Company K, 23d New York Volunteers. Later he was transferred to the famous Bucktail Regiment of Pennsylvania,

and took part in a number of noted engage- ments. He studied law at Smethport, mean- time serving as register and recorder and deputy protlionotary of Mckean county. He became district attorney, and was appointed by the governor county superintendent of schools. He lived at Corry for nine years, from 1869, serving three years as city attorney and two in the council. From 1872 to 1876 he was a mem- ber of the State Legislature; was appointed aide de camp to Governor Hartranft in 1876; in 1878 moved to Bradford, Pa. He was elected to Congress in 1882, and served in all twenty years ; was auditor of the United States navy for years : procured the charter for the city of Bradford, and was active in its Board of Trade, and in railroad and oil interests. He

was prominent in the G. A. R., serving as com- mander of his post and as junior vice com- mander of the department of Pennsylvania. On March 16, 1862, he married Ellen Crandall, and they had one daughter, Jessie Lincoln. Both he and wife were members of the Baptist Church, and always active in church and Sun- clay school work. (3) Mary A. married George Allen and is deceased. (4) Olive J., after teaching some years, became the wife of Silas Mover, of Brockwayville. (5) Eunice A., Mrs. William E. Hewitt, is next in the family. (6) Isaac B., born Feb. 20, 1848, enlisted in Com- pany C, 211th Pennsylvania Regiment, with which he served until the close of the war. Then he attended Smethport Academy and Alfred University, graduating in 1869. He was admitted to the bar in 1876, and in 1880 was elected to the State Legislature, being re- elected in 1882 and 1884 -- the only man from Erie county ever chosen for a third term. In 1887, he became deputy secretary of internal affairs for Pennsylvania. He has been active and prominent in the G. A. R. ever since its organization, served as captain in the National Guard, and was on General Beaver's staff. On June 25, 1870. he married Hannah Partington, and they had three children, one son and two daughters.

ABRAHAM F. BALMER. M. D., has been a practicing physician and surgeon at Brook- ville for forty years, during which period he has also discharged his duties of citizenship in a manner indicative of high ideals. All the vital interests of the borough have felt his in- vigorating influence, which has always been used in behalf of the general good. His pub- lic spirit is so universally recognized that he is classed among the foremost residents of Jeffer- son county.

The Balmers are of old Pennsylvania stock of French Huguenot ancestry which sought a refuge on these shores from bitter persecu- tion. They have always been a hardy, long- lived race. The Doctor's great-grandfather, Michael Balmer, bought his land from Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, and settled in Lancaster county, Pa., on the site of what is now Reamstown. He was a black- smith and nailmaker for the government and in this capacity took an active part in the Ameri- can Revolution. His son, Samuel Balmer, married Elizabeth Schell, also a native of Lan- caster county. He was a farmer and success- ful man of affairs.

Hon. Daniel Balmer, son of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Schell) Balmer, was born in Mount

A.F. Balmes

THE NEW YORK JU LIJMARY

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Joy township, Lancaster county, April 10, 1806, and settled at Elizabethtown, that county, in 1837. He had previously followed farming, but on coming to town engaged in merchandis- ing, and during his later years was occupied as a carpenter and builder. He took a prominent part in the public affairs of his day, serving for fifteen years as justice of the peace and in 1842 was elected to the State Legislature. On April 10. 1834, he married Harriet Fisher, born Dec. 11, 1816, a daughter of John Fisher, who lived on a farm near Elizabethtown and was engaged as a farmer and drover. His wife was Ann Eliza Kraemer, a daughter of Peter and Marga- retha Kraemer, of Mount Joy township. Daniel Balmer died in December, 1884, in the seventy- ninth year of his age, and his wife, Harriet ( Fisher ) Balmer, died April 26, 1887. They were members of the Reformed Church in the United States and their bodies were laid to rest in Mount Tunnel cemetery. They were parents of the following children : John F., born June 13. 1835, died May 23, 1903, served in the Civil war and settled in Elizabethtown ; Israel Put- nam, born July 10. 1837, became a contractor and builder of Elizabethtown ; Daniel Webster, born Dec. 10, 1838, died Aug. 12, 1914, was a first lieutenant, Company I. 11th Pennsylva- nia cavalry, and later a justice of the peace ; Ann Eliza, born Aug. 25, 1841, died May 29. 1889, married George W. Lewis ; Mary Louisa, born Jan. 26, 1847, died Aug. 27, 1854; Abra- ham Fisher, the subject of this sketch; Mar- garet Isabella, born March 17, 1853, married Tobias W. Nissly, now of Reading. Pennsyl- vania.

Abraham F. Balmer was born Sept. 15, 1849, at Elizabethtown, Lancaster Co., Pa., where he grew up, attending the local school in his boyhood. He enjoyed his studies and by the time he was eighteen had prepared himself for teaching, following that profession for the next five years in his home town and adjoining town- ships. In his case, as in many others, it proved the stepping stone to another profession. Hay- ing read medicine for sometime with Dr. A. C. Treichler, at Elizabethtown. Dr. Balmer at- tended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, from which place he was graduated in the year 1875. A few months later he came to Brook- ville, where he has been established since Feb. 7. 1876. In the two score years which have elapsed since, he has advanced to an enviable standing in the regard of all classes in the county. His extensive practice has brought him into personal contact with a large percent- age of the residents of this and neighboring counties, and his opinion carries weight on 12

many questions outside his professional work. By scrupulous attention to the necessities of his patients, he has endeared himself to a wide circle of friends and patrons, and he has also found time for business and public interests, being a man of broad character and farsighted in his conception of things for the progress of the community. When the National Bank of Brookville was organized, he was among the founders and served for a time on its board of directors. At present he is interested in the gas business in this county, and in the mining of mineral paint materials in Clearfield county. He has definite ideas on the value of educa- tion and public educational facilities, which he has been permitted to indulge in his long serv- ice on the board of school directors of Brook- ville, most of the time as president of that body. He was one of the founders of the Directors' Association of Jefferson County. He was one of the organizers of the Jefferson County Med- ical Society, Sept. 11. 1877, and one of the incorporators, April 16, 1887: was elected its first secretary and annually thereafter for over twenty-six years, when he resigned and was elected president of said society for the ensuing year, since which time he has been one of the censors of the society. He is a permanent mem- ber of the medical society of the State of Penn- sylvania and of the American Medical Asso- ciation. In social and religious activities he has been a prominent worker ; a member of the Presbyterian Church: of Hobah Lodge No. 276. F. & A. M .. of Brookville (of which he is a past master and honorary member) ; of Jefferson Chapter No. 225, R. A. M .. of Brook- ville ( past high priest) ; of Bethany Com- mandery No. 83. K. T. of DuBois, Pa .; of Lodge No. 477, Knights of Pythias, of Brook- ville ( charter member and first chancellor com- mander). and of Brookville Lodge No. 217, I. O.O. F. (past grand).

Dr. Balmer married. Nov. 4. 1801, Clara Emma Burns, a daughter of Daniel C. and Harriet Farley ( Farrell) Burns, born June 13. 1865. Mrs. Balmer died April 22, 1915, and is buried in Brookville cemetery. Two chil- dren were born to this marriage: Harriet, born Aug. 11. 1802. now the wife of Harry C. Schreiber, of Belle Vernon, Favette Co., Pa., and mother of one child named Harriet Emma ; and Daniel Turner, born May 15, 1894, a recent graduate of the University of Penn- sylvania, class of 1916, Wharten School.

GEORGE AMENT BLOSE, an ex-county superintendent of the common schools of Jefferson county, and a teacher for years in

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this section of Pennsylvania, is of Revolu- tionary stock, descended from ancestors who came to this State nearly two hundred years ago.

The family name originally was spelled Bloss, in which form it appears in the Penn- sylvania Archives. Daniel Blose is the first of the family that the descendants have been able to trace. He came from Germany, and was living in Northampton county, Pa., Sept. 13, 1778, when George Blose, the grandfather of George Ament Blose, was born.

"A number of families of this name came prior to the Rev. Conrad in 1752, etc. ; but no Daniel. This shows that Daniel came as a minor with his parents. Northampton county is full of Blosses."

About 1780 Daniel Blose came to West- moreland county with Boaz Walton, and he and his family lived in a round log house, without any floor in it except the ground, with Boaz Walton and his family, about eight miles north of Greensburg. Daniel Blose, whose wife's name was Elizabeth, was the father of seven children: George; Michael; Barney; Mary, married to Joseph Walton; Daniel; Ann, married to Isaac Shuster ; and a daughter born in 1783, whose name was Magdalena.

George Blose, son of Daniel, was married to Sarah Walton previous to 1800. and to them were born ten children: Polly and Wil- liam died in infancy ; Josiah died in his youth ; John George was the father of George Ament Blose; Boaz was next in the family; Emily married George Schrock; Sarah married Thomas Sharp Mitchell ; Daniel and Elizabeth were twins, the latter marrying Charles Red- ding and moving to near Elizabeth, in what is now West Virginia, where she lived till her death; Rachel Maria married John Niel.

According to the most recent information obtained. George Blose, the grandfather of George Ament Blose, came to Westmoreland county with his father, who located some eight miles north of Greensburg about 1780. He continued to live in Westmoreland county till 1831. when he removed to Perrysville, Jefferson county, residing there to the time of his death, Aug. 31, 1849. His widow, who died in Jefferson county July 10, 1860, was born in Northampton county. Pa., Jan. 3. 1779. She was descended from an old American family which came to America from Scotland, but had been of English origin.

Boaz Walton, Mrs. Blose's father, was twice married, and had a numerous family : Oba- dialı and a brother whose name had been

forgotten by the last of his sister's children, and perhaps a sister, were children of the first marriage. . Mary Ashton was his second wife, and to this union were born: Joseph; Sarah, married to George Blose; Mary. mar- ried to William Martz; Rachel, married to Peter Wagaman; Martha, married to Daniel Blose; Elizabeth, married to George Ament ; Emily, married to Nicholas Martz; and Sam- 11el.

John George Blose, who in the latter part of his life was known as George Blose, Sr., was born in Westmoreland county, Pa., Aug. 3. 1803. On April 20, 1826, he was married to Esther Ament. A few years afterwards they moved from Westmoreland county to Armstrong county, where they resided three or four years, in 1834 coming to Jefferson county. Here they lived in a little log house a short distance east of Perrysville till March, 1836, when they moved to a farm they had bought about two miles west of Perrysville, in Perry township, upon which they were re- siding at the time of their deaths. He died very suddenly on Jan. 19, 1877, and Mrs. Blose passed away April 6, 1881.

The farm to which they moved had a small one-roomed round log house on it, and was in the woods except for a few acres that were cleared around the house. Deer, bears, wild turkeys, wolves, wildcats and other wild ani- mals were plentiful in the woods. They caught some of the wild turkeys by building a rail pen, covered with rails, first digging a narrow and shallow ditch which extended under the pen, into which they scattered corn or other grain, some being also scattered inside the pen. The turkeys would follow the grain as they ate it, and when once in the pen would try to get out above, being prevented by the rail covering.

A short time after they moved to the place Mrs. Blose, one Sunday, walked up a little hill north of the house. A few rods from the house she came upon twelve or fifteen deer, some lying down, and some feeding on the bushes. When they saw her they started to run away, but did not seem to be much afraid.

The wolves would come and howl round the house at night. One night they killed and ate a sheep under a chestnut tree that is still standing in the field above the barn. The sheep and young stock of every kind had to be shut up to keep the wolves from killing them. Two or three dogs were kept, but the wolves did not seem to be much afraid of the dogs, one of which would try to get into the house when wolves came.

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Mrs. Blose was a woman of more than average intelligence and superior executive ability, and contributed to the support of the family by her industry and frugality. For about nine years before her death she was an invalid and confined to her bed. She was a member of the Lutheran Church from her thirteenth year, was a most estimable woman, pious and upright, and bore her long and try- ing afflictions with great patience and Christian fortitude.

To George and Esther (Ament) Blose were born eight children: Josiah, born March 8. 1827, married to Elizabeth Grove Jan. 19, 1854, lived near the old homestead, and died April 6, 1915, at the age of eighty-eight years, twenty-eight days; Rachel Mary Dennison, born March 9, 1829, married to Nathan Croas- mun June 17, 1852, lived near Whitesville, and died Dec. 10, 1913; Esther Markle, born March 7, 1831. married to James Madison Haddan Aug. 10, 1853, lived near Oliveburg till some time in the eighties of the nineteenth century, and after that in Clayville till her death, July 5. 1901 ; Jeremiah, born July 22, 1833, married to Jane Wachob Nov. 15, 1855, lived in Perrysville, and died of consumption April 20, 1858; Susannah Catharine, born March 28, 1836, married to John Henry Weaver, January 19, 1854, died in May, 1895; Sarah Jane, born March 19, 1838, married to David Minor Postlethwait Feb. 15, 1859, lived near Perrysville, and died Nov. 10, 1910; Darius, born Dec. 2, 1840, married to Martha C. McQuown Jan. 11, 1869, lived during the latter part of his life in Clayville, and died May 10, 1899; George Ament, born Nov. 13, 1842, married to Louisa Jane Raybuck May 26, 1877, is living at the age of seventy-four years, the last survivor of his family.

George Ament, the father of Esther (Ament ) Blose, was born in York county, Pa., Dec. 2. 1758. He was a son of Philip Ament, who came from Germany, and the family name was originally written "Amend." "There were six arrivals. The first was John George Amend. in Sept., 1732." "The Amends who were the ancestors of George Ament Blose were the following : Ship 'Lydia,' sailed from Rotterdam; arrived at Philadel- phia, Pa .. Sept. 20, 1743; had on board GEORGE AMENT, age sixty, and JOHN PHILIP AMENT, age twenty ; the latter was probably a son. In York county, they are called Auman now. Pennsylvania Archives. Volume XVII, 2d Series, p. 244, etc."

Philip Ament died when his son George was about five years old, and the latter was

bound out. He was badly treated by the fam- ily into which he went. He was under eighteen years of age when he enlisted as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The follow- ing letter from the Bureau of Pensions gives part of his soldier record :

REV. WAR RECORDS. 3 - 525.

V. L. M. W. F. 3643

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF PENSIONS. Washington, D. C., Apr. 8, 1912.

Mr. G. Ament Blose,

Hamilton, Jefferson Co., Penn.

Sir :- In reply to your request of Mch. 30, re- ceived Apr. I for a statement of the military his- tory of George Ament, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, you will find below the desired information as contained in his (or his widow's) application for pension on file in this Bureau :

Date of enlistment or appointment, July 1, 1776. Length of service, 6 mos. Officers under whom serv- ice was rendered : Captains, Jacob Wet and Williams ; colonel, Swope. State, Penn.

Date of enlistment or appointment, 1777. Length of service, 2 mos. Officers under whom service was rendered: Captain, Overmeyer ; colonel, Morrow.

Date of enlistment or appointment, Feb'y 1778. Length of service, 2 mos. Officers under whom serv- ice was rendered: Captain, Smith ; colonel, Antes.

Battles engaged in, Skirmish near Gulf Mills.

Residence of soldier at enlistment, York Co., Penn.

Date of application, July 8, 1833. This claim was allowed.

Residence at date of application, Franklin Twp., Westmoreland Co., Penn.

Age at date of application, b. Dec., 1758; died Dec. II, 1843.

Remarks: Soldier, married Sept. 19, 1786, Esther -. She was allowed Pension on an application exe- cuted Feb'y 13, 1850, while a resident of Westmore- land Co., Penn., aged 84 years. A son Philip was alive in 1850. No other family data.

Very respectfully,

(Copy.)

J. L. DAVENPORT, Commissioner.

6 - 2856

He was with Washington that terrible win- ter, the beginning of 1778. at Valley Forge. He served in the rangers on the frontiers in Lieut. Thomas Fletcher's Company from 1778 to 1783. He applied for a pension, which was granted November 28. 1833. He had a brother in the patriot army who was captured by the British, and died while a prisoner from the bad treatment he received.

Frederick Ament, a son of Philip Ament's first wife, and half brother of George, lived near Salem Cross Roads, now Delmont, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania.

On Sept. 19. 1786. George Ament married Esther Markle. a daughter of Gaspard Markle and granddaughter of John Christman Markle. Nine children were born of this union: Jacob,

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who died in his seventeenth year; George : Susannah, married to John Hill ; Elizabeth, married to Frederick Berlin; Philip; Esther. married to John George Blose ; Mary, married to Jesse Walton ; Sarah, married to Elias Ber- lin : and Catharine.

The parents after the birth of two of their children moved to within two and a half miles of the present village of Delmont, formerly called Salem Cross Roads, on the headwaters of Turtle creek, in Franklin township, West- moreland county, where the father built a sawmill and gristmill. The lease for the dam and mill race was purchased from George Darr, for five pounds, and is dated Jan. 25. 1786. A deed from William Collins ( Collons ) and Mary, his wife, of Franklin township. Westmoreland county. Pa .. to George Ament ( Ammont), for fifty-one acres and allowances, was made Oct. 2. 1789. consideration one hundred pounds. Another deed from William Collins and wife to George Ament ( Ammount) for 207 acres and forty-eight perches, and al- lowances for roads, etc., was made April 10. 1790, consideration one hundred and fifty pounds. These contained the old Ament home- stead. The patent was issued by the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to William Collins on March 7. 1790, "in consideration of the monies paid by Jacob Long into the receiver general's office of the Commonwealth, and of the sum of six pounds, nine shillings and three pence, lawful money, now paid by William Collins, the tract known as the Ammon Estate, situate on the waters of Turtle creek in Franklin township, Westmoreland county, containing 355 acres and fifty-six perches and allowance of six per cent for roads etc. ( which said tract was surveyed in pursuance of a warrant granted to the said Jacob Long dated April 24. 1786, who by deed conveyed the same to the said William Collins in fee )," and signed and sealed by Thomas Mifflin, president of the Supreme Executive Council. All of the inden- tures mentioned. and the patent. are in the possession of some of George Ament's de- seendants. Export, a mining town, is built on the old farm.

George Ament died Dec. 11. 1843. and his wife died in Westmoreland county Sept. 10. 1854. She was born in Berks county. Pa .. Sept. 13. 1766. It is related of her, that after the removal of herself and husband to their new home in Franklin township, when her husband would be away from home in pursuit of Indians who had been committing depreda- tions, and killing settlers, she would take her

two children, Jacob and George, and go out into a little meadow, and hide in the willows along the stream on which the mills stood, that she might be in a safer place, and more readily escape with her children, if an attack was made by the Indians. There was a block- house at the mills into which the settlers gath- ered during perilous times for protection against the Indians.

The Markles are descended from a German family. In Rev. Dr. Stapleton's "Memorials of the Huguenots" it is stated that "One of the earliest Alsatian emigrants to Pennsylvania was John Christman Merklen ( Markley). At the Revocation period his parents retired to Ams- terdam, in Holland, whence John Christman came to the Maxatawney Valley and located at 'Moselem Springs' in Berks county. Pa., in 1728. Gaspard Markley, a son of the emigrant, in 1771, became a trans-Allegheny pioneer and settled at West Newton, in Westmoreland county, where he erected the first mill west of the mountains. He also built a stockade fort for the protection of the frontier settlers. Some of the descendants of Gaspard Markley became prominent men, notably his son. Gen. Joseph Markley ( born 1777. died 1868), who was for many years prominent in the business and political affairs of Western Pennsylvania. In 1844 he was the Whig candidate for gov- ernor, but was defeated by his opponent, Fran- cis R. Shunk, by a small plurality." In a foot- note to the above: "See Keim and Allied Fam- ilies, page 301. The emigrant was born in 1678, and died 1766, leaving children : Peter, George. Christian, Casper. Catharine Stoever, Frankina Rough, Mary Hill, Anna Maria Kramer, and Anna Lena. Will at Reading." Pennsylvania.

Quoting from a 1906 "History of West- moreland County." in which is given a history of the Markle family: "The progenitor of the Markle family in Westmoreland county, Pa .. was (I) John Christman Markle, born in Al- sace, on the Rhine, in 1678. By reason of persecution he fled from Germany and settled in Amsterdam, Holland. He married Jemima Weurtz. a sister of a noted admiral of that name. In 1703 he came to America, locating at Salem" ( Moselem) "Springs, Berks Co., Pa .. where he purchased fifteen hundred acres of land of the Pennsylvanians. By trade he was a coachmaker, and there he established a wagon shop, blacksmith shop and gristmill.

"(II) Gaspard Markle, son of John C. (I) and Jemima Markle, was born in Berks coun- ty in 1732; married Elizabeth Grimm. and in 1770 removed to Westmoreland county. Soon

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 37

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