Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 55

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 55

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In 1901 was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Sayers to Janetta E. Procious. daughter of Henry Procious, of Hawthorn, Clarion county, and the one child of this union is a son, Darwin L.

WILLIAM T. KUNTZ, a prosperous farmer and manufacturer of Jefferson county, resides at Brookville, where he has one of the most beautiful homes in all that region. Some twenty acres of his handsome property lie within the borough limits, and it is one of the features of the place to which his towns-

men refer with pride, as evidence of the pub- lic spirit and interest in local improvements of a leading citizen. Mr. Kuntz is president of the Sykesville Clay Product Company. and in that connection an influential business man in the county, one of the progressive figures who have shown faith in the value of home investments, and by developing a new indus- try added to the resources of the county.

The Kuntz family is of German extraction, and Jacob Kuntz, grandfather of William J. Kuntz, was a native of Bavaria, Germany, but as he was only a boy when his father died little is known of the earlier history. Jacob Kuntz continued to live in Germany until sev- eral years after his marriage, to Catherine Yockey, also a native of that country, daugh- ter of Casper Yockey, who came to America in 1837 and died two years later. Three chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kuntz before they left Germany. They started from their old home on May 5. 1830, took passage soon afterwards from Havre, and landed at New York July 19th, after a tedious voyage. Coll- tinuing their journey, they came on to Union county, Pa., attracted by the fertile lands then being rapidly settled, and on Nov. 30th took possession of a wooded tract in Brady town- ship. Clearfield county, near Troutville. Mr. Kuntz cleared and improved this place, upon which he made a permanent home. After

devoting himself to agriculture for a number of years he built the Eastbranch gristmill in 1850, and conducted it profitably for four years, selling out in 1855. He was also inter- ested in lumbering to some extent. In 1856 he became engaged in the general mercantile business at Troutville, carrying it on for sev- eral years with great success, and also engaged in the buying and selling of wool. He also took a prominent part in local public affairs, being elected county commissioner in 1861 and serving a term of three years from January, 1862. His last years were spent in retire- ment, and he reached a great age, his death occurring May 26, 1892, when he was ninety- four years, three months, seven days old. He and his wife had a married life of sixty-nine years, her death taking place May 26, 1891, when she was ninety years old. They are buried in the Union cemetery in Brady town- ship. They were members of the Lutheran Church, and he was a Democrat in political opinion. To this couple were born nine chil- dren, of whom we have the following record : Frederick was drowned in Sandy Lick, near Reynoldsville, in 1850, at the age of twenty- eight years; Catherine married Amos Bon-

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sall, a farmer at the old Kuntz homestead in Brady township, Clearfield county ; Elizabeth married Henry Grube, a farmer of Bell town- ship, Jefferson county ; Sarah married Daniel Rishel, a farmer, of Troutville ; Lewis died in infancy; Jacob is mentioned below; Susanna became the wife of Rev. A. Charles Limberg, a Reformed minister, at one time stationed at Butler, Pa .; Caroline married George Weber, of Troutville; Samuel G., of Trout- ville, justice of the peace, married Elizabeth Weaver.

Jacob Kuntz was born Oct. 15, 1835, in Brady township, Clearfield county, where he was reared amid rural surroundings. He had ordinary school advantages, but unusual facili- ties for becoming familiar with the practical business of life, being trained to farm work from his earliest years and also assisting his father in his various other enterprises. When he was thirteen years old his father began to build the mill. and for the next two years he was engaged in hauling materials, driving a yoke of oxen. After its completion he was employed there for four years, 1850-55, and when it was disposed of he began working for other people. For a time he was in the lumber woods, chopping and cutting clearings and taking out square timbers, and then for four years was engaged in teaming. until his marriage, when he settled down to farming in Brady township, having purchased fifty acres, for which he paid six hundred dollars. In 1862 he had the misfortune to be burned out there, and on Aug. 7th of that year he sold the title to that property for two hundred dollars, moving to MeCalmont township, Jef- ferson county, where he bought 104 acres. It was there he established his home. developing one of the finest properties in that section of the county by his thrift and industry. Only three acres of the place were cleared when he moved there, but he paid twelve hundred dollars for the tract, borrowing the money for the first payment of four hundred dollars and paying six per cent interest. On Oct. Ist he paid one hundred dollars, and he managed to meet his other payments by cutting timber from his land, having three hundred and fifty dollars in June, 1863, and the same amount a year later. So he went on, slowly but surely, until he was not only clear of debt but adding to his holdings and increasing their value. becoming the owner of two fine farms, both of which he rented later, when he devoted his time to the lumber trade. Moreover, he gave considerable time to the public service, in which he was so popular that he held all the

township offices except that of overseer of the poor. When he first took office he held three positions, serving as constable, collector and assessor at the same time. For six years he was auditor, three terms supervisor, and three times elected justice of the peace, his first term in that office beginning in 1869. When reelected, in 1874, he declined to serve, but he was again chosen in 1875, and held the office four years and eleven months. It was always a case of the office seeking the man, for he accepted publie responsibilities as a duty and honor, and not for his personal ad- vancement. Politically he was associated with the Democratic party, and for many years he was a member of the Lutheran Church, hold- ing the office of elder for twelve years, at different times. He died Feb. 16, 1909. in McCalmont township, and is buried in the Grube Church cemetery.

On Jan. 1, 1861, Mr. Kuntz was married to Susannah Grube, daughter of John and Bar- bara (Hoy) Grube, who settled in Young (now Bell) township in the year 1839, moving thither from Center county, Pa. Four chil- dren were born to this marriage: Amos, who married Maria Phillipi, is living at Rochester Mills, Indiana Co., Pa. ; Barbara married Sam- uel S. Hauck, of Brookville, Pa. ; Sarah Cath- erine died in infancy ; William J. completes the family.

William J. Kuntz was born June 21, 1866, in McCalmont township, where his father had one of the most valuable farms in the local- ity, finely improved and well stocked. Thus he was reared under the most attractive cir- cumstances possible among well-to-do farm- ers, and he has followed farming from boyhood according to the most advanced ideas in vogue keeping up with the times in every depart- ment of agriculture. He attended public school in his native township and helped his father until the latter turned the management of the farm over to him. In 1906 he purchased his present property at Brookville, the old Judge John J. Y. Thompson farm, comprising ninety-eight acres, of which twenty are within the borough limits, the rest included in Rose township. Mr. Kuntz purchased the place from C. K. Vasbinder, and he has made his home there since. It is ideally located, and all of its good points have been brought out by well judged care in improving and develop- ing, with such excellent results that it is considered one of the show spots of the borough and vicinity, enhancing the value and beauty of the entire neighborhood. Mr. Kuntz has given much time and pains to achieve such

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admirable conditions, but he also has other interests, chief of which is the Sykesville Clay Product Company, of Sykesville, Jefferson county, where the company has a thriving brick manufacturing plant.

Mr. Kuntz married Margaret Watkins, daughter of James Watkins, of Altoona, Pa .. and they have had the following family : Zelda, now the wife of Thomas Enterlinc, living in Oliver township, this county; Vida, wife of Norman Pifer, a farmer of Oliver township, residing on her father's farm, which is tinderlaid with coal and is an excellent gas producing field, having one of the most profitable wells in the vicinity ; Elva, who is a milliner ; Jacob Ellis, who graduated from the local high school in 1915 and is now at home ; Martha : James Walter ; and Wilbur Roy. Mr. Kuntz is a Lutheran in religious connection.

JAMES HOMER WILLIAMS is an old- established merchant at Cloe, also operating a coal bank in the vicinity, where by a long course of honorable dealing he is accorded high standing. His parents were among the most highly esteemed residents of the town- ship, where his grandfather. James John Williams, made his primitive home in the wilderness more than eighty years ago and where he himself has lived since boyhood.

James John Williams, who was of Welsh extraction, married Annis Mahew, and they made their home in Coshocton county, Ohio, where she died in 1821, leaving three children : James J. is mentioned below. Reuben, born in Ohio, married a Miss McGregor, of Perrys- ville, Pa .. where he followed his trade of cabi- netmaker until his death. being survived by his wife and two daughters, Mary A. (Mrs. Daniel McGee, of Bell township) and Lucinda. Mary, born in Ohio, married John Frampton. a merchant at Punxsutawney until his death ; his widow married a Mr. Pounds, of Marion, Indiana county, who died leaving two sons, Clover and William. In 1826 James John Wil- liams removed from Ohio to near Freeport, Pa., and there followed millwrighting until he came to Punxsutawney, where he was en- gaged as a cabinetmaker for three years, when he settled in the vicinity of Cloe, having pur- chased one hundred acres of timberland, in- cluding most of the land where Cloe is situated now. Eight years later he sold to his son James, and erected a gristmill at Perrysville which he operated for some time. He spent his last years in retirement, with his sons.

James J. Williams was born in April, 1815. in Coshocton county, Ohio, as a lad of eleven

years accompanying his father to western Pennsylvania. When he married he settled upon the farm which he bought from his father, remaining there about eight years, when he sold and bought sixty acres in Gas- kill township from William MacElheny. One year later he disposed of this and bought 108 acres in Bell township, at the mouth of Canoe creek, where he made his home for about a quarter of a century, clearing and fencing about sixty acres and placing it under excel- lent cultivation. besides making other improve- ments in the way of buildings, including a good house and barn. He also did considerable lumbering, and rafted square timber down Mahoning creek to the Allegheny and Pitts- burgh. Building a sawmill, he sawed lumber for a number of years. Meantime he bought some 460 acres of timberland on Big run and Jackson run, as also seventy-six acres in Gas- kill township. In 1866 Mr. Williams sold and removed to Indiana county, buying a 150-acre farm near Marion Center, upon which he erected a modern residence, and there for six- teen years was profitably engaged in farming. In later years he returned to Cloe, where he lived to the age of eighty-four years. He is bttried in Oaklawn cemetery.

Mr. Williams was a man of unuistial char- acter and sterling qualities. Though his early advantages were limited he profited so well by practical training and experience that he be- came well informed and acquired an excellent knowledge of business principles and prac- tices. Ever a hard worker, he retained good health and spirits into old age, neither hard- ships nor disappointments undermining the buoyancy of an admirable disposition. He.was a faithful and regular member of the Metho- (list Episcopal Church, generous in its support, and liberal in the furtherance of all beneficial purposes. He served as township collector and school director. He was originally an Old- line Whig, later becoming a Republican.

In 1832 Mr. Williams married Betsy Bow- ers, daughter of John and Sophie Bowers, pio- neers of Gaskill township, and she died while they were on the mill property, leaving two sons, Reuben and Comphard. The former was born at his parents' first home in Bell township; he owned and operated fifty acres of good farming land as well as a steam saw- and gristmill. To his marriage with Eliza- beth Daugherty. of Bell township, were born three children, namely: Elmer married a Miss Grinder and had four children, the family still living near his father's homestead; Joseph, who married a Miss Smyres, settled in Bell

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township : Flora married Edward Grander, of Bell township. Comphard Williams married Mary Brown, and settled on a part of his father's old homestead at Cloe, rearing a large family.

For his second wife Mr. Williams married Elizabeth Fillmore, of Indiana county, who died there. She was the mother of eight chil- dren, five of whom are deceased, Martha, Louisa, Eva, one that died in infancy, and Alice. John settled at Elderton, Armstrong county : Jeffrey is a large farmer in the State of Washington; Homer completes the fam- ily. His third wife was Nancy (Cochran), of Indiana county, who died at Indiana in 1894.

Homer Williams was born Oct. 21, 1870, at Marion Center, Indiana county, and had the advantages afforded by the common schools, as well as a careful business training under the competent guidance of his father. He had ample opportunity to become familiar with agriculture as well as lumbering and saw- milling, the experience thus gained proving valuable since. In 1894 he purchased a gen-

eral store at Cloe, to which he has continued to devote his attention, operating also a coal bank in the vicinity and selling the output to the local trade. His home is on part of his father's old mill property. Mr. Williams is endowed with many substantial. qualities, which have won him sure place in the esteem of all.

In 1891 he married Elizabeth Clawson, then twenty years old. daughter of Jonathan and Mary (McQuown) Clawson, of Bell town- ship, and they have one son, Loyal, who was born Aug. 26. 1893, and attended the Brown school, assisting his father in the meantime. He was employed on structural iron work tintil he entered the service of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad Company as brakeman. He married Lola Shields, and lives at Cloe. The family are Presbyterians in re- ligious connection.

Jonathan Clawson was born in Indiana county, and when a young man married Mary McQuown, soon after moving to Bell town- ship, to a farm near Punxsutawney. Later he moved into that borough. He was sixty- six years old at the time of his death in 1906. His widow died three years later. They had a family of eight children who reached maturity.

HON. JAMES GEORGE MITCHELL, of Hamilton, Jefferson county, has been one of the live residents of that sec- tion, where the name has earned re- spect in many honorable associations. His

father served a term as sheriff of the county during the fifties, and he himself has carried the banner of the Republican party in many campaigns here, a younger representa- tive of the family, Lex N. Mitchell, being now very actively identified with the advancement of its interests in this part of Pennsylvania. Mr. Mitchell has always made his home at Hamilton (Perrysville). He was born there Jan. 15, 1847, son of Thomas Sharp Mitchell, whose settlement in Jefferson county takes tfs back to the early days. The father was born at Elderton, Armstrong Co., Pa., and came to Jefferson county when a boy. For some time he was employed with Thomas Pain in Perry township, and later established a store at Ham- ilton, where he located in pioneer days. contin- uing to operate it for several years. In 1854 he was elected sheriff of Jefferson county, and served one term of three years. Mr. Mitchell married Sarah Blose, daughter of George Blose, Sr., and both are buried at the Perry Church in Perry township. Mr. Mitchell died at Hamilton Aug. 27, 1883. They were the parents of a large family: A. R., who was killed while serving in the Civil war: Nancy E .: Ann : Thomas S .; Alex. H., who served in the Civil war as captain of Company A, 105th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and received a medal of honor voted him by Congress; Rebecca A .; Martha J. ; James George ; Laura M. ; Malinda C .. and Alice M.

James George Mitchell went to the common schools in his early boyhood, and when he started work. was put to learn the trade of plasterer, at which he was employed for twelve years in all. Meantime, in 1861, though only a boy he succeeded in having his services ac- cepted in the Union army, joining Company A, 105tlı Pennsylvania Volunteers, as a drummer boy. He served creditably throughout the conflict, after which he resumed work at his trade. But he was ambitious, and several years later he courageously engaged in mer- chandising on his own account, having a gen- eral store at Hamilton which he carried on for a period of thirty years, until his retirement from the business in 1909. At that time he sold out to Cook Brothers, the present pro- prietors of the establishment, which he had developed until it was one of the largest and best patronized in this part of the State. He now employs his time looking after his other interests, including the old Mitchell homestead of two hundred acres at Hamilton, which he owns. Possessed of an energetic tempera- ment and vigorous mental qualities, it was but natural that Mr. Mitchell should become a

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leader in the affairs of general interest to his locality. From early manhood he devoted himself to promoting the welfare of the Re- publican party, and, in turn, has been chosen frequently for party honors. His first impor- tant office was that of county auditor, to which he was elected in 1872. In 1892 he received the nomination for assemblyman from this dis- trict. but was defeated, though he ran ahead of his ticket. The same year, however, he was nominated and elected to represent his dis- trict, Indiana and Jefferson counties, in the State Senate. and upon the completion of his first term of four years was renominated with- out opposition and elected by 580 more votes than Mckinley received in the district. In 1908 he was chosen for the lower house of the State Legislature.

Mr. Mitchell's versatility has been surpris- ing indeed. He has not confined either his interest or his activities to any one line, yet he has done well in every field into which his labors have called him. His success as a mer- chant, in the management of his financial affairs, may be attributed as much to his oblig- ing disposition and reliability of character as to his business qualities. His political tri- umphs are admitted to be the result of a nat- ural fitness for leadership, demonstrated in many trials both in achievements for the suc- cess of his party and in statesmanship as an assemblyman and senator. Untiring energy, perseverance in the face of all obstacles, and unflagging zeal, have marked his course in every campaign which he has undertaken to assist. In his campaigns he has placed the interest of his party before all other consid- erations, a course which has at times brought him into conflict with men not so inclined, nevertheless he possesses a host of friends and but few enemies, and not even the most pro- nounced of the latter would aver that he has ever been known to perform a dishonorable act throughout his highly creditable business and political career. In fact, friends and oppo- nents alike are agreed as to his personal quali- ties, a point of unusual significance in the case of a man so decided and uncompromising in politics.

For several years Mr. Mitchell was post- master at Hamilton, was removed from the office by President Cleveland, and was reap- pointed by President Harrison. At one time he took an active part in the affairs of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, and for ten years was a captain in its ranks. Socially he belongs to the I. O. O. F. lodge at Hamilton,

Pa., and to the B. P. O. Elks lodge at Punx- sutawney.

In 1868 Mr. Mitchell was married to Caro- line Neel, daughter of James C. and Cather- ine (Hadden) Neel, and of the two children born to them David Barkley died when six years old; Mabel C. married B. F. McCart- ney, a coal operator, of Altoona, Pa., and they have three children, James G. M., John C. and Margaret Pauline. Mrs. Mitchell is a mem- ber of the Methodist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have a fine home at Hamilton, where they are most popular.

HUGH BRADY CRAIG, of Brookville, is engaged as a furniture dealer and undertaker, carrying on one of the oldest established houses in the borough, where his father began business about eighty years ago. As cabinet- makers father and son have been among the most reliable craftsmen in or around Brook- ville, where their work has a reputation for high quality which accounts for their con- tinued prosperity.

Samuel Craig, the grandfather of Hugh Brady Craig, was for many years a resident of Marion Center, Indiana county, this State, and became one of the pioneer settlers at Brookville, Jefferson county, where he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives. They are interred in the Brookville cemetery. We have record of two of their sons, Samuel and Andrew, both of whom settled at Brook- ville in the thirties. Samuel removing to that place in 1831.

Andrew Craig, father of Hugh Brady Craig, came to Brookville in the year 1836 and en- tered the shop of his brother, who was then engaged in the manufacture of chairs, and with whom he learned the trade of cabinet- maker. The brothers were associated for a number of years in this line, until Andrew Craig became sole owner in 1859, purchasing his brother's interest. He erected a new building for the accommodation of the butsi- ness, and soon formed a partnership with E. H. Wilson, the name of the firm becoming Craig & Co., under which style the establish- ment was continued up to the time of his death, in July, 1901. Mr. Craig was a man of active personality and took a live interest in all that went on about him in the com- munity. He was a charter member of the Brookville lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 217, was one of the first officers of that organization, and continued to take an active part in its work, being one of its influential supporters. He married Eliza-

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beth Brady, daughter of Col. Hugh Brady, and she survived him a number of years, dying in 1905 at the age of eighty. The following children were born to them: Frances died young : Hugh Brady is next in the order of birth ; Sarah married Victor Hains ; Alice mar- ried Jackson Peters, and they live at DuBois, Pa. ; Laura married Joseph Smith, of Oil City, Pa .; one son is living at DuBois.

Hugh Brady Craig was born July 18, 1851, at Brookville, where he had his youthful training. receiving his education in the public schools and learning the trade of cabinet- maker. Ile followed that line of occupation steadily until 1884, in which year he became engaged in the lumber business in Elk county, this State, being so occupied until 1891. Re- turning to Brookville, he joined his father in the furniture and undertaking business, which he himself has continued since his father's death, changing the name to H. B. Craig, under which style it is still operated. Mr. Craig has an unblemished reputation for honor in all his transactions, and his ability and appli- cation have had their deserved reward in a patronage from a wide radius around Brook- ville as well as a large share of the borough trade. He is a representative member of a family whose position in Brookville has been among her most highly esteemed residents. Like his father, he is an Odd Fellow in social connection.

Mr. Craig was united in marriage with Kate Bernett, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca ( Matson) Bernett. They have had two chil- dren, both of whom are settled in Brookville : Benjamin Carlisle, proprietor of the Craig Drug Company of Brookville, married Thiona Smith: Edna is the wife of H. G. Means, member of the leading mercantile house in Brookville. The family are Presbyterians in religious association.

SCOTT W. CARRIER. The founders of the Carrier family in Jefferson county were Thomas Carrier and his wife, whose family name was Dickinson. They were married in Connecticut, and after residing for a time in New York, came to Pennsylvania, first settling near Freeport, Armstrong county. Later they came to Jefferson county, and were pioneers in Beaver township, their old homestead being now owned and occupied by Hulitt Smith, three miles south of Summerville. This fam- ily are all deceased, the father having suc- cumbed to typhoid fever when he was fifty-six years of age, the widowed mother attaining the remarkably venerable age of ninety-six years.

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 55

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