Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 81

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

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who died leaving one child, Edith, whose first husband was Jesse Lowry and who is now the wife of Frank Long, their home being at Brookville.

Joseph T. Spare was reared under the con- ditions and influences of the pioneer era of Jefferson county, made good use of advantages offered by the common schools, and besides gaining ample experience on the home farm he also learned the trade of wheelwright, at which he became a skilled workman. He had not attained his legal majority when the Civil war was precipitated but his loyalty to the Union was signalized by his enlistment in Com- pany B, 206th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infan- try. Though enlisting for one year he did not consent to leave the ranks of the "boys in blue" at the expiration of this term but continued in active service until the close of the war, having participated in numerous engagements and a number of important battles.

After the close of his valiant military career Mr. Spare turned his attention once more to the vocations of peace. For a time he had practical management of his father's business affairs and later engaged in the undertaking business at Stanton, for three years. Within a short time thereafter he established his home at Brookville, and here continued in the same line of business until his death. He proved himself a conscientious, painstaking and pro- gressive business man and won and retained the confidence and good will of all who knew him. His civic loyalty and public spirit were shown in a ready support of measures and enterprises he deemed conducive to the com- munal welfare, and though he never sought office he gave a stalwart allegiance to the Re- publican party. His abiding Christian faith was shown in kindly words and kindly deeds : he was a zealous member of the Methodist Church, as is also his widow, who resides in the attractive home which he provided at Brookville. Mr. Spare passed to the beyond on the 7th of May. 1915, and his remains rest in beautiful Brookville cemetery. He was an appreciative and honored member of E. R. Brady Post, No. 242, Grand Army of the Re- public, through the medium of which he vital- ized the more gracious memories and associa- tions of his service in the Civil war; he was affiliated also with the Odd Fellows.

On the 30'h of January, 1866, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Spare to Susan Shaffer. who was born and reared in Jefferson county and is a daughter of the late Solomon and Elizabeth (Wonderling) Shaffer. Mr. and Mrs. Spare became the parents of five

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children : Lesta is the widow of Richard Hughes and resides in Pittsburgh; Anna May is the wife of Samuel A. Hunter, one of the prominent farmers and representative citizens of Knox township ; Nettie is the wife of Abram G. Snyder, of Reynoldsville ; Miss Mary is now a resident of Pittsburgh; William Henry is agent for the Adams Express Company at Altoona.

SOLOMON SHAFFER, father of Mrs. Spare, passed virtually his entire life in Jeffer- son county, his parents, Isaac and Lena (Geist) Shaffer, having come from Westmore- land county as pioneer settlers in Beaver township, where he procured land and devel- oped a farm and where both passed their lives, their burial place being in Beaver township. Their children were: Solomon, Annie, Lena. Abraham, Isaac, George, John, Rebecca, Sarah and Jacob.

Solomon Shaffer became one of the substan- tial and representative farmers of Beaver township, where he had a well improved and valuable landed estate and where. in earlier years, he gave considerable attention to lumber- ing. He remained on the homestead until his death, in 1905, at the age of eighty-two years, and his devoted wife, who attained the same age, passed to the life eternal in 1907, their remains resting in the Zion Grove cemetery, in the township which long represented their home and in which their circle of friends was limited only by that of their acquaintances. Following is a brief record concerning their children: Maria is the wife of Jacob Schick, of Beaver; Susan is the widow of Joseph T. Spare, and has long been a popular figure in the social activities of Brookville, where hal- lowed memories and associations bring to her a meed of consolation and compensation now that her husband has passed away ; Daniel and Solomon are successful farmers and influential citizens of Beaver township; Elizabeth is the wife of Benjamin Sowers and they reside in Beaver township; Rebecca is the wife of Emanuel Brosius, of Beaver township: Ben- jamin is now a resident of the State of Washı- ington and John also is in the West ; James died in childhood ; Olive was forty years of age at the time of her death (she never married).

S. J. McMANIGLE owns one of the most valuable farms in Rose township, Jefferson county, well cultivated from the agricultural standpoint and underlaid with rich coal de- posits, and is carrying it on profitably. He has resided there for the last forty-three years,

since early manhood. Mr. McManigle is a worthy representative of stock which has been a vigorous factor in the development of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for consider- ably over a century. The family is of Irish extraction, his great-grandparents having been natives of the North of Ireland, whence they came to western Pennsylvania. Mr. McMan- igle's grandparents were born in Westmoreland county, this State.

Robert McManigle, father of S. J. McMan- igle, was born Jan. 18, 1820, in Westmoreland county, and lived to the great age of ninety-two years, one month, twenty-six days, dying March 14, 1912, at Alaska, Pa., where he was then making his home. In 1861 he moved to Rose township, Jefferson Co., Pa., and fol- lowed farming throughout his active years. He had the largest known family in Jefferson county so far as known at that time. On May 23, 1850, he married Margaret Steele, daughter of James and Hannah Steele, and she survived him but a few weeks. They are buried in Zion cemetery in Eldred township. Of the fourteen children born to this union, eight sons and six daughters, eleven survived the parents, namely: S. J .; Mrs. Elizabeth Mumford, of Union, Pa .; H. D., of Brookville ; Mrs. Sarah Moore, of Allens Mills, this county ; A. J., W. H. and Caroline Pierce, of Alaska, Pa .; N. M. of Mayburg, Pa .; Mrs. Margaret White, of Eldred ; Esther Lyle, of Hallton; and Mrs. Mary Fitzgierlds, of Forest county, Pa. James and Robert were twins. At the time of his death Robert McManigle had had eighty-four grandchildren (eleven deceased) and sixty- one great-grandchildren ( nine deceased). Two of his daughters had sixteen children each. He was also survived by one sister, Mrs. Matthew Gayley, of Howe.

S. J. McManigle was born March 30, 1851. in Rose township, Jefferson county, and re- ceived his education in the country schools, enjoying very fair advantages for the times. Practically all his life he has been interested in farming, having come to his present home in Rose township forty-three years ago. It is a fine property, and has developed steadily under his intelligent care and persevering industry, being a credit to the locality as well as a montt- ment to his labors. Twenty-five acres of the place are underlaid with coal veins of good producing capacity. By sagacious manage- ment and good judgment, combined with un- relaxing attention to every detail of his work, Mr. McManigle has become one of the pros- perous agriculturists of his section of Jeffer- son county. He has not been unmindful of

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publie duties, having filled the office of school director (for one term) and supervisor (four years), giving thorough satisfaction to his fel- low citizens. He is a member of the M. E. Church, and takes an interest in its welfare and in the success of all good enterprises hav- ing the general well-being for an object. Poli- tically he supports the Republican party.

On June 18, 1874, Mr. McManigle married Miss Blanche E. Haskell, of Rose township, daughter of Lorenzo Haskell, who was mar- ried twice, Mrs. MeManigle having one half- sister. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. MeManigle, three sons and one daughter, namely: Lorenzo C., born Feb. 26, 1875, now a farmer in Rose township, married Edith Heasley Ang. 9. 1898, and they have had six children, Lorne ( deceased), Jennie, Daisy ( deceased ), Bessie, Ralph and Richard ; Bessie, born Dec. 15, 1877, was married .Aug. 10, 1897. to D. G. Heasley, a dry goods merchant of Brookville. and they have had five children, Elton (deceased), Merle, Paul, and twins, un- named; Harry Meade, born Sept. 9, 1879, a farmer in Rose township, married Edna White June 18. 1907. and they have had two children, Belva and Madyline, the latter deceased ; Wayd S., born May 11, 1897, is farming with his father and intends to continue in agricul- tural work.

EZEKIEL DIXON. In Polk township, ten miles northeast of Brookville and three miles from Richardsville, is situated the well improved landed estate of Ezekiel and George WV. Dixon. These two brothers are associated in their operations as representative farmers. and prominent and popular descendants of a pioneer family. Ezekiel Dixon, who is unmarried, resides with his brother and family, and theirs is an attractive rural home. Ezekiel Dixon was a soldier in the Civil war, and has been equally patriotic in all the duties of citi- zenship. He was born on a pioneer farm in Rose township, three miles south of Brook- ville, April 20, 1842, son of John and Lydia ( Adams) Dixon.

John Dixon, Sr., his paternal grandfather, a native of Ireland, was one of the earliest set- tlers of Jefferson county, where he established his home in the first decade of the nineteenth century. He first settled in what is now War- saw township, and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Armstrong, was a member of the old and influential Armstrong family that played so prominent a part in the initial stages of civic and material development and progress in this county. Mr. Dixon was closely con

cerned with the lumbering operations of the pioneer days and also carried forward the de- velopment of a farm, he and his wife passing the remainder of their lives in this county, on the roll of whose honored pioneers their names merit enduring place.

John Dixon, Jr., was born in Warsaw town- ship Nov. 20, 1807, and was the oldest native son of Jefferson county at the time of his death, which occurred Feb. 6, 1904, about nine months prior to the ninety-seventh anniversary of his birth. His wife, who was born April 20, 1813, passed to the life eternal March 31, 1890. He continued his residence in Warsaw town- ship until 1847, when he became one of the first settlers of Polk township, establishing his home on the farm now owned and occupied by his sons Ezekiel and George W. . At the time there was naught but the virgin forest between this place and the present town of Richards- ville. Two miles northeast Philip Hetrick had made settlement, and two miles further to the northeast the latter's brother Frederick had settled also in the midst of the forest. Soon aferwards John Lucas located one mile to the east of the poineer farm of John Dixon. and the road these sturdy pioneers cut as the first thoroughfare in this part of the township passed the Dixon farm. It was then a farm in name only, as the land was still covered with the native basswood, maple, elm, beech and hemlock timber. Such timber had no market valuation at the time, so he could not look for financial returns when he set himself to the herculean task of felling the timber in order to reclaim his land to cultivation, fully twenty years passing before this timber ac- quired special value. To aid in the support of his family and supplement his income Mr. Dixon found employment in the lumber woods five or ten miles distant during the winter sea- sons, where there was marketable pine timber. Ile contracted for the getting out of logs for Thomas Litch and each successive winter for thirteen years found him engaged in the felling and squaring of logs, which he hauled to the neighboring streams for further transporta- tion in rafts. In 1865 he contracted to get out timber, and after he had prepared the product for skidding a dearth of snow made it impos- sible to haul the logs to the creek, so that he and the men whom he had employed found their work at a standstill. The next winter Dame Nature showed her ironical spirit by de- positing such great drifts of snow as to pre- vent the hauling of the logs, and these adverse conditions in two successive seasons brought a heavy financial loss to Mr. Dixon, as well

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as to those operators with whom he had con- tracted. His energy and good management enabled him to reclaim a considerable part of his farm to cultivation, and in this arduous work he received the effective assistance of his sons. He served twelve or more years as constable of Polk township. Originally a Democrat in politics, he later transferred his allegiance to the Republican party, with which he continued to be aligned during the remain- der of his life. Of his family of thirteen chil- dren six are now living, but Ezekiel and George W. are the only ones who remain in Jefferson county, both residing on the old homestead that was secured by their father nearly seventy years ago.

Ezekiel Dixon had his full share of stren- uous experience in connection with lumbering operations and the reclaiming of the home farm when he was a youth, and he has never aban- doned agricultural work through the medium of which he has gained substantial prosperity. lle and his brother George W. have been long associated in the ownership of the old home place. He was reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer days, and his early education was acquired through a some- what irregular attendance at the common schools. He has been one of the world's pro- ductive workers, and now that he has passed the psalmist's span of threescore years and ten he is enabled to enjoy the rewards of former years of toil and endeavor, to put aside the heavy labors that long engrossed his time, and to pass the evening of life in well earned peace and comfort. Right living and right thinking have given him strong mental and physical powers, and thus he has the vigor of a man many years his junior. He commands the high regard of the people among whom he has lived and labored during the course of a long and useful life. He has always been a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party, but the only public offices in which he has consented to serve are those of constable and supervisor. On Sept. 3. 1864, upon the organi- zation of the 211th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, he enlisted in that command, with which he continued in service until the close of the Civil war a few months later, when he received his honorable discharge. He vi- talizes his interest in the old comrades by maintaining active affiliation with the Grand Army.

GEORGE W. DIXON, who is associated with his brother Ezekiel in the ownership of the old home farm, and who has long been known as one of the substantial and progressive ag-

riculturists of Polk township, was born in Pinecreek township, this county, June 27, 1851, and is indebted to the public schools for his early educational discipline. His entire active career has been one of close and effective asso- ciation with farming, the landed estate owned by him and his brother Ezekiel comprising 353 acres, well improved and under thorough cul- tivation.

On April 3, 1882, George W. Dixon married Margaret Mortimer, who was born in this county Aug. 31, 1866, daughter of John T. and Elizabeth ( Nofsker) Mortimer. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Dixon five are liv- ing, John Grant, Daniel Oliver, Lydia Eliza- beth, Ezekiel Calvin and Philip Ellis. The third child, Harvey Melvin, died at the age of seven years, and the sixth child died in infancy. The venerable mother of Mrs. Dixon lives only a half mile distant from the Dixon home, and is one of the loved pioneer women of the county. She has in her possession the old Ger- man Bible of her parents, the same having been in the possession of the family for more than a century.

MRS. ELIZABETH (NOFSKER) MOR- TIMER, widow of John T. Mortimer, is a veritable "mother in Israel." with seventy grandchildren and forty-five great-grandchil- dren. John T. Mortimer was born March 23, 1823, and died Nov. 25, 1884. His parents were early settlers of Clarion county. In the village of Richardsville the Rev. Dr. Hunt solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mortimer to Mrs. Elizabeth ( Nofsker) Hetrick, widow of Stephen Hetrick. Mrs. Mortimer was born in Center county, Pa., Jan. 30, 1838, and was fourteen years old at the time of her parents' removal to Polk township, Jefferson county, where, at the age of eighteen years, she became the wife of Stephen Hetrick, a native of Clar- ion county, son of Philip Hetrick, who was a well known pioneer of Polk township. After his marriage Stephen Hetrick settled on a part of his father's old homestead, besides becom- ing the owner of the farm in that township on which Mrs. Mortimer still resides. After his widow had contracted a second marriage she and her second husband, John T. Morti- mer, returned to the Hetrick farm, she having inherited also fifty acres of the farm of her father, Emanuel Nofsker. Mr. Mortimer pur- chased an additional part of the Nofsker farm and continued his successful activities as an agriculturist until his death. The old home- stead of Emanuel Nofsker is now owned by Robert Armstrong. The original home of the

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Nofsker family in Polk township was a pio- neer log house, but the same was of somewhat more pretentious order than the usual dwelling of the locality and period, as it was two stories in height. Mr. Nofsker later erected a com- fortable frame house on his farm, and here both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives. Emanuel Nofsker was born April 8, 1808, and his wife, whose maiden name was Sophia Platner, was a member of a sterling old Pennsylvania-Dutch family. She was twenty years old at the time of her mar- riage, in 1831. Of the children born to Emanuel and Sophia Nofsker, John Henry was a resident of Jefferson county at the time of his death, in 1914; Julia Ann became the wife of Henry Schaffner, and both are de- ceased ; Mary Susannah and her husband, Darius Hetrick, are deceased; Elizabeth, widow of John T. Mortimer, was the next in order of birth; Margaret is the wife of Hugh McKillips, of Richardsville; Martin Emanuel is a resident of Warsaw township. On com- ing to Jefferson county Emanuel Nofsker was accompanied by John Platner, who settled on adjoining land and whose old homestead is now owned and occupied by his son Cecil.

The two surviving children of Mrs. Morti- mer's first marriage are : Rosa, wife of Robert Armstrong, a prosperous farmer of Polk town- ship, and Paul, now of Montana. Of the chil- dren of John T. and Elizabeth ( Nofsker) Mortimer brief record is given in conclusion of this review : John is a resident of Colorado ; Margaret, wife of George W. Dixon, was the next in order of birth; Sophia, who became the wife of Frank Ettebuss, was still com- paratively a young woman at the time of her death ; William operates the old home farm and his venerable mother remains with him on the homestead ; Ida is the wife of Wilbur Work, of Sheffield, Warren county; Frank is next in the family: Elizabeth is the wife of John Halburn and they reside on a farm adjoining her mother's old homestead ; Ella is the wife of Jacob Black, of Clarion county ; Lucy is the wife of Emmett Dunhaus.

JAMES HUMPHREY, SR., was one of the "captains of industry" of Jefferson county in the early days, and from the time of his first arrival in the borough of Brookville, in 1838, to the present, he and his posterity have been identified with local business activities as such. His sons and grandsons have important executive relations with several Brookville concerns of distinct value as manufacturing enterprises. As a family, their principal in-

terest is in the Humphrey Brick & Tile Com- pany, and other operations now being con- ducted on the Humphrey properties at Port Barnett, the original holdings at which place were acquired by James Humphrey, Sr. His appraisal of their value so many years ahead of present industrial conditions was one indi- cation of the keenness of foresight very char- acteristic of him. As an institution of modern development the tile business and allied works are representative of the achievements for which the members of this family have been noted. The property itself is one of the most interesting spots in Jefferson county.

Born Oct. 8, 1819, near Huntingdon, Pa., James Humphrey, Sr., was a son of Richard Humphrey, a native of Ireland. The latter was born in 1762 and came to America when a young man. It was during the French war, and the vessel in which he made the voyage was chased by a French privateer. After liv- ing in different localities he located in Hunt- ingdon county, Pa., where he married Mar- garet Wright, who was also a native of Ireland, coming to this country with her par- ents while but a child. She died near Hunt- ingdon in 1841. Mr. Humphrey removed to Jefferson county in 1840, and died at the resi- dence of his son William, near Richardsville, in 1846, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. Richard and Margaret Humphrey were the parents of eight children: William, Thomas, Margaret, Richard, Jane, Matthew, James and John, all now deceased. Margaret married William Darrah and died in Illinois ; William died at his home near Richardsville : Thomas died at Strattonville, and John at Richards- ville : Matthew died near Richardsville ; Richard, near Curwensville, Clearfield county ; Jane, who married Samuel C. Espy, removed to Yankton county, Dakota (now South Da- kota ), where she died.

James Humphrey, the remaining member of the family, in his youthful days learned the milling trade. But though it was the main business of his life he did not follow it alto- gether in his young manhood, later engaging in boating on the Pennsylvania canal, being occupied at the latter business in 1838 between Hollidaysburg, Columbia and Philadelphia. In the winter of that year he came to Jefferson county and worked at his trade of miller with his brother Thomas, who had charge of the gristmill of Robert P. Barr, in Brookville. The next spring he returned to his home in Hunt- ingdon county, and resumed the life of a boatman until winter again set in, when he went to Greenville, Clarion county, there working for his brother Thomas. He came

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back to Brookville in 1840, and worked in the mill of R. P. Barr again until 1844, when he rented the gristmill at Port Barnett, remaining there one year. In 1845 he returned to the Barr mill once more, and continued there as miller until 1848. Meantime, in 1842, he and his brother Thomas had purchased the mill property back of Corsica, where they built the gristmill now owned by J. B. Jones. In 1856 James Humphrey purchased the Port Barnett property of A. P. Heichhold, assignee for Jones & Johnston, and later acquired the Jacob Kroh farm and numerous other proper- ties in that vicinity. In 1876 he associated with him in his business his son Wilbert N., and the firm was then James Humphrey & Son, which firm during its existence, in addi- tion to manufacturing, carried on a large general store at Port Barnett. In 1882 they built a new sawmill at the junction of Mill creek and Sandy Lick, having in connection therewith a shingle, lath and planing mill, which for many years was one of the standard industries of this section. James Humphrey, Sr., died at l'ort Barnett June 3, 1890.

On Feb. 26, 1849, Mr. Humphrey was mar- ried to Mary J. Lamb, of the vicinity of Cor- sica. Five children blessed this union, Wil- bert Newton, Mary Araminta, Annetta, Eva Alma and James Malcolm. Of these, Annetta, a babe of eight months, died at Brookville March 1, 1856, and Mary Araminta died at Port Barnett March 1, 1859, aged six years ; Wilbert N. is married to Katherine Bullers, and Eva to Frank A. Barber, while James Malcolm, the youngest of the family, is mar- ried to Tillie Sentner and resides at Port Bar- nett.

WILBERT NEWTON HUMPHREY was born April 21, 1850, near Corsica, where his father, James Humphrey, Sr., conducted a gristmill, moving thence to Brookville borough when Wilbert was six months old and to Port Bar- nett in 1858. "W. N.," as he is generally known, has been a manufacturer all his life. Ilaving learned gristmilling early, under the very capable tuition of his father, he then be- came familiar with the sawmill business on a water mill, and later operated sawmills in Warsaw township, Jefferson county, and Limestone township, Clarion county, as well as the large sawmill maintained at Port Bar- nett for many years. He has been the leading spirit in the initiation and organization of the steadily multiplying interests which he is now handling in association with his brother and son. At this time, in addition to being the senior partner of the Humphrey Brick & Tile 26

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 81

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