Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 117

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036

USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Altoona > Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 117

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of the above mentioned children, died De- cember 31, 1910, and Mr. Peter Crider is now living in retirement at Pinecroft.

Henry C. Crider was about nine years of age when his parents moved to Elizabeth Furnace, and with the exception of twelve years spent in Altoona, he has always re- sided here. He carried on general farming until 1892, when he was appointed postmas- ter at Sabbath Rest, the post office for which place was for years known as Elizabeth Furnace, but is now known as Pinecroft. About the time of his appointment as post- master, Mr. Crider opened a general store, and for the past three years he has also been operating a planing-mill and a cider mill.

Mr. Crider was married October 25, 1881, to Margaret Woomer, who was born and reared at Elizabeth Furnace, and is a daugh- ter of James and Mary (Oswalt) Woomer, both of whom were reared in Blair County. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Crider: Mary, who died when but a few days old; Grace, who is the wife of Howard McKnight and the mother of four children-William, Anna, Isabel and Clara Bell; Ruth, who married Wilbur Peters, of Elizabeth Furnace, and has one child-May; Clara Belle, who died at the age of five years; Alma and Mila, who were twins; Peter, who died at the age of about one year; Harry, who resides at home; Ed- ward, who died at the age of two years; and Margaret Leora. In politics Mr. Crider is identified with the Republican party and has served as auditor of the township for two years. His religious connection is with the Lutheran church.

CHARLES H. MANLOVE,* who has been a resident of Altoona, Pa., for the past 26 years, is superintendent of the Census Department of this city and also carries on a general street contracting business. He was born in 1862, in Philadelphia, Pa., and there reared and educated. Early in life he worked in the mills, but later became a pro-

fessional ball player and followed that pro- fession for three years. He then spent 23 years working in the shops of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad at Altoona, after which he engaged in the cigar and tobacco business for some time. Mr. Manlove is identified with the Republican party and has always taken an active interest in political affairs, having served as county and city chairman of the Republican party.

Mr. Manlove was married October 16, 1884, to Minnie Moore of Altoona, and of their union were born the following chil- dren : Peter, who lives in California; Charles H., who is studying medicine at the University of Valparaiso; Florence, the wife of E. C. Meinhart of Altoona; Bertha; Thomas R. and Marion. Mr. Manlove is fraternally a member of the K. of P., the Eagles, and the Moose.

EDWARD BELL DYSART, proprietor of a general store at Tipton, Pa., is also ex- tensively engaged in dairying, and has al- ways resided on the old home place, which is located in Antis Township, about a quar- ter of a mile from Tipton, and is the owner of two farms adjoining the home place; also owner of Tipton and surrounding farms. He was born February 17, 1844, in Antis Township, Blair County, Pa., and is a son of William Patterson and Elizabeth (Bell) Dysart.

Alexander Dysart, grandfather of our subject, was a native of Ireland, his old an- cestral home being at Karnamady, near Londonderry. In the neighborhood of 1780 he came to America. He was one of the early settlers of Sinking Valley, Tyrone Township, Blair County, Pa., and traded there some time with the Indians. He be- came the owner of several farms in Sink- ing Valley, and served three terms in the Legislature from Huntingdon County, which is now known as Blair County. He died in 1850. He married Eleanor Patter- son, a daughter of Col. John Patterson, who fought in the War of the Revolution, and

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was killed in battle near Philadelphia. Her mother was a Dysart, and after the death of Col. Patterson, her mother married a Dysart, who was a brother of Alexander Dysart, grandfather of our subject. The Pattersons settled and farmed in the region east of Huntingdon, along the river, where some of their descendents still .live.

William Patterson Dysart, father of Ed- ward Bell, was born and reared in Sinking Valley, Tyrone Township, Blair County, Pa., and in early manhood clerked around in the iron works. He finally built an iron works where Fred Bland now resides in about 1826, and in about 1832, after selling the iron works to Mr. McCamant, moved to the farm which our subject now owns. He built a home and otherwise improved the farm, which his father had owned, and also became the owner of several other tracts of land. He conducted a store on the home place and in 1850 built a store at Tipton, and operated this continuously until his death in 1870. He was buried in private burying grounds on the home place. He was a member of the Baptist church, of which he was a deacon for many years, and was politically a Whig, and later a Repub- lican. William P. Dysart married Elizabeth Bell, a daughter of Edward Bell, and a rep- resentative of one of the prominent old fam- ilies of this vicinity. Of their union were born ten children: Anna Mary, deceased wife of Fleming Holliday, was a resident of Philadelphia at the time of her death ; Ellen, married Asbury Stewart, and was residing with our subject at the time of her death ; Alexander, deceased, was a resident of An- tis Township; Sarah, who died in 1909, in Antis Township, was an army nurse during the Civil War; Eliza Bell, is the wife of Dewitt C. Taylor of Tyrone; Margaret, lives with her brother, subject of this rec- ord; Edward Bell, subject; Florence, who lives with a sister in Tyrone, Pa., was a home missionary for many years; Cather- ine, married Franklin W. Stewart of Hunt- ingdon, Pa .; and William Patterson, Jr., de-

ceased, was for many years employed by the railroad. He was employed in the offices at Philadelphia when stricken with his fatal illness, but died on the home place near Tip- ton.

Edward Bell Dysart has always lived on the home farm, and since boyhood has worked in the store, which he now owns. His education was obtained in the local schools of the township and at Pennsylvania State College, where he spent two and a half years. Mr. Dysart manages the work on the home place, which now consists of about 1,000 acres, and also owns and man- ages two adjoining farms. He for many years made a specialty of raising short horn cattle, but is now extensively engaged in dairying, in connection with general farm- ing. Mr. Dysart also has property inter- ests in Altoona, and is a stockholder in the First National Bank at Tyrone, Pa. He is a citizen of enterprise and public spirit, and is recognized as one of the substantial and influential farmers of the township. A few years ago Mr. Dysart visited his grand- father's ancestral home near Londonderry, Ireland, the old place having recently changed hands, and he also visited Italy and France.

HON. JOHN K. RAY, formerly bur- gess of Tyrone, Pa., and a representative business man of the place, is superintend- ent of the North Star Tannery of the Elk Tanning Company, a large commercial en- terprise of Tyrone. He was born at Phil- adelphia, Pa., September 28, 1853, and is a son of Daniel P. and Anna (Keim) Ray.

Daniel P. Ray was born in New Hamp- shire and when he was fifteen years of age accompanied his parents to Penna. He became a manufacturer of belts and in 1865 came to Altoona and conducted the tannery that then was located on Ninth Street, near Fairview Cemetery. When the lease expired he did not renew it and on May 15, 1871, discontinued his manufac- turing business. He broke the ground for

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the erection of what is known as the Bald Eagle Tannery at Tyrone, in 1870. On Thanksgiving Day, in the following year, he located at Tyrone and conducted the above tannery until the time of his death, March 24, 1881. He married Anna Keim, who lived to the age of seventy-two years. They had two sons and two daughters: John K .; Daniel P .; Catherine E., who is the widow of J. William Howe, of Tyrone, Pa., now residing in Erie, Pa .; and Emily K., who is the widow of Charles W. Gray, residing at Ocean Park, Cal.

John K. Ray is a graduate of the Phil- adelphia public schools. He came to Ty- rone with his parents and has resided here since 1871. After his father's death, in as- sociation with his brother, Daniel P., and the late J. William Howe, his brother-in- law, he conducted the Bald Eagle Tannery until May 1, 1893, when it was merged with the U. S. Leather Company. Daniel P. Ray one year later removed to Olean, N. Y., where he has charge of a tannery. When running on full time the tannery with which Mr. Ray of Tyrone is identified, about fifty men are given employment, the product being sole leather. Mr. Ray is a thoroughly competent man in this line of business with which he has been identified since boyhood.

In politics Mr. Ray is a Democrat and he has been a very active and useful citizen. This fact has been recognized and he has frequently been urged to accept public of- fice and served four years as a member of the city council and also as burgess. He owns valuable property and has a beautiful brick residence at No. 814 Washington Av- enue, where he and family have resided since April, 1886.

Mr. Ray was married September 1, 1876, to Miss Maria Cadwallader, a daughter of Horatio P. and Mary (McClaskey) Cad- wallader, of Potter's Mill, Center County, Pa. They have had the following children : John Waldron, deceased; Daniel P .; Horatio C .; Emily, deceased; and Anna.

Daniel P. Ray, who is a practicing physi- cian at Johnstown, Pa., is a graduate of Dickenson College, at Carlisle, and of the Johns Hopkins Medical College, of Balti- more, locating at Johnstown August I, 1908. He was married May 5, 1909, to Miss Mary McQuown, who died January 28, 1910. She was a daughter of Hon. M. L. McQuown, a member of the State Sen- ate from Clearfield County. Horatio C. Ray is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State College. He is a mining engineer and spent four years in work in his profes- sion in the far West and in Mexico. On September 1, 1910, he was appointed pro- fessor of metallurgy in the University of Pittsburg, Pa. For many years Mr. Ray has been prominent in Masonry and his membership is as follows: Tyrone Lodge, No. 494, F. & A. M .; Mountain Chapter, No. 189, R. A. M., Altoona; Mountain Council, R. S. M .; Mountain Commandery, No. 10, K. T., Altoona; Harrisburg Con- sistory and Scottish Rite at Harrisburg; Lulu Temple, Philadelphia, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and the Masonic Veterans. He attends many important conclaves and enjoys the honors and hospitalities very generally accorded this ancient fraternity. He is identified also with Lodge No. 212, Tyrone, B. P. O. E.

JOSEPH WALKER PARKS, proprietor of the Wopsy Poultry Yards, located two and a half miles northwest of Altoona on the Altoona and Beech Creek Railroad is a man young in years but of more than na- tional reputation as a poultryman. Al- though he has won numerous firsts with show birds at many of the best shows, it is in commercial qualities he has excelled. "Parks' 200 Egg-Strain, bred-to-lay, Barred Plymouth-Rocks," have attracted the wid- est attention and he has made shipments of eggs to all parts of this country, Hawaii and Mexico. He also has shipped chickens to all parts of the world, to Spain, England, Australia, Porto Rico and Cuba, Panama,

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Alaska. The Wopsy Poultry Yards have furnished chickens for the Pennsylvania State College, the Arkansas State College, Iowa State College, and also the Govern- ment Indian Reservation in Oklahoma. Mr. Parks has made a study of the business from every standpoint, and the success with which he has met where others have failed, shows the reward of intelligent and well merited effort.

Joseph Walker Parks was born in Kaiser, W. Va., May 30, 1881, and is a son of Joseph R. and Alice Carolina (Ross) Parks. His mother died July 17, 1904, and was buried at Maurers Cemetery. His father resides with him, and is assessor of Logan Township, a position he has filled for a number of years.

Joseph W. Parks was one year old when his parents moved to Altoona, Pa., and here he was reared and educated, attend- ing the public schools and the Altoona Business College. He had a fancy for pet stock from the first of his recollections and when quite a small tot had a very nice se- lection of bunnies, and his first start in chickens was of a pair that he traded two rabbits for. Then his next venture was to pay $I for three hens; the chickens were immediately named and he has and prizes very highly the old record book that he kept of the work of the biddies, each one having its name-one Bess, Gray, Nellie, and Blacky-and while there were no rap nests at that time, Mr. Parks knew each hen's eggs, and kept a close record of same, and his old books show that Gray laid 20 eggs without missing a day. Mr. Parks living in town and only having a small lot, worked at several different jobs, but the hen fever enthusiasm carried him over seemingly insurmountable obstacles, showing that he had struck the proper channel.

Mr. Parks was three months in the em- ploy of Howard Cox, whom he in after years bought out. May 1, 1899, with less than five dollars in his pocket, he started west on a bicycle with a view of obtaining

a job on a poultry farm. He went to the farm of Mr. Keeler at Winnemac, Indiana, and although his means were practically ex- hausted, he would not accept the offer made to him. He immediately started for Hope, Indiana, sleeping out in the open en route, and upon his arrival entered the employ of Sidney Conger, after riding 23 days. He remained six months, and then for five months was with Judge B. N. Pierce of Indianapolis, preparing the latter's birds for the various shows, including the Chicago and Indianapolis Shows. Returning to Al- toona he persuaded his parents to move to the farm on which he now lives. He re- mained home five or six months, then re- turned to Judge Pierce at Indianapolis. In the spring he again came home and started his poultry farm on a scientific basis, in ad- dition to his stock, having purchased the chickens and equipment from his former employer, Mr. Cox. Being short of means, he worked nights in the railroad shops, at- tending to his chickens during the day.

In 1903 Mr. Parks left the business in charge of his father and again went to Hope, Indiana, where he prepared the chickens of U. R. Fishell, the largest specialty breeder in the world, for the World's Fair at St. Louis. He had charge of the car with all the poultry from that section of Indiana, and upon his arrival at St. Louis was made assistant superintendent at the World's Fair. Of five events in competition with the world, some 700 White Rocks being en- tered, Fishell captured three firsts with birds prepared by Mr. Parks. After the close of the fair he returned to his home and with renewed energy turned his atten- tion to the development of his own farm. It was his aim to raise chickens with good commercial points rather than show birds, and he labored incessantly to improve the strain of his Barred Plymouth Rocks, im- proving his place with all that was modern and most approved for the care of his stock. The results were of the best and prize after prize has fallen to his flock. Prof. Graham

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of the Ontario Agriculture College pro- nounced his the best for commercial pur- poses he had seen. He has selected pens, containing chickens only with records of 200 eggs or better a year. Some have bet- ter records and one has a record of 255 eggs in 365 consecutive days. There is a con- stant demand for eggs and chickens, and the letters received from purchasers are such that Mr. Parks may well look with pride upon what he has accomplished. He has now in course of construction an incu- bator and brooder house, 25 by 110 feet, with one 20,000 capacity incubator, and one 3,500 chick capacity brooder. Heat is supplied with two automatic hard coal stoves. Mr. Parks is also inventor and pat- entee of a device for breaking up broody hens, that has been a boon to the poultry business and is proving a profitable invest- ment for the time spent in working out same. He gives much of the credit for his success to his father, who also had an inter- est in the business until the fall of 1909, when our subject bought his father's inter- est.

On February 6, 1908, Mr. Parks was mar- ried to Viola Eleanor Moore, who was born in Logan Township, and is a daughter of Calvin B. Moore. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Parks: Joseph Calvin, and Robert Richard. Mr. Parks is politically a Republican, although inclined to be independent, and has served two years as township clerk. He is a member of the P. O. S. of A., the Grangers and the Amer- ican Poultry Association.

SAMUEL B. HARE, who, through the pos- session of a logical mind, force of character and natural forensic ability, combined with both theoretical and practical knowledge of the law, has become a leading member of the bar of Blair County, belongs to one of the prominent families of this county. He was born at Al- toona, Pa., December 16, 1873, and is a son of William M. and Harriet (Lafferty) Hare.

William M. Hare, who was one of Altoona's

prominent and representative business men, was born October 12, 1842, in Mifflin County, Pa., and died October 16, 1910, and was a son of William and Matilda (Goodman) Hare. Will- iam Hare was also born in Mifflin County, later became a business man at Mill Creek and there served many years as a justice of the peace. He married Eliza Goodman, of Lan- caster County and they both died in Catherine Township, Blair County, where they had been people of quiet lives but useful and respected. Their large farm came into the possession of their children. William M. Hare remained on the home farm until he was twenty-two years of age and then moved to Altoona and there en- gaged in the meat business until 1889, after which he gave his attention to livestock and realty. The beautiful family residence is situ- ated at No. 909 Chestnut Avenue, Altoona. In 1864 he married Harriet Lafferty, also of Blair County, and they have seven children, five daughters and two sons. Of the latter, Samuel B. is the subject of this record. Harry is en- gaged in farming.

Samuel B. Hare was educated in the public schools and Susquehanna University, and in 1897 became a student of the Dickinson Law School at Carlisle, Pa., where he was gradu- ated in the following year. He was admitted to the bar of Blair County in. January, 1900, and on October 26, 1903, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court, and on April 26, 1905, in the Superior Court. Like older members of his family, Mr. Hare is a strong Republican and he has frequently been elected to public offices and urged warmly for others. For four years he served as borough solicitor of Juniata, is attorney for the board of road supervisors of Logan Township, and in 1904 was a candidate for district attorney, an office his many friends desire him to fill after the election in 1911, being a candidate before the primaries. He has a large and substantial private practice and is also claim agent and ad- juster for the Altoona and Logan Valley Elec- tric Railway Company, under the control of the American Railway Company of Philadelphia.

On September 18, 1906, Mr. Hare was mar-

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ried to Miss Mildred Grace Orner, a daughter of Martin V. Orner, of Altoona, a prominent citizen holding the office of building inspector. Mr. and Mrs. Hare are members of Grace Lutheran Church. They reside at No. 1208 Tenth Street, Mr. Hare's offices being in the Nicholson Building. He is identified frater- nally with the Elks and the Knights of Pythias.

AUGUSTUS ELLSWORTH BACH- ERT, civil and mining engineer, whose technical connections include membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers ; American Institute of Mining Engineers ; Engineers' Society of Pennsylvania ; Amer- ican Electrochemical Society, and who is also a member of the board of examiners of the Eighteenth Bituminous District of Penn- sylvania, is a man of distinction in his pro- fession and since May, 1909, has been a resident of Tyrone, Pa. He was born in Rush Township, Schuylkill County, Pa., not far from Tamaqua, August 14, 1862, and is a son of William M. and Susannah (Messerschmidt) Bachert.

Mr. Bachert, together with many other men of achievement at the present day, realizes the present and constantly increas- ing value of biography and to the lack of this interest in the past, he, with others, has found difficulties in tracing family relation- ships and ancestral data beyond a· certain period. Old family papers have been gath- ered by him and an organization formed for the furthering of genealogical research into the origin of a widely distributed fam- ily bearing the similar names of: Bacher, Bachert, Bauchert, Baucher, and others of near orthography. He has found a mass of facts and evidence leading very far back and while many connecting links are absent, it is his hope that in his lifetime the obscur- ity of the past as to his family beginnings may be cleared. To this end he has con- sulted many authorities and quotations may be made from some of these. In Rupp's "Thirty Thousand Immigrants in Pennsyl-

vania" it is stated: "Francis Daniel Pasto- rius, born at Sommerhausen, in Franconia, Germany, September 26, 1651, arrived at Philadelphia in the ship America, Capt. Jo- seph Wasey, August 20, 1683, with his fam- ily. He was accompanied by a few German emigrants" and among these appears the name of Conrad Bacher, alias Rutter. Again, "October 16, 1727, forty-six Pala- tines with their families, about two hundred persons, imported in the ship Friendship, of Bristol, John Davies, Master, from Rot- terdam, last from Cowes, whence the ship sailed June 20th, had on board Nicholas Bo- gert." "On September 5, 1730, forty-five Palatines with their families, one hundred and thirty persons, imported in the ship Alexander and Ann, William Clymer, Mas- ter, from Rotterdam, last from Cowes, had on board a Rudolph Messerschmidt," the maiden name of the mother of Mr. Bachert being Messerschmidt. Among numerous other references from the same authority, it is found that on September 23, 1732, one Nicholas Bogerdt, was imported in the ship Adventurer. Mr. Bachert deems is prob- able that this Nicholas Bogerdt was the Nicholas Bachert, who, with Solomon and Jacob Bachert, were all taxables at the time of the formation of Berks County, Pa., was his direct ancestor. Other states than Pennsylvania, especially those of North Carolina and Georgia, in which Palatines settled between 1709 and 1710, in the for- mer state and between 1734 and 1741, in the latter, a similarity of names is discov- ered, and in fact, a study is necessary of names which, at first sight, seem dissimilar, must be made in order to secure an authen- tic history. Old documents prove that re- lated branches of the family spelled the name-Bachert, Baucher, Bauchert, Bau- gher, Bougher and Pughard, while present correspondence is being carried on with M. Quentin Bauchard, Member of the Munici- pal Council, Chateau de Villers-le-Sec, Aisne, France, regarding other orthogra- phy and possible connecting family links.

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The name is well known and represented in France as Bauchart and Boucher, the latter being a corruption from the ancient Celtic of Bouchonnier. The tracing of one's an- cestry is a laudable ambition and a fasci- nating study. This is especially so when as in Mr. Bachert's case, no heroic deeds of forebears are required to establish his own prominence or prove his usefulness in his own generation.

William Miller Bachert, father of Augus- tus E. Bachert, was born in Schuylkill County, Pa., in March, 1839. He was a son of William Bachert, a grandson of Nicholas Bachert, and a great-grandson of Nicholas Bacher, who served in the Revolutionary War. William Miller Bachert was a builder and contractor and also was a man- ufacturer of powder and supplied this neces- sity to the Government during the Civil War, after attempting to become a soldier, his application being refused on account of his being below the required size. He was a man of much importance and served two consecutive terms in the General Assembly from 1889 until 1893, being elected on the Democratic ticket. His death occurred in

I903. He married Susannah Messer- schmidt, who survives. Her father, who was born in Berks County, was taken to Schuylkill County in boyhood. His father, Valentine Messerschmidt was with Gen- eral Washington's army at Valley Forge.

To William M. and Susannah Bachert the following children were born: Augus- tus Ellsworth; Mary, who is the wife of J. A. Zehner, a civil engineer, residing at Wilkesbarre, Pa .; William Franklin, who is a carpenter foreman, and resides at Sum- mit Hill, Carbon County, Pa .; Hannah E., who married F. W. Becker, a truck farmer in Schuylkill County; Norman J., who is a builder and contractor, living at Newark, N. J .; Sadie, who married Alexander For- sythe, a resident of New Rochelle, N. Y., who is train dispatcher for the N. Y., N. H. & Hartford R. R .; Hosea, whose death fol- lowed that of his father, a widow and son

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Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 117

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872- Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Number of Pages: 1036

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036