USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > Twentieth century history of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 38
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Mr. and Mrs. Gearhart are members of the M. E. Church in the work of which he has been very active for years.
LUTHER H. WILLIAMS, who has been a lifelong resident of Clearfield County, Pa., has made his home at Osceola Mills since October, 1891. He was born in Bradford
Township, December 16, 1843, and is a son of Edward H. and Elizabeth (Smale) Wil- liams, and a grandson of Edward Williams.
Edward Williams was born in Wales and when he came to the United States, located in Lancaster County but subsequently moved to Bradford Township, Clearfield County, where he lived until his death. He followed farming and was interested some- what in lumbering. The record preserved of this ancestor shows that he was a man of industry and perseverance and that he reared a family that was creditable in every way.
Edward Hurd Williams, father of Luther H., was probably born in Lancaster County but was quite young when his parents came to Clearfield County. He became a farmer, as was his father, and later embarked in storekeeping, being a merchant from 1853 until the close of his life. For several terms he served in the office of justice of the peace and was a school director for many years. In all that pertained to public life he was an upright citizen. He married Elizabeth Smale, who was born in Graham Township, Clearfield County, a daughter of Benjamin Smale, an old settler. To Edward H. Wil- liams and wife the following children were born : Margaret, deceased, who was the wife of Robert Livengood, of Bradford Town- ship: Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wite of Benjamin Carr, of Pike Township; Catherine, who is the wife of George Washi- ington Graham, of Douglas County, Wash .; Henry Ellis, deceased, who was a resident of Bigler, Pa .; Isaiah, deceased, who spent almost all of his life in Pike Township; Mary Ellen, deceased, who was twice mar- ried, first to Elijah Smale and second to
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY
Frederick Campman; Sylvester, deceased, who lived in Lawrence Township, Clear- field County ; Wilson R., deceased, spent his life in Bradford and Graham Townships; Edward Johnson, who lives in Graham Township: Luther H., who resides at Osceola Mills; Henrietta, deceased, who was the wife of William Ogden, of Clear- field County ; Martha, who married William Lease, of West Clearfield ; and John L., who was a resident of Pittsburg, at the time of his death. The parents of this family were members of the Lutheran church.
Luther H. Williams was reared in Brad- ford Township and obtained his education in the country schools. He followed farm- ing until he came to Osceola Mills, in 1891, since which time he has been connected as an employe with the Car Shops of the Ber- wind-White Company. Mr. Williams has witnessed many changes in this section dur- ing the twenty years since he came here and he has borne his part, as a good citizen in making Osceola Mills a pleasant, law- abiding town, one in which business enter- prises prosper and comfortable living is possible. He is not very active in politics, having never been anxious for political office, and casts his vote with the Republi- can party.
On September 21, 1865. Mr. Williams was married to Miss Belinda A. Waple. who was born on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, May 17, 1843, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Wunder) Waple. Henry Waple was born in Charles County, Md., Decem- ber II, 1816, and for a time engaged in the manufacture of fancy whips, in Philadelphia. In June, 1843, he moved to Boggs Town- ship. Clearfield County, and thereafter until
April, 1862, conducted the hotel known as the Half-Way House, which was situated between Phillipsburg and Curwensville, after which he moved to Fairfax County, Va., just outside the city of Washington, D. C., and resided there until his death on March 18, 1906. Henry Waple married Mary Wunder, who was born at German- town, Pa., and died when Mrs. Williams was six years old. The Wunder family is an old one in this country, of Holland an- cestry, and it was established in America prior to the Revolutionary War. William Wunder, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Williams, was an officer in Washington's army and being a butcher by trade he pre- pared meat for the soldiers and was a so a lay reader to them during the fearful winter at Valley Forge. His son, William Wun- der, was a soldier in the War of 1812. In 1808 he built the first stone house in Ger- mantown, Pa., a picture of which Mrs. Wil- liams prizes very highly. To Henry and Mary (Wunder) Waple the following chil- dren were born: Catherine, who is the widow of Henry Shimmel, of Cumberland, Md .; Emily, who died at the age of two years ; Belinda A., who is the wife of Luther H. Williams; Julia, who is deceased, was the wife of Isaac Richardson; and two daughters who died unnamed.
Mr. and Mrs. Williams have had five chil- dren, namely : Harry Edward, who is a con- ductor in the railroad service, married Annie Baker, of Phillipsburg, and they have had five children-Oral, Harold, Robert, Marian and Dorothy ; Lawrence S., who is a resident of Newton, Centre County, mar- ried Mary Thomas, of Phillipsburg, and they have two sons and two daughters-
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Violet May, Adaline, Harvey and Leo; Melvin C., who married Edna V. Hoyt, and they have had three children-Clayton Hoyt, Luther Sherman and O. Blanche; Oral Blanche, who died in October, 1906, aged almost thirty-one years; and Ernest A., who resides at Osceola Mills, adjoining his parents, married Carrie Estep and they have one son, Edward Luther. Mr. Wil- lians and family are members of the Epis- copal church. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Malta and the Mystic Chain.
WALTER H. WOODWARD, a proni- inent citizen of Huston Township, has been identified with public matters for some years, and is the proprietor of Oakmont Farm, a well cultivated tract of 147 acres situated one and one-half miles west of Pen- field, Pa. Mr. Woodward was born at the present site of Pine Forest, Luzerne County, Pa., February 2, 1855, and is a son of William D. and Anna L. (Thompson) Woodward.
The Woodward family originated in Eng- land, and the first of the name came to America in the early part of the seventeenth century. Daniel and Nancy (Eike) Wood- ward, the grandparents of Walter H. Woodward, were early settlers of Luzerne County, where the grandfather was a well known lumberman, and they were the parents of seven children: Mary, Sarah, Hiram, William D., Martha, Frances and Dennis, all of whom are · deceased except Frances, who is the widow of Charles Sutton.
William D. Woodward was born in March, 1829, in Luzerne County, Pa., and
there spent his boyhood. As a young man, with his brother Hiram, he came to Clear- field County with his wife, Ann L. (Thomp- son) Woodward, who was born in New Jersey about 1856. He located at Penfield, where he purchased a hotel property, and operated this hostelry until 1864, when he sold out and removed to Minnesota. He remained there but two months, however, at the end of that time returning to Clear- field County, Pa., and engaging in the lumber business. In the spring of 1865 he bought eighty-eight acres of the present farm of Walter H. Woodward from Jeffer- son Bundy, and later, in 1868, added to this property by purchase from John Du Bois, and at one time had 316 acres. He retired five years previous to his death, which oc- curred April 3. 1907. His first wife had died in 1884, at the age of fifty-two years. and his second marriage was to a widow, Mrs. Clemantine Iddings, who by her first union had six children. To Mr. Woodward and his first wife there were born the fol- lowing children : Amorvin, who is operating the farm adjoining that of Walter H. Wood- ward; Stanley, also a resident of Huston Township ; Walter H. ; Mattie, who married George Marsden; Americus H., who is a prominent attorney of Clearfield ; Anna A., who is the widow of T. B. Buoy ; and Ida E., who is the widow of George R. Camp- bell.
Walter H. Woodward's early childhood was spent in Luzerne County, where his father was operating a sawmill, and he was still a lad when the family removed to Clearfield County. He attended the town- ship schools, and started helping his father in the lumber business when quite young.
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY
In 1880 he went West in the interest of the Thompson Consolidated Mining Co., and after his return spent four years as fore- man of the factory of P. C. Thompson & Co., at Philadelphia. He has had charge of his present farm since 1898, and on the set- tlement of his father's estate he was given possession of it. The residence was erected by Mr. Woodward's father in 1875, but the other buildings have been put up by Mr. Woodward, who in many ways has im- proved the farm, making it one of the most valuable in Huston Township. The Ben- nett's Branch division of the Pennsylvania and B. & S. Railroads run through this property.
Mr. Woodward is a Republican in pol- itics, and he has always been an active worker in support of the principles of that organization. He served for some time as township auditor, and is at present acting in the capacities of township assessor and president of the school board.
SOLOMON McCULLY, postmaster at Ramey, Clearfield County, Pa .. in which office he has officiated since February 13, 1909, is a well known citizen of Gulich Township, where the family has been estab- lished for many years. He was born March 23, 1855, in Gulich Township, Clearfield County, and is a son of Matthew and Sarah (Beyer) McCully.
Matthew McCully was born in County Derry, Ireland. March 20, 1816, and was the youngest child of George and Isabella Mc- Cully. His father died in Ireland and when but 18 months old he came to this country with his mother and seven other children. all of whom have long since passed away.
The little band arrived in Philadelphia, remained there a few weeks and then started for Clearfield County on foot with nothing but an Indian path to guide them. They arrived at their destination and made a home near the mouth of Muddy Run. From there Mr. McCully went to Tyrone forges and worked on the canal and about the furnaces where he grew up to manhood, becoming the main support of his mother, whom he cared for until her death in her 84th year ; her remains repose in Mt. Pleas- ant Cemetery, this county.
Having been born in foreign land and his father being dead, made it necessary for Mr. McCully to take out naturalization papers, which were granted by the court of this country Dec. 6, 1848. Henry Hagerty and Lisle McCully were the witnesses and the prothonotary at that time was Wm. C. Welch.
On December 30, 1841, Matthew Mc- Cully was married to Sarah Beyer, a native of Ohio, Rev. M. Betts of Clearfield, being the officiating clergyman. They settled on his farm at Beulah and began life work to- gether. She "sleeps the sleep of the just," preceding him to the grave in August, 1901, he having died April 28, 1902, in his 86th year. They had the following chil- dren : Isabel, who is deceased; Christiana, who is the widow of H. P. R. Blandy ; David, who is deceased; Caroline, who is the wife of Alvin Frederick; Eliza and George, who is deceased; Solomon; La- vina, who is the wife of J. B. McFadden ; Lewis, deceased ; Edith, deceased, who was the wife of H. B. Brown ; and Frank H. The parents were members of the Presbyterian church.
Solomon McCully followed farming until
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1887 and then came to Ramey and for twenty years followed the carpenter's trade here and was engaged in other lines of busi- ness until 1909, but since then has devoted himself to his official duties. Although he is an independent voter he is a man of such reliable character that he has been chosen many times for township and borough offices, without reference to party connec- tion. For fourteen years he served as con- stable and also as school director, was a county commissioner for two years and borough treasurer for two years.
Mr. McCully was married in 1879 to Miss Ella Croyl, a daughter of Henry and Cath- erine Croyl, residents of Huntingdon County, Pa. To the parents of Mrs. Mc- Cully the following children were born: Margaret Victoria, who is the wife of D. T. Kantner ; Martha, who is the wife of Hugh Stoddard; Samuel A .; Ella; William; Robert : Henry ; Ada, who is the wife of H. V. Stevens; and June, who is the wife of Frank Johnston. Mr. and Mrs. McCully have five children, namely: Bertha, L. K., H. H., M. W., and P. S. The family at- tends the Presbyterian church.
GEORGE W. BOUCH, who is engaged in farming in Bell Township, Clearfield County, Pa., where he is one of the repre- sentative citizens, was born December 27, 1840, in Armstrong County, Pa., and is a son of George and Sarah (Daugherty) Bouch.
George Bouch was born in Armstrong County, Pa., and moved from there to Clearfield County in 1859, settling at Clover Run. Four years later he moved his family to Jefferson County, where his accidental
death took place in 1864, at the age of fifty- five years. He married Sarah Daugherty, who died in March, 1892, when in her seventy-fifth year. The maternal grand- father was of Irish extraction, but the paternal grandparents, Oxinas and Rachel (Yont) Bouch, were natives of Germany. Seven children were born to George Bouch and his wife, and of these the survivors are : George W .: Sarah, who is the wife of J. Weilick, of Altoona, Pa .; Jane, who lives at Sinking Valley ; Hannah, who is the wife of John Weilick ; Angelina, who lives in Clear- field County, and Florence, who lives at home.
George V. Bouch had very few early ad- vantages and after boyhood found employ- ment away from home, and after coming to Clearfield County worked at lumbering and in the woods until after his marriage, when he settled on his present farm in Bell Town- ship. He is still interested in lumbering to some extent but gives his main attention to agricultural pursuits. During the Civil War he served one year as a member of Co. K, 105th Pa. Vol. Inf., under Captain Mc- Knight, in the Army of the Potomac. His regiment was encamped near Washington, D. C., in the closing months of the war, and he was honorably discharged and mustered out at Pittsburg.
In 1862 Mr. Bouch was married to Miss Catherine Peace, who was born January 23, 1844, in Center County, Pa., a daughter of Solomon and Mary (Donmire) Peace, and a granddaughter of Adam and Barbara Donmire. Mr. and Mrs. Bouch had the following children born to them: William, who lives in Bell Township, married Emma McGinnis, and they have five children ;
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY
Joseph, who lives in Bell Township, married Mary Yont, and they have four children ; Lizzie, who is the wife of William Weirick, of Altoona, Pa., and they have four chil- dren; Ellen, who is the wife of E. Hender- son, of Bell Township, and they have three children; James, who lives in Bell Town- ship, married Mary Ilarklerood, and they have two children ; Edward, who is in bus- iness at Westover, Pa., married Lulu Snyder, and they have three children ; Miles, who lives at McGee's Mills, married Lizzie Snyder and they have one child ; Clyde, who lives in Bell Township, married Jennic Davis and they have one child; Arthur, who lives with his father, married Elinor Wolf, and they have two children. Mr. and Mrs. Bouch are members of the Methodist Prot- estant church, with which he united forty- five years ago. He is a Democrat in his political views and has served one term as township supervisor. He takes a justifiable amount of pride in his large family of vigor- ous descendants.
WV. I. WALL, miller, owner and propri- ctor of the Grampian Mill, at Grampian, Pa., is a well known business man and re- spected and representative citizen of this borough. He was born June 26, 1861, in Penn Township, Clearfield County, one mile south of Grampian, and is a son of Isaialı and Rosanna (Danver) Wall.
Isaiah Wall was born in the eastern part of Pennsylvania and was a small boy when he accompanied his father, Jonathan Ball, to Penn Township, where the larger part of his subsequent life was passed. He en- gaged in farming and lumbering and be- came a man of ample estate, owning, with
his son-in-law, the land on which stands Coalport. He was twice married, first to a Miss Widemyer, and second to Rosanna Danver, and seven children were born to the first marriage and one, W. I., to the second. The following children were born to the first union: Eliza, Jennie, Hannah, Mary Ann, T. E., Aquilla (a soldier in Civil War who died while serving his country), and an infant son, deceased. After his first marriage, Isaiah Wall lived on the Thomas E. Wall farm, on which Thos. E. Wall now lives, and continued there until after the death of his second wife, when he moved to Grampian and later to Tyrone and after- ward to Coalport. There he operated a coal bank and a saw-mill during his remain- ing active years and then retired to his farm in Penn Township, on which his death oc- curred when aged eighty-three years. This farm of 125 acres he had cleared and im- proved, coming to it when it was little but a wilderness. In politics he was a Republi- can and at one time served as constable of Penn Township. He was a member of the Society of Friends and his burial was in the Friends' Cemetery. His second wife was a member of the Catholic church and she was buried in the cemetery belonging to that church, at Grampian.
W. I. Wall was educated in the schools of Penn Township and the Grampian Nor- mal School, after which he engaged in farm- ing in Penn Township, operating on fifty acres of land. Later he moved to Gram- pian and bought his present mill, which is a grist-mill well fitted with modern ma- chinery for producing flour, buckwheat and chop. He operates the same with the as- sistance of one man and does a safe and
ALLISON OPP SMITH
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satisfactory business. He is an intelligent and earnest citizen and has served in the borough council, elected on the Republican ticket. He is a stockholder in the Penn Township Rural Telephone Company.
On June 26, 1884. Mr. Wall was married to Miss Sarah A. Davis, who was born in Penn Township, a daughter of Joseph Davis, and they have had five children, namely : Earl J., who married Maude E. Bloom, a daughter of Edward Bloom, of Penn Township, and they have had one child, Sarah Elizabeth, now deceased : Lena E., who is a school-teacher; Eva Mildred, who attends the Grampian High School; Carl W., who is also at school; and Kenzie Lovelle, who is deceased. Mr. Wall is a member of the Society of Friends. He be- longs to the Penn Grange, to the Odd Fel- lows and the P. O. S. of A.
ALLISON OPP SMITH. president judge of the Forty-sixth Judicial District of Penn- sylvania. comprising Clearfield county, was born in Limestone township, Montour county, Pennsylvania, on October 23, 1857: second child of Simpson and Charlotte Opp Smith, both natives of Lycoming county, of pioneer stock and of families identified with the early and successful lumbering and agricultural de- velopment of the Susquehanna Valley. His grandfather Jonathan Smith was a native of Philadelphia county, and his great-grandfather Col. George Smith was a soldier in the Revo- lutionary war and represented Philadelphia county in the General Assembly of the State. His grandmother Ann Simpson, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, a great aunt of General U. S. Grant, married Jonathan Smith in 1796 and they went direct to Lycoming county,
where they lived the rest of their lives. The parents of Judge Smith moved to Northum- berland county in 1867 and settled on a farm near Watsontown, where they lived until 1879, when they moved into Watsontown.
The subject of our sketch attended the common district schools of the neighborhood and also attended academies at Dewart, Mc- Ewensville and Watsontown, also assisting on the farm until about sixteen years of age. He then spent one year clerking in a country store at Dewart, and afterwards went to Bloomsburg State Normal School and pre- pared for entrance to State College, Center county, which he entered in January. 1876, and graduated with the honors of his class in 1879. During the winter of 1879-80 he was elected principal of schools and taught the High School at Watsontown, after which he began reading law in the office of Oscar Foust. Esq., of that place. In September, 1880. he entered the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, as a student at law, from which institution he graduated two years later in the Law Class of 1882. During said period he was also regis- tered as a law student in the office of William A. Redding, J. Levering Jones and Hampton L. Carson, Esquires, of Philadelphia, and after his graduation, in June, 1882, on mo- tion of J. Levering Jones, Esq., one of his preceptors, he was admitted to practice law in the several courts of Philadelphia, and later in the same month was admitted to practice law in the Northumberland County Court.
In September, 1882, he located in Clearfield and was admitted to practice the law in the several courts of Clearfield county on the 8th day of January, 1883. For several years he successfully practiced his profession alone,
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during which time he served as solicitor for gained much prominence in judicial circles all Sheriff R. N. Shaw and Sheriff E. L. Mc- over the State. At his first license court he Closkey, and later as county solicitor. In 1894, after the elevation of Hon. Cyrus Gor- don to the Common Pleas Bench, he formed a partnership with Thomas H. Murray, Esq., under the style of Murray & Smith, and this partnership continued until the junior mem- ber was elected to succeed Judge Gordon on the Common Pleas Bench, which honor was won at the November election in 1903 by a majority of 2,016.
In politics Judge Smith has been a Demo- crat all his life and took an active and earnest interest in party affairs from the time of ar- riving at man's estate. He served as secre- tary of the Democratic County Committee for several years beginning in 1886, and in 1890 was elected county chairman and had the dis- tinction of polling the largest majorities for his party candidates that year ever given in the county. In 1896 he was appointed and served as councilman from the First Ward of Clearfield borough, and in 1897 was elected to the office of burgess of Clearfield and served three years in that position. In 1900 he was elected school director and was filling that po- sition when elected to the bench.
As a lawyer Judge Smith soon won his way to the front at the Clearfield bar. He was recognized as possessing a clear, keen, logical mind, which combined with his industry and high character won him the respect and con- fidence of his clients. While a member of the firm of Murray & Smith he had a wide expe- rience in the practice of corporation law, as that firm represented nearly all the railroads of the county and they also represented a large number of the leading mining corporations. Since going on the bench Judge Smith has
created a precedent in the conduct and control of the court over the granting of liquor li- censes, first, by largely reducing the number of licenses and refusing nearly fifty per cent of the applicants and, second, by establishing what is believed to be wholesome rules for governing the sales of liquor and the main- tenance of licensed hotels. Similar rules have since been adopted by a considerable number of the judges of the State and the wisdom of their establishment is apparent to anyone who has occasion to patronize the hotels of Clear- field county. Since he went upon the bench the criminal business has largely decreased, notwithstanding a large increase of popula- tion, composed of the people of southern Eu- rope who know little of the laws and customs of this country. This decrease in the criminal business is popularly believed to be largely due to the strict enforcement of the law in both the license and criminal courts as administered by Judge Smith. The general business of the courts under Judge Smith has been conducted with great promptness and dispatch and no one can complain of any delay in the administra- tion of justice. Four times a year all cases at issue, whether in the civil or criminal courts. whether in equity or on the argument list, by order of the court are listed for trial and hear- ing and a prompt disposal of the same enforced so far as can be done by an early trial and decision.
Judge Smith is a member of the Presbyte- rian church and has for many years been on the board of trustees. He also belongs to the Masonic fraternity of Clearfield and has gone through all the chairs of the Blue Lodge and is a member of the Chapter. Although al-
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, ways busy with his professional duties, he has at all times been closely identified with move- ments intended to advance the interests of the community, commercially and morally. In 1889 he was an organizer and the first secre- tary and treasurer, as well as director, of the Electric Light Company at Clearfield, with which he was connected until soon after he went upon the bench. He was also an organ- izer, director and president of the Paterson Clay Products Company, manufacturers of all kinds of paving and building brick. He was one of the organizers of the Clearfield Y. M. C. A. and on its board of directors ever since its organization and is now president of that body, to the maintenance of which worthy in- stitution he gives largely of his time and means. In 1904 he was chairman of the Clearfield County Centennial Association Committee, which conducted to a successful conclusion the celebration of the one hun- dredth anniversary of the formation of Clear- field county. He has been a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association since its organ- ization in 1894, and is now one of the vice- presidents of that body. He is also a non- resident member of the Pennsylvania Society of New York.
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