USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > Twentieth century history of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 53
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Clearfield county is much indebted to Mr. Viebahn for its superior school facilities. He has taken a deep personal interest in the advancement of education and it was mainly through his efforts that the township High School was organized and built. For
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S. A. NELSON
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twenty-five years he has served on the school board and his services have been invaluable.
JOHN F. GALLAHER, a prosperous farmer and justice of the peace at New Washington, Burnside township, was born in Bell township, Clearfield county, Pa., February II, 1861, a son of James and Mary L. (Horton) Gallaher. His paternal grandfather, also named James, settled with his family in Clearfield county in 1806. He was a Revolutionary soldier and took a prominent part in the various Indian troubles of his day, being well known as a sturdy and fearless Indian fighter. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Ramsey, was probably of Scotch descent. His occu- pation was lumbering and farming.
James Gallaher, Jr., father of our subject, was born in Huntingdon county, Pa., in 1801 and accompanied his parents to Clearfield county. He followed his father's occupa- tion and was a good example of the hardy type of settlers who developed this region from a wilderness to the rich and well culti- vated territory it is today. He became a member of the Republican party after its formation and at different times held many local offices. His death took place in 1880. He was twice married : first to Sally Lee, of which union there were six children, the only one now living being Margaret. wife of Dr. McCune, of Middletown, Va. Mrs. Sally Gallaher died in 1858, and Mr. Galla- her was married secondly to Mary L. Hor- ton, who was born at Athens, Ohio, May 13, 1826, a daughter of Isaac and Rose (Funs- ton) Horton. Of this second union there were born, in addition to our subject, the following children now living: Rose, who
became the wife of W. Carlysle; Virginia I., residing at New Washington, Pa .; and George W., a resident of Clearfield. A half brother, James H. Kelley, residing at Clear- field, holds the office of district attorney.
John F. Gallaher after his school days were over, was associated with his father in farming and lumbering up to 1895, at which time he retired from active partici- pation in those industries, taking up his residence in the borough of New Washing- ton. A Republican in politics, he has held office as commissioner and as a member of the school board, and is now serving in his fourth term as justice of the peace.
Mr. Gallaher married Cora Mahaffey, who was born December 14, 1867, a daugh- ter of William and Mary M. (Estricher) Mahaffey, her grandfather being Thomas Mahaffey, of the prominent Clearfield county family of that name. Mrs. Gallaher died April 27, 1910. She and her husband were the parents of the following children : James Kelley, now aged 21 years, who was a soldier in the war in the Philippines; Frank B., aged 19, who resides in Pittsburg ; Rose, 18, who is keeping house for her father, John F., our subject ; Eva M., 16, who is attending school; John, 12, who is also attending school ; Mary, II, and Burt, 8, and one that died in infancy.
S. A. NELSON, proprietor of the Nelson House, one of the well kept, comfortable and low priced hotels of DuBois, Pa., which is sit- uated on the corner of DuBois and Main streets, has been a resident of this borough since 1889. He was born at Wermland, Swe- den, August 5, 1870, and is a son of Nels and Johanna (Olson) Nelson.
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY
In Sweden, the name Nelson is spelled Nil- son. Both parents of Mr. Nelson were na- tives of Sweden, where the mother still lives. His father died in 1880, when in his fortieth year. There were six children in the family, namely: Carl Emil, Swan August, Gustaf (deceased about four years), Hannah, Julius and Clara. The youngest two children were drowned when skating.
S. A. Nelson attended school and gained some knowledge of business, in his own land, for a time being a clerk in a store, before he left home and ventured across the sea to America, the only one of his family. He reached Elk county, Pa., in 1887, where he was employed in the Dagus mines for two years and six months. After reaching DuBois he continued to work in the coal mines for a time and then worked in a stone quarry, where he became a foreman. During all this time he had been careful and prudent, preparing to go into business for himself. In 1901 he opened the Nelson House and a few months later bought the building and through good management has made it a paying property. The Nelson House offers comfortable accom- modations and Mr. Nelson still charges the same moderate rate that he asked when the house was first opened, only a dollar a day. He has twenty bed-rooms.
On February 2, 1892, Mr. Nelson was mar- ried to Miss Clara Amanda Swanson, who was also born in Sweden. They have five children, namely: Richard, Carrie, Arthur, Ella and Carl. Mr. Nelson is a member of the DuBois Business Men's Exchange. He belongs to the Elks and the Knights of the Golden Eagle, to the Swedish Brotherhood and to the Swedish-American Club. In 1903 Mr. Nelson visited his mother in Sweden, also
expects to return to his native land to visit his mother, brother and sister, this year.
JAMES REDDING, the genial host of the Hotel Leonard, a first class house of public entertainment at Clearfield, Pa., and an experienced man in this line of business, was born at Snow Shoe, Center county, Pa., July 13, 1865, and is a son of James and Catherine (Doyle) Redding. The parents of Mr. Redding were born in Ireland and were married in Center county, Pa. The father operated a hotel at Snow Shoe for many years. There were seven children in the family, namely: Margaret, Henry, Lawrence, James, Mary, Anna and Michael.
James Redding obtained his education in the schools at Snow Shoe but was not very old when he went to work in the mines there and continued until he was twenty- two years old. He also worked as a fire- man on the Pennsylvania and N. Y. Central Railroad lines before becoming interested in hotel keeping. His first experience in this business was thirteen months in Mrs. No- len's hotel at Snow Shoe. He discovered that he was well fitted to go into this under- taking and from there he went to Mitchels, in Clearfield county, where he bought a li- censed public house which he conducted for three years and then sold to James Isenberg. From there he came to Clearfield and here purchased the St. Charles Hotel, from James Crossman, and nine months later sold it to Edward MeLaughlin. Mr. Red- ding then bought the Allegheny House from Leopold Bros., which he sold five years later to James Forshey. About this time he secured a mining contract for eighteen months and after its expiration he opened
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the Hyde City Hotel and operated it for nine months. For one year he then kept out of business, in the meantime looking out for a desirable opening and when the Hotel Leonard came on the market, he bought this property on August 7, 1905, from B. A. and E. J. Smith. Mr. Redding offers the public first class quarters with modern im- provements, at $1.50 per day and has thirty- two comfortable bed rooms, a sample room and a clean, substantial and satisfying table. He is widely known and enjoys liberal pat- ronage. In his hearty entertainment of guests, no question of either religion or politics comes to the surface.
On February 4, 1891, Mr. Redding was married to Miss Sarah Smith, of Center county, Pa., and they have one son, Edward J. Mr. Redding and family are members of the Catholic church. He is identified with the order of Elks, at Clearfield.
THOMAS R. DAVIS, postmaster at Ventland, Pa., where he is also express agent, also conducts a small store in the same building, which he owns together with five other pieces of property. For twenty years Mr. Davis has lived at this place but he was born in Schuylkill county, Pa., Feb- ruary 29, 1848, and is the only survivor of a family of eleven children born to his parents who were David and Elizabeth (Reese) Davis, natives of Wales.
Thomas R. Davis had very little chance in his boyhood to gain an education as he was sent to work in the mines when he was eleven years of age and mining was his main occupation until 1898 when he was ap- pointed postmaster and later added his other responsibilities. For some time before leav-
ing coal mining, he filled the office of check- weighman at the mines.
Mr. Davis was married May 21, 1870, to Miss Margaret Terrell, a daughter of John and Hannah Terrell, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in Hunt- ingdon county. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have had the following children: David; Rich- ard, who is deceased ; T. H. S .; Jennie, who is deceased : Elizabeth, who is deceased, was the wife of J. W. Withrow; and Edward, Matilda, Blaine, Alfretta, Edith and Clifton M. Mr. Davis and family attend the Meth- odist Episcopal church. In politics he is a Republican and has served as school direc- tor in both Bigler and Decatur townships. He is identified with the organization known as the Brotherhood of America. He is a well known and highly respected citizen.
T. JEFF BLOOM, contractor, builder and millwright, was born March 31, 1844, on the farm of 160 acres which he owns and occupies and which lies one and one-half miles east of the center of Curwensville, Pike township, Clearfield county, Pa. He is a member of one of the prominent and substantial pioneer families of the county, a great-grandson of William Bloom, a grandson of William Bloom (2), and a son of Isaac Bloom.
Great grandfather William Bloom was born in Hunterdon county, N. J., and was of German parentage. He served for six years under General Washington in the Conti- nental Army and continued his military life until the colonies had attained indepen- dence. He married a Miss Clover, of New Jersey, and their eldest son was born on the day of the battle of Monmouth, in which the
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young father participated. Some time prior lie that was then passing over the Meads to 1798, William Bloom and family traveled road on the way farther west. He had a fine trade and was a shrewd business man, as was evidenced by his moving to a part of his farm which was adjacent to the newly constructed Erie turnpike road. For years he conducted a hotel near where Mr. Porter now resides, in Pike township. He was a very robust, well proportioned man and had a corresponding strong constitution, living to be ninety-two years of age, dying in 1872. He was a Jacksonian Democrat and was elected to many public offices. He was con- stable when the township had but sixty-two voters, later was sheriff of Clearfield county. Having a cash fortune of $30,000 he was considered the wealthiest man in Clearfield county. His wife lived to be seventy years old. They are both buried in McClure's cemetery, where the ashes of the pioneers of the family also repose. by ox-team to Center county, Pa., and from there, in 1801, to Clearfield county. He cleared up a small tract of land near the present borough of Curwensville, in Pike township, which is now called Peewees' Nest. Owing to some misunderstanding about the ownership of this land, he waived his claim and moved to the Col. Irvin place, on the west branch of the Susquehannah River. By that time some of his children were married, and they established their own homes on or near the river. although a large part of the country was nothing but a wilderness, with Indians numerous and hostile. There were no roads, the county not yet having been organized, and such conditions prevailed that only men and women of courage and endurance could have been content to make so wild a region their home. William Bloom and wife had eleven children born to them, namely: Isaac, Wil- liam, John, Abraham, Benjamin, James, Peter, Annie, Sarah, Nancy, and Mary.
William Bloom, son of William, and grandfather of T. Jeff Bloom, was born in New Jersey, in 1780. He married Mary Roll, of Clarion county, Pa., and they had ten children, namely: Hannah, Sarah, Mary, Jane, Mrs. Irvin Thayerson, Isaac, John, David, Harrison and Eli. After his marriage, William Bloom lived in Pike township, where the farm then included 500 acres, 168 of which he cleared, beginning with nine acres, which he immediately started to cultivate. Ile then erected a large log house, big enough to ac- commodate his own growing family and also to offer hospitality to the traveling pub-
Isaac Bloom was born in 1813, on the present Bloom farm, in Pike township. Three months of school attendance covered all the educational advantages he ever had, but nevertheless he became a successful business man and one whose judgment was often consulted concerning publie matters. He resided on the present farm until within a few years of his death, when he retired to Curwensville, where he passed away in 1864, at the age of fifty-two years. His burial was in the Oak Hill cemetery. He was a strong Democrat and probably at that time the Bloom family held the voting power in Clearfield county, on account of their numbers and about all of them being Demo- crats. In 1848 he was elected treasurer of Clearfield county and for many years he was a justice of the peace in Pike township.
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He married Leah Hoover, who was born in 1816, a daughter of George Hoover. She died in 1879, at the age of sixty-two years. They were most excellent people in every relation of life, setting an admirable exam- ple to their thirteen children, whom they reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church. Of this family, T. Jeff Bloom was the sixth in order of birth, the others being : Cortez, Miles, Henrietta, Jane, Hannah, Flora, Belle, Mary, Annie, Blanche, Robert and Walter.
T. Jeff Bloom was seven years old when he began attending school at Curwensville, and he continued to live there until 1880. For ten years following his marriage he was in the contracting business at Curwens- ville, combined with building. He has done an immense amount of work along this line. For three years he did all the contracting at Patton, Cambria county, where he erected all the buildings. He estimates that he lias done as much as $500,000 worth of con- tracting since he started into business. Among the numerous structures he has con- tracted for and built, is the handsome Cur- wensville National Bank.
In 1868 Mr. Bloom was married to Miss Rosa Thompson, who is a daughter of J. W. and Annie Eliza (Wilson) Thompson, and they have had nine children, namely : Frank P., Ralph, Grace, Charles, Dean, Walter, Henrietta, Seth and Thompson. Of the above, Ralph, Charles, Walter and Thompson are all deceased.
Mr. Bloom retired to his farm in 1880, where he has done a large amount of im- proving. There are still some old land- marks left of his grandfather's time, but his handsome, modern residence he erected
himself, and has added other substantial buildings. This place is richly underveined with coal and an open mine, which has an output of 200 tons of fine coal daily, ex- ceeding the mines of his neighbors who work their mines with such an output monthly, is a comfortable source of wealth. His residence and mine both are on the Ferncliff branch of the B. R. & P. Railroad, making transportation easy. This fine mine is leased by the. Clearfield-Collier Company, of Clearfield, Pa., Mr. Bloom receiving a handsome royalty. He is interested also in some 5,000,000 feet of hemlock timber, and has additional interests in financial con- cerns. Like other members of his family, Mr. Bloom is a Democrat and is one of the leading factors of the party councils in the county and at times has attended state con- ventions as a delegate and has also held a number of township offices. He attends and contributes to the Baptist church, of which Mrs. Bloom is a member. Fraternally he is identified with the Order of the Moose and has taken many of the degrees in the Knights of Pythias organization.
HON. JOSEPH BENSON McENALLY, deceased. In the death of Judge McEnally, which occurred at his home in Clearfield, Pa., January 5, 1910, Clearfield lost the Nestor of her bar and the county a citizen of worth and high attainment. Judge McEnally was born in Columbia county, Pa., January 25, 1825, and was the youngest son of Rev. Peter and Margaret ( Bloodhart) McEnally. The father was a traveling minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and was well known at Clearfield, having served as pastor here in 1831 and again in 1848-9.
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY
Joseph Benson McEnally attended the com- mon schools until he secured a teacher's cer- tificate and after that engaged in teaching un- til he had accumulated the means to pursue a higher course of study. In June, 1845, he was graduated from Dickinson College and then began the reading of law with Judge Jordan, at Sunbury, Pa., and in 1849 was admitted to the Northumberland county bar. His legal talent was very soon recognized and he was appointed deputy attorney general of the county, and in this office demonstrated his abil- ity and won a position on the bar which he never lost. In 1868 he was appointed presi- dent judge of the Twenty-fifth Judicial Dis- trict, which was made up of the counties of Clearfield, Center and Clinton, and during his term on the bench won an enviable record as a competent judge. After his judicial term was over he resumed his private practice and in 1872 formed a partnership with the late Dan- iel W. McCurdy, and after tlie latter's death was associated with Alexander Patterson. At different times in his career public office was tendered him, but his practice was so exten- sive and engrossing that possible high political position did not particularly attract him. Until within the closing years of his life he continued to be actively engaged in professional duties. In 1852 Judge McEnally was married to Miss Amelia Wright, whose death occurred June 30, 1895. One son, Wright McEnally, survives.
CHARLES G. GILL, postmaster of Ma- dera, Pa., taking charge of the office April I, 1911, is superintendent of the Madera Water Works Company and owner and proprietor of a blacksmith shop at Madera. He is one of the enterprising and successful men of Bigler township, Clearfield county, and was born at
Madera, December 2, 1871, and is a son of Josiah and Julia ( Vedder) Gill.
Josiah Gill was born in Clearfield county and for many years operated a blacksmith shop at Madera, and was a well known and respected man. In politics he was a Repub- lican. He married Julia Vedder, who was born in Tioga county, Pa., and they had the following children born to them: Lewis. Charles G., Robert, Emma, Harry and Scott, the three survivors being: Lewis, Charles G. and Scott.
Charles G. Gill attended the public schools of Madera until old enough to learn the black- smith trade, with his father, and this trade he has followed ever since. He has been a very active citizen and has many times been elected to township offices. For ten years he served as a justice of the peace, at present is supervisor. has been auditor, and in 1908 was mercantile appraiser for Clearfield county. He was reared in the Presbyterian church but has never united with the same, being liberal minded to all religious bodies and a contribu- tor to benevolent enterprises of which his judgment approves, no matter under what name they are organized.
In 1897, Mr. Gill was married to Miss Myr- tle Johnston, of Huntingdon, Pa., a daughter of David and Hannah ( Mencer) Johnston. who were born in Blair county. They had four children: Elliott; Myrtle; Lydia, wife of F. J. Shollar; and Vance. Mr. Gill is a Republican in his political views.
BERT EUGENE LEIPOLD, M. D., a successful medical practitioner, of Clearfield. Pa., was born August 26, 1874, at Clearfield, Pa., and is a son of George L. and Anna ( Benn) Leipold.
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Casper Leipold, grandfather of our subject, a graduated trained nurse, and a daughter of was a native of Germany and at an early age Charles and Mary VanBuskirk, of Penfield, Pa. came to this country and subsequently pur- chased a large tract of land, which now forms the site of Allegheny, of greater Pittsburg. JOHN DOTTS, one of Pike township's representative citizens and successful farmers, who resides four miles south of Curwensville, Pa., where he owns 116 acres of valuable land, the old Bloom homestead, owns also a farm of forty acres in Ferguson township, two miles east of Lumber City and another tract of 141 acres, rich coal land, situated in Jordan township, one and one-half miles south of McCartney. He was born in Becca- ria township, Clearfield county. March 31, 1861, and is a son of Philip and Catherine (Stretzel) Dotts. Some time later he sold the farm and located at Curwensville, Pa., where he was among the early settlers, and there followed his trade as a butcher. He subsequently came to Clearfield county and ran a brewery for some time, re- siding here until the time of his death. Cas- per Leipold was the father of four children : Sophia (Mrs. Griswald) ; George L., father of our subject; Mary (Mrs. Hamilton) ; and Daniel. George L. Leipold was born in 1849 at Curwensville, Pa., and was for many years engaged in the hotel business at Clearfield, Pa., but is now living in retirement at Sax- ton, Pa.
Dr. B. E. Leipold was reared at Clearfield, Pa., where he obtained his education in the local schools. After a course of private les- sons he entered the Jefferson Medical College in 1893, being graduated with the class of 1896. He immediately thereafter embarked in the practice of medicine at Clearfield and five years later built his office and residence, which are located at No. 405 Market street. Dr. Leipold also makes a specialty of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and is a mem- ber of the medical and surgical staff of the Clearfield Hospital. He is also a member of the American, State and county medical so- cieties, and is a stockholder in the County Na- tional Bank. He is fraternally a member of the local order of B. P. O. E.
In December, 1895, Dr. Leipold married May Smith, who died August 1, 1906, leaving one son, Hobert F. In August, 1908, Dr. Leipold married Minnie VanBuskirk, who is
Philip Dotts was born at Germantown, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, where he married Catherine Stretzel. He was a miller by trade and for some years worked at different places in Clearfield county but later settled on a farm, acquiring 502 acres, which is now owned by his son, William Dotts. He cleared about IIO acres of this land himself. In politics he was a Democrat and was a man of considerable consequence in Clearfield county and served one term as county treasurer. He lived a long and useful life which ended on March 16, 1901, and his burial was in the Fruit Hill Cemetery, attached to the Fruit Hill Presby- terian church of which he was a member and an elder. He was identified with the order of Odd Fellows. His widow survives, being now in her eighty-ninth year, and is a resident of Glen Hope, Pa. Of the ten children born to them there are six survivors, namely: Mary, who is the wife of F. W. Hollenpeter, of Glen Hope; William, who lives on the old home- stead in Beccaria township, married Aurilla
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Neveling: Ellwood, who lives in Minnesota; Philip, who is a resident of California: Mrs. Margaret Hammer, who lives at German- town, Pa .; and John, who is the subject of this record.
John Dotts obtained his education in the common schools at Fairview and then fol- lowed lumbering and farming on the home- stead until his marriage. in 1888, when he settled at Glen Hope and continued work in the woods as a lumberman. Later he moved to his coal farm in Jordan township, where he lived for four years and then came to the present home farm, on which his wife was born. All the buildings now standing have been remodeled since Mr. Dotts came into pos- session and he has all his land under cultiva- tion, with the exception of thirty-six acres of valuable woodland. Mr. Dotts is a Democrat in his political views and while living at Glen Hope he served as treasurer and as school di- rector and has also been a school director in Pike township.
On January 18, 1888, Mr. Dotts was mar- ried to Miss Alice S. Bloom, who was born on the present home farm on August 27. 1863. and is a daughter of Levi and Susanna ( High) Bloom. She attended the Curry school in Pike township and grew to woman- hood in her own home. Her father, Levi Bloom, was born near Curwensville, January 10, 1824, and although he was a very success- ful business man in after life, he had but two months of schooling. He engaged in lumber- ing and farming and came to this place when only four acres had been yet cleared. He was enterprising and industrious and after build- ing a log house and barn began to complete the clearing of his land. At the time of his death, June 5, 1896, he owned two other
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