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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

switchman at Conemaugh, and promoted from position to position until he was made conductor of a local freight train running from Pittsburg to Conemaugh. One morning in January, 1865, when pulling out with his train the engine boiler blew up, and injured him seriously, but not fatally, and when he recovered he was at first given the superintendence of some track laying, and then made train dispatcher at Conemaugh, which position he resigned in 1867, to remove to his present home-farm. Beside this farm, which is considered one of the best farms in the township, he also owns another valuable farm and some desirable property at Conemaugh.     In November, 1852, Mr. Good was united in marriage with Louisa Cobaugh, a daughter of Daniel Cobaugh, of East Taylor township. To their union have been born eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. The four sons and four daughters living are: Elizabeth, wife of R. H. Kelley, of Allegheny county; Isabella, married William S. Headrick of East Taylor township; Asbury R., now a railroad engineer, and residing at Conemaugh; Mary Jane, wife of V. T. Kisel, of Westmoreland county; E. Edgar, who resides in Conemaugh township; John R., a resident of Franklin borough; Alice Ann, wife of J. C. Sensebaugh, of Allegheny county; and Howard J. R., still at home.     In politics Mr. Good has always been a staunch republican, and has always taken an active part in all political campaigns. He has served as auditor, supervisor and inspector, besides filling other township offices, and has been annually re-elected as judge of election at his voting precinct for the remarkable number of twenty-one times -- a record that has seldom been equaled, and scarcely ever surpassed, in the State of Pennsylvania. He is

among the active and substantial citizens of his township, and always interests himself in all other matters as well as farming, in which he has been very successful. ALVAR I. AKERS, deceased, a former citizen and reliable business man of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and a son of Wilson Lee and Jane (Atkinson) Akers, was born May 24, 1837, in Carrolltown, Carroll county, Ohio.     His ancestors were of English origin, the family being transplanted from England to America, prior to the Revolution, by four of its descendants: Israel; Ralph, who settled in Maine; one who went to Virginia, and another, who settled in Ohio.     Ralph Akers, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a farmer and settled in Bedford county, where he died. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.     Robert Akers, grandfather of our subject, was born and reared in Bedford county, where he lived all his life and followed agricultural pursuits. He married Nancy Hanks, and his family consisted of five children: Israel, Wesley, Timothy, Nancy and Wilson Lee, the father of the subject of this record.     Wilson Lee Akers (1814-1895) was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and lived there until about 1834, when he removed to Carrolltown, where he shortly afterward married Jane Atkinson, a daughter of a prosperous newspaper man and woolen manufacturer. He was first in partnership with his father-in-law in the newspaper business, and later with Mr. George Rhey in the agricultural business, Mr. Rhey being a furnace man who ran the farms. After leaving Carrolltown Mr. Akers came to Johnstown and took charge of the gardens and grounds surrounding the residence of the late Daniel J. Morrell. He was

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