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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

minister of the gospel, I enjoyed many opportunities to know him familiarly, and my conviction is that he was a man eminent for his godliness. I have seldom met any one whose views and knowledge of Scripture were more thorough and consistent, nor any one who, according to his ability, was more earnest or more active in God's work.     He observed carefully the dispensations of Providence, and was calm and confident amidst the outward appearances of a frowning Providence. He was very diligent in his temporal labors, and while careful not to waste the providential mercies which his heavenly Father gave him, yet he was very liberal in his contributions to any good cause.     Ebensburg was no doubt so called because of the place in Wales, where he was ordained, and probably has some reference to that passage of Scripture, "Here I raise my Ebenezer," etc. ABEL LLOYD, an influential citizen of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, and a grandson of the Rev. Rees Lloyd whose history appears above, is a son of John and Jane (Tibbott) Lloyd.     The father of Abel Lloyd was born in Wales in all probability and was brought to Ebensburg, where he was left by his father who went west and died in Ohio. The son, who continued to live in Ebensburg, was a wheelwright of considerable mechanical skill, and employed himself in making old-fashioned spinning wheels and reels. He also showed a superior knowledge of electricity for his day.     In religion he was first a Congregationalist, and afterwards a member of the Christian church. He was a democrat and prominent in the political life of his section, having served

as county commissioner and as the first postmaster at Ebensburg.     His family consisted of the following children: John, died young; Rachel, died while a child; Jane, who married Richard Evans; Rees J., who lived and died in Ebensburg; Abel, the subject of this sketch; and John, a merchant, whose sketch appears elsewhere.     Abel Lloyd was educated in the common schools and at the Ebensburg academy. When a young man he learned the trade of a cabinetmaker, but he never followed it. For one year he taught school in Cambria township, the next year he engaged in the mercantile business in Ebensburg, and the next he was employed as a salesman and manager at what was then known as No. 4, on the old Portage road, in this county.     Later he took a position with a large commercial house in Pittsburg, where he remained about seven years, when the company with which he was connected took the Conemaugh and Johnstown furnaces, in which they had a large interest, in order to protect themselves against loss. Mr. Lloyd was sent to these furnaces as a general superintendent, and there he introduced several new ideas which were successful and which contributed to a large degree toward the advancement of the enterprise.     Afterward he removed to Ebensburg where he has lived ever since. In 1861, when the Ebensburg and Cresson railroad was being constructed, he was chosen secretary and director, and managed the grading, etc. The Pennsylvania company leased the road for nine hundred and ninty-nine years, agreeing to operate it whether it paid or not.     Mr. Lloyd was chosen by the Pennsylvania company as their agent, and has remained in that capacity to the present time. In addition

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