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180 | BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA |
city of Johnstown. Active and persevering, he throws his whole energy into whatever enterprise he engages, and has always come out well in his different ventures. On June 21, 1883, Mr. Harshberger married Lovinia J. Shank, a daughter of Jacob Shank, a resident of Adams township. To their union have been born four children: Ivy Pearl, who died at six years of age; Royal Longfellow; Mabel Gladys, and Elsie V. The Harshberger family is of German lineage, and Joseph Harshberger, in 1816, moved with his family from Somerset county, near the Castleman's valley, near the Maryland line, to a farm of four hundred acres, upon which Moxham or the Seventeenth ward of Johnstown now stands. He reared to maturity a family of sixteen children, of whom Moses was among the youngest. He was born in December 1804, and was twelve years of age when his father moved to the farm at Moxham. Being a farmer he purchased the old Wissinger farm, now known as the Abner Griffith farm, near Walnut Grove, Cambria county, which he sold to buy the farm in Adams township, on which he died in 1885. He was a man of standing and character, and married a Miss Shryock, of Shanksville, Somerset county, by whom he had two children, a son and a daughter: John M., and Mary, wife of Christian Shelter. John M. Harshberger was born on the Wissinger farm, August 13, 1833, and after receiving a good English education taught school for two terms. He then retired from teaching, and since then has devoted his time and attention to the improvement and cultivation of the home farm on which he still resides. In politics he has supported the Republican party since 1861, but is not an active politician. He is a member and minister of the German Baptist church, and has been an active and in- |
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fluential worker in religious affairs for many years. Though in no sense a public man, yet Mr. Harshberger is endowed with strong force of character, and this quality, associated with good judgement and a high sense of honor, has enabled him to exercise unsought a controlling influence in the community where he resides. On Christmas, 1858, Mr. Harshberger married Catherine Wertz, a daughter of Jacob Wertz, of Conemaugh township. To their union have been born eleven children: Cornelius, a member of the firm of J. M. Harshberger & Sons; George M.; Mary Catherine, who died at six years of age; Malinda Jane, wife of Jacob G. Custer; Milton, died in infancy; Minnie E. wife of Samuel W. Pearse, of Johnstown, Ira L., a farmer; Lizzie: Jacob W., a teacher; Edith May, and David, who died in infancy.
THOMAS A. SHARBAUGH, one of the young and progressive business men of Carrolltown, and the efficient cashier of the bank at that place, is a son of John and Mary (Dougherty) Sharbaugh and was born at Summit, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, August 5, 1860. The Sharbaugh family is of German descent, and locate their trans Atlantic home in one of the present states of the great German Empire, whose educational progress and military growth have been so wonderful since its establishment in 1871. From this great land, which was not over powerful fifty years ago, came Jacob Sharbaugh and his family, who landed in the United States in 1832. He soon removed to Carroll township, where he resided until his death. He was a blacksmith by trade, and in religious faith and church membership a Catholic. He married in Germany and had a family of five children, three sons and two daughters: Jacob, who married Mary Noel, and died December 24, 1875, aged |
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