OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

225

ried Elizabeth Laferty, a daughter of George Laferty, a resident of Blair county. They have six children, two sons and four daughters: Peter P., in the railroad service, married Lizzie Berghane; Annie, wife of Wm. Davis, of Ebensburg, whose sketch appears elsewhere; Ella, married James Karr, of Maybeury, West Virginia; Sadie, wife of J. K. Barlow, also of Maybeury; Mamie and G. I.      Unpretentious and unassuming, Mr. Sipe has lived the life of a good and useful citizen, and as a business man is in the front rank of the milling industry of Cambria county. His politics have always been in harmony with the Republican party, and in religion he is identified with the Evangelical Lutheran church, in which he has been a member of deacon for several years. PETER L. CARPENTER, the genial proprietor of the Capital Hotel at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is a conspicuous example of the right man in the right place. He is a son of Joshua F. and Catherine (Levy) Carpenter, and was born in Johnstown, Sept. 10, 1855.      His father is of English descent, and was born in Bedford Co., Feb. 19, 1825. He located in Johnstown at the time the Pennsylvania railroad was opened for travel, about 1852, and was the first drayman to haul goods from the depot into the town. In 1858 he moved to Jennertown, Somerset county, where he kept hotel for three years. He then came back to Johnstown, and engaged in the manufacture of the famous "Carpenter's Linament," which is sold all over the country. In addition to the reputation he acquired as the proprietor of the liniment, he became known as an auctioneer. He is possessed of ready wit, and a no less ready command of the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect, and an action conducted by

Mr. Carpenter in both English and Dutch, interspersed with ready-made jokes and songs, was worth going miles to hear. His constant traveling as salesman and auctioneer gave him a personal acquaintance with nearly every man, woman and child in Cambria and the surrounding counties.     Our subject's maternal grandfather, Peter Levy, was for more than fifty years a resident of Davidsville, Somerset county. He was a merchant, and held the offices of county surveyor and justice of the peace. Squire Levy was well kown for his sound judgment and unimpeachable honesty. He was a man of great vitality, and lived to be about ninety-two years of age.      Our subject was brought up in Johnstown, and attended the public schools. He enjoys the memory of his "first trip to school," which was made on the stalwart shoulders of ex-Mayor Boyd, to the school-house at Jennertown. After leaving school he secured a position in the steel works department of the Cambria Iron company. He held this position for ten years, then resigned, and, with the late Henry Danges, drove overland to Michigan. After traveling through the West for a time, he secured employment at the Bass Machine works at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Two years afterwards he returned to Johnstown, and opened a restaurant under the famous Hulbert House, which was destroyed in the great flood. He conducted this for three years, then moved to the site of the present restaurant on Franklin street, which is still owned y him, but is managed for him by his brother George. He was very successful in the restaurant business, and on December 2, 1893, took possession of theCambria Club house, owned by the Cambria Iron company. He changed the name to the Capital Hotel,

Title Page

Contents

Image

Index