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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

About a half a century after the organization of the county, there began a great development of the mineral wealth of Cambria county, especially in the neighborhood of Johnstown; this led to a great influx of Welsh, both from Wales and the eastern part of our own State. The Welsh have long been noted for their skill as miners and iron-workers, and those who settled in Johnstown by their skill and energy did much to give the iron mills of that city a world-wide reputation. So favorably was the work of these men known to capitalists engaged in the coal and iron trade, that there is scarcely a mill west of the Allegheny mountains in which some of them or their descendants are not employed as superintendents or master mechanics. Such names as Jones, James, Morgan, Williams, Lewis, etc., are of frequent occurrence among the superintendents, inventors and mechanics, who have placed the United States in advance of all other nations in the production of iron and steel.      From such stock as this the subject of this sketch, William P. Reese, is proud to trace his descent. He is a son of William D. and Mary Lewis Reese, and was born at Johnstown, January 7, 1863.      His father, William D. Reese, was born in Wales, and was an iron-worker by trade. He was ambitious and enterprising, and emigrated to America about the year 1848. He first located in the State of Maryland; from there he moved to Pittsburg [sic], and finally came to Johnstown in 1853, where he remained until the time of his death, which occurred in 1866.      William was thus left an orphan at an early age; as soon as he was old enough to be admitted, he was sent to the public schools in Millsville borough, and continued to attend until he completed the course. He then be-

came a student of the State Normal school at Indiana, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in the class of 1882. He is now president of the Conemaugh Valley Alumni association of his Alma Mater.      After graduating he taught in the public schools of Millville borough until 1886; he was elected superintendent of the borough schools, and was re-elected annually until the borough was merged in the city of Johnstown in 1890.      While engaged in teaching, Mr. Reese employed his vacations and spare moments in the study of law under the preceptorship of Col. H. H. Kuhn, and in January, 1891, was admitted to practice as a member of the Cambria county bar, and has since practiced his profession in Johnstown, where he occupies an office in the Alma Hall building. Mr. Reese is a gentleman of fine literary tastes, and is familiar with the greatest English and American authors, whose best works find a place on the shelves of his library.      In politics Mr. Reese is a republican, and is known as a "stalwart." Since boyhood he has taken an active interest in the success of his party. During President Harrison's term he served as deputy collector of internal revenue, and at the election of 1896 was elected a member of the State legislature. JOHN W. WALTERS, a leading lumber dealer and a citizen highly respected in Johnstown, this county, is the son of Rev. Philip and Magdalene (Thomas) Walters, and was born October 16, 1861, in Llangadock, Wales. He is the nearest living descendant of the great Welsh hymnologist, Williams, Pantycelyn, whose humns are sung by all the Welsh churches all over the world.      He was the first member of his immediate

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