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CHAPTER XXII.

OLD FAMILIES IN THE COUNTY.

There are today within the county limits, many families whose ancestors were residents of it a hundred or even a hundred and thirty-seven years ago, in 1770, when it was necessary for them to go to Carlisle to transact legal business.

The history of nations is in reality the history of families. In the family record of Levi Roberts it is related that the deception of a white man caused the cruel murder of his father, Joseph Roberts, by the Indians, or in that of the Adams families, where Samuel fought to his death within three miles of Johnstown. Isaac Edward Roberts, of said city, and his sister, Mrs. Almira Jackson, are representatives of the oldest family in the county, as their great-grandmother was the widow of Samuel Adams. (See Adams-Proctor-Roberts families.)

The pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620 probably did not suffer more in their pioneer life than did those at Loretto, Ebensburg and Beula. In search of independence and liberty, many of them crossed the seas and founded new homes in the wilderness-Morgan John Rhys at Beula, and Demetrius A. Gallitizin at Loretto-while others in advance of the tide of civilization came from the east as the McGuires, and George Roberts who with his wife and other companions walked from Philadelphia to establish a new home in Ebensburg. The story of the life of Joseph Johns and John Horner in Johnstown gives us an interesting account of the manner of living in those days.

Of these families who have been here for more than a hundred years there are probably one hundred and twenty-five, of whom the following seventy are among the number.

Adams, Samuel, Ann, Solomon and Rachel, (See Early Settlers; also Jesse Proctor).

Bender, John Jacob, born January 31, 1740, in Westphalia, Germany; located near Carrolltown about 1795, and died there December 6, 1828. (See family records).

Benshoff, Paul. He came to Cambria county prior to 1799, as his name appears on the books of John Horner for that

year; died in December, 1854. It is believed he came from Lancaster county. At first he located above what is now Franklin borough, but at the time of the pumpkin flood he was farming the lowland which is now the Fifteenth and Sixteenth wards. His wife's name was Barbara. They had nine children: 1. Elizabeth married Jacob Knable, and lived in West Taylor township. 2. Susan became the wife of Frederick Cobaugh. 3. John married Catherine Levergood and moved to Iowa. (See Peter Levergood). 4. Eli, born 1806; died in Minersville, 1855; he married Elizabeth Strayer. Two children grew to maturity: Benjamin, who married Catherine Snyder, Nov. 20, 1856, and celebrated their golden wedding last November; and Rachel who married John Teeter. The children of Benjamin are: Eli, married Elanora Blough; Mary, married Samuel L. Stuver; Barbara, married Frank Burkhart; Elizabeth, deceased; Rachel; Benjamin, Jr., married Ruth Hunt; Jennie, married Frank Goughnour; Christ; Martha, married John Lewis; Nannie; John; David, married Lucinda St. Clair; Lewis; married Bertha Eppley; and William Benshoff. 5. Paul, born 1808, married Rachel Strayer and removed to Iowa. 6. Lewis, born 1811, married Christina Hildebrand; they resided in West Taylor township. 7. Daniel, died in his youth. 8. Solomon, born 1818; died in 1894, in West Taylor township; his first wife was a Miss Hildebrand, and they had four children: Daniel, contracted disease in the Union army and came home and died; John J., married Sarah McCartney; Susan, married Abraham Riblett; Hannah, married Jonas F. Goughnour. His second wife was the widow Hildebrand; and his third was Susan Stuver; they had nine children: Paul, married Lilly Cartiff; Sarah, married William Lippincott; Emma, at home; Mary M., married Lewis Stutzman; Abbie B.; Barbara E.; Elizabeth M. and George are at home; Annie V., married Miles Hammers. 9. Martha, born September 6, 1820, married Capt. John Strayer in 1837; she died in Waterloo, Iowa, in March, 1907.

Burgoon, Robert. In 1799 he kept a road house on the old Galbraith road, now in Munster township, known as the "Storm" place. It was the oldest inn in the county, having been erected about 1790. In those days hotels were few and far between, and teamsters would often remain at his house two or three nights; when darkness approached they would unhitch and ride to the inn, and returning to their wagons in the morning they would travel until evening, again returning for the

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night. Many of his descendants reside in the county, among whom are F. J. Burgoon, of Cresson; J. G. Brawley and Mrs. Thomas Borkey, of Portage; Jesse Dimond, of Summerhill township, whose mother, Catherine Burgoon, was born in the inn mentioned in 1807, and died in 1898.

Canan, Moses. The Canan family is one of the oldest families in this community and the adjoining county of Huntingdon. Moses Canan was born March 1, 1784, in a log cabin in Hartslog Valley, then Bedford county, but now Huntingdon; he died in Johnstown, September 29, 1863. His grandparents were Moses and Hannah Canan, of Ireland. John Canan, his father, was born in Ireland in 1746; his mother, Margery Dean, also born there, came to America before the Revolution, and they were married here. John Canan was second lieutenant in the 2d Pennsylvania Regiment in 1777. In 1786 and '87 he was a member of the general assembly from Bedford county. He was also a member of the supreme executive council from 1787 to 1790. Under the constitution of 1790 he was appointed an associate judge and he was again a member of the assembly from Huntingdon county from 1791 to '94, and senator from Huntingdon and Bedford from 1795 to 1799. He owned a large estate in land, and late in life entered the forge and furnace business, being unfortunate in his investment. He died in 1831, at the age of 85 years. Margery Dean Canan died in 1815, when she was 55 years old.

Moses Canan had three sisters and five brothers; Hannah, born July 5, 1778, married James Gray; Catherine, born August 1, 1781, married first Rev. Alexander McIlwain, second, Thomas Jackson; Sarah died when two years of age; James Canan, born July 25, 1786; Henry, born May 1, 1790; John, born August 25, 1792; Robert, born February 25, 1796; Samuel, born May 10, 1801. John died in Armagh, Indiana county, about 1836. In his early youth he attended school when there were but three books used: Dilworth's Speller and Arithmetic, and the Bible, but at the age of ten he began the study of Greek and Latin under the tutelage of Rev. John Johnston, of Huntingdon, entering Dickinson College at Carlisle in 1800. In 1804 he became a student of the law in the office of Jonathan Henderson, of Huntingdon, and finished his study with William Rawle, of Philadelphia. In January, 1806, he was admitted to the Huntingdon bar. September 8, 1807, he and Mary Henderson were married. She was a daughter of Major William

Henderson, who had been a captain in the Revolutionary war. She died in December, 1833, age 49 years. They had nine children: Margaret Wilkin, born June 16, 1808, died July 29, 1829, Mary Catherine, born June 30, 1810; John James, born April 24, 1813; William Henderson, born August 3, 1815; Margery Dean, born November 28, 1817, died March 31, 1820; Moses Andrew, born June 19, 1820, died October 6, 1845; Robert Henry, born October 31, 1822, died July 5, 1873; Charlotte Lucretia, born November 17, 1824, married Rev. Israel C. Pershing; and Samuel Dean Canan, born February 16, 1827, now residing in Johnstown.

In the spring of 1811 Moses Canan gave up the practice of law in Huntingdon and removed to Rockview Farm, six miles north of the town. In September, 1812, he commanded the Juniata Volunteers, and took them to Buffalo, where the Company was discharged December 31, 1812. His regiment was commanded by Col. Jeremiah Snider, and the brigade commander was Gen. Adamson Tannehill. Captain Canan also acted as brigade judge advocate. For services in that war he received two warrants for land from the federal government, one for 40 acres and the other for 120 acres. In May, 1818, he sold his farm to John Neff and moved to Ebensburg. He was the first lawyer to locate there and practiced until he moved to Johnstown in 1837. That same year he was united in marriage with Eliza Rudesill, a daughter of Frederick and Catherine Sharretts. In 1855 he was appointed an associate judge of the court of common pleas for Cambria county, and served for more than a year, after which he retired from active professional service.

Collins, Peter. On May 18, 1820, he and Sarah Meloy, then the widow of Charles Friel, were married by Father Gallitzin. He died February 22, 1875. Mr. Collins located at Munster, where all his children were born, excepting Catherine, born at Freeport. There were seven sons and five daughters: 1. Philip, born April 1, 1821; died February 24, 1895; married Margaret Noon, June 17, 1854; his second marriage was with Mrs. Maude Kittell-Scanlan. 2. James, born October 10, 1822; died March 22, 1869. 3. Thomas, born March 8, 1824; died September 25, 1898; married Sarah Murray, September 16, 1856. 4. Elizabeth, born October 12, 1825, and died April 24, 1902. 5. Cornelius, born December 8, 1826, and died September 14, 1861. 6. Catherine, born December 8, 1826, and died September 30,

1858. 7. Mary, born February 20, 1831; married James Henry, January 22, 1850, and died April 10, 1851. 8. John, born September 8, 1833, died in infancy. 9. Peter, born May 10, 1834, and married Susan Shoales in 1867; they have four daughters; Mary, Susan, Anna and Bertha, and reside at St. David, a suburban village near Philadelphia. 10. Sarah, born July 12, 1836; resides in Bellefonte. 11. John, born 1837; died June 15, 1857. 12. Ellen, born January 29, 1839, and in May, 1860, married Edward Shoemaker; they had two children.

It is one of the old and strong families of the county. Philip, Thomas and Peter Collins were contractors, principally on railroads, and were successful in every undertaking, with the exception of the Brazilian expedition, which failed not through any neglect or fault of theirs however. Philip built the Ebensburg branch and completed it December 2, 1861. Thomas is the only one who held office; he was elected to the general assembly in 1852 and '53, and in 1894 he accepted the Democratic nomination for secretary of internal affairs, as a good party man should do, just to fill in. A further reference to them appears in the chapter on the "Political Review" of the county. They were always modest and unassuming, yet they were always the leaders.

Philip and Thomas Collins were concerned in the ill-fated Brazilian expedition. They undertook to build the Madeira and Mamore railroad around the falls and rapids of the Madeira river, in Brazil. Peter Collins was not a partner, but was in charge of the work part of the time. The object of the enterprise was to establish a system of steam transportation from the interior of Bolivia. Bolivia had at that time a little sea coast which it has since lost. The eastern slope of the Andes is so rugged as to render impracticable if not impossible the extension of railways from the Pacific coast into northern and eastern Bolivia. The nineteen falls and rapids of the Madeira river are the only obstructions to steam navigation between Para, near the mouth of the Amazon river, and the heart of this vast and fertile field. The only method of transporting gold, silver and rubber from Bolivia is by pack-mules across the Andes mountains. The estimated length of the Madeira and Mamore railroad was 180 miles from San Antonio, the present head of steam navigation on the Madeira river, around the falls and rapids to Guajara-Merim, on the Mamore river. The largest of the falls are Salto do Ribeirao, which has a fall of

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