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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

does everything he can to uphold and promote in his community the cause of the Democratic party.     Fraternally he is a member of Valley Castle, No. 261, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and religiously of the Lutheran church. April 14, 1887, he wedded Lizzie Harshberger, a daughter of John and Louvina Harshberger, of Somerset county, and four children have been born to their union.     Herman W. was born March 4, 1888, and died March 2, 1890; Cora May was born October 30, 1889; Mabel Edith was born August 9, 1891, and died December 29, 1893; Harry E. was born July 29, 1893. Lizzie Harshberger, wife of Peter C. Ott, was born July 22, 1862. JONATHAN CUSTER, one of the prominent citizens of Vinco, Jackson township, is a son of Frederick and Sophia (Fisher) Custer, and was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, near Scalp Level, September 11, 1838.     Frederick Custer was born in Maryland and moved with his family to Somerset county Pennsylvania, when Jonathan was about fifteen years of age, and came to this county in 1833, locating in Richland township, where he resided up to his death, in 1881, aged eighty years. He was a member of the Evangelical church, and followed farming, having cleared up a fine tract of land. He was highly esteemed for his qualities as a Christian gentleman and a citizen.     Grandfather, John Custer, was a native of Maryland, but removed to Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He was a shoemaker and also a farmer by occupation. He resided in Somerset county until his death. Great-grandfather Custer was a native of Holland. The mother of Jonathan Custer was a native of Somerset

county, and was greatly revered for her many virtues. She was born in Somerset county, and died in 1875, aged sixty-nine years. She was a member of the Evangelical church.     Martin Fisher, father of Mrs. Custer, and grandfather of Jonathan, was a native of Germany, and came to the United States when a young man. Soon after his arrival he married and located in Somerset county, where he resided until his death at an advanced age. Like most of the early settlers in that county he followed agricultural pursuits.     Jonathan Custer, the subject of this sketch, was reared principally in Richland township, Cambria county, and his educational training was received in the common schools. He learned the trade of a blacksmith, and followed that calling in Richland until the spring of 1858, when he located at Vinco, continuing the business of blacksmithing until 1883, when he retired. He owns a farm in Jackson township.     Mr. Custer was married in 1852 to Miss Frances, daughter of Samuel Ream, of Conemaugh township. They have two sons and three daughters living: Emanuel; Frederick; Elizabeth, married to Jacob H. Stiffler, a farmer of Jackson township; Sophia, married to William Davis, of Conemaugh; Annie, married to Samuel Sinsibaugh, of Conemaugh. Mr. Custer has been actively interested in public affairs, and has filled nearly all the elective offices in his township. JOHN H. HORROCKS, a veteran Union soldier, and chief of the Johnstown fire department, is a son of Jonathan and Sarah (Wilson) Horrocks, and was born at Pottsville, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1848. Jonathan Horrocks is a native of Lancashire, England, and in 1840 came to Schuylkill county, which he left fifteen years later to

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