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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

Coal company, opened the mines which they operate near Lilly, and has since had charge of their interests in that locality. His long experience in the various mines renders Mr. Evans eminently capable to fill with satisfaction the responsible position which he now holds.     Mr. Evans is a staunch prohibitionist, and takes a deep interest in all political issues. He is an active and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which organization he occupies the office of steward, and is also secretary of the board of trustees. He is a member of Mount Tabor Lodge, No. 125, I.O.O.F.     In 1882 he married Miss Lizzie Gunter, a daughter of Joseph Gunter, of Shenandoah, Schuylkill county. CELESTINE J. BLAIR, ex-register and recorder of Cambria county, is a son of John and Mary Ann (Evans) Blair, and was born August 11, 1857, in Ebensburg, this county.     He was educated in the public schools and Mount Gallitzin seminary, of Ebensburg. In those days his father was a very active and prominent politician of the county, and young Celestine was soon inducted into public life. In 1879 he entered the office of the county treasurer as deputy, where he remained nine months, and shortly afterwards entered the office of register and recorder. His father having been elected sheriff of the county, he became his father's deputy, and continued in that relation the full term of three years. His father was followed in that office by Joseph A. Gray, and Mr. Blair was made his deputy, serving in that capacity until he was elected to the office of register and recorder, in the autumn of 1886. He served in that office

one term, and that his administration of its affairs was satisfactory to the public, is evidenced by the fact that he was re-elected.     September 10, 1880, Mr. Blair married Kate M. Fenlon, a daughter of John Fenlon (whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume), and their marriage has been blessed in the birth of twelve children: Frank J., Mary Grace, Maria Marmaleta, deceased; Ellen M., deceased; C. Louisa, Pauline, Jessie M., Katherine, Jeanette, deceased; Celestine J., Fenlon L., Marian, Basil, deceased, and four died young. DR. JOHN MURPHY, a physician and general practitioner of Loretto, this county, is a son of John and Lucinda (Todd) Murphy, and was born in Ebensburg, this county, September 23, 1855. The Murphy family is of Irish descent.     Michael Murphy (great-grandfather) was born in Ireland, whence he emigrated to America and became one of the early settlers of Cambria county, locating in the county about the time Father Gallitzin came to Loretto. Mr. Murphy cleared a farm and engaged in agriculture.     Michael Murphy (grandfather) was born in Cambria county, and, being reared a farmer-boy, adopted the avocation of his father and followed farming all his life. He married Miss Margaret Fields, and to their union four children were born, three sons and one daughter. Of this family John Murphy, father of our subject, was the youngest child. He was born in Cambria county, and died in Ebensburg in 1855, when about twenty-one years old. He was a carpenter by trade, and, like his ancestors, was a member of the Roman Catholic church. He married Lucinda Todd, a daughter of David Todd, a cabinet-maker of

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