BIO: George M. HEMPHILL, Beaver County, PA
    
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    BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.  This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches 
    of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.  Buffalo, N.Y., 
    Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 161-162.
    _________________________________________________________________ 
    
    GEORGE M. HEMPHILL. The gentleman whose name heads this sketch is the
  efficient and well-known postmaster of Bridgewater, Beaver county,
  Pennsylvania. He was born in Rochester, Beaver county, and is a son of
  Captain Sharp and Abbie (Bloss) Hemphill.
    
    The great-grandfather, Moses Hemphill, was born in Northampton county, Pa.,
  of English ancestry. His life was spent in his native county, and he reared:
  Joseph, James, Thomas, Mrs. Kerr, and Mrs. Nogle. The grandfather of George
  M., Joseph Hemphill, was born in Northampton county, and became a civil
  engineer and surveyor. Before the year 1800, he went to Beaver county, Pa.,
  and became one of the commissioners to form Beaver county. He served as
  associate judge, county treasurer, and county commissioner, and the first
  surveys and deeds of Beaver county were signed by him. He kept a general
  store in Beaver county, and was well-known throughout its limits. His death
  occurred in 1834, at the age of sixty-two, and his wife, who was formerly
  Jean Hay, died at the age of seventy-seven. They were both buried in Beaver
  county. Their children were as follows: James W.; Cynthia, who married Dr.
  Smith Cunningham; Jane, who married John English; Nancy, who married Samuel
  R. Dunlap; Thomas; Ellen, who married Alex Scott; Mary, who married Joseph
  Moorehead; Margaret, who married Thomas Cunningham; and Captain Sharp, the
  father of the subject of this sketch.
    
    Captain Sharp Hemphill was born in Beaver county, in the town of Beaver,
  and was educated in the old Beaver Academy. For a short time, he was
  interested in mercantile business, and then he went on the Ohio River as a
  steamboat clerk. He continued work on the river for forty-five years, and
  was, for many years, captain of steamboats running from Pittsburg to New
  Orleans, and also from St. Louis to Fort Benton. Often, in the pioneer days,
  when he was on the Missouri River, the boats were shot at by Indians. He
  served in the 101st Reg. of Pa. Vol., in the reserve corps, and was a Mason.
  He became paralyzed in his later life, and died at his home in Bridgewater,
  Pa., at the age of seventy-two. He married Abbie Bloss, a daughter of Chester
  W. Bloss, of Peacham, Vt., and she is still living at the age of seventy-two.
  The children which resulted from this union are as follows: Emma, who married
  John Coleman, of Bridgewater, Pa.; George M., the subject of this sketch;
  Clarence, a glass worker at
    
    162  BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
    
  Rochester, Pa.; Jean, deputy postmistress of Bridgewater, Pa.; Mary;
  Joseph, who married Annie Brunell, and lives in Pittsburg, - having two
  children, - Grace and Edith: Alice, who married John Thornely, of Beaver
  Falls, and has two children, - Arthur and Mildred; and Edith, who married H.
  B. Twitmyer, of Pittsburg.
    
    George Hemphill, the subject of this biography, attended the schools of
  Rochester, Pa., and was employed at glass houses in Rochester and Monaca for
  nineteen years. He also spent several years on the river, and has been
  engaged in various occupations. He settled in Bridgewater, and June 1, 1897,
  was selected as postmaster to succeed L. F. Weyman. Mr. Hemphill is a member
  of the K. of P. He is well known in the vicinity, and takes an active
  interest in all affairs which are for the good of the community.