BIO: Samuel A. EISENMAN, Clearfield County, PA
 
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From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 713 & 714.
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  SAMUEL A. EISENMAN, who is the pioneer merchant of the east side of DuBois, 
Pa., a busy section of one of the most prosperous and rapidly developing towns 
of Clearfield county, has been located at his present place of business, on East 
DuBois avenue, since 1885.  He was born on his father's farm in Clarion county, 
Pa., April 2, 1849, and is a son of Joseph H. and Catherine (Hopper) Eisenman.
  Joseph H. Eisenman was born in Germany and was nine years old when his parents 
came to America.  The father entered land in Clarion county, and became a farmer 
and also a distiller, living between Freyburg and Shippensville, Clarion county.  
Joseph H. Eisenman secured a farm near the one his father owned and spent his 
whole subsequent life in Clarion county.  For twenty-two summers he burned 
charcoal for the Madison and Lucinda furnaces.  His death occurred on February 
8, 1877, when he was fifty-seven years of age and his burial was in Clarion 
county.  He married Catherine Hopper, who was born in Center county, Pa., and 
died in 1886.  Eight children were born to them, namely:  John; Hiram; Mary Ann, 
who is the widow of Benjamin Hurley; and Samuel A., Ambrose, Amos, Joseph and 
James.
  Samuel A. Eisenman spent his early years on the home farm and during this time 
attended a district school three miles distant for a part of each winter.  He 
was only a boy when he began to earn money for himself by working by the day for 
neighboring farmers, after that attending school again for a few months.  He 
developed considerable business ability even then and secured his capital for 
entering into the mercantile line by shrewdly purchasing small tracts of timber, 
mainly in Elk county.  In 1876 he embarked in the mercantile business at Elk 
City, Clarion county, which he continued for one year and then sold out and 
became an oil and gas producer in Clarion county.  Strangely enough he did not 
prosper in this line as he had in former undertakings and after five years of 
experience he gave up working in the oil fields and started all over again in 
the lumber and rafting business and continued until 1882, when he came to 
DuBois.  For three years afterward he worked for John DuBois, in the latter's 
saw-mills, and then decided to re-enter the mercantile business, his long 
experience having taught him much of which he had been ignorant before.  He 
bought the land on which his buildings stand and cleared off the timber, 
erecting first a store building of 20 x 40 feet dimensions, in which he opened a 
general store and prospered from the first.  As soon as his trade warranted it 
he put up his present three-story brick and stone block and occupies a store 
room 30 x 100 feet with his mercantile goods and resides in one of the 
comfortable apartments fitted up for family use, on the upper floor.  Through 
careful attention and honest dealings he has developed a very large business and 
is now numbered with the substantial men of the place.  In addition to his other 
enterprise, Mr. Eisenman conducts a flour and feed business, is interested in 
real estate on the east side, has oil and gas interests in Clarion county and is 
a stockholder in the Deposit National Bank of DuBois, Pa.
  On September 21, 1876, Mr. Eisenman was married to Miss Eliza Suffolk, a 
daughter of the late James Suffolk, of Brookville, Pa., and they have two 
children:  Edgar, who is a graduate of the DuBois High School and now a student 
in the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia; and Samuel Alvin, his 
father's namesake.  In politics, Mr. Eisenman is a Democrat and fraternally he 
is a Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge at DuBois, the Chapter at Brookville, 
the Consistory at Williamsport and Jaffa Temple, Mystic Shrine, at Altoona.  He 
is a member and liberal supporter of the Baptist church.  During his long years 
of residence here he has given support to every movement designed to promote the 
general welfare and through example and precept has materially aided in the 
advancement of the town along the best lines of development.