BIOGRAPHY: Anthony ANNA, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 453-4
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ANTHONY ANNA, an ex-auditor and an ex-county commissioner of Cambria county, is 
the present burgess and one of the justices of the peace of Hastings. He is a 
son of Francis and Mary (Seller) Anna, and was born in a Rhine river province of 
the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, February 15, 1834. 
     Francis Anna was born, reared and received his education in western 
Bavaria. He was born in November, 1804, and at a proper age became an apprentice 
to a baker, with whom he learned the trade of baking. His early years were 
passed in a stormy period of war, dissension and suffering, and he followed his 
trade in his native kingdom until he was thirty-nine years of age. He then, in 
1843, embarked with his family on board a sailing vessel and came to the United 
States. Soon after landing in this country he came westward and settled in 
Cambria county, where he purchased a tract of woodland in Carroll township, and 
turned his attention to clearing it and making a farm. He turned his timber 
largely into lumber, and in a few years had a good farm, a part of which he sold 
in lots when the town of Patton was laid out adjoining his property. He was 
industrious and steady, a good neighbor and a well-respected citizen. He was a 
member of the Catholic church. He married Mary Seiler, who was born in Bavaria, 
and to their union were born nine children, of whom three grew to maturity 
Anthony, Charles, who owns the home farm, and Christina, who married Vitus 
Pherston.
     Anthony Anna passed the first nine years of his life in his native land, 
where he learned to read, write and cipher, and after his parents brought him to 
Cambria county, notwithstanding the poor educational facilities then existing 
there, he obtained a good common-school English education. Leaving school, and 
having no desire to learn a trade, he remained on the farm with his father, and 
was engaged in agricultural employments until he was twenty-three years of age. 
He then bought a tract of woodland in what was then Chest, but is now Elder 
township, and immediately set to work to clear out a farm. He cut his timber and 
rafted it down the Susquehanna river to market, and in a few years had made a 
fine farm, which is now well improved and in a good state of cultivation. 
Patient, persevering and energetic, he made his way slowly but surely, and in 
1890 removed to Hastings, where he has resided ever since.
     Anthony Anna was married on November 19, 1856, to Mary E. Hahn. To their 
union were born nine children, of whom six grew to maturity: Charles C., a 
carpenter and farmer, who now resides at St. Boniface; Jacob W., proprietor of a 
hotel at St. Boniface; John, Anthony and Thomas, who are now dead; and Matilda, 
wife of Henry Miller, a resident of Hastings.
     Since coming to Hastings Mr. Anna has been kept constantly busy in a public 
capacity. He is a democrat in politics, and while on the farm, in 1870, was 
elected as a county auditor. At the end of his term, in 1873, he was elected as 
a county commissioner and served acceptably in that position for three years, 
during one year of which time he was president of the board of commissioners. In 
1885 he was elected as a justice of the peace in Elder township for a term of 
four years, and at the expiration of his term removed to Hastings, where he was 
immediately elected as justice of the peace and re-elected in 1895. While 
serving his first term at Hastings as justice of the peace, Squire Anna was 
elected, in 1893, as burgess for one year, and in 1894 was reelected as burgess 
for a term of three years. He also served for sixteen years as a school director 
in Chest township, and for one term as a director of the poor for Cambria 
county. Squire Anna is a member of the Catholic church. He has served 
efficiently and acceptably in all of the different offices to which he has been 
elected by his fellow-citizens, and ranks as one of the substantial and active 
business men of Hastings.