BIOGRAPHY: Andrew ECKENRODE, 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. 446-7
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ANDREW ECKENRODE, a leading merchant and the present postmaster of Carrolltown, 
is a son of John and Barbara (Illig) Eckenrode, and was born in Carroll 
township, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1840. The Eckenrodes, as the 
name would indicate, are of German descent, and John Eckenrode, Sr., in all 
probability, was a native of Maryland. He was a farmer and a Catholic, and 
settled near St. Augustine, this county, when that section of the county was 
largely in woods. He reared a family of fifteen children, eight sons and seven 
daughters.
     John Eckenrode was born in Maryland in 1806, and died at Carrolltown in 
1880, aged seventy-four years. He commenced life in Carroll township with no 
means, and built a log cabin in the woods, where, by hard labor, he cleared out 
a farm which became very valuable in later years. He was successful as a farmer 
and general business man, and at the time of his death possessed considerable 
wealth. He was a member of the Catholic church, and in politics was a democrat. 
He held several township offices, serving for quite a number of years as school 
director. He married Barbara Illig, who died in 1881, aged seventy-four years. 
They reared a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters: John C., 
now dead; Joseph, a farmer of Chickasaw county, Iowa; Anna, widow of Earhart 
Farbaugh, of Allegheny township; Mary M., wife of Adam Schultig, of Cambria 
township; Andrew, Henry J., a farmer and Miller, and Catherine, widow of John 
McNulty, of Carrolltown.
     Andrew Eckenrode was reared on the farm, received his education in the 
common schools, and at eighteen years of age left home to learn the carpenter 
trade, which he followed for eight years. He bought a farm and sawmill near the 
site of Spangler, in Susquehanna township, and was engaged in farming and 
lumbering up to 1880. In that year he came to Carrolltown and opened his present 
general mercantile establishment. He carries a very full stock of everything in 
his line of business, and has a good patronage.
     On November 25, 1868, Mr. Eckenrode married Mary M. Gotner, whose father, 
Peter Gotner, was a resident of Carroll township. They have nine children: Ida 
M., assistant in the Carrolltown post-office; Etta, wife of F. N. Donahue, of 
Hastings; Melvina, William H., a printer; Henry E., attending St. Vincent's 
college at Latrobe, Westmoreland county, and Estella, Ellen May, Myrtle and 
Vera, who are still at home.
     Andrew Eckenrode has always been a democrat in political opinion. He has 
served several terms as a member of the school board, of which he has been both 
secretary and president. In 1888 he was elected burgess of Carrolltown, and is a 
member of the present borough council, besides serving two terms as treasurer 
and as collector. In February, 1894, he was appointed by President Cleveland as 
postmaster of Carrolltown, which position he still holds. He is a member of the 
Catholic church. Mr. Eckenrode is a pleasant and congenial gentleman, a good 
business man and a respected citizen, who never slights a duty nor neglects a 
friend.