BIOGRAPHY: Mark S. CRESSMAN, Mifflin County, PA 

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The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, 
Pennsylvania.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, page 
429.
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  REV. MARK S. CRESSMAN, Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pa., was born at Barren 
Hill, Montgomery county, Pa., April 13, 1853. He is a son of George W. and 
Sarah A. (Keely) Cressman. His grandparents, Samuel and Mary (Heritage) 
Cressman, had seven children; W. Sylvester, married Amelia Levering; George 
W.; Henry; Mary (Mrs. John Pifer); Henrietta (Mrs. Peacock); Kate (Mrs. 
Gilbert Youngblood); and Louisa, died aged about eighteen. Mrs. Samuel 
Cressman was a daughter of Samuel Heritage, an English schoolmaster who came 
to this country in early times, and for many years was a teacher of music 
and of a school at Barren Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Cressman both died at 
about ninety years of age. Rev. Mr. Cressman's maternal grandparents were 
Henry and Rebecca (Streeper) Keely, whose children are: Edmund; Samuel S.; 
Mark; Caroline; Sarah A. (Mrs. George W. Cressman); Lucinda; and Elizabeth.
  George W. Cressman is a millwright. He has been a contractor, his 
specialty being the erection of paper mills; he constructed the first mill 
of that kind west of the Missouri river. He was for many years 
superintendent of erection for Nelson Gavit, of Philadelphia. Marion, a 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cressman, is deceased; the other children are: Rev. 
Mark S.; Alivia; Howard K., married Anna Rex, and has three children; George 
S. graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, is a practicing physician at 
Pughtown, Chester county, Pa., married Laura Righter, and has two children; 
and Ida R. The father and mother still reside at Barren Hill, Pa.
  After studying the fundamental branches in the common schools of 
Montgomery county, Mark S. Cressman, at the age of twelve, became a pupil in 
a private school, which he attended until he was eighteen. After this, he 
entered Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa., and graduated in 1875; and 
after a three years' course in the Theological Seminary at the same place, 
graduated in 1878, receiving in the same year the degree of A. M. His 
ordination took place at Wrightsville, York county, Pa., in 1878, and on 
July 1, he entered upon his first charge, which was at Bolling Springs, 
Cumberland county, Pa. where he remained four years. Rev. Mr. Cressman was 
then sent to a mission charge in Lincoln, Neb., and there organized the 
first Lutheran church in the city, over which he was pastor for three years. 
Being called to the Lutheran congregation at Muncy, Pa., he assumed that 
charge on February 1, 1885, and served as pastor there for three years. He 
was next for six years and nine months pastor at Lionville, Chester county, 
Pa., and on January 1, 1895, became pastor of the Lutheran church at 
Lewistown. Rev. Mr. Cressman has in recent years given much study to the 
history and the theory of medicine. He is a member of Council No. 934, Royal 
Arcanum, at Lewistown.
  Rev. Mark S. Cressman was married, December 5, 1878, to Mary, daughter of 
Jacob and Jane (Wolff) Streeper, born March 20, 1851. Their children are Una 
born October 25, 1879, died September 12, 1881; Marion, born May 14, 1887, 
died August 2, 1888; a son, who died in early infancy; and Paul G., born 
October 28, 1881, now a member of the junior class in the high school at 
Lewistown. Mrs. Mary Cressman died October 23, 1893. Rev. Mr. Cressman was 
married again, October 9, 1895, to Mary L., daughter of John and Elizabeth 
(King) Mattson, of Chester county, Pa.; she was born August 23, 1868. A 
daughter was born July 17, 1896, and named Alivia.