Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Cunningham, Newton F. December 10, 1848 - ???? ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 9, 2025, 6:54 pm Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892. Author: Samuel T. Wiley NEWTON F. CUNNINGHAM, a skillful and experienced workman, and the assistant foreman of the shops of the freight department of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Altoona, is a son of John M. and Catherine (Wilson) Cunningham, and was born at Huntingdon, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, December 10, 1848. John M. Cunningham was a native of Mifflin county, and in early life came to Altoona, where he worked for a short time in the shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and then removed to Huntingdon county, where he died in 1868, at sixty years of age. He was a carpenter and bridge builder by trade, and ran a foundry at Huntingdon for several years before his death. He was a whig and republican in politics, and a regular attendant of the Methodist Episcopal church, and married Catherine Wilson, a native of Georgetown, Maryland, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, who died in 1873, aged seventy-one years. They reared a family of children. One of their sons, James D., enlisted in a Pennsylvania regiment during the late civil war, and was killed at the battle of Cold Harbor, while another son, William F., was killed by an accidental shot while serving as a policeman at Leadville, Colorado. Newton F. Cunningham was reared at Huntingdon, received his education in the common schools, and then learned the trade of carpenter, which he followed for some time. In August, 1870, he came to Altoona, and on the 8th day of that month went to work in the shops of the freight department of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, whose foreman then was Andrew Kipple. He was variously engaged in these shops until he fully mastered all the details of the different kinds of work done in them, and in July, 1887, was appointed by Mr. Kipple as assistant foreman, which position he has held ever since. In 1873 Mr. Cunningham was united in marriage with Ellen Young, of Blair county. To their union have been born six children, three sons and three daughters: Harry, Louisa, Myrtle, James, Raymond, and Minnie. Newton F. Cunningham is a republican in politics, has always given his party an unfaltering support, and served one term as a member of the common council from the Seventh ward. He thoroughly understands the business in which he is engaged, and to whose management he brings twenty-one years of experience, both as a workman and a manager. He is a member of Mountain City Lodge, No. 837, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Cunningham, at different times, invested in real estate in Altoona, which has now become valuable and desirable. Skill marks his work, good judgment has characterized his business transactions, and honor and honesty have stamped all his dealings with his fellow citizens. The Cunninghams are of Irish descent, and the family has been resident of the United States for nearly two centuries. Additional Comments: Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Beth Fladaker Eflad@aol.com This file has been created by a form at http://www.usgwarchives.net/pafiles/ File size: 3.6 Kb