Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Forney, Elsworth S. December 28, 1863 - ????
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 11, 2025, 12:30 pm

Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

ELSWORTH S. FORNEY,
a prominent real estate dealer of Altoona, and a member of the plumbing firm
of Forney Brothers, is the youngest son of John B. and Eliza (Richey) Forney,
and was born in the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania, December 28, 1863. The
Forneys came from old German stock, the grandfather of Elsworth S. having
left the Fatherland when a youth, to settle in Bedford county, Pennsylvania.
There he grew to manhood and married, and later in life became the proprietor
of a distillery, which he operated for some years. He also owned a fine farm
in Bedford county, and was prosperous and successful in business. He died
there in 1854, at the advanced age of sixty-five years. He married and reared
a family of children. John B. Forney (father) was born in Bedford county, this
State, but removed to Altoona, Blair county, in 1863, where he has resided
until now. In early life he learned the trade of wagon maker, and has
followed that occupation most of his life. He also engaged to some extent in
contracting, and served as a private for six months during the civil war. In
1888 he was elected on the democratic ticket to the position of alderman from
the Second ward, for a term of five years. He is now serving in that capacity,
and takes an active interest in politics. He is a member of the German
Reformed church, and by his marriage to Eliza Richey had a family of four
children: Harry F., Blair E., Cora B., and Elsworth S. Mrs. Forney is a
native of Bedford county, a member of the German Reformed church, and is now
in her forty-ninth year.
      Elsworth S. Forney was reared in Altoona, receiving a good English
education in the public schools of that city, and after completing his
studies learned the trade of carpenter. He followed that occupation in a
general way for nearly four years, when he was offered and accepted a
position in the car shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Altoona, in
which he remained for more than five years. He then took a course of training
in the Mound City Business college at Altoona, after which he spent some time
traveling in the west, visiting a number of the leading towns and cities in
the western States. In 1887 he returned to Altoona, and for a short time was
employed in his father's wagon-making shop, but in the fall of that year
embarked in the gentlemens furnishing goods business in that city. He was
building up a good trade, with every prospect of financial success, when
during the following summer a disastrous fire destroyed his store and stock,
compelling him to resume work as a carpenter. He went to work again in the
railroad shops in Altoona, but one year later became a member of the firm of
H. F. Forney & Bros., who were in the plumbing business there, and has been
connected with that firm to the present time. The firm is composed of the
three brothers, Harry F., Blair E., and Elsworth S. Forney. They do an
extensive business, generally conceded to be the largest of its kind in the
city. In 1889 Mr. Forney began dealing in real estate in connection with the
plumbing business, and now handles considerable property of that kind, having
made some important deals. He is a stockholder in both the Standard and Mutual
building and loan associations of Altoona, and is serving as a director in
each of these organizations. He is also a member and the manager of a trust
company of that city, formed for the purpose of buying and selling real estate.
      On December 16, 1888, Mr. Forney was wedded to Ada Overdorff, a
daughter of Isaac and Mary E. Overdorff, of Johnstown, this State. He is a
member of the German Reformed church, and of Camp No. 31, Patriotic Order
Sons of America, in which latter he has filled the chair of vice-president,
and has represented his camp in two State conventions of the order.
      Politically Mr. Forney is a straight democrat, always giving his party
and its principles a uniform support. He is very popular with his party
associates, and was elected to the office of assessor for the Second ward of
Altoona in 1888, and was the democratic candidate for councilman from that
ward the following year, but was defeated by a small majority. He has been a
member of the democratic county committee for three years, and three times a
delegate to the county conventions of the Democratic party.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Linda Shillinger  LindasTree@AOL.COM.

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