Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Burley, Jonathon H. October 3, 1822 - ????
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Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

JONATHAN H. BURLEY,
the senior member of the business firm of Burley & Graham, is a descendant of
the old pioneer Burley family of Sinking valley, whose progenitor was
descended from Lord Burleigh, of England.  He is a son of Joseph and
Mary(Hopkins)Burley, and was born October 3, 1822, in the house in which his
grandfather lived and his parents were married, and in which he was married
the second time, in Antis township, Blair (then Huntington) county,
Pennsylvania. The Burleys are of English extraction, and the name Burley was
originally written Burleigh, as they are descended from Lord Burleigh, who
figured so conspicuously in English history during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth. Prior to the American revolution, three of his descendants who
were brothers, came to America and settled respectively in New England,
Virginia and New Jersey.  The brother who settled in New Jersey was Isaac
Burley, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch.  In 1798 he came
to Sinking valley, where he died, and of his children, Isaac was killed in
Ohio by Indians, Joseph died young, Jacob went to West Virginia, and John
(grandfather) remained in Sinking valley.  John Burley was a farmer by
occupation, and died in 1823.  He married Elizabeth Roller, who died at
ninety-three years of age, and was a daughter of Jacob Roller, a native of
Holland, who settled in Sinking valley with his family of seven sons and two
daughters. The sons were: Jacob, who was killed by Indians in Tyrone
township, as is related elsewhere in this volume; John, Henry, Baltser, and
Caleb, who went west, and Philip and Peter, who remained in Huntingdon
county.  John and Elizabeth (Roller) Burley had six sons and two daughters,
of whom were: Joshua, Jacob, John, Joseph and William.  Joseph Burley
(father) was born in Sinking valley, May 1,1798 and died at Tyrone, June 17,
1873.  He was a stonecutter by trade, a farmer by occupation, a whig and
republican in politics, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.  On
January 10, 1822 he married Mary Hopkins, who was born October 8, 1790, in
Chester county, and died January 12, 1875 at Tyrone.  They had four children,
three sons and one daughter: Jonathan II; Sanford D., a millwright, who
married Susan Phillips, and resides in Tyrone; Martin, of Tyrone, who served
in the Federal army from 1861 to 1865, as a soldier in the 14th Pennsylvania
Infantry for three months, and then as a corporal in the 2nd Pennsylvania
Cavalry for three years; and Margaret, who married William Neveling and is
now dead.
      Jonathan Burley received his education in the old subscription schools
of that part of Huntingdon which is now Blair county, and learned the trade
of cabinet maker at the village of Warrior's Mark.  He then worked as a
journeyman until the fall of 1851, when he came to Tyrone, where he engaged
in the dry goods and grocery business, which he followed for three years.  At
the end of that time, in 1854, he opened a cabinet making and furniture
establishment, which he operated until 1863, when he associated with himself
as a partner in the store and furniture business Frank Cramer, under the firm
name of Burley & Cramer. This firm lasted until 1881, when Mr. Cramer retired,
and Martin Burley came into the new firm, which continued until March 1891. 
In September of that year Mr. Burley formed a partnership with Samuel Graham,
under the firm name of Burley & Graham, undertakers. 
      Jonathan H. Burley has been twice married.  On January 9, 1851, he
married Susanna, daughter of John A. and Edith Neveling, and who died May 20,
1867, and who left four children: Edith; Melissa, wife of Dr. H.J. Evans, a
homeopathic physician of Altoona; Mary Etta, and Bertha. Mr. Burley was
remarried on March 16, 1870, to Elizabeth J. McFarland, who was a daughter of
Alexander and Jane McFarland, of Antis township, and died in September 4,
1874, leaving one child, Jennie, who attended Indiana State Normal School of
Indiana, this State, and Chambersburg College, and is now a teacher in the
public schools of Tyrone. 
      In politics Mr. Burley was formerly a whig, but is now a republican. He
was the first burgess of Tyrone, which position he held for eighteen months. 
He served two terms as school director, and also two terms as a member of the
town council.  He has always resided in the county, excepting the years 1844,
1845 and 1846, which he spent in Cleveland and New Orleans.  Mr. Burley is a
man of good judgment in financial matters, has a large trade in his
particular lines of business, and in every public office which he has held he
has rendered good service with credit to himself. 

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Christy Stiles

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