Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Halton, John August 15, 1844 - ????
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 13, 2025, 7:07 am

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

JOHN HALTON,
proprietor of a machine shop in Altoona, is of that class of substantial men
who give to a city or town much of the business prosperity it may possess. 
He is a son of John S. and Jane (Darby) Halton, and was born in County Meath,
province of Leinster, Ireland, August 15, 1844.  John Halton Sr., was born in
1816 in one of the rural districts in County Meath, which is northwest of the
ancient city of Dublin, and in the eastern part of Ireland, where for
centuries the only vocation open to the poor, or the man of limited means,
has been the tillage of the soil, although on every hand on this beautiful
island is an eternal contrast of wealth and poverty.  John Halton, Sr., grew
to manhood and became a farm hand in his native country, where agriculture
was the only industry to which common people could resort for livelihood.  At
thirty-four years of age he had saved, by care and economy, sufficient means
to leave a country cursed by land monopoly and political greed, and seek a
home in a land where all industries are open to the efforts of everyone.  He
settled at Altoona, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1879,
when in the sixty-third year of his age. Of the numerous families who were at
and around Altoona when he came but three remain at the present time.  Mr.
Halton was a hard-working man, a democrat in politics, and a zealous member
of the Catholic church.  He married Jane Darby, who was born in the same year
and in the same county, and reared in the same religious faith as himself, and
who died in 1881, at the age of sixty-five years. They reared a family of
children.
      At six years of age John Halton was brought by his parents to Altoona,
where he grew to manhood, and received his education in the common schools. 
Leaving school he learned the trade of machinist, which he followed for
fifteen years in the machine shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. At
the end of that time, in 1872 he engaged in the business for himself, and
opened his present machine shop.  His establishment is thoroughly fitted up
for his particular line of business, and nothing but first-class work is
allowed to go out from the shops.  He has a large trade, which is constantly
increasing.  He is a democrat in politics, and a member of the Catholic
church.  Mr. Halton is a skilled mechanic, a man of good judgment, and has
acquired a competency through his own unaided efforts.  He believes in
building up his own city, and has invested largely of his own means in city
property, which is now considered to be worth over forty thousand dollars.
      In 1876 Mr. Halton was united in marriage with Mary Rodgers, daughter
of Andrew Rodgers, of Philadelphia, this State, and their union has been
blessed with two children: Mary R and Edward R. 

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Christy Stiles

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