Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Laughman, Daniel August 18, 1826 - ????
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 13, 2025, 6:49 pm

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

DANIEL LAUGHMAN,
one of the most successful coal operators and the senior member of the firm
of D. Laughman & Co., is a son of Daniel, Sr., and Catherine (Fetterow)
Laughman, and was born on the bank of Big Conewango Creek, in York county,
Pennsylvania, August 31, 1826.  Daniel Laughman, Sr., was born on the east
bank of the Susquehanna River in 1797, removed from Big Conewango Creek in
1831 to Harrisburg, and from there went, in 1851, to Darke county, Ohio,
where he died in 1869, at the age of seventy-six years.  He was a shoemaker
by trade, but was mainly engaged in farming.  He was a prosperous farmer, an
active member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and a strong Jacksonian
democrat, who was always genial and jovial in political campaigns, during
which he did much effective work in the interests of his party.  He married
Catherine Fetterow, who was born on Big Conewango Creek, and stood high
wherever she was known as an amiable, Christian woman.  She was a member of
the Evangelical Lutheran church from her childhood, and in 1875 came to
reside with the subject of this sketch, at whose house she died in July,
1888, at the advanced age of ninety-one years.  She was a very active woman,
kept her strength and mental powers well up to the time of her death, and had
seen much of pioneer life.  Mrs. Laughman was a daughter of Michael Fetterow,
who was a native of Wales, and came to York county, from which he went out as
a soldier in the War of 1812, and in which he died upon his farm in 1826, when
in the eighty-first year of his age.
      Daniel Laughman was reared near Harrisburg, and received a limited
education in the early free schools of Pennsylvania, but which he has largely
supplemented by reading and observation.  Leaving school he was employed until
1850 as a clerk in different general mercantile stores of Harrisburg, and then
engaged in the confectionery and bottling business, which he followed for two
years, when his health became impaired by close confinement and he left the
capital of the State for a visit to his parents in Ohio and a tour of the
great west.  Somewhat improved in health by his trip he returned to
Harrisburg, and in order to more fully recruit himself physically by an
outdoor life, he became (early in 1853) a brakeman on the Pennsylvania
Central Railroad.  On May 1st, of that year, he was promoted to conductor of
a freight train, which he ran until September, 1859, when he resigned,
without having a single accident happen to his train in all that time, a fact
which drew forth the warm commendation of the officers of the railroad
company.  In the succeeding month of October-having removed to Altoona in
1854-he engaged in the clothing and gentlemen's furnishing goods business, in
which he continued until 1868, when he disposed of his establishment and stock
of goods.  During a portion of this time, from 1859 to 1864, he acted as agent
of the Adams Express company.  In the following year, after retiring from the
clothing business, he formed a partnership with James H. Dysart, under the
firm name of James H. Dysart & Co., and purchased a coal mine in Cambria
county, from which they shipped coal until 1881, when Mr. Dysart died.  Mr.
Laughman then purchased the interest of his late partner from the heirs of
the latter, and continued operating the mine until 1881, when he admitted his
son-in-law, J. Chester Wilson, to partnership with himself, under the firm
name of D. Laughman & Co.  They mine and ship a large amount of coal to both
eastern and western markets.  Mr. Laughman is also interested in several
other coal mines.
      In 1850 he married Mary A. Jones, daughter of John Jones, and who died
in 1872, leaving four children:  Annie M., wife of J. Chester Wilson, of
Philadelphia, who is a member of the firm of D. Laughman & Co.; William D.,
now assistant foreman in the telegraph and electrical shops of the
Pennsylvania Railroad company at Altoona; Ira, who was a bright young man and
a very fine singer, died March 1, 1885, while attending the Union Theological
Seminary of New York City, where he was preparing for the work of the
ministry; and Jennie, who is still at home.  On April 3, 1873, Mr. Laughman
was united in marriage with Ellen, daughter of John Miller, formerly of
Hollidaysburg, and by his second marriage had two children, a son and a
daughter:  John M., who died May 10, 1881, at the age of seven years; and
Clara W.
      Daniel Laughman is a republican in political affairs, served as
treasurer and councilman of Altoona before it became a city, and since then
held the office of jury commissioner for one term.  He is a deacon and the
treasurer of the First Presbyterian Church of Altoona.  He is one of the most
substantial and highly respected citizens of his city, resides in a beautiful
home at No. 1010 Lexington Avenue, and has won his own way in life from early
manhood, when his only capital was natural ability and a pair of willing
hands.  He is a member of Mountain Lodge, No. 281, Free and Accepted Masons;
Mountain Chapter No. 189, Royal Arch Masons; and Mountain Commandery, No. 10,
Knights Templar.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Lisa McLaughlin lmclaughlin3@neo.rr.com

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