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Page 84
HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
dren born to Alexander B. and Rachel Reed were: Maria Jane, who married William
Bigler, late govenor of the State; Henrietta Ann, Read A., George Latimer,
William Milton, and Rebecca, who married John F. Weaver. William Reed,
father of Alexander B. Reed, did not come here until 1813. Alexander B.
was familiarly known as "Black Alex.," to distinguish him from Alexander Read,
who was called "Red Alex." The children of Maria J. (Reed) Bigler by her
marriage with William Bigler, were: Reed, John W., William D., Edmund A., and
Harry F. William Bigler was elected governor in 1851. George Latimer
Reed married Sarah E. Weaver. The children of William Reed, the father of
Alexander B., were: Isabella, Jane, Sally, James, Alexander B., Betsey, Polly,
and William.
About the time that the war of 1812-15 broke out, a
number of families came to the county from New Jersey, and other parts of the
east. Among them was William B. Wright, who located in the vicinity of Glen
Hope. One of his sons, A. K. Wright, became a prominent figure in local affairs,
having held the offices of sheriff and associate judge. Another son, John W.,
was chosen county treasurer and justice of the peace. Benjamin B. Wright was
also a prominent personage.
Dr. Keagy, a relative *of the Wright family, came here
about the same time, or soon afterward. He located about a mile below Wright’s,
on the creek.
Amasa Smith also settled near the site of the
present hamlet of Janesville, and became proprietor of “ Smith’s Mills.”
George Shaffer became one of the pioneers of the west
part of the county, now Sandy township, in 1812. He had a wife and four sons -
George, John, Frederick, and Michael - all of whom came here together. They
settled south of Sandy Lick Creek.
Three brothers -James, Benjamin, and Thomas
Carson-located about a mile west of Luthersburg. They came from Westmoreland
county in the year 1814.
In the same year Joseph Packer located in that
vicinity. He bored for salt at Luthersburg, but found none of that commodity.
Daniel Barrett was born in Centre county. He came to
this county in about the year 1813 or ‘14, and located at Curwensville. His
children were : Maria, Keziah, George R., James C., Isaac L., Enoch L.,
Henrietta, and Philo W.
James I. Thorn came to the mouth of Little Clear-field
Creek in the year 1814 at which place he built for Robert Elder, of Half Moon,
Centre county, a tavern, a saw-mill, and a woolen, or fulling-mill, as it was
better known. Mr. Elder never resided in this county, but owned a tract of land
and employed Thorn to erect the buildings. This was about the first fulling-mill
built in the county. The children of James I. Thorn were : Joseph, George,
Boswell C., Thetes P., and Hannah.
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