Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 81] is a representative farmer of Shenango township, and resides on his farm on lot No. 65, Donation Land, Shenango township, about four miles south of the city of New Castle. Mr. Alborn comes from the German Fatherland, that proud old empire which has contributed to the United States so many of the best and most substantial citizens of the country. He was born in the village of Fuerstenhaagen, Nov. 7, 1839, and is a son of Augustus and Christiana (Elias) Alborn.
Our subject's mother was born near Fuerstenhaagen, where her parents lived and died. Augustus Alborn was a miller when a resident of Germany. He set sail from Bremen for America in August, 1846, and after a long sea voyage of fifty-one days in a sailing vessel, he landed at Baltimore, Md. From that city he came direct to Pittsburg, and thence to Beaver County to the home of kinsfolks, who had preceded him to the New World which was so rich in promise to the Old World emigrant. After living two months with relatives, Mr. Alborn purchased a farm of fifty-five acres in Franklin township, Beaver County, and with true German thrift soon began adding to it, first by a purchase of ten acres, and then by a subsequent purchase of forty acres adjoining, making altogether a farm of 105 acres. Later on, he bought another farm of fifty acres near by, and took up his residence on the latter farm, renting his former home, but still cultivating the land. His death occurred in December, 1885, when he was aged seventy-eight years. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran Church.
Henry C. Alborn, the eldest of five children, three of whom were born in Germany, was seven years old, when his parents came to America. He was sent to school in Beaver County, and continued to be a quite regular pupil until he was seventeen years of age, from which age until he was twenty-two years old he remained under the parental roof, and worked for his father. He then began life for himself, renting at first a farm from his father in Perry township, Lawrence County, which he operated for three years. He then bought seventy-five acres in Franklin township near his father, where he lived and labored for ten years. In 1874 he bought his present farm of ninety-six acres in Shenango township, on which are standing a fine brick house and substantial outbuildings. Mr. Alborn devotes his time and attention to general mixed farming, and to the manufacture of cider, having a large steam-power press in a convenient location on the homestead. He has planted choice trees, kept fences and buildings in excellent repair, and everything in and about the premises betokens the existence of thrift and prosperity. He is favored with a good, physical constitution, and combines strictness of moral principles with energy and decision of character, winning honorable success in business, and securing a competence as a product of personal industry and good judgment put forth in a field wisely selected.
On March 14, 1861, Mr. Alborn was joined in marriage with Miss Caroline Young, who was born in the village of Deutchweiler, Rheinfahls, Baiern, one of the provinces of Germany, and was a daughter of John and Mary (Mueller) Young, the latter a daughter of George Jacob Mueller, a tailor by trade, who lived and died in Germany. John Young came to the United States in 1852, sailing from Havre, April 3, and reaching New York City in twenty-six days. He came direct to Beaver County, where an uncle had preceded him, and for the first year after his arrival rented a house, and worked at what his hands could find to do, becoming acquainted with the American language and American customs in the meantime. In 1853, he bought a fifty-six acre tract of land and began improving it; this continued to be his home until his death in 1858, when aged fifty-two years. Of a family of four born to her parents, Mrs. Alborn was the third in seniority. Our subject's union with his estimable wife, has resulted in six children—Mary Amelia, deceased; Caroline, the wife of Rev. Ivan Dietrich of Allegheny City, to whom she has presented four children—Theodore, Hilda, Luther, and Herman; Charles F., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this Book of Biographies; Henry; Tillie; and Frank. Mr. and Mrs. Alborn with their family are members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Alborn is a Democrat in politics.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 21 Apr 2001