Uriah S Klingensmith
URIAH S. KLINGENSMITH, a resident of Logansport, in Bethel township, Armstrong county, justice of the peace, a man of high standing in all circles and of unquestioned business ability, was born Sept. 21, 1854, in Gilpin township, this county, son of Abraham Klingensmith. The Klingensmith family is of German extraction.
Peter Klingensmith, grandfather of Uriah S., was a pioneer in Allegheny (now Gilpin) township, Armstrong county. He married Catherine Wanamaker, a cousin of the father of John Wanamaker, the famous merchant of Philadelphia and New York.
Abraham Klingensmith, father of Uriah S., died Oct. 22, 1907, aged eighty-five years, two months, eighteen days. During the Civil war he was an ardent supporter of the Union cause, and served as enrolling officer in Armstrong county. He was a farmer in Gilpin township, where he was born, and was residing at his birthplace at the time of his death. He married Margaret Turney, of Westmoreland county, Pa., daughter of John Turney, and she survives him, being now (1913) eighty-five years of age. They became the parents of twelve children, namely: John Peter; Peter John, who is deceased; Jonas N., a school teacher, deceased; Isaac T.; Uriah S.; Herbert, deceased; Lydia, deceased; Maggie, married to J. W. Jack, of Gilpin township; Floda, the wife of Robert H. Riggle; Homer, deceased; Jonathan J., who still lives on the old homestead, a tract of 200 acres; and Sarah Volga, deceased.
Uriah S. Klingensmith received his education in the public schools of the county and at Leechburg Academy. For some time he was prominently identified with the iron business in this region, having been president of the Hyde Park Iron & Steel Company, of Hyde Park, Westmoreland county, up to the time it was merged into the American Steel & Sheet Company, later known as the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company. At present he is engaged in farming and attending to his duties as justice of the peace. He is well and favorably known throughout this part of Pennsylvania, in various connections, and is highly esteemed in the fraternal bodies, being a member of the I. O. O. F., of the Royan Arcanum, and a thirty-second-degree Mason. In politics he has been identified with the Republican party. In 1912 Mr. Klingensmith was appointed by Governor Tener justice of the peace, which office he is now filling to the thorough satisfaction of all concerned.
On Dec. 2, 1903, Mr. Klingensmith was married to Anna Margaret Logan, of Bethel township, who is of Irish extraction, being a daughter of Thomas J. Logan, of Logansport. To Mr. and Mrs. Klingensmith has been born one child, Ruth Lucille. Mr. Klingensmith is a member of the Lutheran Church, his wife of the Presbyterian.
Thomas Logan, Mrs. Klingensmith's grandfather, was born in Allegheny county, Pa., and came to this section of Armstrong county in 1836, in its pioneer days, being one of the prominent citizens of the locality throughout his lifetime, and the leading farmer in his district. He owned five hundred acres of land at what is now Logansport. He was one of the early fruit growers of the region, and besides the brick residence which he erected (and which is still standing) he put up a brick building for fruit which is now occupied as a dwelling house. His death occurred July 16, 1882, when he was about eighty-four years old, and his wife, Esther (Hood), died Aug. 20, 1869, aged about sixty-four years. She was a native of Ireland, she and her sister coming to Allegheny county, Pa., when young.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Logan were Presbyterians in religious faith. They were the parents of nine children, viz.: Frances, born in 1824, died in 1825; Elizabeth, born Sept. 4, 1826, died March 14, 1837, of scarlet fever; John, born March 18, 1828, died March 23, 1837 of scarlet fever; William F., born Jan. 6, 1830, married Eliza J. Boney and died Dec. 28, 1900; Ann J., born March 13, 1832, died March 17, 1837; Thomas Jefferson, born Feb. or March 1, 1834, died Nov. 23, 1911; Martha A., born March 8, 1836, died March 22, 1885; James D., born Oct. 1, 1838, married Adeline Boney; John A., born Dec. 19, 1840, died Sept. 1, 1902, was twice married, first to Nettie Gibson, later to Sarah Bailey.
Thomas Jefferson Logan, father of Mrs. Klingensmith, was born in Allegheny county and was brought by his parents to Armstrong county in 1836. He received the last of his schooling at the Elders Ridge Academy in Indiana county, and in his early manhood was engaged in the oil and lumber business in the northern counties of Pennsylvania. He was also a farmer, and for thirty years served as a justice of the peace. On Dec. 15, 1859, he married Mary Olive Lobaugh, of Callensburg, Clarion county, Pa., daughter of David Lobaugh, and they had a family of four children, one son and three daughters: Thomas H., an insurance agent, of Pittsburgh, who married Mattie Owen and (second) Mary Hassell; Anna M. is the wife of Uriah S. Klingensmith; Martha L., unmarried, lives at Logansport, Pa.; Mary L. (twin of Martha) is the wife of John W. Schreiber, of Pittsburgh. The mother of this family died Aug. 7, 1898, the father Nov. 23, 1911, and they are buried at the Appleby Manor Memorial Presbyterian Church in Manor township.
Mrs. Anna Margaret (Logan) Klingensmith received her education in the public schools of her home township and of Kittanning, later attended the State normal schools at Edinboro and Clarion, Pa., and then took up teaching, which she followed for eight terms in Gilpin and Bethel townships, with more than average success.
Source: Pages(s) 703-704, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed October 1998 by Neil G. Anderson for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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