Charles Mardorf
CHARLES MARDORF, at present assessor and tax collector for the borough of Freeport, Armstrong county, was born Dec. 27, 1848, in Melsungen, Hessen-Cassel, Germany. He has been a resident of Freeport for forty-five years.
John Mardorf, his father, was born in 1806 in the same place, and married Catherine Wickman, who was born there in 1807. He was a tanner by trade. He came to America in 1852, the voyage taking six weeks, and the family located in Butler county, Pa., at Butler, where the father followed his trade and died in 1859. The mother died there in 1886. They were members of the German Reformed Church. Their family consisted of seven children: William, a tanner, died in Butler, Pa.; Catherine, deceased, married William Bauers, of Butler; August, deceased, was a cabinetmaker by trade; Elizabeth, widow of Charles Sanders, lives in South Pittsburgh; Teresa, Mrs. Bolander, lives on the South Side, Pittsburgh; Christian, born Jan. 23, 1847, moved to Freeport, Armstrong Co., Pa., where he established himself in the tanning business, having one of the most important industries of the borough in its day, and is now a dealer in hides and tallow at the head of the firm of C. Mardorf & Sons, of Cheswick, Pa.; Charles is at Freeport.
Charles Mardorf had only limited educational privileges and is for the most part self educated. At the age of sixteen years he started to learn the harnessmaker's trade, at which he worked two years. Later he took up the tanner's trade, following that line of work for twenty years. Forty-five years ago, in 1868, he moved to Freeport, Armstrong county. Mr. Mardorf is an intelligent and well informed man, and he is a much respected citizen of the borough where most of his life has been passed. For many years he has been active in politicis and public affairs, as a zealous member of the Republican party. In 1889 he served as judge of elections. He was a member of the borough council for fifteen years, and in 1907 he was elected assessor and appointed tax collector, which offices he has filled continuously since. His long retention in every public trust to which he has been called is sufficient evidence of the satisfactory service he has given to his fellow citizens.
In 1873 Mr. Mardorf married Elizabeth McGinley, of Freeport, daughter of John and Catherine (Gallagher) McGinley, who were from Ireland and came to Freeport at an early day. Mr. McGinley ran a hotel and also engaged in teaming. Mrs. Mardorf died June 18, 1911. She was the mother of five children: John, living at home, who is employed as clerk in the Cornell Coal Company's office; Charles, who died at the age of eight years; Catherine, at home, a stenographer; Edward, who was killed in 1905 on the Pennsylvania railroad at Johnstown, Pa.; and Mary, who is in a convent at Baden, Pa. Mrs. Mardorf and the children are members of the Catholic Church.
Source: Pages(s) 713-714, 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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