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Daniel Slagle
DANIEL SLAGLE, of Templeton, Armstrong county, has been one of the most
diligent officials of that village and Pine township for a number of years,
having served faithfully in several trusts and shown his ability and public
spirit in handling the various responsibilities which have devolved upon him.
He is a native of Manor township, this county, born Sept. 16, 1843, and the
family is of German descent, his grandparents, Hiram and Barbara (Hottenburg)
Slagle, having been born in Germany.Abraham and Christina (Bowser) Slagle, parents of Daniel Slagle, were both
natives of eastern Pennsylvania. He was born in 1818, and came to Armstrong
County, Pa., with his parents, locating in Manor township. Later he settled in
Pine township, moving thither in 1847 from the Bowser farm in Manor township,
upon which he had lived for several years after his marriage. He put up a log
cabin a half mile east of Templeton, and for eight years after settling there
followed mining. He then took up farming. In 1856 he went to Orr Hill Furnace,
working at the furnace, and later to the Patton farm in Pine township, upon
which place he had his home for thirty years, dying there in 1896. He followed
farming there, and also worked at coopering. Though he had little chance for
schooling in his youth, Mr. Slagle was so industrious and ambitious that he
made his enterprises prosper, and he became one of the substantial residents
of his section. His wife, Christina (Bowser), whom he married in 1839, also
died in Pine township, Aug. 31, 1908. They were members of the Church of God.
They were the parents of nineteen children, two dying at birth, and thirteen
growing to maturity. We have the following record of this family: George, who
is now deceased; Ann, deceased; Daniel; Jacob, living at Wickboro, Pa.;
Melissa, deceased; Joseph, deceased; Salathiel, deceased; Wilson, deceased;
Washington, deceased; James, deceased; John, who lives at Templeton, Pa.;
Mary, deceased; Jennie, of Wickboro, Pa.; Melindia, of Westmoreland county,
Pa.; Emanuel, of Climax, Pa; Smith, who is a miner in Pine township; Rose, who
married John Johnson, of Templeton; and Alice, wife of M. Carl, a railroad
foreman, of Wickboro.Daniel Slagle had few educational opportunities in his youth. The school
was three miles distant, and he attended only three months in all. But he has
made up for early deficiencies by intelligent application and hard work. At
the age of fourteen he started to work away from home, continuing thus until
he was eighteen, at which time he enlisted in the Union army for service in
the Civil war. On Aug.14, 1861, he joined Company B, 78th Pennsylvania
Volunteer Infantry, at Kittanning, this county, and was sent to Camp Wright,
above Pittsburgh, remaining there two weeks. He then joined Gen. James S.
Negley’s brigade, going by boat to Louisville, Ky. The command then started
through Kentucky and Tennessee, going to Chattanooga. While on skirmish duty
at Elkton, Ala., in July, 1862, Mr. Slagle was wounded in the right eye,
losing its sight, and on Jan. 2, 1863, at the battle of Stone River, he
received an injury in his right forearm, being disabled until March 11, 1863.
He was in the field hospital at Nashville, Tenn. Rejoining his company at
Murfreesboro, he was in the campaign through Georgia, took part in the battles
of Chickamauga, Resaca, Deep Gap, Atlanta campaign, and Lookout Mountain,
being under fire for forty-two days and nights, and after the battle of
Atlanta went back to Chattanooga. They were engaged in guarding trains for
three months, and Mr. Slagle’s time then expiring he received his discharge,
Nov. 2, 1864, and returned to his home. The whole regiment at Nashville went
out to drive General Wheeler out of Tennessee, going to a point on the
Tennessee railroad to Pulaski and other places, being thus occupied for two
months, returning to Nashville. Then they went by boat to Pittsburgh.After his return from the army Mr. Slagle followed mining for fourteen
years, being thus employed at Parker, Armstrong county, and in Apollo,
Westmoreland county, where for nine years he looked after the opening of mines
for N. Beal. In 1882 he settled at Templeton, in Pine township, Armstrong
county, and bought a home, and there he has since resided. He owns
considerable real estate in the village, and has been thoroughly identified
with its activities. For eight years he was justice of the peace. He has been
township auditor several terms, was supervisor of the township three years
under the new act, and was collector and treasurer for three years, resigning
in the fall of 1910, when he went out to Oregon, purchasing a twenty-acre
fruit tract near Rainier, in Columbia county, which he still owns. His
intelligent services have won him the esteem of all his fellow citizens, and
he has made a creditable place for himself among them. He has always been a
stanch Democrat in politics, and has done good work for his part in the
locality.On Feb. 28, 1865, Mr. Slagle married Martha Jane Leisure, of Armstrong
county, daughter of Washington and Julia Ann (Wyant) Leisure, natives of
Pennsylvania. The Leisures are of French origin. In 1860 Washington Leisure
and his family went to Ohio, where they remained for two years, returning to
Pennsylvania because of sickness in the family. His children were: Martha
Jane, Mrs. Daniel Slagle; Priscilla, who married Cham Bowser, a miner and is
living at Natrona, Pa.; Fried, deceased, late of Templeton, Pa.; Alexander,
who is living in Allegheny county, Pa.; Catherine, who married Robert Huey, a
miner, and is living at Natrona; William, of Kittanning, Pa.; Margaret, of New
York City, wife of E. B. Sproule, a real estate dealer; and Daniel, of
Natrona. The mother of this family was first married to Harry Gould, who died
in 1848, leaving her with two sons; Henry, now deceased; and John, who married
Christine Adams and resides at Youngstown, Ohio.During the Civil war Washington Leisure enlisted in Company D, 103d
Pennsylvania Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, was captured at the battle of Fair
Oaks, and was in Andersonville prison for fourteen months. He was discharged
in 1865, and coming back to Armstrong county settled in Madison township. He
died there in December, 1878, aged fifty-four years; his wife died in 1907, at
the age of eighty-two.Mr. and Mrs. Slagle had a family of nine children, namely: Florence, wife
of Jack McGinbey, a bricklayer, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Cora, wife of Frank
Swigart, a railroad man, of Pittsburgh; Anna, wife of A. M. Hilty, who is
employed in a sheet mill at Vandergrift; Blanche, deceased; Ney, who is
employed in a sheet mill at Youngstown, Ohio, married to May Slagle (he served
three years in the United States army in the Philippine Islands, joining
Company B, 1st United States Infantry and was honorably discharged in August,
1903); Daisy, wife of Morris Knighton, of Ambridge, Pa.; Lena, wife of C. C.
Heasly, an oil field man , of West Virginia; George, who married Sarah Hobough,
of Youngstown, Ohio; and Edna, married to Dale Hulings, a machinist, of
Vandergrift, Pa. There are thirty grandchildren and three
great-grand-children.Mr. Slagle and his family are members of the Church of God at Templeton.
Source: Pages 450-452 Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J. H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed September 1998 by James R. Hindman for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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