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ROBERT
JAY KARNSÂ
          Â
          Â
ROBERT JAY KARNS, for many years a prominent and respected
citizen of Perry township, Armstrong Co., Pa., was born at Erie, Pa., in
April, 1838, son of Robert and Jane (Perry) Karns.          Â
Robert Karns and his wife were both born near Belfast, Ireland, he in
1814, and she in 1808, and they were married in 1834.Â
In the same year they sailed for the United States, taking passage on
the ship �Eagle,� in which they spent three long months before landing on
the American coast. They settled
first near Erie, Pa., where they purchased a farm on which they resided for
eight years, and then moved to Allegheny City, this State.Â
Robert Karns bought property there and went into business as a building
contractor, continuing thus until 1851, when he exchanged his city real estate
for 170 acres of land in Perry township, Armstrong county, part of which his
son, Robert Jay Karns, later owned and occupied. On this farm Robert Karns resided until the close of his
life, his death occurring Dec. 17, 1893, at the age of seventy-nine years; his
wife passed away April 13, 1881, when aged seventy-three years.Â
They were lifelong members of the U. P. Church.Â
They had three sons:Â Alexander
P. (now deceased), David B. and Robert Jay.          Â
Robert Jay Karns was reared at Erie and Allegheny City and enjoyed
excellent educational advantages. From
the public schools of Allegheny City and Pittsburgh he entered Glade Run
Academy, near Dayton, Pa., in which institution he completed the classical
course. He then turned his
attention to educational work and for forty years was a teacher and during the
earlier years studied law. While
he never applied to be admitted to the bar, for forty years he did an
extensive legal business, for twenty years being a justice of the peace, and
enjoys the distinction of having settled up more estates than any other man in
Armstrong county.          Â
On May 2, 1861, Mr. Karns was married to Margaret R. Whitehill, a
daughter of Austin and Mary Ann (Orr) Whitehill, and a great-granddaughter of
Judge Robert Orr. Robert Orr
equipped a company at his own expense and served as its captain in the Patriot
army during the Revolutionary war. Later
he was appointed as the first associate judge of Armstrong county and served
in that capacity for thirty-four years. One
of his sons, Gen. Robert Orr, served in the war of 1812 and as a member of
Congress from the Armstrong district.           Â
Mr. and Mrs. Karns had two sons, both living in Venango county, Va.
(sic):Â John R., who is a
telegraph operator with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; and William H., who
is chief division operator, low grade division, of the Allegheny Valley
railroad and between Kiskiminetas Junction and Olean, N. Y.Â
Mrs. Karns died Jan. 21, 1914, aged seventy-four years, three months,
after being an invalid for some years, and Mr. Karns has broken up his home in
Armstrong county. In politics he
has always been a Republican, and as a man of education and high personal
character he has been elected to almost every office in the gift of Perry
township. Formerly both he and
his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church of Brady�s Bend, in which
he served many years as an elder, but later they joined the Presbyterian
Church at East Brady. Mr. Karns
took a deep interest in Sunday school at Hillsville, Armstrong Co., Pa., for
twenty years conducting it as superintendent.Source: Page 878, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J. H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed May 2002 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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