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John T. Deemar, M.D.
JOHN T. DEEMAR, M.D., for
thirty-five years a physician of Armstrong county, and one who has attained
eminence in his profession, was born in the county April 13, 1854, son of
Isaac and Margaret Deemar. He belongs to old Westmoreland county stock
distinguished for patriotism and high Christian principles.The Doctor is descended from French Huguenots who fled from their early
home in France after the Edict of Nantes, taking refuge in Alsace-Lorraine
(now part of Germany), and John Deemar, great-grandfather of Dr. Deemar, was
of Alsatian extraction. He first settled in Philadelphia, and later lived in
Westmoreland county, Pa. He was a soldier in the French and Indian war,
1755-1763, going on the expedition to Quebec, Canada, and taking part in the
battle of Quebec, and subsequently served as a soldier in the Revolution.Philip Deemar, son of John, above, was a farmer and stock raiser in Armstrong
county, especially well known in the latter connection, for he was one of the
pioneers to engage in the raising of fine stock here. He introduced a fine
grade of horses and cattle into the county. His wife, whose maiden name was
Miller, was a daughter of a Revolutionary soldier who served from Westmoreland
county. Three of Philip Deemar�s sons were soldiers during the Civil war,
among them being James K. Deemar, a sharpshooter, who was badly wounded in the
battle of Cedar Creek in 1864.Isaac Deemar, son of Philip, was born in Indiana county, and when a small
child removed with his parents to Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong county,
where he followed farming all his days, dying here in 1901, aged seventy-five
years.John T. Deemar was the only child of his parents, and his mother dying when he
was but seven months old he was reared in the family of his father�s uncle,
Alexander Y. Black, a Scotchman, a strict Covenanter, and a mean of excellent
judgement and sterling moral character. He belonged to an old Pennsylvania
family of fine standing. To his example and influence Dr. Deemar feels
indebted for the development of his best qualities. He attended public school
and Elderton Academy, subsequently reading medicine with Dr. John M. St.
Clair, now of Indiana, Pa., under whose guidance he learned the compounding of
medicines, visited patients, and became familiar with the physician�s
routine. He attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from
which institution he was graduated in 1879, after preparation under such noted
instructors as Samuel D. Gross, J.M. Da Costa, Joseph Pancoast, James A. Meigs,
M.B. Biddle, Elerslie, Wallace, R.E. Rogers, etc. He began his professional
career associated with Dr. Thomas C. Lawson, now of Brookville, Pa., but
within a short time settled in Manor township, Armstrong county, where he has
been in active practice, and there are few physicians who have practiced
longer in Armstrong county. Few doctors in this region are better or more
favorably known that he is, and he has a wide circle of warm personal friends
among his patients. He is a member of the Armstrong county and Pennsylvania
State Medical Societies, and of the American Medical Association, and was a
delegate to the fiftieth annual meeting of the American Medical Association in
Philadelphia in 1897. Dr. Deemar has often served as a delegate to the State
Medical Society meetings, and has been president of the Armstrong County
Medical Society – honors which best show his reputation among members of the
profession. In politics he is a Republican, and has always taken an active
interest in behalf of his party, serving several times as delegate to the
State conventions. He was a delegate to the National presidential convention
at Chicago, in 1908, he and Hon. Edward Carmalt representing the
Thirty-seventh Congressional district of Pennsylvania. Fraternally he belongs
to Blue Lodge No. 244, F. & A. M., and Orient Chapter, No. 247, R. A. M.,
both of Kittanning, and Pittsburgh Commandery, No. I, K. T. Dr. Deemar was one
of the fact witnesses in the celebrated Thaw trial which took place in New
York City in 1907.In 1874 Dr. Deemar was married to Julia A. Moore, daughter of James and
Martha (Sloan) Moore, of Whitesburg, Armstrong Co., Pa., and a descendant of
old Scotch-Irish pioneer and Revolutionary stock of Westmoreland county. They
have had four children: Janet M., wife of John R. Long; Robert Sloan; Dr.
Roscoe P., who read two years at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and
later entered Maryland Medical College, from which institution he graduated in
1905 (he began practice in 1907); and Dr. William R., a graduate of the
Atlanta School of Medicine and the Medical College of Philadelphia, now in
active practice at Tarentum, Pennsylvania.Dr. John T. Deemar is a consistent member of the Methodist Church, in which
he reared his children, and he has served on the official board for a number
of years.Among the prominent pioneer families of Westmoreland, York and other
Pennsylvania counties with which the Deemars intermarried were the Rohrers, of
Armstrong county, connected by marriage with the Deemars in the early days of
this section. They are descended from Frederick Rohrer, at one time keeper of
a celebrated inn at Hagerstown, Md. He was a Huguenot, a native of France,
born July 28, 1742, and came to America during the war between France and
Great Britain (1754-1763). In 1766 he married Catherine Deemar, in York
county, Pa., and shortly afterward moved to Hagerstown, Md. In that year he
first visited the �western country�, as it was then called, going as far
as Pittsburgh, composed at that time of a few Indian huts. With him he brought
a number of cattle which he exchanged to Gen. Arthur St. Clair for a tract of
land in the Ligonier valley. However, his family remained in Hagerstown. In
1767 he carried the first wheat over the mountains ever brought into the �western
county�, planting it with other grain on his farm in the valley, and making
other preparations for his family, which he removed hither in the fall. He
took out a warrant for all that valuable tract of land of the Conemaugh river
where it was found profitable to make salt, and was the discoverer of the
valuable saline springs. He boiled the first salt made there in an earthen
pot, and traded it to the Indians, who were then practically the only
inhabitants of Westmoreland county. In 1771 he returned to Hagerstown with his
family, finding life among the Indians intolerable, but they came back in
1793, settling in Greensburg, where Mr. Rohrer continued to reside until his
death, in 1834. Mr. Rohrer was a prominent man in this region in his day. Some
years after he returned to Westmoreland county he was appointed a justice of
the peace by Governor McKean, filling the office continuously until a short
time before his decease. He was laid to rest in the German burying ground, on
the Tuesday following his death, and an unusually large number of citizens
attended the funeral. Mr. Rohrer had nine children, forty-two grandchildren,
and seventeen great-grandchildren.Source: Pages 576-577, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People,
Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed September 2001 by Lisa Strobel 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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