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James Heilman
JAMES HEILMAN, has never moved from the old Heilman homestead in Kittanning
township, Armstrong county, where he was born Feb. 15, 1829, in the old log
house where he still lives and which dates back to the year before his birth,
being now more than eighty-six years old. The youngest child in the family of
Jacob and Susanna (Waltinbough) Heilman, he is a grandson of Peter and
Elizabeth (Harter) Heilman, of whom a considerable account appears elsewhere
in this work. His great-grandfather, Christian, was the emigrant ancestor of
the family, and settled in Northampton county, Pa. He was a soldier in the war
of the Revolution from that county, as shown on page 308, General Muster, 4th
Battalion, Northampton county, May 14, 1778, Col. John Siegfried, Captain
Edleman.Jacob Heilman, the youngest of the family of twelve children born to Peter
and Elizabeth (Harter) Heilman, said to have been born in Northampton county
in April, 1791, lived on the Peter Heilman tract in Kittanning township where
his parents settled in 1795-96. He was a distiller, and it was he who made the
celebrated Heilman whiskey. He died Dec. 27, 1876 (tombstone says 1877), in
his eighty-sixth year. His wife, Susanna (Waltinbough), who died April 27,
1878, in her eighty-sixth year, was a daughter of John Adam and Rosina
(Hoover) Waltinbough, the former a mechanic, by trade a blacksmith. He served
as a soldier in the Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Waltinbough were pioneers in
Kittanning township. He died Aug. 1, 1833, aged eighty-two years, his wife
Sept. 12, 1822, in her sixty-fourth year. The list of their children will be
found in the Heilman family sketch previously referred to.James Heilman had limited educational opportunities, only such as the
schools of the neighborhood afforded. A born farmer, he took the greatest
pride in his fine orchards and live stock, and in improving his property. He
also engaged in merchandising, and was appointed postmaster, serving four
years in that position. An intelligent, honorable man, and a deep thinker, he
has always been a promoter of business enterprises which were for the good of
the community. He has spent all his life among the secens of the father and
grandfather who were the founders of his home for him.On Oct. 9, 1856, Mr. Heilman married Magdalena Reichart, who was born Jan.
9, 1837, at the Reichert residence, on the corner of Water and Mulberry
streets, Kittanning, daughter of Rev. G. A. and Lydia (Tyson) Reichert. Her
father moving to Philadelphia she spent her childhood there and received her
education in that city. When she was seventeen years of age her father removed
to his farm near Kittanning, and two years later Magdalena, at the age of
nineteen, married James Heilman, residing on the old Heilman homestead during
the remainder of her life. Her death occurred April 2, 1904. She was a woman
of fine mind and noble character, and is held in loving memory by all her
children. Four sons and six daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. James Heilman:
James Tyson resides in Kittanning; Ella Louise died unmarried; Emanuel
Schmauck died in childhood; Rosina Caroline died aged twenty-four years,
unmarried; Jacob Philip died in infancy; Ulysses G. is next in the family;
Grace Reichert, who taught school, died unmarried; Maggie Grant married Dr.
David L. Everhart, of Melbern, Ohio, and has three children, Ward A., Bernice
and Claire; Emma Rebecca, Mrs. Ellis, is deceased; Ethelina is the wife of
John L. Learner.Ethelina Heilman, youngest child of James and Magdalena (Reichert) Heilman,
attended the State normal school at Slippery Rock several terms, and taught
school for two terms. She was married Jan. 30, 1912, to John L. Lerner, and
they have one child, James Richard. They reside on the old homestead of her
father in Kittanning township. Mrs. Learer is a member of the Lutheran Church.Source: Pages 980-981, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed November 1998 by Kathy Zagorac 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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