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Joseph G. Dale
JOSEPH G. DALE, lumber dealer, Tionesta, was born in Centre county, Penn.,
May 15, 1815, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Gates) Dale. His paternal
grandfather, William Dale, was a Quaker of influence and prominence. On his
mother’s side, his grandfather, Henry Gates, formerly or Centre county, Penn.,
settled in Tionesta township in 1814, cleared and a farm upon which he died.
In 1816 our subject was brought by his mother to Tionesta, where he was reared
and received a good common-school education. At the age of fifteen years he
left home to work at lumbering and rafting on the rivers, at which he
continued for eight years. In 1836 he was appointed a lieutenant in the State
militia, commanded by Gov. Ritner. Two years later he embarked in the
mercantile business, in which he secured a remunerative patronage during the
succeeding seven years, when he sold out that he might again return to
lumbering, at which he has spent the greatest number of years of his business
career. While engaged in merchandising Mr. Dale married, December 24, 1840,
Nancy, daughter of Alexander and Clarissa (Sexton) Holeman, of Tionesta
township, to which union five children were born: Belle M. (Mrs. Jacob Dewees),
Jennie C. (Mrs. A. H. Partridge); John T., Ada V. and Alexander H. But one
death has occurred in the family, that of Ada V., in 1860. Mr. Dale has
accepted many public positions, all of which have been filled with integrity
and satisfaction. For a number of years he held the office of postmaster under
Abraham Lincoln, resigning in 1867. About this time he was largely engaged in
producing oil, at first on the Ball farm on Oil creek; later he became the
owner by purchase of the Ball farm near Pithole, at the nominal price of
$105,000. During Andrew Johnson’s term he held the position of department
internal revenue collector. From 1865 to 1873 he was the principal owner of a
savings bank conducted in his native village. In securing the removal of the
county seat from Marienville to Tionesta he was largely instrumental. For
three years he was proprietor of and faithfully conducted the Forest
Republican, then, as now, the only republican newspaper in the county. In the
palmy days of Pithole, he was a director of the Pithole Valley Railroad
Company, the only railroad that entered that bubble city. For five years he
held the office of associate judge of Forest county with dignity and credit to
himself and the commendation of its citizens. In politics he was formerly a
Whig, but since the Republican organization he has made that party his home,
although for a few years he identified himself with Greenbackism until the old
parties purged themselves of some of the greater wrongs and inequalities of
which it complained. He been a member of the I. O. O. F. since 1853, and of
the Masonic fraternity since 1858. Probably no name is more widely or
favorably known than his in Forest and the adjoining counties, particularly by
those in need of financial assistance, which his large heart would not refuse,
though frequently resulting in pecuniary loss to him. Truly Mr. Dale has
proved himself a friend to those in need. He is a man of broad views, clear
judgment and insight. Among men he is social and at home a true husband and
father.Source: Page(s) 927-9287, Chapter 15 Biographical Sketches – Tionesta Township
and Borough of Tionesta
Hickory and Harmony Townships
History of Counties of McKean, Elk and Forest, Pennsylvania.
Chicago, J.H. Beers & Co., 1890.
Transcribed November 2005 by Nathan Zipfel for the Forest County Genealogy
Project
Published 2005 by the Forest County Pennsylvania Genealogy Project
Return to Forest County Home Page
(c) Forest County Pennsylvania Genealogy Project
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