Excerpt from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers

The valley of the Juniata is the fertile and picturesque region which forms the back ground of the histories furnished for this work. Its very nomenclature is historic; for while their soft and musical Indian appellations cling to the most of the mountains and streams, the names of towns and townships usually commemorate the pioneers of the white race, or the European homes from which they came. In the annals of families which we here present, we believe convincing proof may be found of the truth of what we have said regarding the value of biography and its several points of interest. Among the immi grants who here invaded the primeval wilderness, the scotch-irish and Germans predoml mated, but France, Switzerland, Holland, and other European nations by no means lacked representation. Many families here can trace their line of descent far back, even to the ro mance period of European history. Some might boast of many generations of noble and cultured ancestry others might be equally and as reasonably proud of their descent from a line of sturdy yeomanry, or from upright and useful peasants and laborers. Among the earliest settlers of this lovely valley were many who were driven from their homes by per secution, braving the sorrows of expatriation and the perils of the wilderness through single-hearted devotion to principle. Others came from motives which, if less heroic, were not less laudable; desiring to find room and favoring circumstances for the growth and education of their families. The sufferings and the heroism of the Pilgrim fathers of New England has been the theme of many a song and story but the toils and privations, the patience and the daring of the Pennsylvania Pilgrims has never been half told. Let the annals of. The valley of the Juniata lie as a green wreath on their resting place. Among these pioneers, mutual respect and sympathy were generally prevalent, and Ameri can patriotism was a plant of easy and rapid growth. The hardships and the terrors which they had endured in common, the dangers and conflicts of the infant republic, shared with alacrity by those whose parents had spoken different tongues and inhabited widely sepa rated climes, quickly cemented elements that might under other circumstances have been conflicting ones, and unified the population of the valley. Thus the denizens of this region took their place in the Commonwealth of the old Keystone State, and helped to im part to it that sturdy and vigorous, but refined and dignified character so well symbol ized in the architecture of the old State capitol, in whose recent destruction Pennsylvania has suffered an irretrievable loss.

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