FRANK E. ORMSBY, farmer and lumberman, P. O. Smethport, is a son of W. F. and Loretta Ormsby, and was born in Smethport, McKean Co., Penn., in 1844. His father, who is a native of Vermont and a blacksmith by trade, located at Smethport, Penn., in October, 1842, where he carried on a blacksmith shop, but he is now a resident and farmer of Ormsby Junction, which place derives its name from him. His children are Mrs. Ella Newton, Mrs. Emma Helsel, Gideon I. and Frank E. The last named, who is the subject proper of this sketch, was reared and educated in his native town, and, in 1866, married Helen, daughter of Pardon Wright, and they have two children: Mrs. Clara Neeley and Mrs. Lottie Lamont. In 1887 Mr. Ormsby purchased the farm he now owns on Marvin creek, Keating township, McKean county, where, in addition to his agricultural interests, he is engaged in lumbering. In politics he is a Democrat.

A. H. PIERCE, JR., hotel keeper, Smethport, was born in Troy, N. Y., June 14, 1844, a son of A. H. and Esther (Oatman) Pierce, the former a native of Albany, N. Y., and the latter a native of Vermont. A. H. Pierce, the subject proper of these lines, left his home at the age of ten years, and worked on a farm for $25 a year, clothing himself, until 1861, when he enlisted in Company D. Sixth Ohio Cavalry, and served faithfully until 1865, when he received an honorable discharge. In 1869 he married Miss Rosa A., daughter of Johnson and Fannie Glase, of Lymansville, Penn., and to this union were born four children, of whom two are living: A. H. and Hattie G. Mr. Pierce located in Coudersport, Penn., in 1867, rented a building and kept a restaurant several years; in 1879 he came to Smethport, where he rented again and kept a restaurant two years, when he built for himself his present hotel, which he very successfully conducts. Mr. Pierce is a member of Tent No. 9, K. O. T. M., and of McKean Post, No. 347, G. A. R., at Smethport. In politics he is a Republican, and his family all attend church.

T. H. PURTLE, blacksmith, Smethport, was born in Susquehanna county, Penn., in 1854. He made his home with his parents until 1877, when he removed to Bradford, McKean Co., Penn., where he was in the oil business for five or six years; then removed to Jamestown, N. Y., and thence to Smethport, where he is now engaged in blacksmithing. In 1879 he married Lizzie McNelly, and they have two children. They are members of the Catholic Church, and he is a member of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. In politics he

is a Democrat.

WILLIAM RAMER, farmer and stock raiser, P. O. Smethport, was born in Schuylkill county, Penn., in 1823. He learned the wagon maker's trade, at which he worked in his native county until 1856, when he removed to Smethport. In 1858 he purchased the farm he now owns, in Keating township, where he has been engaged in farming and stock raising, selling the productions of his dairy in the borough of Smethport. Mr. Ramer married Matilda Fry, and they have had six children, four of whom are living: Louis, Nathaniel, Samuel and Alice (Mrs. Samuel McClure). Mr. Ramer is a supporter of the Republican party.

A. REILLY, Smethport, was born in 1825, in County Cavan, Ireland. The Reilly family, consisting of father, mother, four sons (including our subject) and two daughters, moved from Philadelphia to McKean county in 1842, arriving, after a tedious journey with horses and wagons, in the then wilderness, locating three miles east of Smethport. Here they built a log-house, and began work to make themselves a home in the woods. The following recollections of those times, as narrated by Mr. Reilly, will be found interesting:

"Deer, which were numerous, would come to browse upon the fallen

brush, where they were killed for their skins, and a hunter who visited us killed seven in one day, taking their skins and leaving their carcasses in the woods. I was the first to buy and ship venison to New York and Philadelphia, and one winter, in company with Judge Arnold, I shipped fifteen tons, the saddles selling at 4 cents and the rest at 2 cents per pound. In 1842, the year we came here, a drove of seven elk was driven past our home by Joseph Coleman, and at another time a full-grown elk was captured by two Indians and led through the town. A half-grown panther was trapped by Mr. Hugh Starkweather, bound with withes and taken to Smethport. Wolves and bears were so ravenous that the sheep had to be housed at night, at one time sixteen in my flock being killed by animals in one night. In the spring pigeons would come in immense flocks, at one time the nesting being ten miles long and five miles wide, every tree and limb in the forest being covered. Their last appearance was in 1870. Many made a business of catching them, and on Potato creek there were placed nets about one hundred yards apart for a distance of fifteen miles, each net capturing from ten to one hundred dozen per day. I was one of the first to buy them for shipping, and have shipped twenty to thirty barrels per day, each barrel holding twenty-five dozen, and selling at from 25 to 50 cents per dozen, but discontinued shipping when advised to do so by the commission men, who would no longer pay freight charges, as the market was glutted. In 1843 I walked all the way to Philadelphia, a distance of about 300 miles, sixty miles of the distance being through Potter county, a wilderness, with but one house in the sixty miles, and returned in 1844, also on foot.

Mr. Reilly was married in Philadelphia to Miss Ann Bryen, and became the father of six sons and four daughters: Joseph W., Emmet R., James M., Andrew R. M., Grattan and John M., being the sons; the daughters were Mary, Ann Celia, Maggie and Emma B. The family belong to the Catholic Church, and in politics Mr. Reilly is a Democrat. He was elected county commissioner in 1878, and re-elected in 1881. As a contractor and builder Mr. Reilly built the county poor buildings, on the cottage plan, a style being now largely copied by other counties. He also built the Grand Central Hotel at Smethport, at a cost of $30,000, a large brick store and other edifices in Smethport, at a cost of $8,000 each. He cleared a farm of 150 acres from the wilderness, planting 300 fruit trees, and has always proved himself to be a worthy, industrious and useful citizen.

F. O. RICHMOND, conductor on the Bradford, Bordell & Kinzua Railroad, Smethport, was born in Smethport, McKean Co., Penn., July 27, 1840, a son of Nelson and Amanda (Chapin) Richmond, natives of New York State, who came to Smethport about 1812. They were the parents of six children, of whom F. O. is the fourth son. His father died in 1846. He has followed various occupations, having been in a hotel in Smethport more or less for eleven years. He married September 4, 1861, Miss Mary E., daughter of Erastus and Mary (Star) Curtis, of Smethport, Penn. Since the completion of the Bradford, Bordell & Kinzua Railroad, at Smethport, he has been employed on it for nearly six years, and over four years as conductor. Mr. Richmond served at different times under Col. Wilcox as deputy sheriff.

LUCIUS ROGERS, proprietor of the McKean County Miner, Smethport borough, was born in Geneseo, Livingston Co., N. Y. When he was less than a year old his father moved his family to Jamestown, N. Y., where they lived until two or three years after the father's death, which occurred in August, 1847. The subject of these lines received a comparatively limited education, the public schools and Jamestown Academy being the extent of his

school training, and at the age of sixteen years he entered the Journal office at that place to learn the printing business. After serving about two and a half years he moved to Warren, Penn., where he worked in the Mail office for about a year; then went to Syracuse, N. Y., and worked in the Journal office of that city about six months. From there he proceeded to New York City, where he set type on the New York City directory, and afterward in the book and job office of Baker & Goodwin, in the old Tribune building, remaining in that city about fifteen months. Subsequently he worked about eighteen months in the city of New Haven, and the towns of Litchfield and Waterbury, in Connecticut, also a few months in Dansville, N. Y. Returning to Warren, Penn., about the year 1851, Mr. Rogers soon after entered into partnership with Hon. E. Cowan in the publication of the Warren Mail. In the summer of 1854, he was nominated by the Whigs as a candidate for county treasurer of Warren county, and at the October election was elected by a majority of about 150 At the session of the legislature in 1857 he was elected transcribing clerk of the senate of Pennsylvania, a position he retained, however, only one session, the Democrats having resumed control of that body at the following session. Late in that year he entered into negotiations for the purchase of the Citizen, of Smethport, which was owned by Prof. F. A. Allen. The purchase was finally concluded, and Mr. Rogers took possession of the office February 27. 1858. At the session of the legislature in 1860, the county of Cameron was formed partly from McKean county, and in the fall of that year he moved the Citizen office to Shippen (now Emporium), which would be the county seat, believing that the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad Company would locate their shops there when the road was completed at that point. The first number of the paper was issued on December 28, 1860, and was the first paper ever published within the limits of that county. In a few months the war broke out, and the editor and printers shut up the office and enlisted. Under a commission issued by Gov. Curtin, Mr. Rogers recruited Company F, of the Fifty-eighth Regiment, in July, 1861, with which regiment he served until the spring of 1863, when he returned to this county and purchased the McKean County Miner, which was moved from Bradford to the county seat a year or two before. About the year 1870 he sold the paper and in January, 1884, repurchased it and returned to his first love. In 1864 he was a candidate for representative, and carried his own county by a handsome majority, but was defeated by Clinton county, which was strongly Democratic. In 1869 he was elected prothonotary, and in 1871 to the assembly in the district composed of McKean and Potter counties, defeating F. W. Knox, of Potter county. He was a secretary of the State constitutional convention of 1873, and was several years secretary of the Republican State committee. Four years, from 1879 to 1883, he was deputy secretary of internal affairs, and for some eleven years was journal and reading clerk of the State senate. In the summer of 1889 he was nominated for county treasurer by the unanimous vote of the convention, and was elected. Years before the discovery of oil in McKean county Mr. Rogers had great faith in the exist ence of extensive coal beds in the eastern portion of the county, and spent a small fortune in seeking to develop this theory. He was wedded to the belief that there was a great future in store for the county, and was ever ready to devote his energies in furthering its development in any direction that appeared in the least feasible. In the face of repeated discouragements he never lost hope. For a number of years he was president of the school board of Smethport borough, and it was through his persistency, with the support of other members of the board, that the present fine building was erected and the founding of Smethport's excellent schools laid. He built and operated the first steam

saw-mill ever erected in the Potato creek valley, and has been identified with every effort for the development of the resources of the county. All earnest, aggressive men have their enemies, but though Mr. Rogers is a man very much in earnest in all that he undertakes, and has through life been an aggressive Republican, there is no bitterness in his warfare, and few men have come out of so many hard-fought political battles with so few personal enemies. In May, 1860, Mr. Rogers married Levia M. Goodwin, of Seneca county, N. Y.; this lady died July 27, 1889, at the age of fifty-two years. The result of that union was three daughters and one son, all of whom are living, excepting the first born, a daughter, who died in infancy. The family of Mr. Rogers attend the Presbyterian Church, but he is not himself a member of any denomination.

JOHN F. ROONEY, dealer in meats, fruits, etc., Smethport, was born in Portageville, Wyoming Co., N. Y., February 14, 1854, son of James and Ann (Lavelle) Rooney, both of whom died when John F. was comparatively young. The subject of our sketch received a common-school education in his native town, and since commencing life has been engaged in various occupations. He first went into partnership in the hotel business, but six months later sold his interest in the hotel and opened a grocery, which he carried on two years; then sold his grocery business and moved to Bradford, Penn., where the following winter he found employment with the Standard Oil Company, at Custer City. When the "shut-down came in the succeeding spring, Mr. Rooney, with the other new men, was laid off with promise of first vacancy. Becoming impatient, however, waiting for an opening, he went to Coleville, Penn., where he entered into a partnership in the meat business, and when the oil excitement was over at that place he took an interest in a 500-acre lease and wild-cat well, located three miles from Shongo, Allegany Co., N. Y., near the Allegany county oil belt. This well proving to be dry, the venture reduced Mr. Rooney's capital to $150, with which he came to Smethport, where he invested $132 in the meat business, which he has since successfully carried on. Mr. Rooney is a member of the Catholic Church, and of the C. M. B. A.; in politics he is a Democrat.

ROBERT H. ROSE, attorney at law, Smethport borough, was born at Silver Lake, Susquehanna county, Penn., December 7, 1847. His grandfather, Dr. Robert H. Rose, of Philadelphia, was very prominently identified with the early history of Susquehanna county, buying from the Francis estate 100,000 acres of land, and building a beautiful residence on the banks of Silver Lake, where he finally took up his abode, Silver Lake still remaining the property of the family. Edward W. Rose, father of the subject of this sketch, moved from Silver Lake to Montrose, same county, where he was in the mercantile business for years, and here, at the academy, young Robert H. commenced his classical education. In 1868 he graduated from Cortland Academy, at Homer, N. Y., after which he became a student in the law office of Fitch & Watson, prominent attorneys of Montrose, Penn., and in 1873, he was admitted to the bar in Susquehanna county. In December of that year Mr. Rose came to McKean county, and to Smethport, as attorney and agent for the Bingham estate. The Binghams were the original owners of nearly all McKean county, as well as Potter and adjoining counties, and the largest owners of oil territory in this field. Mr. Rose is still attorney for the Bingham estate and acts for Robert C. Simpson, attorney in fact for the trustees. The first law partners of Mr. Rose were Hon. David Sterrett, now of Washington, Penn., and Hon. W. W. Brown, now of Bradford, Penn., the firm subsequently changing to Sterrett & Rose, and now, by the retirement of Mr. Sterrett, after ten years' copartnership, Mr. Rose is alone, his office being in the Hamlin Bank building.

In

a citizen:

addition to his other interests, Mr. Rose is attorney for the county commissioners; and in this connection, at the time of his appointment, a local paper paid him the following just tribute to his ability as an attorney and his integrity as "The Appointees. The new board of commissioners appointed, as their legal counsel, Hon. Robert H. Rose. Mr. Rose is one of the younger, yet one of the ablest, members of the bar of McKean county. He represented this county in the legislature of 1885 with great credit, and as a member of the law firm of Sterrett & Rose he has had very considerable legal experience. Other attorneys sought the position who were backed by strong friends, but the commissioners finally decided in favor of Mr. Rose, and no one can deny but that the selection is a singularly meritorious one. Mr. Rose has been actively engaged in the oil trade since 1878, and is a member of the Bradford Exchange; has operated in the Bradford, Allegany and Washington fields largely, and is recognized as a thorough, able and successful business man and financier. On September 5, 1877, he was married to Laena D., daughter of Hon. Henry Hamlin, and their union, a most happy one, has been blessed in the birth of two children: Robert Craig and Marion. Mr. Rose has represented his district in the State legislature, where he made an enviable record. He takes a just pride in being a thirty-second degree Freemason, a Knight Templar, and a member of the consistory at Pittsburgh; as also a member of the Mystic Shrine. In his political views Mr. Rose has always been a Republican. His home is one of the fine residences of the borough, and he is recognized as one of the leading representative citizens. Mr. Rose is of a remarkably genial and kindly nature, and his home is the center of a refined social life, to which his own personality gives much of the zest. Here he has also given free scope to his love of the fine arts, notably pictures by modern artists, of which he is an enthusiastic admirer and intelligent judge.

MOSES ROSENFIELD, dealer in clothing and jewelry, Smethport, son of S. A. and Sarah Rosenfield, was born in Germany, near the Russian line, March 15, 1862, and was educated in the Hebrew school in his native country. His father, who was a merchant and dealer in produce, employed about 150 men, and Moses assisted him, making his home with his parents until he emigrated to America. His parents are still living in Germany. Their children were Joseph, Rebecca (who died in 1879, at the age of twenty-two, having been married only eighteen months), Levi, Barney, Jacob and Moses. The first two sons are in Germany, Barney is a merchant at Bradford, Penn., and Jacob is with Moses. Moses came to America in 1878, and located in New York City, where he remained a little over two years. He began his business career as a merchant in a small way, and, as funds increased, enlarged his stock, until by hard work, economy and strict attention to business, he has secured a sum which enables him to do a trade on a large scale. He located at Smethport in the fall of 1880, and in 1888 he erected the building he now occupies (having previously purchased the lot), where he is now extensively engaged in the clothing and jewelry trade. Mr. Rosenfield is a member of the I. O. O. F., lodge and encampment. He is a member of the Hebrew Church. H. W. RUBIN, merchant tailor and dealer in clothing, Smethport, was born in Germany, February 23, 1855, receiving his education in his native country. When fourteen years of age he came to Syracuse, N. Y., and commenced business for himself by selling goods upon the road, coming in 1879 to Smethport, where he engaged in his present business. He married September 28, 1879, Miss Sarah Rosenson, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and they are the parents of four children: Rachel, Harry, Ida and Estella. Mr. Rubin is now one of the largest and most successful business men in Smethport. He is a