in the common schools. He began life as a farmer, which occupation he followed in Erie county, N. Y., until 1858. He then spent a year in Ohio, returning to New York State in 1859. In October, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Seventy-eighth New York Volunteer Infantry, and participated in the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Resaca (Ga.), Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, and in the siege of Atlanta (Ga.), being honorably discharged at the last named place after three years' service. In 1865 he located at Oil Creek, Venango county, and in 1866 at West Hickory and Dennis run, where he engaged in the oil business as a producer, and followed the oil fields until 1870. From 1870 to 1885 he resided at Fagundus, then settled on the farm he now occupies in Tionesta township, where he has since resided. Mr. Blocher married, in 1869, Mary, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Fair) Helm, of Washington township, Armstrong Co., Penn., and they have seven children: William E., Ella B., Howard O., Bertha O., Ralph A., Jesse A. and Phebe E. Mr. Blocher is a member of the Lutheran Church and of the G. A. R.; in politics he is a Republican.

GEORGE W. BOVARD, merchant, Tionesta, was born in Butler county, Penn., May 12, 1841, a son of Johnson and Lydia (Adams) Bovard, also natives of Butler county. The father was a farmer by occupation, a prominent Democrat, holding the office of justice of the peace for sixteen years, and an elder in the United Presbyterian Church; he died in 1874; his widow is still living, residing on the homestead. They reared six children: John A., Jane (Mrs. Andrew Drennan), George W., James C., William H. and E. D. George W. Bovard was reared and educated in Butler county. In 1862 he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served nine months, when he was honorably discharged. After that he engaged in mercantile business at Sherman Well, Venango county, where he remained in business eight years, and was postmaster five years. In 1871 he came to Tionesta, and established his present business, being also a member of the firm of E. Berlin & Co., dealers in general merchandise at Whig Hill, this county. In 1869 he married Miss Sarah, daughter of Charles Stewart, of Butler county, and they have three children: Charles S., Forest J. and Roy. Mr. Bovard was formerly identified with the Democratic party, but of late years has been independent. He is a member of Capt. George Stowe Post, G. A. R., No. 274, Tionesta, also of the I. O. O. F. and the A. O. U. W.

JAMES T. BRENNAN, dealer in real estate, Tionesta, was born in County Clare, Ireland, October 11, 1844, and is a son of Joseph and Kate (Hanley) Brennan. He was reared in his native country, where he received a common-school education, and came to America in 1863, locating in Forest county, Penn., in 1865, where he engaged in lumbering until 1876, as a workman and jobber. In the latter year he was appointed commissioners' clerk, which position he has acceptably filled for fifteen successive years. In 1876 he was appointed to fill an unexpired term as justice of the peace for Tionesta, and in 1877 was twice elected to this office, which he held until April 1, 1888, when he resigned; he also served as school director for five years; he was appointed a notary public, an office which he still holds. For the past eight years he has been engaged in the real estate business. On December 25, 1871, he married Mary K., daughter of William and Jennie A. (Mason) Tobey, of Forest county, formerly of Frewsburg, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., and to them were born two children: Darius W. (deceased) and Alice M. Mr. Brennan is a prominent citizen of Tionesta, is a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and in politics is a Republican.

O. C. BROWNELL, proprietor of the Central House, Tionesta, was born in Carroll, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., March 23, 1836, and is a son of Richmond and Lucy (Covill) Brownell, natives of Rhode Island and Connecticut, respectively, and who were married in Chautauqua county, N. Y. The father, who was a farmer and lumberman by occupation, and one of the pioneers of Chautauqua county, in later life removed to Warren county, Penn., where he died. O. C. Brownell was reared in his native county, also in Warren county, and followed the occupation of millwright for nearly thirty years; was also a contractor for the erection of buildings and oil rigs in the Warren, Forest and Butler county oil fields for several years. In September, 1884, he located in Tionesta, and took charge of the Central House, which he has since successfully conducted. He was in the Civil war, enlisting in September, 1864, and was assigned to Company C, Ninth New York Cavalry, receiving an honorable discharge at the close of the struggle. He married, December 9, 1860, Rebecca, daughter of Enoch Gilman, of Warren county, Penn., and they have six children: Clara B. (Mrs. George Marsh), Eva (Mrs. George Smith), Nellie (Mrs. John Colgrove), Roy G., Inez and Ella. In politics Mr. Brownell is a Republican, and he is a member of the G. A. R.

CAPTAIN C. W. CLARK, farmer, P. O. Tionesta, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, February 2, 1827, and is a son of James and Mary (Canan) Clark. He was reared in his native country, where he received a limited education, and came to America in 1852, locating in Schuylkill county, Penn., where he followed the occupation of a coal miner, until the breaking out of the war. He then joined the service as second sergeant of Company B, Sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, for the three months' service, and was discharged at the expiration of his term. He then re-enlisted as a private in Company C. Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers; was wounded at the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, and the Wilderness in 1864, and at Poplar Grove Church. He was promoted to second sergeant, then to orderly sergeant, second lieutenant and first lieutenant, and was mustered out as captain of his company after serving four years and four months. During the war he knocked in the heads of 325 kegs of powder at Petersburg, Va., for the purpose of filling magazines in the mine to blow up the rebel fort at that place. In 1865 Capt. Clark located in Oil City, Penn., and in 1866 settled in Tionesta township, on the farm he now occupies, most of which he cleared and improved, and where he has since resided. He married, in 1849, Margaret, daughter of William and Mary (Neely) Livingston, of the County Tyrone, Ireland, and they have seven children living: Mary (Mrs. William Thomson), William, James, Margaret (Mrs. James Elliott), Charles, Joseph and Mable. Capt. Clark has seventeen grandchildren living. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, of the I. O. O. F. and the G. A. R. Politically he is a Republican, and has held the offices of auditor and sheriff of Forest county.

DANIEL W. CLARK, oil producer, Tionesta, was born in West Mendon, Monroe Co., N. Y., May 9, 1841, and is a son of Rev. O. B. and Diadema (Webster) Clark. His father, who was a Universalist preacher, came to Tionesta in 1859, where he remained until 1862, when he joined the army as chaplain of the Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, serving in that capacity three years; after the war he located in Gainesville, N. Y., and died at Jamestown, N. Y., in June, 1885, at the age of seventy-five years. Our subject received a common-school education, and at the age of thirteen years entered a general store as clerk, in Busti, N. Y., serving in that capacity five years. In 1860 he located in Tionesta, and embarked in the oil business, at which he has been engaged more or less ever since. August 19, 1861, he was enrolled as second

lieutenant of Company G, Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers. July 15, 1862, he was promoted to first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, serving three years, the last one and onee-half years on detached duty as acting quartermaster First Division, Fifth Corps, under Gen. Charles Griffin. He participated in the siege of Yorktown, Hanover Court House, the seven days' fight in front of Richmond, and the battle of Gettysburg. After his discharge from the service he located in Oil City, re-embarked in the oil business, and resided there up to 1867, when he moved to Tionesta, where he has since resided. Mr. Clark married, January 17, 1863, Belle, daughter of John and Julia (Hulings) Hilands, of Tionesta, and they have nine children: Samuel Q., Effie H., John O., Bruce, Ruth D., May S., Paul H., Evaline E. and Colyn. Mr. Clark served as commissioners' clerk of Forest county six years, and at the same time was deputy sheriff under Sheriff E. L. Davis, three years. He was elected prothonotary, register and recorder of Forest county, in 1876, for a term of three years, and has held nearly all the principal offices of the borough of Tionesta; he is a member of the F. & A. M., I. O. O. F. and G. A. R., and in politics is a stanch Democrat.

P. M. CLARK, district attorney, Tionesta, was born near Curwensville, Clearfield Co., Penn., September 23, 1851, and was the adopted son of Samuel H. and Jane E. Clark. He removed with his parents to Forest county in June, 1870, and has since resided here. Entering the office of Hon. J. B. Agnew, then prothonotary of Forest county, he remained there until March, 1872, when he attended Allegheny College, Meadville, Penn., until December, 1873, and, re-entering Mr. Agnew's office, was chosen to succeed him on his election to the legislature in 1874. After the expiration of his official term, he studied law with Miles W. Tate, Esq., and was admitted to the bar in 1883, at the September term, forming a legal partnership with Hon. J. B. Agnew under the firm name of Agnew & Clark. Mr. Clark was elected district attorney of Forest county in the fall of 1885, and was re-elected in 1888. April 26, 1888, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Emma Baker, daughter of Daniel Baker, of West Freedom, Clarion Co., Penn., a lady of the highest Christian character, who died June 22, 1889, leaving to mourn her death a sorrowing husband and a wide circle of relatives and friends.

JOHN A. DALE (deceased) was born in Centre county, Penn., November 14, 1808. The death, in 1815, of his father, Rev. Joseph Dale (who was a Methodist minister), made it necessary for the widowed mother to journey with her little ones to the then wilds of Western Pennsylvania, whither her own immediate family had preceded her. It was a long and perilous journey by wagons, and the humble log-cabin, hastily erected on the bank of Tionesta creek, about three miles above its outlet, promised little of home comfort to the widow and her little ones; but she was a devout Christian woman, imbued with the implicit confidence of the God of the widow and the fatherless, and bravely took up her work. One son was soon laid to rest, but her remaining three children, John A., Joseph G. and Susan (now Mrs. McClatchey), were spared her. She lived to see her family honored members of society, and in her old age was tenderly cared for by them. Opportunities for mental improvement were few in the undeveloped and sparsely settled country, but, overcoming every obstacle, the subject of this commemorative record obtained a liberal education, and for a number of years taught school in the winter months, engaging in other pursuits in the summer. This early self-tuition gave him a lawyer's skill in drafting documents; and for many years deeds, leases and all legal instruments for the people of this section were written by him, with no other reward than the good-will of those whom

As an

he served. He studied medicine in the office of Dr. Marvin Webster, but never practiced. In 1835 he embarked in mercantile business at Tionesta (then a mere hamlet), in which he was successfully engaged for many years, making, by his honorable, straightforward course, many friends. instance of his personal popularity, he was, in 1847, nominated by the Whig party, and elected by a large majority, sheriff of Venango county, although the county was at that time largely Democratic; he afterward held the office of prothonotary of the same county, by appointment, on the death of William Elliott. During the Civil war he was active in raising troops for the suppression of the Rebellion, sparing neither time, labor nor expense in sustaining the government, and he was proffered by President Lincoln an appointment as paymaster in the army, with rank of major, but failing health obliged him to decline the honor. The present boundaries of Forest, with Tionesta as the county seat, are largely due to his influence and energetic action, and although conscious that he was making personal enemies, he still worked for "the greatest good to the greatest number."

In 1867 Mr. Dale was appointed associate judge upon the death of the incumbent. He filled many other positions of public trust, ever conscientious in the discharge of duty, the public schools being the particular object of his solicitude. The life of Judge Dale was a busy one. He was engaged at different times in the manufacture of lumber, and in the development and sale of oil lands. Early in 1870 he became connected with the interests of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, and labored zealously for the interests of the company, holding various positions in the same. It was while returning from an official visit to James McHenry (then in New York) that he met with the terrible accident at Renovo, Penn., on the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad, which was doubtless the cause of his death. Thus from his early manhood until his death, which occurred June 25, 1877, Tionesta was his home, and the best interests and prosperity of its people his care, until he left the stamp of his individuality throughout its entire limit; indeed, a history of Forest county would be very incomplete without prominent mention of his name. Many men, now in middle life, and dwelling in different parts of the country, remember gratefully his helpful counsel, and say that life has been better and brighter for what he did for them. He was a great lover of nature, and made a special study, in the later years of his life, of horticulture and arbor culture, which he understood fully, as demonstrated by garden and arbor surrounding his beautiful home on the banks of the Allegheny river. Pure and upright in his daily walk and conversation, honest and earnest in all things, he was respected by all, and has left his family the best of all heritages-that of a good name. He was a Freemason of high order for many years, having great affection for the fraternity, and he was buried with Masonic honors.

Judge John A. Dale was twice married; in early life to Miss Jane E. Richardson, of Kittanning, Penn., and in 1852, in New York City, to Miss Elizabeth C. Watson, who still survives him. There are four of his daughters living: Mrs. E. L. Davis, Mrs. David Hays, Mrs. L. R. Freeman and Mrs. W. A. Greaves.

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 of Centre county, Penn., settled in Tionesta township in 1814, cleared and improved 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 greater 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 Blood 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 ever 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 has 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 quick insight. Among men he is social. and at home a true husband and father.

EPHRAIM L. DAVIS, Tionesta, was born in Conewango township, Warren Co., Penn., November 18, 1836, and is the youngest of the twelve children of Greeley and Lucy (Dow) Davis. His mother was of English extraction, being the daughter of Hon. John Dow, of Reading Centre, Steuben Co. (now Schuyler), N. Y. John Dow was the second settler at Watkins, the now famous Watkins Glen, at the head of the beautiful Seneca Lake. He was a man of commanding appearance and great natural ability, and was soon recog nized as a leader. Among the many public offices he held in his adopted county was member of the assembly, four terms, sitting with the then young Martin Van Buren who afterward became president of the United States; he was also judge of the county court eighteen years, and held many other local positions of trust and responsibility. He was a near relative of Lorenzo Dow, the once famous pioneer preacher. He died in 1847, at the advanced age of eighty-two years, being then the oldest Freemason in the State of New York.

Lucy (Dow) Davis was born in Watkins, N. Y., October 10, 1792, and died in the borough of Tionesta, Forest Co., Penn., in 1868. She was a woman