Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County Pennsylvania, p.349

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OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. 349

ner Delans, of New York city, is president, is composed chiefly of New York capitalists. This company owns about six thousand acres of valuable coal lands in the vicinity of Vintondale, a village of six hundred population, composed chiefly of people who are employed in the mines. The mines are equipped with the most modern machinery known to the art of mining and mechanical engineering, which is operated throughout by electricity, including hauling, under-current ventilation and pumping. The power-house which furnishes the motor-power to operate this vast and powerful machinery is one of the finest in central Pennsylvania, and it furnishes the electric lights for the village.
    On December 30, 1886, Mr. Claghorn and Miss Margaret Montgomery, of Pennsylvania, were joined in happy wedlock, and they are the parents of three bright sons: James Lawrence, David Montgomery, and Richard Raymond.
    Mr. Claghorn has been honored by election to several of the more important scientific societies of this country. He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers; Fellow of the American Geological Society, and a life member of the Franklin Institute. He is also a member of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution.

ELLIS GLENALVINE KERR, an attorney of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and a son of Boyd Mercer and Anna (Morris) Kerr, was born February 1, 1849, in the Ninth ward, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
    The original emigrant of the family to America was Walter Ker (name was formerly written with one r), who was born in Scotland in 1657, and settled in Freehold, New Jersey, in 1686. Two of his sons were Samuel and
William. One of whom, Samuel Ker, was the father of Joseph Kerr, who was the father of Samuel, Lewis, William, Aaron and Jacob Kerr. Samuel, who was born in 1757, and died in 1829, resided at Pigeon Creek, Washington county, Pennsylvania, and was the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He married Rhoda Bescher the first time, and the second time Isabella McClure. His last wife had no children, but his first marriage resulted in the birth of ten children. The names and dates of birth and death are as follows: Joseph, grandfather of our subject, born 1781, died 1860; John, born 1782, died 1848; Robert, born 1784; Samuel, born 1786, died 1844; Abraham, born 1780; Garthrile, born 1789; Jacob, born 1792; Lewis, born 1794, and died young; Aaron, born 1796, died 1846; Walter, the only namesake of the original Walter, born 1798, died 1879.
    Joseph Kerr was a wheelwright and chair-maker by trade, and a general mechanic of skill. He lived in Cadiz, Ohio, where he followed his trade. He married Mary Henry and had eight children: Elsie M., wife of John Cameron; Samuel, died in infancy; Rhoda B., who never married; Eliza B., who married Wm. Crooks; Mary C., widow of George Calose, born in 1814, and still living; Gertrude S., married John Scott, and Phoebe P., who married John Stoner.
    The father of Ellis Glenalvine Kerr was born in Cadiz, Ohio, 1822, and died 1892. He was superintendent of the public schools of Allegheny county one term, extending from 1850 to 1853, and for about the same time was city superintendent of the Pittsburg schools. He taught a select school of high order at Oakland, near Pittsburg. Later he studied for the Presbyterian ministry, graduating from the Pittsburg Theological seminary in 1860.

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