OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

357

land in the summer, and cutting cord-wood in the winter. This plan he followed, however, but a few years, until he had made such improvements upon his farm that its cultivation required his entire time. He became thrifty and prosperous, and at the time of his death, which occurred upon his farm, February 14, 1895, he owned three good farms and a valuable house and lot. At the solicitation of Mr. Hoover, in 1850, his father, Jacob Hoover, and his family came to this country, and settled upon one of his farms. Here his father lived in comparative retirement until his death, at the advanced age of eighty-six years.     Peter Hoover married Catharine Strittmatter, a daughter of Andrew Strittmatter, of Carroll township, Cambria county, and they are the parents of thirteen children, nine sons and four daughters: Thomas J., the eldest, and subject of this sketch; Mary, deceased; Fannie, the wife of William Dishart, of White township, this county; James of Altoona, Pennsylvania; Simon, of Carrolltown, this county; Joseph, of Carroll township; Rev F. R. Vincent, professor and director of St. Vincent college—a Catholic institution of Latrobe, Pennsylvania; Edward, who is in the government service as postmaster; Theresa, a nun in St. Mary's Convent, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Peter, a merchant, of Carrolltown; Catharine, also a nun in St. Mary's convent and William, a teacher of Carrolltown.     Thomas Hoover was brought up on the farm, educated in the graded schools of Carrolltown, and then engaged in teaching during the winter, and farming in the summer for fourteen years. In 1886 he purchased his present farm of one hundred and forty acres, situated in the northeastern part of Cambria township, upon which he has since resided. He is an active and staunch democrat, and in

1890 was elected steward of the county almshouse, and filled that office ably and acceptably until 1895. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church, served on the church committee, and has been a member of the choir since fourteen years of age.     January 30, 1866, the nuptials were celebrated, which made Mr. Hoover and Miss Elizabeth Zern, a daughter of Jacob Zern, a farmer of Carroll township, husband and wife, and they have lived happily together for over a quarter of a century.     Moved by a thorough Christian and philanthropic spirit, Mr. Hoover has adopted and reared six orphan children, who have assumed his surname. They are: Edwin, an engineer on the Pennsylvania railroad, running between Philadelphia and Reading; Rosa, the widow of George Lutz; Mary, the wife of Walter Dowling, of Johnstown, and three sons, who reside at home with their adopted father. THOMAS B. JOHNSTON, ex-city superintendent of the schools of Johnstown, is a son of William Henry and Ann Eliza (Brown) Johnston, and was born in Brownsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1851.     The Johnstons are of Irish descent, the paternal grandfather being a native of the Emerald Isle, where he received a liberal education and prepared himself for the Presbyterian ministry. Realizing that the opportunities for advancement were quite limited in his own country, when quite a young man he emigrated to America and located about five miles from Brownsville, making the place his permanent home. He died at the advanced age of ninety-four years.     William Henry Johnston (father) was born near Brownsville in 1817. He received his

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