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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

education in the common and subscription schools of Fayette county, and on leaving school learned the trade of a carpenter. He was the principal contractor and builder in that locality, having erected many of the finest buildings in this section, among which was the fine stone church erected by the Episcopal congregation of Brownsville.     He was a republican in politics ad a leader in his party in local affairs, and during his lifetime held many of the borough offices, and was an active and influential member of the Episcopal church.     He was an unusually muscular man of commanding appearance, and, while strong in his convictions, was very liberal in his estimate of his fellow-men, and enjoyed, to an unusual degree, the confidence and respect of the community in which he lived. He died in Brownsville in 1891, at the age of seventy-four years.     Mr. Brown, the maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Hagerstown, Maryland, and came to Brownsville at an early day, being one of the pioneers of that section. He was a chair-maker, and carried on his business in an old log-house that is still standing, and is now in the possession of his daughter, who is the mother of our subject.     Thomas B. Johnston was reared in Brownsville, and received his elementary education in the public schools of that place, and after graduating from the common school he taught one term in a country school. He possessed a strong desire for knowledge, and realizing the advantages of a liberal education, he entered Washington and Jefferson college, graduating from that institution in 1875. On leaving college he was elected principal of the Brownsville public schools. He conducted these schools for four years, and in the sum-

mer of 1881 came to Johnstown as the first borough superintendent, which position he held until the borough was made a city, in 1890, when he was elected first city superintendent. He continued in this position until the summer of 1896. Mr. Johnston's long term of service as superintendent of the Johnstown schools is the greatest attestation of his success in the educational field, having held this position continuously for fifteen years.     He is a member of the Episcopal church, and in politics affiliates with the Republican party. He is a member of the order of F. and A. M.     In 1892 he married Mrs. Anna M. Hay, of Johnstown. Mr. Johnston is a public-spirited man, of strong intellect and marked ability as an educator, as the high standing of the schools of the city of Johnstown strongly evidences. DR. M. H. DAVIS, the oldest resident physician of Conemaugh, and who has been in active practice for over a quarter of a century, is a son of Samuel and Eliza (Miller) Davis, and was born on the home farm in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1850. The name of Davis has long been known in Wales, from which Samuel Davis, Sr., came to Indiana county, in times of Indian troubles along its western border. He purchased land and cleared out a large farm, and lived to a ripe old age. He married and reared a family of sons and daughters, and his son, Samuel Davis, the father of Dr. Davis, was born 1806. Samuel Davis grew to manhood in a day when the people of his section suffered all the trials and privations of a thinly settled region, destitute of good roads and almost beyond the reach of markets. He received the limited education of his day, and then learned

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