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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

Francis Christy, father, was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, but his parents removed to Cambria county when he was but a boy. In 1818 he located in Gallitzin township, this county, where he was engaged as a farmer and lumber merchant. He took quite an active part in local politics, and filled several of the township offices. Both he and his wife were devout members of the Roman Catholic church. He died September 6, 1876.     Frank J. Christy was reared in Gallitzin township, and received a liberal education at St. Francis college at Loretto, Pennsylvania. On leaving school he located at Gallitzin, and for twenty-three years was successfully engaged in the general mercantile business. In 1887 he disposed of his business, since which time he has lived a comparatively retired life. At present he is connected with a life insurance agency at that place. In 1888 he was one of the organizers of the Gallitzin Water company, and at present serves as secretary and superintendent of that company. He is a devout and influential member of the Roman Catholic church.     In 1865 Mr. Christy and Miss Margaret Dawson were united in marriage, and to them has been born one daughter, Mary F. JOSEPH HOFFMAN, a substantial farmer and highly respected citizen, of near the city of Johnstown, is a son of Jacob Hoffman, and was born in Jenner township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1816. His paternal grandfather, Jacob Hoffman, Sr., went from Lancaster to Somerset county, some time before the commencement of the present century. His ancestors settled at an early day in Lancaster county. He married in his native county, and his son, Jacob, accompanied him to Somerset county. Jacob Hoffman, the

younger, was a farmer by occupation and a blacksmith by trade, and in connection with his Somerset county farm, ran a blacksmith shop. He was a zealous member of the Evangelical church, and an old-line whig in politics, and held several township offices. He was industrious and economical, and died at sixty-four years of age. He married a Miss Good, whose father came from Lancaster to Somerset county, where he died.     Joseph Hoffman was reared on his father's farm, and became early accustomed to the hardships and privations of a farmer's life in a backwoods section of country. He was carefully trained to the habits of industry and economy that have remained with him through life. Schools were few and often inferior in his neighborhood, and he did not attend any of them, but secured in different ways a practical business education. He cultivated for thirteen years his father's farm, and then purchased it. Three years later he sold it and bought his present farm in Stony Creek township, this county, on which he has resided ever since. His farm contains one hundred and eight acres of good farming and grazing land, lies convenient to school, church and markets, and being but a short distance from Johnstown. It has been brought up to a high state of cultivation and productiveness by Mr. Hoffman, who, in connection with farming, ran a dairy for seventeen years, selling his milk in Johnstown and its immediate vicinity.     On April 20, 1844, Mr. Hoffman married Eve Hoffman, a daughter of Killian Hoffman , of Somerset county. They have one child living, Sarah Amanda, who wedded Mr. George Schraeder, now a resident on the Bedford pike, near Johnstown.     For many years, Joseph Hoffman has been prominently identified with the civil and politi-

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