Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County Pennsylvania, p.477

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OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. 477

was born in Johnstown, this county, March 14, 1868. His great-grandfather, John Slick, was a native of Frederick city, Maryland, of Swiss-German lineage. At an early day in the history of the county, he removed to St. Clair township, Bedford county, Pennsylvania. He was a farmer by avocation and a man of fine physique. William Slick, grandfather of the subject of this biographical sketch, was born in Frederick city, about the time of the Declaration of Independence in America, and died in Johnstown in 1866, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. He came into what is now Cambria county in 1806, and purchased a considerable tract of land, upon which is now located that portion of the city of Johnstown extending from Market square to the "Point," or the confluence of Stony creek and the Conemaugh river. He was a tanner by trade, and built and operated a tannery, which was located upon the present site of the Carnegie Free Library. He sold out in 1812 and removed to the present site of Geistown, three miles southeast of Johnstown. This section was then a wilderness. He purchased a large tract of land, and with characteristic pioneer industry and determination began the clearing of a farm and the establishment of a home. Upon this farm he lived until 1866, when he disposed of his land, which at that time consisted of three large farms, and removed to Johnstown, where he spent the remainder of his days. He was an old-line whig, politically, but became a republican upon the organization of that party in 1856. He was a man of many strong traits of character, a great reader, and possessing a peculiarly retentive memory he became the possessor of a great store of information of an historical nature. Of strictly temperate and moral habits, his services and counsels were frequently sought in matters requiring calm judgment, and for at least twenty years served as justice of the peace of Richland township. He was a believer in the religious tenets of the sect of John Wesley, and the first class of Methodism ever established in Cambria county was in his home, on December 25, 1827.
    He was twice married. His first marital union was with Rebecca Hemphill, who died in 1846, and in 1847 he married Rachel Benson, widow of William Benson. His children were of the first union and were as follows Annie; Eliza, was the wife of William Makin; Robert, died at the age of twenty-six years of smallpox; John, Benjamin Franklin, uncle of our subject, whose sketch appears elsewhere; William, a surveyor of Johnstown; Nancy, wife of John Amsbough; Julia, wife of Robert E. Rodgers; Rebecca, died young; Joseph, a resident of Johnstown, and George R., the father of the subject of this sketch.
    George R. Slick was born in Geistown in 1829, and died June 4, 1889, a victim of the memorable flood of that year. He received his education in the old subscription schools of his boyhood days. At an early age he learned the trade of a puddler, and followed it during the primitive days of its existence, when the old-style methods were in vogue. Politically he was a republican.
    He married Mary A. Crissman, who was born May 20, 1827, and died April 18, 1896. Her father, Andrew Crissman, was one of the early pioneer settlers of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and died in New Paris, that county. He was a farmer, and in politics was a staunch democrat of the old Jeffersonian type. He was a man of excellent judgment, had a keen insight into business affairs, and was eminently successful in all his undertakings.

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