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ican National Bank of Ebensburg, also was president and was one of the organizers of the Ebensburg and Blacklick Electric Railroad Company. He married, Dec. 20, 1864, Susan Burkhart, daughter of Joseph Burkhart, and there were four children: (1) Frederick W., deceased; (2) Schuyler C., married Minnie Stough, resides in Ebensburg; (3) Izora, married Lester Larimer, of Ebensburg, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work; (4) Thomas Stanton Davis, of Ebensburg.
William H. Sechler was an eminent lawyer of Ebensburg. The pioneer ancestor of all the Sechlers in America was a native of Germany, who came to this country at the time of the first visit of Penn in 1682. Henry Sechler, grandfather of William H. Sechler, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution and served under Washington at the battle of Germantown. John Sechler, son of Henry Sechler, was born near Pottstown, Montgomery County, Feb. 28, 1812. He learned the trade of shoemaking and pursued this occupation until 1838, when he migrated to Blair County, Pa., where he followed the milling business until his death. He was stricken with blindness and died in 1870. He was a member of the Reform Church and Odd Fellows. He married Catherine Giommer, daughter of Gottlieb Henry Giommer, a native of Blair County. They had four sons and seven daughters.
William H. Sechler, eldest child of John and Catherine (Giommer) Sechler, was born in Frankstown, Blair County, Pa., Sept. 8, 1840. He received his early education in his native township. He adopted the profession of teaching and was engaged in teaching until 1856. He enlisted in Company A, 11th Pennsylvania Reserve, at Ebensburg, May 20, 1861. He was appointed to the rank of corporal, took an active part in the battle at Mechanicsville, but in the next battle in which he participated, that of Gaines Mill, he was taken prisoner, with his entire regiment. He spent 12 days in Libby Prison and was then given charge of a detachment of Union soldiers who was sent to clear off the prison site ay Belle Island. There he remained paroled with 4,000 others until sent to the Union lines, Sept. 12, 1862. After being discharged because of physical disability he returned home and became a clerk for the city commission. He then began the study of law. He read law under the preceptorship of F. A. Shoemaker, Esq., of Ebensburg, and was admitted to the bar of Cambria
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