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| History of Cambria County, V.3 |
| 244 | HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. | |
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1861, Samuel Gardner enlisted in the Union service for nine months and served until the expiration of his terns. He was wounded in the second Fredericksburg battle. Both he and his wife are now dead. 5. Susan, married Franklin Penrod, removed to Kansas and died near Johnstown at Upper Yoder. 6. Lena, married John Moore and died in Bedford county, Pennsylvania. 7. Sarah, married John Hana, and is now a widow living at West Fairfield, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. 8. Jonathan C., now of Westmont and Johnstown, retired. 9. William, married Mary White and is a farmer of Upper Yoder township, Cambria county. 10. Joseph, married Mary Gates and lives in Upper Yoder township, Cambria county. 11. David, died in infancy. Also an infant unnamed, and a son who died in 1861. The mother of these children died September 11, 1897. Jonathan Christopher Gardner, eighth in the order of birth of the children of Frederick and Matilda (McCauley) Gardner, was born near what is now the town of Jerome, Jenner township, Somerset county, March 17, 1850. As a boy he went to the school near his father's home, but when eleven years old went with his father into the lumber woods and worked with him there and on the farm until he was twenty-one, when the family moved to farm lands owned by the Cambria Iron Company, where now stands the pretty borough of Westmont, just beyond the city limits of Johnstown. These lands then included six hundred acres and were worked for a year by young Gardner under the direction of his father; but when he became of full age he worked them himself for the company for the next three years and then took charge of other company lands at Henrietta, Blair county. Two years later he bought and moved to a farm near Westmont and then began the contract lumber operations which have made his name known among lumbermen throughout southern Pennsylvania and in other states. In 1890 Mr. Gardner purchased the Cambria Iron Company's standing timber, cut and sawed it and put it in the market. This occupied much of his time during thirteen years, and about the time it was finished he became extensively interested in lumbering operations in West Virginia, he having acquired large tracts there in 1903. This brief sketch, however, does not give the entire sum of Mr. Gardner's business operations, for he has other considerable interests, and he is frequently called upon as an expert to estimate large tracts of timber in the interest of other proprietors and companies, and in that special work his services have been required on various occasions in the states of West Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and in fact throughout the Middle West; and his long experience with and thorough knowledge of lumbering operations and the character of the markets in different parts of the country have made him an expert in that special line of work. He is so known and recognized among lumber men. In 1901 Mr. Gardner moved from his farm to Westmont borough, where he has since lived in one of two commodious dwellings built by him at that place. Although at all times a busy man, he nevertheless has taken a commendable interest in local affairs, his political preference inclining strongly to the Republican side. In the township he served in carious capacities, as supervisor two terms, assessor one term, school director five years and township auditor six years. He is a member of Somerset Street Brethren Church. Jonathan Christopher Gardner married, August 29, 1873, Louisa Heiple, born January 27, 1854, daughter of Louis Perry and Elizabeth (Ankney) Heiple, of Johnstown, and formerly of Somerset county. Of this marriage six children have been born: 1. Bertha May, born May 22, |
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