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| History of Cambria County, V.3 |
| 266 | HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. | |
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to Johnstown at the age of five years. He received his schooling at the public schools of that place, and at an early age entered the service of the Cambria Steel Company. At the age of twenty he caught the western fever, went to California, and traveled extensively throughout the west for three years. On his return to Johnstown he engaged in business for himself on Main street, opening a bakery and confectionery store, in connection with china and glassware. Here he continued until the great flood of 1889, which destroyed the buildings and ruined the stock. He sold his interest in the property and the following two years thereafter was the manager of the Engleside Brick Co. Leaving this he again entered the employ of the Cambria Steel Co., in the works order, department, later was made the superintendent of that department, then special accountant, at the general office, later still assistant to the assistant manager. At the present time he is superintendent of structural and steel car department. After the death of his first wife (the mother of the subject) W. S. Weaver married for his second wife, Josephine Moore, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, a sister of M. G. Moore, civil engineer for the Cambria Steel Company, who married a sister of W. S. Weaver, Louisa by name. By his second marriage Mr. Weaver had three children: Catherine, Josephine and Walter Sinclair, Jr. Concerning the first marriage of Walter S. Weaver, it may be said that he was united to Susan Blanch Dibert. She was the daughter of John and Martha (McLane) Dibert, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. By this union the following children were born: John Dibert, see forward; and Martha, who with her mother was drowned in the Johnstown flood. The Diberts were of Holland stock, Mrs. Weaver's great-grandfather being the immigrant ancestor. The place of their original settlement was Bedford county, Pennsylvania, whence John Dibert, the second in descent, removed to Somerset county, settling at a place afterward called Dibertsville. He was a farmer, distiller and a tanner until about 1816, when he removed to Johnstown, where he died at the age of forty-five years. At Johnstown he engaged in the mercantile and hotel business, becoming one of the most wealthy and prominent citizens of the town. His son, John Dibert, the father of Mrs. Weaver, received a good mercantile education in his father's business and devoted himself to mercantile and banking pursuits all of his life. About 1850 he established a hardware business which was carried on for many years. In 1869, in partnership with John D. Roberts, he founded the banking firm of John Dibert & Co., which continued until Mt. Dibert's death, at the time of the flood, May 31, 1889. Mrs. Susan Blanch (Dibert) Weaver, with her daughter Martha, were ill-fated victims of the great 1889 Johnstown flood, in which they lost their lives. After this calamity, the son, John Dibert Weaver (subject) was adopted by Mrs. Weaver's sister, Mrs. Robert Patterson Snowden, nee Mary Dibert. The Snowdens and Pattersons were settlers in New Jersey prior to the landing of William Penn. After this event they removed to Philadelphia, where the major portion of both families have since resided. Mr. Snowden's grandfather, General Robert Patterson, was an officer in the Mexican war, and a personal friend of General Grant. Robert Patterson Snowden is connected with the Pennsylvania railroad, at Camden, New Jersey. John Dibert (Weaver) Snowden was born at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, August 14, 1883, and after his adoption into the Snowden family he was taken to Bordentown, their residence at that time. In 1893 he went to Raymond Academy, at Camden, New Jersey, where he remained |
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