in the settlement of an estate in California, about four months, after which he engaged in the hotel business, which he still carries on.
He was united in marriage, March 2, 1878, to Bridget McBride, of Johnstown, who was born in Cambria City, now a part of Johnstown, the daughter of Roger and Margaret (Doherty) McBride. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Quirk were: 1. Rosemary, born February 17, 1879, died April 10, 1881. 2. Owen Patrick, born May 26, 1880, died September 10, 1901. 3. Mary, born March 21, 1882; died August 21, 1882. 4. Margaret E., born August 31, 1883. 5. John F., born August 7, 1885. 6. Helen, born June 14, 1887. 7. Roger F., born January 21, 1889, died June 20, 1889. 8. Rose, born April 14, 1890. 9. Leo, born October 27, 1892. 10. Francis, born July 31, 1896, died February b, 1897. 11. Thomas C., born September 4, 1897. 12. Miriam, born November 5, 1901.
JULIUS WILD, one of Johnstown's public-spirited citizens, was born May 12, 1849, in Bieden Kopf, Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, son of Caspar and Wilhelmina (Unvercagt) Wild. The former was educated in the public schools and learned the shoemaker's trade. He and his wife both died in Germany, where their two daughters still reside.
Julius Wild attended the public schools of his native place until the age of fourteen, and then learned the shoemaker's trade under the instruction of his father. In 1866, when but seventeen years old, he emigrated to the United States, sailing from Bremen on the steamship "Atlantic," and landing in New York after a voyage of twenty-one days. He wished to go to his uncle, Joseph Wild, in Johnstown, but found himself almost penniless in the great city. Through the kindness of a fellow-passenger who saw his plight, he was supplied with the means of completing his journey. He remained with his uncle one year, serving as clerk in the store and in various other capacities, and was then for a time employed as a laborer in the old mechanical works. Times were hard and work difficult to obtain, and his next employment was as clerk in the clothing store of Michael Kronberg. He then went back to the mechanical works to learn the carpenter's trade, being paid fifty cents a day, but left at the end of four months, and on March 1, 1868, entered the service of the Cambria Foundry Company. For one year he worked as laborer and then rose to the position of foreman, remaining with the company in all twenty-one years.
He was next employed for five years as foreman by the Johnson Company, and then established a foundry and machine-shop on Davis street, under the firm name of Wild & Anderson. During this time he went to Ansonia, Connecticut, and for four months experimented for the Ferrell Foundry and Machine Company, after which he returned to Johnstown, purchased his partner's interest, and conducted the Wild Foundry and Machine-shop until April, 1897, when he sold it to Charles Title. On May 17, 1897, he purchased the old "Senate," on Bedford street, and conducted it until the building was destroyed by fire, in 1900, after which he carried on a saloon on that site until 1902, when he bought the Commercial Hotel, on Washington street, which had been erected in 1894 by John Kirby. Of this establishment Mr. Wild has since been the successful proprietor. In addition to the management of his hotel he has interests in enameling works, and is a stockholder in two banks as well as in the Indiana Brewing Company and the Somerset Distilling Company.
At the time of the flood his home was in Dale borough, but he and
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