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were: 1. Elizabeth, married Charles Cole, of Johnstown, and has one child, John B. 2. Gertrude, married Ira Horner, and resides in Wheeling, West Virginia. 3. Mary, died in infancy. 4. Thomas, resides with his parents. 5. Nellie, married John Williams, and resides with her parents. 6. William J., a student at St. Francis' College in Loretto, Pennsylvania.
HENRY J. KNISS, a leader among the farms of Upper Yoder township, was born March 20, 1862, in the same township, on a farm within one mile of his present place of residence. He is a son or George Kniss, who was born in 1830, in Bessies, Germany, and subsequently emigrated to the United States, settling in Upper Yoder township. He first obtained work in the ore mines, and later was employed by the Cambria Iron Company, Johnstown, walking to and from work each day, a distance of five miles. In 1863 he purchased from the Cambria Iron Company one hundred and fifty acres of land, ninety of which were woodland, while the remainder were under cultivation. This farm is now the home of his son, Henry J. Kniss. He married Sophia Reitz, a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and they were the parents of seven children, among them a son: Henry J., of whom later.
Henry J. Kniss, son of George and Sophia (Reitz) Kniss, received a limited education, his opportunities for mental culture being merely those afforded by the district schools of Upper Yoder township. He acquired a thorough knowledge of farming, gardening and the dairy business and has made these branches of industry the occupation of his life, his application to them resulting in gratifying measure of success. He has filled at different times the offices of judge, inspector and clerk of elections, and gives his aid and support to the candidates and principles endorsed by the Republican party. He is a member of the English Lutheran church.
He married, August 25, 1887. Mary Berkey, and they have been the parents of the following children: Mamie, born October 5, 1888. Annie, born April 18, 1891. Ralph, born March 16, 1898. Walter, born June 14, 1900. Also one deceased.
WILLIAM H. BALDWIN, a well known contractor and excavator of Johnstown, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, who has been closely identified with the erection of some of the most important buildings in the city, is a descendant of a family which has been resident in the state of Pennsylvania for some generations.
Herman Baldwin, father of William H. Baldwin, was born on the family homestead in Somerset county, Pennsylvania in 1826. He was by trade a clockmaker, and for a time worked as a driver at Conestoga. Upon the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the Fifty-fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served in all, three years. He participated in many of the most important actions of the war, and was confined for a time in the Confederate prisons. The exposure and hardships which he endured while in captivity, so undermined his health, that it finally resulted in a total loss of hearing. Upon the completion of his time of service he was honorably discharged, and returning to his home in Shanksville, resumed his occupation of clockmaking. His death occurred at his home about 1902.
He married Sarah Keller, and they had children: 1. William H., see forward. 2. Sarah, married W. H. Brant, and has children: Herman,
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