The Delo Family of Clarion, Pennsylvania

Among those who peopled North America there are none whose history is fraught with more interest and is more difficult to trace in its genealogy than that of the French Huguenots. For three centuries they were the flower and wealth of the French Empire—the artisans, mechanics and manufacturers, and among the most intelligent citizenship. Yet they were the most persecuted people of almost all history, because of their religion—the purest system of faith and practice, for the time, in all Europe. Contending for religious liberty, they gave their lives and blood on the altar of freedom that they might worship God according to the dictates of conscience, with an open Bible before them. At last, when greatly decreased in numbers, they expatriated themselves, taking refuge in the English Isles, Holland, Switzerland and Germany. Many of them came to the American colonies—to New England, Maryland, Vermont, Virginia and the Carolinas. To trace many of these families is impossible. Names were changed, suffixes dropped, and translations made into other languages. Their descendants are among the best citizens, and have given eminent men to positions of trust and responsibility in church and state.

Before the revolutionary war, three brothers—Michael, Joseph and Charles Delo, Huguenots—came to Westmoreland, Virginia, which then embraced the southwestern part of Pennsylvania. Governor Dunmore held court at Pittsburgh, then Fort Duquesne, in 1774. He changed the name to Fort Dunmore. Joseph Delo went down the Ohio, and Charles went east, possibly into Maryland; Michael Delo located in the vicinity of Greensburg. He was a soldier and was killed in an ambuscade by the Indians, leaving a son, George; his wife was Mary Kiefer. It was about 1773 when Mr. Delo was killed. The widow later married Jacob Smith; they raised a large family of sons and daughters, many of whose descendants are in Clarion county, connected with the Brenemans, McLains, McNaughtons and other families.

George Delo

George Delo, son of Michael and Mary (Kiefer) Delo, was born in Westmoreland, in 1773, about the time his father was killed. When he came to manhood he married Eve Catherine Kuhns. The Kuhns family is quite numerous in Westmoreland and Clarion counties. In 1807 he moved to a place about four miles southwest of the present location of Clarion. Three years later he sold his land to his half-brother, Henry Smith, and moved to the mouth of Piney, on the Clarion river. Delo’s Eddy, on the Clarion, took its name from him. Not long after he moved to a bluff on the Clarion between the mouths of Canoe and Beaver creeks, where he had secured a large tract of land. His wife’s brother, John Kuhns, joined lands with him; another, Christian Kuhns, moved in 1813 to a farm joining the present Reedsburg. Mr. Delo erected a sawmill at the mouth of Canoe creek, and about a half mile below a boat scaffold on the river bank, in 1815, and engaged in lumbering and boat-building, at the same time clearing a large and beautiful farm, with large and substantial frame buildings. In 1840 he sold his sawmill to Maxon O’Dell. In 1818 the wife of Henry Smith was killed by a cow. Some time after he visited Mr. Delo, who inquired after his circumstances. He replied that it was hard to get along without a mother in so large a family. Mr. Delo said: “You should get you a wife.” He replied: “I have no time to hunt one.” Mr. Delo told him he had a neighbor, a widow with a number of children, and “when you come again I will take you up and introduce you.” Several years passed. In February, 1820, Mrs. Delo died, and when Mr. Smith came again Mr. Delo had married the widow. She was Eve, oldest daughter of Christopher Hummel, one of the founders of Hummelstown, in Dauphin county, who had been a teamster in Washington’s army. They were of German stock. She had married Daniel Loughner, a son of Rudolph Loughner, of Westmoreland. He died at the mouth of the Tiscaminitas in 1812. The widow at once moved to Beaver township, where her brothers, Samuel and Henry, and other members of the family, lived.

Susan Hummel, a sister of Eve (Hummel) Delo, married William Mays. Three of their sons are living in Clarion county:

1. Samuel H. Mays, a veteran of the civil war;
2. David Mays;
3. John Mays.

When Mr. Delo married the widow he had nine children and she had six.

Children of Eve Hummel and her first husband, Daniel Loughner:

1. Barnet Loughner, tradesman and violinist; his descendants are numerous.
2. Michael Loughner, tradesman and violinist; his descendants are numerous.
3. Samuel Loughner, tradesman and violinist; his descendants are numerous.
4. Daniel Loughner, tradesman and violinist; his descendants are numerous.
5. Christianna Loughner, married Daniel Delo;
6. Susan Loughner, married Reuben Fowles, a native of Juniata county; two of their sons were veterans of the civil war:
   1. A. R. Fowles;
   2. William Fowles.

About 1842, Mr. Delo bought three hundred acres of land at Walnut Bend, on the east side of the Allegheny river, in Venango county, including the islands. Here he laid out a town and named it Georgetown. It became considerable of a place during the oil excitement in the sixties. In 1865 land there sold for $1,000 an acre. Indians were often guests of Mr. Delo, but they had no fixed location in the county. The territory seems to have been reserved for hunting grounds. There were many evidences of their camps in earlier times. There was an Indian by the name of Jack Snow, who had been in the habit of coming up the Clarion and camping on its banks for some years to hunt and fish. The last time he came was in the fall of 1809. With his party of hunters and squaws they set their camp at the mouth of Deer creek. After a short time Snow got into a quarrel with some white men who had gone to his camp; after they had left, one threatened to shoot Snow the first opportunity offered. Mr. Delo went over the river and advised Snow to leave, telling him that his life had been threatened. Snow at once left. The camp fixtures, meat, traps, etc., were packed into their canoes, and hunters and wives, with their boats, went down the river, never again to return and camp along the stream. They, however, for years traveled through the country, it was thought to visit lead deposits. Several of them came at one time and lodged with Mr. Delo one night. In the morning before breakfast they went out into the woods and soon returned with a quantity of lead ore. Mr. Delo was somewhat of a hunter before he left Westmoreland county. From the vicinity of Greensburg, he with two others followed the track of a large panther; on the evening of the second day, at Freeport, they lost the trail. His companions, discouraged, returned home, but Mr. Delo after some effort found the track on the third day. He followed this on a chestnut ridge; after a time he came on his own tracks. The hunter had become the hunted. They soon looked into each other’s eyes, and a practiced hand and keen sight laid out the panther. An old physician, Dr. Meeker, said the skin measured eleven feet from point of nose to tip of tail, that it was stuffed and sent to Philadelphia. Possibly true. At the mouth of Canoe creek, Mr. Delo saw a panther on a rock on the opposite side of the river watching for a fish breakfast. He shot her and got twenty dollars for the scalps of the mother and two cubs. Once he shot a bear and gave the skin to a neighbor, who said: “Sure, Mr. Delo, ven you was so gute as to gif me de skin, mebby you gif me de bear too.” The skin was of no value, but the meat was a necessity. Deer and bear were to be had at almost any time; fish also, filled the streams, great shoals of them, were in the Clarion river, pike, salmon and bass, with suckers and smaller fry. The creeks were full of speckled mountain trout.

Mr. Delo served two campaigns in Captain Neely’s company from Venango county, at Erie, in the war of 1812. He and his family were Lutherans in religious belief. He died March 11, 1848, when he had living nine sons and three daughters. One daughter, Polly Keiser, wife of George Keiser, had died in 1845. The oldest son was Daniel, of whom below.

Children of George Delo: the first nine by Eve Catherine (Kuhns) Delo and the last four by Eve (Hummel) Delo, in source order:

1. Daniel Delo, the oldest son, of whom below.
2. Joseph Delo, of whom below.
3. Jacob Delo, of whom below.
4. George P. Delo, of whom below.
5. John Delo, of whom below.
6. David Delo, of whom below.
7. Anna Delo, of whom below.
8. Esther Delo, later called Esther Fry; of whom below.
9. Polly Delo, wife of George Keiser, died in 1845.
10. Eve Delo, of whom below.
11. Henry J. Delo, of whom below.
12. Louis Delo, of whom below.
13. Rev. Reuben F. Delo, of whom below.

Joseph Delo

Joseph, son of George and Eve Catherine (Kuhns) Delo, was born in Hempfield township, Westmoreland county, in 1801. When he came to manhood he married Susan Best, of Beaver township, Clarion county, where he purchased a farm. They had four sons and four daughters when his wife died. He then married Rebecca Wiles, who blest him with three daughters and three sons.

Among the children of Joseph Delo and Susan Best were the following:

1. Joseph Delo, married a Miss Ashbaugh.
2. George Adam Delo, was twice married, and lives in Centerville, McKean county.
3. Daniel Delo, married a Miss Lamb, of Clarion township; he died in 1910; they have two daughters living in Warren, Pennsylvania:
   1. Two unnamed daughters Delo.
4. David Delo, living in Enterprise, Warren county; married, and has a daughter living, a teacher:
   1. One unnamed daughter Delo.
5. Mary Delo, married John Black, of Licking township.
6. Susan Delo, married George Baker; she is deceased.
7. Elizabeth Delo, married John Shively; she died without issue.
8. One other unnamed daughter Delo, accounting for the stated four daughters by Susan Best.

Of the second wife’s children:

1. Simeon Delo, served in the civil war, married Miss Stover, and have a family;
2. William Delo, lives in Pittsburgh, married a Miss Canan, of Millcreek township;
3. Amos Delo, a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church, deceased, married a Miss Barnet.
4. Three unnamed daughters Delo, accounting for the stated three daughters by Rebecca Wiles.

Jacob Delo

Jacob Delo, son of George and Eve Catherine (Kuhns) Delo, married a Miss Silvis; they moved to McKeesport in 1840, where he was mine boss for some time; an injury made him a cripple for life

Two sons of Jacob Delo served in the civil war:

1. An unnamed son Delo, killed in the civil war;
2. Another unnamed son Delo, also in the civil war.

A grandson of Jacob, David Delo, lived in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. The source does not name his parent.

1. John Delo;
2. Albert Delo.

George P. Delo

George P., son of George and Eve Catherine (Kuhns) Delo, married Betsy Best; they had four sons and a number of daughters.

1. Rev. L. J. Delo, a Lutheran minister.
2. Three other unnamed sons Delo.
3. Unnamed daughters Delo, number not stated.

John Delo

John, son of George and Eve Catherine (Kuhns) Delo, died without issue.

David Delo

David, son of George and Eve Catherine (Kuhns) Delo, married a Miss Logan of Kittanning, Armstrong county; in 1840 he moved to Wheeling, West Virginia; he was a coach maker; during the civil war he was in service, and was superintendent of artillery wagon shops in Chattanooga, Tennessee. David Delo died at the age of eighty-five years.

Sons of David Delo:

1. Watson Delo, lost a leg in the civil war; was a printer and was employed in the government printing department; deceased, leaving a widow and children who reside in Washington, D. C.:
   1. Four unnamed daughters Delo;
   2. One unnamed son Delo.
2. Rev. Frank Delo, a Lutheran minister in the west.

Anna Delo

Anna, daughter of George and Eve Catherine (Kuhns) Delo, married Daniel Winger, of Beaver township; they had a family of five children when she died.

1. John J. Winger, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He built the first Methodist church building in Kansas City, was a missionary in Arizona and New Mexico. After twenty years of earnest work on the frontier his eyesight failed. He died at Los Angeles, California.
2. Simon Winger, a veteran of the civil war, died in Michigan in 1910;
3. Reuben Winger, another veteran son, lives in Beaver township;
4. Susan Winger (McDowell), a daughter, aged eighty-five years, lives in Beaver township;
5. Katharine Winger (Murphy), died in Illinois.

Esther Fry

Esther Fry, another daughter of George and Eve Catherine (Kuhns) Delo, died in Missouri aged ninety-five years and five months, at the home of her son:

1. Isaac Fry.

Eve Delo

Eve, daughter of George and Eve (Hummel) Delo, married Slocum Kerr, a physician; they went to Cincinnati in 1840; a second husband was Jacob Reiche, who lived near Chicago, where she died.

Henry J. Delo

Henry J., son of George and Eve (Hummel) Delo, married Hannah Barr, of Beaver township; for a time they lived at Walnut Bend, and then moved to Elkhart, Indiana, on a farm, where he died; his descendants live in that vicinity.

Louis Delo

Louis, son of George and Eve (Hummel) Delo, married Caroline Lobaugh, of Licking township. They are both deceased; they have a number of children living:

1. Reuben F. Delo, lives in the Bradford oil field;
2. Two unnamed brothers Delo, live in the Bradford oil field.

Rev. Reuben F. Delo

Rev. Reuben F. Delo, son of George and Eve (Hummel) Delo, a Lutheran minister, was educated in the common schools and Wittenberg College, at Springfield, Ohio; his pastorates were at Elkhart, Indiana, and Three Rivers, Michigan; he died in Colorado; he was chaplain of an Ohio regiment of volunteers during the civil war.

All the sons of George Delo were active in church work and liberal in support thereof. Three of them taught in the public schools of the county.

Daniel Delo

Daniel Delo, first born son of George and Eve Catherine (Kuhns) Delo, was born December 9, 1779, in Hempfield township, Westmoreland county. He was seven years old when he came with his parents to Clarion county, then Armstrong county. A year later he had three months in school, all he ever had. Some time later he went with his father on a flatboat to Pittsburgh, where he purchased a Testament, which became his daily companion and study. When resting his horses in the plow he would sit on the plow beam or under a tree and read until his mind became filled with the wonderful story of the Christ and His tragic death. In his old age he related to his son Benjamin this experience: While resting his horses he sat under a tree reading and in meditation. Suddenly there appeared before him the Christ with the print of the nails in His hands and the thrust of the spear in His side, with a halo of light enswathing His person. He saw the risen Christ as Thomas had seen Him. He had never seen any pictures at any time and there were none about the house. In explanation he remarked that becoming so familiar with the facts impressed upon his mind a mental image was formed and thrust out before his eyes. At the age of fourteen he had his right shoulder dislocated; all efforts failed to adjust it, notwithstanding six months spent under the treatment of Dr. Merchant, of Greensburg. During this period he made his home with his uncle, David Keifer. Not being able to do manual labor, he procured books and gave himself to study. In the evenings a pine torch afforded him light. At the age of eighteen he taught his first school, on Cherry Run, in Clarion county, on the Louis Wilson farm. He subsequently taught at Leatherwood, Churchville, and at Alts, in Beaver township, where for some time he had a select school to which students came from other neighborhoods, boarding in the vicinity. Among those was John Over, who came especially to study German. Mr. Over died in Clarion at the age of ninety-four years, in 1900. He was the father of Judge Over, of the orphans’ court of Allegheny county. Mr. Delo served as constable for several years. In 1823 he married his stepsister, Christiana Loughner. They had thirteen children: two died in infancy, one at ten years. In 1828 Mr. Delo was appointed justice of the peace by Governor Shulze, for the townships of Richland, Rockland, Elk, Paint and Beaver, in Venango county. The territory extended on the west side of the river, from the mouth of the Clarion to Horse Creek on the Allegheny, taking in all of what is now Clarion county, west of the Clarion, and part of what is now Venango. He labored especially for the adoption of the common school law. He served one term as auditor of Venango county. After serving fourteen years in the office of justice, he was elected sheriff of Clarion county and served a term, and was deputy for the two succeeding terms. In 1844 he was a campaign speaker for the Democratic party, and was especially sought after for his capabilities as a German orator. He was appointed colonel on Governor Shunk’s staff. He had then been captain of a militia company for fifteen years. He was one of the owners and builders of Eagle Furnace on his land, where he had a sawmill, having formerly been engaged in boatbuilding and lumbering. In 1847 he sold his interest in Eagle Furnace and bought the Great Western Hotel in Clarion, which he conducted for three years, when he sold out. In 1853 he was appointed weighmaster on the Pennsylvania canal at Hollidaysburg, and also served three years as cargo inspector; then was for a short time weighmaster for the P. R. R. at Johnstown. Returning to Clarion, he taught school one winter, and in 1860 was elected prothonotary of the county and served one term. In the beginning of the civil war he drilled the first volunteers enlisted in Clarion, and went over the county speaking at mass meetings for enlistments. He subsequently served a term as justice and was for a number of years president of the school board and tax collector. Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Delo united with the German Reformed church; he was treasurer of the classis of that church in Clarion county. At Hollidaysburg they united with the Lutheran church, and on their return to Clarion became members of the Presbyterian church, of which he was a ruling elder for twenty years. He never departed from one great interest—the education of the people and their religious culture in the Sunday school. He was spiritually minded, and his home was ever open to all ministers of the gospel. Mrs. Delo was an ideal mother and housekeeper, and was of wonderfully well balanced mind, an assistant to her husband in counsel, and of loving and tender heart. Mr. Delo died October 19, 1877, aged seventy-eight years, and his wife went to her reward only six weeks later, aged seventy years. They were buried in Clarion cemetery. Few people were so universally esteemed. All classes gave them honor and their memory abides as ointment poured forth.

Children of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo:

1. Dr. George Washington Delo, of whom below.
2. Rev. John A. Delo, of whom below.
3. Abigail Delo, of whom below.
4. Jeremiah Delo, of whom below.
5. Herman Levi Delo, of whom below.
6. Samuel Porter Delo, of whom below.
7. Joshua Hunter Delo, of whom below.
8. Daniel Alvin Delo, of whom below.
9. Thomas B. Delo, of whom below.
10. Rev. Benjamin F. Delo, of whom below.
11. Two unnamed Delo children, died in infancy.
12. One unnamed Delo child, died at ten years.

Dr. George Washington Delo

Dr. George Washington Delo, son of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, was born March 14, 1824, in Beaver township, Clarion county. He was educated in the common schools, and added thereto by close application thereafter. He married Sophia Wheaton, daughter of Charles Wheaton; she was a native of New Jersey, and came to Pennsylvania when she was four years old. They were highly esteemed in the communities where they lived.

George W. Delo, the father, was a carpenter in his early manhood, later he studied medicine. He had taught school for several winters. For some years he lived in the oilfield of Oil Creek, Pennsylvania; then in Clarion county. In 1857 he moved to Elkhart, Indiana, thence to northern Alabama, where he practiced medicine in connection with agricultural pursuits. The Kuklux sent him several death notices. He finally sold out his plantation at a sacrifice and moved to a farm joining the city line of Springfield, Missouri, where he has prospered, and in his eighty-ninth year is a well preserved man, physically and mentally, and has a competence for his old age. He and his wife held membership in the Lutheran and Methodist Episcopal churches in their changes of residence. He is a Prohibitionist.

They had an old-fashioned family of thirteen children; three died in infancy:

1. C. A. Delo, a coachmaker in Frisco shops, Springfield, Missouri, is married and has a family of four children:
   1. Four unnamed children Delo.
2. William R. Delo, married Sadie Adams, of Rockland, Venango county; he operated in the Bradford (Pennsylvania) oilfield, and state of Indiana, where he died in 1910; his widow lives in Franklin, Pennsylvania; daughter:
   1. Lenore Coswell, lives in Bartleville, Oklahoma.
3. John A. Delo, a brickmason, in Springfield, Missouri, and has a family.
4. Mary E. Delo, widow of Benjamin La Belle, lives in Springfield, Missouri.
5. Wesley B. Delo, a brickmason, and lives in Springfield, Missouri.
6. Maria Delo, wife of George Atterbury, resides on a farm near Springfield, Missouri.
7. George E. Delo, a railroad man of Kansas City.
8. Joshua H. Delo, a car-maker in the Frisco shops, Springfield.
9. Hannah J. Delo, wife of L. B. Cooper, lives on the farm with her father; the mother died a few years ago, aged eighty-two years.
10. Three unnamed Delo children, died in infancy.

Rev. John A. Delo

Rev. John A. Delo, second child and son of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, was born April 15, 1826. He had a common school education, and for a time was a clerk at Eagle Furnace. He had united with the Methodist Episcopal church when sixteen years of age, but transferred his membership to the Evangelical Lutheran. Feeling called to the ministry, he studied for a time with his pastor, Rev. Witt, in Shippensville, and finished his course in Wittenberg College, at Springfield, Ohio. During his first pastorate at Marionville, Pennsylvania, he married Amelia Buffon, in 1855. He after had pastorates at North Washington, Butler county, and Apollo, Armstrong county. From Apollo he went into the army as chaplain of the Eleventh Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteers. He went with his regiment through the Wilderness campaign, to the James river, where they were discharged. He had contracted a chronic disease, and the same fall, November 1, 1864, he died at North Washington, Butler county, Pennsylvania, where he is interred. He was a man of deep piety and much more than ordinary pulpit ability. The veterans of his regiment have spoken of him as an ideal chaplain in camp and in hospital, ever on the lookout for their physical and spiritual good.

He and his wife were the parents of one daughter and two sons:

1. Alice Delo, unmarried, cared for Alonzo’s children after their parents died.
2. Alonzo Delo, an artist in Pittsburgh, died leaving two children; their mother also died, and the children were in the care of Alice Delo:
   1. Two unnamed children Delo.
3. Rev. Howe Delo, a Lutheran minister at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; he had consumption, went to Texas for relief but died there in Austin.

Abigail Delo

Abigail, daughter of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, married Abraham K. Page, of Juniata county, Pennsylvania. She was born in Beaver township, June, 1828, and died in 1907, aged seventy-nine years. Mr. Page was long engaged in the furniture and undertaking business in Clarion.

Children of Abigail Delo and Abraham K. Page:

1. William E. Page, married Louisa Brinkley, of Clarion; he and both married sons are painters and decorators. Sons:
   1. William E. Page, married; painter and decorator.
   2. Charles Page, married; painter and decorator.
2. Benjamin F. Page, married Carrie Fleming, and is the successor of his father in the furniture and undertaking business in Clarion. The Flemings are a large connection in Clarion county and are sturdy Scotch stock. Children:
   1. Ora Page, wife of John W. Cyphert, locomotive engineer of Union City, Pennsylvania;
   2. Mary B. Hood, of Seattle, Washington;
   3. Ruby Page, married Charles Wensel, cigar manufacturer of Clarion. Children:
      1. B. F. Wensel Jr.;
      2. Paul A. Wensel.
   4. Three other unnamed Page children, deceased.
3. James Page, married Erdine Reyner, of Knox, Pennsylvania; he was engaged in the grocery trade, is now deceased, and his widow carries on the business successfully. Children:
   1. Wayne Page;
   2. An unnamed daughter Page.
4. George B. Page, a painter and decorator in Clarion; married Nora Neely. Children:
   1. Abraham K. Page;
   2. Abigail Delo Page;
   3. George Neely Page;
   4. Harold Earl Page.
5. Mary Page, married N. B. Rowley, of Chester, West Virginia; Mr. Rowley is a general traveling agent. Daughters:
   1. Abigail Rowley, a student in college;
   2. Mary Rowley, at home.
6. Christiana Page, married M. L. Longnaker, a bookkeeper for the Westinghouse Electric Company, East Pittsburgh; they reside in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. Daughter:
   1. One unnamed daughter Longnaker.

Mrs. A. K. Page was a Presbyterian, also her son William and Mrs. Longnaker; B. F. and family and the Rowleys are Baptists. George B. and family are Presbyterians, and Mrs. James Page is a Lutheran.

Jeremiah Delo

Jeremiah, son of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, was born in Beaver township, July 3, 1830. His education was in the common schools of Clarion. In 1850 he united with the Methodist Episcopal church. He then organized the first church choir of Clarion; then went to Meadville, was a carpenter and contractor, choir leader in the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and married Melvina Lane, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ross Lane, came from Chautauqua county, New York.

In 1858 Jeremiah Delo moved to Altoona, Pennsylvania, and for a short time was carpenter for the P. R. R., when he was appointed weighmaster. When first appointed he had three hours’ work in the day and his assistant three at night. After serving forty-one years he was retired on age limit, when superintendent of weighing, with seventeen assistants who were constantly employed. Such was the increase of tonnage in his time of service. His wife died in 1870. In 1872 he married Charlotta Wandel, of Salem, Clarion county, daughter of William Wandel. At once, on moving to Altoona, he took charge of the choir of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. When the Eighth Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church was organized he filled the same position there. He was chairman of the building committee, constructing two successive church buildings for this organization, and on the committee that built the present beautiful and costly edifice. He was a most exemplary Christian, and had the confidence of all who knew him. During his retirement he enjoyed a most happy life for several years, when his health failed and he gradually came peacefully to the translation to the better life.

Their four children are living:

1. Eva Bell Delo, in Altoona, Pennsylvania;
2. Harriet O. Delo, in Altoona, Pennsylvania;
3. Charles Delo, in Altoona, Pennsylvania;
4. William Delo, married, superintendent of pattern department, shops of P. R. R. at Bellevue, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania.

Herman Levi Delo

Herman Levi, son of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, was born in Beaver township, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1836. He was educated in the common schools and academy of Clarion. He married Sarah Eliza, daughter of Samuel and Charlotte (Brotherline) Longanecker, of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. He was in the employ of the P. R. R. for fifty-two years and three months, dating from April 1, 1854, to July, 1906, when he was retired by age limit, and was at that time assistant chief motive power clerk of all the P. R. R. lines east of Pittsburgh and Erie. He and his family are members of the Lutheran church. For many years he was the organist of the First Lutheran Church of Altoona, and he is a prominent member of the F. and A. M., and past commander of Mountain Commandery.

Children of Herman Levi and Sarah Eliza (Longanecker) Delo:

1. Herman E. Delo, chief inspector of the Altoona & Logan Valley Street railway from Hollidaysburg through Altoona to Tyrone. Children:
   1. Harry C. Delo, has a son:
      1. Joseph C. Delo.
   2. Edward F. Delo, has children:
      1. Dorothea L. Delo;
      2. Harold E. Delo;
      3. Lucial B. Delo.
   3. Walter H. Delo;
   4. Elma R. Delo.
2. O. Frank Delo, chief clerk of the middle lines of the P. R. R. Children:
   1. Rebekah Elizabeth Delo;
   2. Sarah Martha Delo.
3. George H. Delo, chief clerk of Juniata locomotive works of the P. R. R. Co., where they build their locomotives.
4. Howard Delo, electrician of the eastern grand division and branches between Altoona and Philadelphia.
5. Sarah Matilda Delo.

Samuel Porter Delo

Samuel Porter, son of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, was born May 1, 1830, in Beaver township, Clarion county. He was married twice. Samuel P. Delo was a violinist and an expert on nearly all musical instruments. He had a common school education, and became a locomotive engineer on the P. R. R. between Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne. In an accident his arm was broken; after recovery he enlisted in Pittsburgh in the first call for volunteers in the civil war. After serving his term he re-enlisted and became a recruiting sergeant, when he was appointed chief clerk in the provost marshal’s office in Meadville, where he remained up to the close of the war. He then traveled for a number of years as a canvasser. Last he was employed as timekeeper for the Southern Pacific R. R. at Birmingham, Alabama, where he died in 1893.

Sons of Samuel Porter Delo, one by each marriage:

1. William Delo, by his first wife; lives in North Baltimore; a locomotive engineer on the B. & O. R. R.
2. An unnamed son Delo, by his second wife; lives in Los Angeles, California, with his mother.

Joshua Hunter Delo

Joshua Hunter, son of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, was born October 15, 1841. He was educated in the common schools and academy of Clarion. He married Susan Richards, daughter of Abraham Richards, of Clarion. He clerked for his father in the prothonotary’s office until 1862, when he enlisted under Captain B. J. Reid, in Company F, of the Sixty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Hays commanding. In the beginning of the battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines he was killed while as first sergeant, he was forming the company for action; he was buried on the battle field. Following is the last letter he wrote to his wife, also extracts from various sources giving testimony as to the esteem and love in which he was held by friends and associates:

The following is from the obituary published in the Clarion Democrat, 1862:

In the battle of Fair Oaks, now historic, many brave men have fallen, fighting manfully the great battle of the constitution and the government, many hearthstones have been made desolate, and many hearts sad, but over no community did the spirit of mourning brood more heavily than that from which went forth the subject of this notice, when on the still Sabbath morning of the 4th inst. the news spread from house to house that he had fallen, nobly battling for the right in the front ranks of our noble army, while cheering them on to deeds of noble daring. Not twenty-one years of age, he thus fell, leaving the bright example of glorious action and a noble death, falling as brave men love to fall, if fall they must, in the din of battle, with their faces to the foe. In this example, although dead, he yet lives. He leaves behind a sorrowing companion and two orphan children, parents, relatives and friends to mourn his early death; yet for them are the consolations of the word of eternal life, and they mourn not as those without hope—they have the comforting assurance from the letters of his brave and excellent captain, himself and others, that the deceased died a faithful soldier of the Cross, as well as a true soldier of the republic, and for those thus dying, death has no sting, the grave no victory. Let his mourning widow remember Him who saith, “I will be the widow’s portion and the orphan’s stay;” his parents and relations, that the “Lord gave and the Lord taketh away,” and let all say, “It is the Lord, he doeth all things well.” G. W. L.

Children of Joshua Hunter Delo and Susan Richards:

1. Joshua Stanley Delo, resides in Chicago, Illinois;
2. Mary Hunter Delo, a graduate of Carrier Seminary and Edinboro Normal School. She is a professional teacher and has taught many terms successfully.

Daniel Alvin Delo

Daniel Alvin, son of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, was born in Clarion borough, June 28, 1846. He was educated in Clarion common schools and academy. He served three months in Captain B. B. Dunkle’s company at the time of Morgan’s raid in Ohio, during the civil war. He also clerked in the provost marshal’s office at Meadville to the close of the war. He died in 1865 in Meadville.

Thomas B. Delo

Thomas B., son of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, was born in Clarion, September 17, 1848. He was educated in the common schools, academy, and Carrier Seminary of Clarion. He taught a term of school in Leatherwood; clerked for some time in Thomas Moffit’s store, then for Nathan Myers in Clarion, and then worked in the Clarion Democrat office at printing. He went to Altoona, Pennsylvania, in September, 1869, as clerk for the P. R. R. Company. He was married in 1871 to Theodocia E. Moore, daughter of Johnston and Maria Moore, of Altoona, Pennsylvania.

After the decease of the mother of these children, Thomas B. Delo married Clara Adell Van Gorder, daughter of Jacob and Amanda M. Van Gorder, of Elmira, New York, and granddaughter of Colonel E. C. Frost, of Schuyler county, New York. There were no children by this union. Thomas B. Delo moved from Altoona, Pennsylvania, to Elmira, New York, as clerk for the Northern Central Railroad, and has continued in the employ of that company. He is a Presbyterian, and has been choir leader in Altoona and Elmira.

By this union there were two children of Thomas B. Delo and Theodocia E. Moore:

1. Ray B. Delo, now assistant cashier of the Second National Bank of Elmira, New York; married Lily Mason, daughter of W. C. Mason. Child:
   1. Eleanor Louisa Delo.
2. Dr. J. Moore Delo, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; married a daughter of Mr. Hadfield, of Philadelphia; no children.

Rev. Benjamin F. Delo

Rev. Benjamin F. Delo, son of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo was born in Beaver township, Clarion (then Venango) county, April 16, 1832. He was only five years old when he went to his first school; his first teacher was Miss Polly Morgan, who married Rev. George F. Reeser, a Methodist Episcopal minister of the Erie Conference. His other teachers were: Rev. Daniel Kuhns; Peter B. Simpson, who died in Helen township, aged ninety-three years; Daniel B. Hays, an attorney, died in Mercer, Pennsylvania; a Mr. Winal, whose father was a minister of Westmoreland county; Mrs. Gardner, a summer school, and Abraham Mabaugh. On April 1, 1844, the family moved to Clarion, he then went to a summer school kept by Rev. George F. Ehrenfelt. In August, 1844, his father apprenticed him to Reid & Alexander, of the Clarion Democrat, to learn the art of printing. A year later Alexander purchased Reid’s interest and later sold a half interest to George B. Weaver. The office force consisted at different times of John C. Reid, journeyman, James F. Weaver, later editor in Center county, and colonel in the civil war, and J. P. George, later editor and publisher of the Brookville Jeffersonian, who were apprentices. At the end of three years in the office he was a journeyman for a few months; he then attended school for the winter, after which he was journeyman on the Clarion Banner, A. J. Gibson, proprietor. In February, 1849, he united with the Methodist Episcopal church in Clarion, and for a short time canvassed as a book agent. The first part of 1850 was spent in study with his brother, John A., at Shippensville. The summer was spent in the Clarion Banner office. In 1851 he clerked for M. S. Adams at Martinsburg (now Bruin), Butler county, Pennsylvania. The winter following he taught school at Attleberger’s schoolhouse, in Beaver township, Clarion county; in March, 1852, he received license as an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal church. The early part of the summer was spent in charge of the store at Martha Furnace, in preparation for closing up the works. In the fall of 1852, after clerking for Richard Richardson in Shippensville for a time, he went to Meadville and worked as journeyman for J. C. Hays on the Crawford Journal, until the spring of 1853, when he entered as a student in Allegheny College. In the vacation of 1855, July 3d, he was licensed a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church, on the Shippensville circuit. In the middle of the fall term at college, he was called as second preacher on Pleasantville circuit. In the fall of 1856 he did some speech making for the Republican party, and entered into the lumbering business. On the 1st of January, 1857, Mr. Delo married Phebe Ann, daughter of Daniel Jr. and Phebe Ann (King) Fleming, of West Hickory, Pennsylvania. Daniel Fleming Sr. came from Allegheny county, son of —— Fleming, whose wife was a Reed. Daniel Fleming Sr. married Nancy Hardy, of Venango county. She had a brother, Hardy, who kept a hotel on the Franklin and Pittsburgh turnpike. The Kings were from Tioga county, New York (Bainbridge). Of the Flemings it is said their progenitors were from the north of Scotland. In August, 1857, Mr. Delo returned to Meadville and worked as a journeyman for Mitchell & Sears on the Spirit of the Age. From January 1, 1858, to August, 1859, he was foreman on the Crawford Democrat, —— Wilson was editor and proprietor. He returned then to lumbering on West Hickory. In August, 1859, Colonel Drake struck petroleum oil, two miles below Titusville, on Watson Flat. The influx of population required an additional preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church of Titusville, in the beginning of 1860, and Mr. Delo filled the place. From July, 1860, to July 1862, he was a missionary on Oil Creek, in the oilfields. He did the first Methodist preaching at Rouseville and Plummer. In 1862, in August, he was appointed on Pleasant Valley circuit. In 1863 he was received as a member of the Erie conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. Bishop Simpson presiding, was ordained a deacon, and appointed to Kinzua, where he preached for three years. His pastorates thereafter were Frewsburg, New York; Cochranton, Youngville, Wheatland, Brookville, Greece City, Petersburg; presiding elder of Brookville and Clarion districts in Pennsylvania. Returning to pastorates he served Callensburg, Knox, agent for Carrier Seminary, and pastor at Clarion. During this last pastorate he led the congregation to build a beautiful church building of native stone at a cost of $35,000, at present valued at $60,000. He continued for several years in itinerant preaching, but on account of his wife’s illness he could not move. After having served in the conference for thirty-three years he retired. During his retirement he was three times connected with the Clarion Republican. The last time in 1901 when he was editor and publisher. Since then he has had no employment and is now in his eighty-first year.

Rev. B. F. Delo is a Mason, being a member of Clarion Lodge, No. 277, F. and A. M., and the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania; Eden Chapter, No. 259, Royal Arch Masons, of Clarion, and at present chaplain of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania; also a member of Franklin Commandery, No. 44, Knights Templar of Pennsylvania. His wife is living and is in her seventy-seventh year.

Rev. Benjamin F. Delo was the father of only three children with Phebe Ann (Fleming) Delo:

1. Daniel F. Delo, educated in the common schools, Carrier Seminary and Allegheny College. After studying law he died at the age of twenty-four years. He was born in Meadville, November 22, 1857; married Mary Frances, daughter of Henry Lewis, of Edinboro, Erie county, Pennsylvania. Daughter:
   1. Flora Winifred Delo, born in Callensburg, see below. Flora Winifred Delo was a daughter of Daniel F. and Mary Frances (Lewis) Delo, was born at Callensburg, Pennsylvania. She was educated in the common and high schools of Clarion, Clarion Normal and Beaver College, and was always at the head of her classes. She taught two years in the model school of Clarion Normal, at Carnegie, Verona high school, and is at present teaching in the high school at Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.
2. William Chester Delo, was born in West Hickory, Venango county, Pennsylvania, November 26, 1859. He was educated in the common schools and Carrier Seminary; was assistant agent at Clarion, of the B. & O. R. R. and agent at West Clarion. He is unmarried.
3. Mary Ella Delo, was born at Kinzua, Pennsylvania, November 16, 1865, and died at Wheatland, Pennsylvania, aged six years, four months, eleven days.

(Ancestry of Flora Winifred Delo).

Flora Winifred Delo was a daughter of Daniel F. and Mary Frances (Lewis) Delo; granddaughter of Benjamin F. and Phebe Ann (Fleming) Delo, and Henry and Frances Ellen (Frye) Lewis; great-granddaughter of Daniel and Christiana (Loughner) Delo, Jesse and Sarah (Campbell) Lewis, Isaac and Mary (Petra) Frye, Daniel and Phebe Ann (King) Fleming; George and Eve Catharine (Kuhns) Delo, Daniel and Nancy (Hardy) Fleming, Lot and Jemima (Garwood) Lewis, John and Lucy Frye, David and Mary Petra, John and Mary (Loughery) Campbell; great-great-granddaughter of Michael and Mary (Kiefer) Delo, and —— (Reed) Fleming, James and Jane (Winters) Campbell, Mediah and —— (Titus) Garwood, James and Mary Loughery, and Lydia (Squire) Lewis; great-great-great-granddaughter of William and Ann (Boone) Winters, and Anna (Ball) Campbell; great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Squire and Sarah (Morgan) Boone; great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of George Boone and Mary Boone.

William Winters and his children

William Winters’ family was in some respects remarkable; there were nineteen children by two wives. His first wife, Ann Boone, was a sister of Colonel Daniel Boone, of Kentucky fame.

Children of William Winters and Ann Boone:

1. Hannah Winters, their oldest daughter, married Abraham Lincoln, the grandfather of President Lincoln; she was the mother of eleven children:
   1. Eleven unnamed children Lincoln.
2. Ten other unnamed Winters children.

The second wife was Eleanor Campbell; she had eight children:

1. Mary Winters, married Charles Huston, who was for a number of years a judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania;
2. Ellen Winters, married Thomas Burnside, a member of congress, judge of court of common pleas, and finally justice of the supreme court;
3. Sarah Winters, married Benjamin Harris;
4. Elizabeth Winters, married Thomas Alexander, a carpenter and builder, who erected one of the first dwellings in Williamsport, Pennsylvania;
5. Lucy Winters, died in 1875, married William W. Potter, a prominent politician; he died while a member of congress in 1898.
6. Three other unnamed Winters children.

See: Genealogy of the Allegheny Valley Pennsylvania

Source

Jordan, J. W. 1840-1921. (1913). Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co.

This genealogy is based upon the source cited above. Only the structure and formatting have been changed for clearer presentation; the genealogical and biographical content has been preserved.