Exctract transcribed by Karen Semencar, July 2003:
From book titled:
"The Simlers: The History of a Pioneer Family" by J. Clair Simler
With Mark Seinfelt, no copyright but preface has June
26, 1990
[Subject: Re: [PACENTRE] Clair Simler
Clair Simler's obit was published in the Center Daily Times on Aug
8, 2000]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAGES 83-87
The Elders:
“ My Grandmother Lucetta Beamer’s parents were Robert
and Isabella Woomer Elder. I don’t know very
much about Robert Elder. I don’t have his date of birth or
his date of death. I don’t know the names of his
parents. Robert and Isabella resided in Woomer settlement
in Bald Eagle, Pa.
Isabella was the daughter of Samuel
and Elisabeth Miller Woomer. Her parents also resided in Bald
Eagle. Isabella was born March 19, 1833 and died February 13, 1866
at the age of 53. She was the
fourth of eleven children. She and Robert Elder were the parents
of four children:
1. Lucetta She was born July 5, 1853 and died July 5, 1940. She married
Owen A. Beamer. He was born
February 5, 1853 and died October 7, 1925.
2. Margaret Alice- She married a man named Cooper and resided
most of her life in Clearfield, PA. She
and her husband had two children, a daughter
named Lisle and a son whose name I no longer recall. He
resided in Pensacola, Florida.
3. Samuel Harrison Elder- He married Alice Nichols and resided most
of his life in Curwensville, Pa.
Parents of the following children
1. Herschell- He resided in Curwensville.
2. Maude- She resided in Curwensville.
3. Pearle- She resided in Curwensville.
4. Myrtle- She married Paul Graham. The
couple resided in Jersey Shore, Pa.
5. Paul- He married a woman named
Margaret. The couple had one daughter, Frankie Pauline. Paul
died, and his wife remarried. Her second husband’s last name was Bacon.
The Bacons lived at 163 W. 73rd St., Cincinnati, Ohio.
6. Walter- His wife ‘s name was Beulah.
They were parents of five children: Robert, Charles, Edna Pearl,
Donald and Malvin Walter died, and his wife married a man whose last
name
was Gritman. The
Gritmans resided at 1700 11th Ave., Altoona, Pas.
4. Annie- She married McClelland Westbrook. They resided in
Huntington, Pa. Annie died, and
McClelland Westbrook remarried. McClelland and Annie Westbrook were the
parents of four children:
1. Frank- He lived in Altoona, Pa.
2. George =- He lived in Port Arther, Texas.
3. Paul- He lived in Altoona, Pa.
4. Edith- She lived in Philadelphia, Pa.
Robert Elder was a Union Soldier in the Civil War. After he
joined the army, his family never heard from
him again. Grandmother Beamer told me that she, her mother,
her brother, and two sisters saw hard
times and endured many privations after her father left home.
They never had very much to live on, and
the children had to plant crops and tend the fields. I always assumed
that Robert Elder had been killed in
the Civil War. This, however, was not the case. Shortly before
her death, my niece Frances Ross was
doing research on the Elder line. She unearthed a record of
Robert’s military service. He served as a
private in Company 2 of the 146th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer
Infantry. He joined Company 2 on
August 16, 1862. On February 15, 1864, he was transferred
to Company K of the 125th Regiment,
Veterans’ Reserve Corp. He was discharged July 14, 1865, and,
according to Frances, he moved to
California.
Although I don’t know who Robert Elder’s father was, I believe him
to be a descendant of either Abraham
or David Elder, and I think that it is more likely he is a
son of David than of Abraham, Abraham and David
were brothers, and they were among the earliest settlers of Half-Moon
Township and the Bald Eagle
Valley. Abraham was born in 1754 and died July 27, 1827. He
was a soldier in the Revolutionary War in
the 6th Battalion of the Cumberland County Militia.
The Elders were of Scotch, English, and Scotch-Irish descent,
and some of their ancestors were of the
Quaker faith. Abraham and David Elder were descendants of Robert
Elder, who emigrated to America
from Edinboro, Scotland shortly before the year 1700. Robert’s
brother James was a professor at
Edinboro University. James’ descendants David, James, and
John Elder were famous nautical engineers
and shipbuilders, whose mammoth works at Cowden on the Clyde, near
Glasgow, Scotland were among
the largest in the world. Steamers of the Cunard Line were
built there. Robert Elder settled in Paxtang
Township in Lancaster County , Pa., and owned a large tract
of land there,. One of Robert Elder’s sons
was Rev. John Elder, “ the fighting parson of the Revolutionary
War”. His portrait is hanging in the church
where he preached in Paxtang, Pa., and he is buried in the Paxtang
Cemetery.
Abraham Elder migrated to Half-Moon Township in 1784 and settled
upon a tract of land which now lies
close to the village of Stormstown. He came to prospect more
than anything else. Although he married,
he came alone, thinking, no doubt, that he had better get
a taste of living in the woods before he asked
his family to share in such a life. He found an abandoned hunter’s
cabin, made a small clearing, and put
in a crop. He was the lonely tenant of an unbroken wilderness.
No thoroughfares other than Indian paths
ran through the woods. In the fall of 1784, Elder returned
to his family in Franklin County. In the spring,
Abraham and his family, together with his brother David returned
to Half-Moon Valley. Upon his previous
visit, Abraham had selected a site for David to Build on. It was
beside Buffalo Run, a spring that is a
tributary of the Susquehanna. This land is now located in Patton
Township. But the morning after the
Elders arrived there, they received a visit from a rough-looking
Irishman, who informed them that he
would object to David locating there since he lived only a
mile away and didn’t want neighbors living that
close to him. David chose to abandon the site. He chose a
new location at the lower end of Half-Moon
Township, but, he abandoned the site after only a brief stay.
He then located at Spruce Creek. He
married and had a number of children; however, I don’t know
his wife’s name or those of any of his
offspring. Abraham Elder returned to his site., where he erected
a new and better home. According to
Linn’s History of Centre County, Abraham was “ a man of energetic
temperament and liberal enterprise.
He put up on the run near house a saw-mill, carried on a distillery,
and erected a grist-mill in Bald Eagle
Valley, near Port Matilda, on the site of the Woodring saw
mill. He hauled his flour to Baltimore and
bought goods in exchange. When the road to Pittsburgh was
opened, Mr. Elder established a tavern in
his house, and kept also a small stock of goods, for the accommodation
of neighbors and traveling
public. The tavern stand was known far and near as Elder’s, was
the first haulting -place, and a place
much frequented by wayfarers….From his tavern, Mr. Elder constructed
a roadway over the Ridge into
Bald Eagle Valley., and by that route took his supplies and
held communication with his mill. Abraham
Elder’s wife was Susan Ardry. She was born on 4/11/1758 and
died 11/24/1831.
Abraham and Susan had three children:
James, Robert, and Elizabeth.
James’ married Margaret Boggs. According to the Elder Family
Tree compiled by
Vernal Elder Woodring, the couple was childless.
Abraham’s son Robert was born on 5/9/1775 and died 11/24/1809.
He married Esther Wilson. She was
born 11/24/1786 and died 2/24/1861.
This Robert Elder, in his time, was one
of the best known and most highly thought of
persons in Centre County. Although he never resided in Clearfield
County, he owned saw mills and a
carding machine, a tavern and other buildings on the Clearfield
Creek in 1815. These were built by
James Thorn, who came to the county at Elder’s request. Robert
Elder owned over 800 acres of ground
at the time of his death.
Robert and Esther Wilson Elder had six
children:
Susanna (b. 10/24/1810), Rebecca (b. 3/12/
1813),
Jane (b. 6/5/1815), Abram (b. 7/20/1817),
George (b. 7/28/1821), and Elizabeth (b. 1824).
Abram died on 2/6/89. He married
Mary Ann Adams about 1844. She was born 1/26/1825 and
died 9/20/1892. According to
the Vernon Elder Woodring family tree, she was a direct descendant of
President John Adams.
Abram and Mary Ann Adams Elder
had five children:
Matthew, Robert, Horace, Edward,
and Clara.
Vernal Elder Woodring was a grandson
of Horace Elder. Horace was born in 1856.
The dates of birth of
the other children are not given.
Horace’s brother
Robert, even if he had been born as early as 1845, would have been too
young to have been Lucetta Elder’s father. Abrams brother George was a
graduate of Jefferson College and Harvard University. He was a classmate
of Judge Horace Gray, a justice of the Supreme Court. George married Margarita
Shaw. They had three children, two girls and one boy. The son’s name was
George. In 1851, George Sr. was a commissioner for the State of Pennsylvania
at the World’s Fair in London. He resided in Lewistown and was a leader
of the Republican party in Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the
party’s convention in 1868 and cast his vote for U.S. Grant. He was the
director of the Mifflin County National Bank for 36 years and a strong
advocate of Temperance. The name Robert Elder appears again and again in
subsequent generations of the family. The fact that Grandmother’s father
resided in Bald Eagle Valley, that his last name was Elder and his first
name was Robert, indicates that he was related to the other Elder’s who
lived there. If there are
no mistakes on the Vernon Elder Woodring Family Tree, if no
descendants of Abraham Elder were
accidentally omitted, the only conclusion I can draw is that
our Robert Elder was a descendant of Abraham Elder’s brother David.
Isabella Woomer Elder is buried in Bald Eagle Cemetery next
to her parents
Samuel and Elizabeth (Miller) Woomer.
Centre County Death Records done by the Centre Co. Gene. Soc.
Copyright 1997
PG. 31
Elder, Charles M. 6m. Born to Samuel and Harriet in Rock Springs
died in Rock Springs on Jan. 2, 1895 ,
died of inflammation of the stomach and is buried at PG Mills
****
Found a similar ROBERT ELDER of CIVIL WAR in 148th Reg - Discharged
same date: July 14, 1865.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/6517/148th/148coh.html
Elder, Robert Private
Enlisted Aug. 16, 62 Tr. to Co. K, 1st reg. V.R.C.
Feb 15, 64- disch. by G.O. July 14, 1865.
****
Another ELDER FAMILY in this area, see:
WorldConnect by Jennifer Davidson:
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jenn222&id=I7802
Name: David George ELDER
Sex: M
Birth: JUN 1860 in PA
Death: 1939
Burial: New Pine Grove Mills Cemetery, Ferguson Twp., Centre
Co., PA +(Samuel Y. Elder d. 1942; Henry d. 1940 also there)
Note: 1870 - age 10.
1880 - age 20. Living with
parents.
1900 - age 39.
1910 - age 49.
Father: Franklin ELDER b: NOV 1824 in PA (no parents
listed) (he is buried in Old Pine Grove Mills Cem)
Mother: Sarah YOUNG b: 9 JAN 1829 in PA
*********
More info on George W. ELDER:
1850 Census, George W. ELDER, Lewistown,
Mifflin Co PA
1860 Census, Lewistown, Mifflin Co
PA
George W. Elder 37 PA
atty [b. abt 1823]
Margaret S.
30 [Margaret Shaw?
b. abt 1830, m. about 1853?]
Rufus S.
6 [Rufus Shaw Elder?,
b. abt 1854]
Robert [George R] 4
[George Robert Elder? b. abt 1856]
Esther
2 [b. abt 1858]
******
1870 Census, Lewistown, Mifflin Co
PA
George W. Elder 47 PA
Lawyer
Margaret S.
38
Rufus
16
George R.
14
Esther
12
Herman
8
Mary
4
*********************************************************
1880 Census:
George
W. ELDER
Self M Male W 57
PA Lawyer
PA PA
Margarette S. ELDER Wife M Female
W 49 PA Keeping House PA PA
Rufus
C. ELDER
Son S Male W 26
PA Lawyer
PA PA
Esther
ELDER
Dau S Female W 21
PA At School PA
PA
Herman
S. ELDER
Son S Male W 17
PA
PA PA
Mary
T. ELDER
Dau S Female W 13
PA
PA PA
Mary
S. SHAW SisterL
S Female W 51 PA
Teacher PA
PA
Leonora
GASS
Other S Female W 26
PA Servant
PA PA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source Information:
Census Place West Ward, Lewistown, Mifflin, Pennsylvania
Family History Library Film 1255156
NA Film Number T9-1156
Page Number 140B
*********
ELDER, RUFUS C (1910 U.S. Census) Lawyer, Law Office
Pennsylvania , MIFFLIN, 2-WD LEWISTOWN BORO, Age 56, Male, Race: White,
Born: PA [abt 1854]
Series: T624 Roll: 1376 Page: 192
wife: Loa B 49 NY
dau: Margaretta 27 PA - Teacher - Kindergarten
dau: Jane B 26 PA - Teacher
- Private School
son: George W 24 PA - Clerk - Foundry
*******
LDS Familysearch.org: 1880 census:
Owen BEAMER Self M Male 27 PA Coal Miner PA PA
Lusetta BEAMER WifeM Female 26 PA Keeping House PA PA
William BEAMER Son SMale 8 PA At Home PA PA
Sarah BEAMER Dau SFemale 5 PA At Home PA PA
Clarra A. BEAMER DauSFemale 3 PA At Home PA PA
Orlanda BEAMER SonSMale 1 PA At Home PA PA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source Information:
Census Place Decatur Mines, Clearfield,
Pennsylvania
Family History Library Film 1255116
NA Film Number T9-1116
Page Number 237A
*****
Leadville, Lake County, Colorado Information:
http://www.leadville.com
******
Ancestry.com
1880 Lake Co COLORADO 88th Dist (Leadville):
George ELDER, p. 532 (b. 1856,
age 24)
******
Heritage Quest - PDF Image:
ELDER, GEORGE R (1920 U.S. Census)
Colorado , DENVER, DENVER; 297-DIST,
Age 64, Male, Race: White, Born: PA
Series: T625 Roll: 162 Page: 246
George R
64 PA PA PA Lawyer
Ida D wife 57 PA
PA PA
Robert D. son 30 CO PA PA Lawyer
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nancyelder/ed/GeorgeRElder1920DenverCo.pdf
**********************
1930 Ancestry.com Census Image:
George R 74 PA PA PA Lawyer
Ida D 67 PA PA PA
Year: 1930; Census Place: Leadville, Lake, Colorado; Ward 5, Roll:
T626_244; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 9; Image: 0082.
******
Lake Co Colorado Genweb:
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~colake/lkobith-l.html
"Thomas Emmett Irwin - Lake County
Treasurer- d. December 18 [1966]
Honorary pallbearers, ...Robert D.
Elder [b. abt 1890 - 76 yrs old]
many business and professional associations
... Leadville Historical Society...
*******************
WWI Soldiers:
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~colake/wwi_lake_county_soldiers.htm
Elder, Robert D. - Captain Infantry
Leadville
*****
Ancestry.com Soc.Sec.Index:
Name: ROBERT ELDER
SSN: 521-01-1893
Last Residence: 80461 Leadville,
Lake, CO
Born: 25 Jun 1889
Died: Oct 1980
State (Year) SSN issued: CO (Before
195)
***********
found photo portraits online!
at
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Bench_and_bar_of_Colorado_-_1917.djvu/60
THE BENCH AND BAR OF COLORADO
GEORGE ROBERT ELDER, LEADVILLE (Photo)
"Born, Lewistown, Pennsylvania; A.B., Princeton University. 1875;
married Ida Dull, October 28, 1886, at Lewistown ; admitted to Penn-
sylvania and Colorado Bars, 1878; maintains offices in Leadville and
Denver; practice of corporation and mining laws mostly." ....
ROBERT DULL ELDER LEADVILLE (Photo)
Born,
Leadville, June 25, 1889; A.B.. Princeton University, 1911 ; A.M. and
LL.B., Columbia Univer- sity, 1914; admitted to Colorado Bar, 1914;
author of "The Sojourner ;" corporation and mining law; offices in
Leadville and Denver."