Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/546

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COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

and sur'ive«l her husband fo r fifteen years less one day. her death occurring in October, 19 14 . From the time the)' moved to Blooms­ burg Mr. and M rs. Hassert occupied the same house, at the com er of Fourth and Catherine streets, where al! but one of the children were bom, and where she died after an illness of almost a year. "In her death Bloomsburg loses one of its finest old women, and one loved by all who knew her. From childhood she was a consecrated member of the Lutheran Church." A day or two before her death her pastor said: " H e r life has been a beautiful on e; her death will be a joyous going to her home on high." She w as buried in Rosemont cemetery. S ix of the children bom to Mr. and M rs. Hassert survive, the son H enry being deceased. T h e living a r e : Charles V., Annie, Elizabeth. Emma. Ella and (Jcorge E. The sons and M iss Anna arc in Bloom sburg; M rs. W. K. Arm strong lives in Su n b u ry: Xlrs. E. V. Sleppy, in Northumberland; M rs. C. W. Erath in W ilkes-Barre. George E. Hassert received most o f his edu­ cation in the public schools o f Bloomsburg, after graduation entering the Kingston busi­ ness collide for a complete course. Returning to Bloomsburg he entered the foundry o f his father, serving an apprenticeship of three years in the machine shop, after which he was taken into the office of the firm (H arm an & Ila sse rt). Upon the death o f his father Geoi^c E. H assert acted a s manager of the shops fo r three years, and in 1902. when the f i ^ w as made a corporation, he became superin­ tendent, the position he now holds. In Ju ly, if» 7, George E. H assert was united in m arriage to Sarah M. Wilson, daughter of Rev. Ile n ry and Sarah M ercy Wilson, the former a Methodist minister. M rs. Hassert w as bom M arch 3. i86o. T o M r. and Mrs. Hassert have been bom tour children: Eunice Lenora, born Ju ly 19, 1888. died in infancy and is buried in Rosemont cem etery; George I.ee. born Aug. 25, 1894, is a graduate of the Bloomsburg Normal and now a student at State College; Jam es V. wa.s liorn Sept. 6, 1 9 0 1; Robert Edwin w as born Aug. 16. 10O 9 M r. Ilassert is a Democrat, but has held no officc-s. lie w as reared under the teachings of the Lutheran Church, but is now an at­ tendant of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Bloomsburg. J A M E S C B R O W N, fo r over twelve years postmaster at Bloomsburg, has long been one of the foremost citizens o f Columbia county. Associated with local interests in various con­

nections, public and private, he has had his (art in the making of the history o f his adopted Ixirough. where he has made his home since ■868. H is fam ily has been in the country for one hundred and seventy-five years, and in Pennsylvania since the latter part of the eighteenth century, the emigrant ancestor set­ tling first on I.ong Island, and moving thence to W arren county, N . J . T he Browns are of English descent. Jam es Brow n, great-great-grandfathcr of Jam es C . Brow n, w as bom N ov. 12, 17 16, in England, and coming to this country in 1736, when a young man, uved first on Long IslandOn a fly-lcar o f an old Bible belonging to the Brown fam ily he w rote: "Englan d is my na­ tive land and Ixmg Island my home." It is dated 1736. H e moved to W arren county, N. J ., near rfainesburg, where he owned a targe tract o f land, extending three mites along the Paw lins K ill from Columbia to Hainesburg. H e died Aug. 9. 1784. On Ju ly 25. 1745, he married Sarah .Allison, born Ju ly 1 8. 1 7 2 1, and they are buried in W arren county, N. J. Their six children were bom as follow s: jM n, June 25. *74<i (died Sept. 24, 1 8 1 9 ); Jam es, M ay 5, 17 5 0; Martha, N ov. 1 5, 1 7 5 3; Sarah, A p ril to. 17 5 7; Daniel, M ay 3, 17 0 2; Charity. A p ril 15. 17(15. .All but John lived and died in .New Jersey. John Brow n, son o f Jam es, bom Ju n e 25, 1746, w as a blacksmith by trade, and a s su<^ .served in the .American arm y, in the R evo­ lutionary war, shoeing horses and repairing guns in camp besides doing the regular duties of a soldier. H e married M ary S i. Brugler. who died Oct. 3. 1793, in W arren county. J .. and his second marriage, on Oct. 2 1, 1794, was to 'M rs. M argaret Haines, widow of Henry Ilaincs. Air. Brown owned consider­ able property in New Jersey, and built a stone house with the date. 1789, above the door. T his is still standing and in u se; until re­ cently il was owned by a Air. Brugler, one of his descendants, who has sold it 10 the Dela­ ware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company. Disposing o f his properly in New Jersey, .Mr. Brown came to Pennsylvania with his fam ily in 1795, first purchasing a large tract four miles east of the town o f Aliffiinville, in Columbia county. Finding this un­ suitable for farm ing he sold it and bought about five hundred acres adjoining Miffiinville. in Mifflin township, what w as later known as the Rosebud farm, for which he paid about fo u r thousand dollars. There Air. Brow n continued to reside until his death, which occurred Sept. 24, 18 19. H e w as one