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/738

 COI.UMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES tiliicrs, and in that year established his present well stocked hardware store, also handling vehicles and building materials. He has the largest business of the kind in the county, housed in a threc-story building, and wilh a warehouse attached, 27 by 45 feet, well slocked with goods and implements. M r. Tewksbury also operates the old homestead. In 1909 he w as elected bui^ess o f Catawissa, a position which he filled wilh credit and satisfaction to his constituents. In politics he is a Dem ocrat On March 2 2, 1884, Mr. Tewksburv^ mar­ ried Hannah E. Erw in, daughter o f w illiam and Ruthanna (Y ocu m ) Envin. T hey have had no children. M rs. Tew ksbury is a mem­ ber of the Methodist Church. Capt. John Yocum, maternal grcat-grandfathcr o f M rs. Tew ksbury, came from Gcrnu n y while a youth and settled in Berks Co., Pa., later being one of the pioneer settlers in Roaringcreek township, Columbia county. Here he took up a large tract o f land and married a Miss M clntire, by whom he had nine children: Caleb, Jacob, John. Jessie, W illiam, Eliza, Sarah, Hannah and M ary. William Yocum, son o f Capt. John, married Eliza Titsworih, and they had issue: Fran k­ lin; Ruthanna, married to William E rw in; Huldah, married to Samuel Chcrrington; Isaac, living in Northumberland cou n ty; B rit­ ton, residing in Roaringcreek township; and Einora, who married John Hawk. William Erw in and his w ife had issue: Hannah E ., w ife o f Eugene D. T ew ksbury; John W .; Curtis I... and H arry A. I S A I A H W. W I L L IT S. M. I)., o f Blooms­ burg, one of the oldest practicing physicians o f Columbia county, is a past president of the Countv Medical Society and now serving as one 01 the ccn.sors o f that body. H e was born Nlay 22, i& t j. at Catawissa, Columbia Co., P a., son of George H. W illits, and belongs to a family which has been settled in this county from Colonial times. The W illits family is o f English extrac­ tion. Richard W illits, who came from Eng­ land prior to 1650. bring its first member to locate in .America. H is son Thomas w as born in this country in t650, and his son, 'i'homas ( 2 ) . born in 1682. located in Pennsylvania in 1738. H e h.id a large family, one o f whom was Isaiah, the grandfather o f Dr. Willits. Isaiah W illits was bom in 1732, and early in life learned the trade o f tanner, w hkh he followed in Catawissa, being one of the first business men o f that vicinity. H e erected a large tannery there, and resided on the

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com er o f F irst and South streets, on what later became the properly of W. W. Perry. Isaiah W illits m arriM ^ c h e l Hughes, and they became the parents of the following chil­ dren: George H., Charles, John, MatiULi, E liu b eth, Clinton and Townsend. George II. W illits, the Doctor's father, was bom at Catawissa. Upon tltc death o f his father he took charge of the tannery, which he conducted until he w as obliged to give up the business on account o f failing health. It being necessary fo r him to obtain oikh a ir work, he took a contract to build a ^ t f mile o f Ihe Pennsylvania canal along the rocks o f that vicinity. One year later he engaged in coal mining in Schuylkill county, shipping the product of his mine to the city o f Philadelphia. Selling out his interest in the boats, he purchased some three hundred acres o f good kind opposite Catawissa from his father's estate, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1867. H e then disposed o f his property and settled in Catawissa, where he spent the remainder o f his life in retirement, dying M arch 22, 18 8 1, at the .age o f seventyeight years. 1 le wa.s an active member of the Rcpublkan party, in 18 5 1 was elected for a five years' term as associate judge (up to that time the only R ^ u b lican ever elected to the office from his district), and later scn-ed as postmaster and in various minor positions. H e was tuiited in marriage with Jan e Ckirk, a daughter o f John G a rk, one o f Catawissa's early and prominent merchants. She died Jan. M, 1883. aged seventy-three years. Mr. and M rs. Villits arc interred in Ihe Friends’ burying ground at Catawissa. They lu d chil­ dren as follow s: Twin daughters, who died in in fan cy: Isaiah W .; Jan e Cordelia, bom in 1850, who died in t888; and Charles Clark, for many years a physician and druggist o f Catawissa, and later the proprietor o f one of the leading dry goods stores o f Sunbury, Northumberland county. Isaiah W. W illits went to public school until twelve years old, after which he took a course o f two years’ study in the select school o f Eaton and W ells, at Bloomsbui^. and spent one year in the Greenwood Sem iiury, at Millvjlle. Pa, Then after a year's study in Wyom­ ing Seminary, at Kingston, he became a clerk in the store o f W. Bittenbender & Co., of which firm his father was a silent partner. H e remained there one year, and then for two years w as engaged in a similar capacity fo r D. G. Driesbach, at Beach Haven, Pa. On .Aug. 8, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, I32d Regiment, Pa. 'ol. In f., o f which he