Every town's history is really its people's history. This page collects three eras: 19th-century town-builders as J. Simpson Africa profiled them in 1883, the “Mount Union boys who made good” and prominent residents as Charles Howard Welch profiled them in his 1909-1910 book, and a growing set of more recent notable natives, documented from public sources as they come to light.
Welch devoted two long chapters to Mount Union natives who left town and “made good” elsewhere, and to prominent residents who stayed. These 18 are the most fully documented; many more names appear in his book with only a line or two, and can be added here on request.
Patriarch of the Postlethwaite family profiled at length by Welch. Trained as a carpenter but spent most of his career in the Pennsylvania Railroad and Canal freight departments; a long-serving Presbyterian elder and Sunday school superintendent, and a Huntingdon County Justice of the Peace.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 558–563
Eldest Postlethwaite son; a wounded Civil War veteran (22nd PA Volunteers) who rose from water carrier and canal-toll collector to Comptroller and General Land Agent of the St. Paul & Northern Pacific Railway, and served five terms on the St. Paul Board of Education.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 563–566
Went west on Horace Greeley's advice; became a Kansas bank cashier, was admitted to the bar in 1873, and by 1899 was appointed a judge of the Kansas Court of Visitation.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 566–570
Rose through the PRR's Canal and Motive Power departments to become, by February 10, 1897, assistant to the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad — the most senior corporate post held by any Mount Union native in Welch's book.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 570–571
Youngest surviving Postlethwaite son, born in Mount Union in 1865; entered the Pennsylvania Railroad as a rodman in 1883, then rose through the Schoen Pressed Steel Car Co. to Manager of Sales for its Central District, based in Pittsburgh.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 571–574
Brought to Mount Union as a boy; was ticket agent at Shirleysburg before ill health sent him to Colorado, where he became Denver's City Clerk, U.S. Postmaster, Police and Fire Commissioner, and, from 1904, its Mayor — re-elected to a second term through 1912.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 575–578
Son of Hon. Thomas H. Adams of Mount Union; educated at Princeton and Penn Law, became a leading Denver attorney, a member of the Colorado House (1899) and state Senate (1901, 1903), and President of Denver's Civil Service Commission from 1906.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 579–581
Learned telegraphy in Mount Union, went west as an operator, then to the Norfolk & Western Railroad. On December 1, 1909, the U.S. government promoted him to General Superintendent of the Panama Railroad and Steamship Lines.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 581–583
Born in Mount Union in 1877, son of the Faust Bros. tanning family; became assistant cashier of the Central Banking Company, then cashier of banks in Reedsville and Plymouth, PA, and president of a bank in Appalachia, VA, before joining the Irving National Exchange Bank of New York City by 1910.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 612–615
Resident PRR telegraph operator in 1873-74; great-grandson of Samuel Drake, Sr., who established Drake's Ferry in the Narrows in 1783. D. S. Drake became a regional telephone-industry pioneer starting in 1881.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 584–586
Born Springfield Township March 13, 1841, the twelfth of Benedict and Eve (Orr) Stevens' fifteen children. Enlisted March 1862 in Company I, 12th PA Reserves alongside brother David W. Stevens (killed at the Wilderness, 1864). Captured at Mechanicsville (1862), held at Richmond's Castle Thunder; wounded twice at Fredericksburg; captured again in 1864 and held at Libby Prison, then Macon, then Charleston, S.C., as one of the “Immortal 600” Union officers held under fire during the city's bombardment, including a failed escape attempt at Columbia, S.C. Opened Mount Union's pioneer hardware store in March 1867, later a leading Pasadena, CA merchant — and personally paid for the bell that still rings at the Mount Union Methodist church, where he also served as Sunday school superintendent.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 652–657; Africa 1883, PDF scan pp. 440–441
Came to Mount Union in 1889; taught school in several districts before being promoted to principal of the Mount Union schools. Later attended Dickinson College and graduated from the University of Michigan Medical Department in 1909, practicing medicine in Youngstown, Ohio.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 616–619
Civil War veteran (45th PA Volunteers) wounded three times, including at Cold Harbor and twice at Petersburg. Later served as Register and Recorder of Mifflin County and, from 1892, continuously as Mount Union's Justice of the Peace.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 666–668
Longtime Mount Union merchant, school director, and borough assessor who served 30 years as Secretary of the Town Council and personally took the 1880 borough census (population 812).
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 671–672
Came to Mount Union in 1867 and worked in the tannery before building a major teaming/contracting business. Bought the land that became Jefferson Heights (sold 1905) and the land that became North Mount Union.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 668–671
Born in Freidenberg, Baden, Germany in 1843; emigrated in 1865 after an 80-day storm-battered Atlantic crossing. Became a Philadelphia City Hall cabinetmaker and President of the Republican Club of the 17th Ward.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 690–692
Born in Huntingdon in 1845; a Civil War cavalry veteran (22nd PA Cavalry) who combined brick-making with 23 years of schoolteaching and service as an ordained “progressive Dunkard” (Brethren) minister.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 657–659
Son of Rev. David H. Campbell, a Mount Union Presbyterian pastor. Educated at Blair Presbyterial Academy, Lafayette College, and Princeton Theological Seminary, he became assistant pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Newburgh, NY.
Welch 1909-1910, printed pp. 604–605
J. Simpson Africa's History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties (1883) predates Welch's book by 26 years and profiles an earlier generation of Mount Union figures — several of them fathers of men Welch would later profile in his own book.
Born Half-Moon Township, Centre County, May 16, 1826; worked the family farm to age 23 before attending Allegheny College and studying medicine under his physician brother. Graduated Jefferson Medical College March 11, 1854; practiced 14 years in Mill Creek before relocating to Mount Union in 1868, becoming, per Africa, “one of the most prominent physicians in the Juniata Valley.” Served as Mount Union's Chief Burgess in 1870. His brother Henry A. Thompson, D.D. became president of Otterbein University in Ohio.
Africa 1883, PDF scan pp. 429, 434
Born Huntingdon, Dec. 27, 1846; enlisted at about 18 in Company B, 192nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers in the final months of the Civil War. Learned telegraphy, then rose through coal-mining management on the Huntingdon & Broad Top Railroad line before becoming, in September 1881, junior partner and superintendent of Lucy Furnace across the Juniata from Mount Union in Mifflin County — a business for which Mount Union served as the shipping and business point.
Africa 1883, PDF scan pp. 434–435
Born Upper Macungie, Oct. 9, 1848, into a Pennsylvania-German tanning family. Apprenticed in his father Alvin D. Faust's tannery from age 15; in fall 1873, father and son purchased Mount Union's Hoffmann tannery, with Richard J. taking full management the following spring — the operation that became A.D. Faust & Son. Twice elected Mount Union's Burgess by a large majority, and also served on Common Council. His son, Richard J. Faust Jr. (below), became a career banker.
Africa 1883, PDF scan pp. 435, 440
Born near Orbisonia Feb. 10, 1830, son of Irish immigrants John and Mary (Quirk) Adams. Taught school, then entered mercantile partnership with P.M. Bare at Mount Union in 1861 before eventually buying his own Mount Union store. Helped organize the Central Banking Company in 1873 and became its president in 1875, a post he held for decades; also served nine years as school board president and as Burgess. In fall 1882, running in a strongly Republican county, he was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature by a 322-vote majority. His son, Hon. J. Frank Adams (below), became a Colorado state senator.
Africa 1883, PDF scan pp. 441, 445
Documented as they're found — if you know of a Mount Union native who made a mark elsewhere, this section is built to grow.
Born in Mount Union, graduated Captain Jack High School (1953), and played 10 professional seasons in the Kansas City Athletics organization (1954-1963) — 992 games, a .282 average, 49 home runs. His 1959 Topps “Rookie Stars” card predicted a major-league call-up that, per his official career record, never came. Later a crane operator at Standard Steel. See Baseball.
Graduated Captain Jack High School before going on to star at Arizona State and, after being drafted by the Buffalo Bills, choosing a 14-season CFL career instead. A 1971 Grey Cup champion and 9-time CFL All-Star, he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1986) and ranked #12 on TSN's Top 50 CFL Players of the modern era — the highest-ranked defensive lineman on the list. See Football.
Source: Wikipedia, “John Helton”
Taught business education at Mount Union High School after graduating Bucknell in 1945, while building one of the region's most decorated amateur golf careers — 48 American Legion Country Club championships, 25 Central Counties titles, and a start in the 1951 Women's Western Open alongside Patty Berg and Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Huntingdon County Sports Hall of Fame, 1998. See Golf, Track & More.
Source: alccgolf.com, “Elinor Wible”