Husband Abraham Overholt 1 2 3 4 5
Born: 19 Apr 1784 - Bucks Co, PA 3 4 5
Christened:
Died: 15 Jan 1870 - Westmoreland Co, PA 5 6
Buried: - Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland Co, PA
Father: Henry Overholt (1739-1813) 7 8
Mother: Anna Beitler (1745-1835) 7 8 9
Marriage: 20 Apr 1809 1 4 5
Wife Maria Stauffer 2 3 5 10
Born: 13 Jul 1791 - Fayette Co, PA 4 5
Christened:
Died: 1 Nov 1874 - West Overton, Westmoreland Co, PA 5 11
Buried: - Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland Co, PA
Father: Rev. John Stauffer ( - ) 1 5
Mother: Elizabeth [Unk] ( - ) 1 5
Father: Rev. Abraham Stauffer (1752-1826) 4 12 13 14 15
Mother: Ann Nicely (1752-1817) 14
Children
1 M Henry S. Overholt 10 16
Born: 10 Aug 1810 - ? Westmoreland Co, PA 1 16
Christened:
Died: 18 Jun 1870 - ? Westmoreland Co, PA 6 16
Buried: - Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland Co, PA
Spouse: Abigail Carpenter (1824-1898) 1 16
Marr: 10 Feb 1846 1 16
2 F Anna Overholt 2 17 18
Born: 4 Jul 1812 - Westmoreland Co, PA 2 3 18 19
Christened:
Died: 29 Mar 1866 - Fayette Co, PA 2 3 18
Buried:
Spouse: John Tinstman (1807-1877) 2 3 18 19
Marr: 18 Mar 1830 3 18
3 M Jacob S. Overholt 1 20 21
Born: 18 Oct 1814 - West Overton, Westmoreland Co, PA 1 21
Christened:
Died: 20 Apr 1859 1
Buried:
Spouse: Mary Fox (1816/1816-1895) 20 21
Marr: 29 Dec 1836 21 22
4 M Abraham S. Overholt 23 24
Born: 23 Jan 1817 24
Christened:
Died: 10 May 1863 24
Buried: - Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland Co, PA
Spouse: Mary Ann Newmyer (1824-1877) 23 24
Marr: 24 Dec 1844 23
5 F Elizabeth S. Overholt 10 24
Born: 2 Jun 1819 - West Overton, Westmoreland Co, PA 24
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: John W. Frick (1822-1889) 10 24
Marr: 19 Oct 1847 24
6 M Martin S. Overholt 10 25
Born: 31 Mar 1822 25
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Maria Wakefield ( - ) 25
7 M Christian S. Overholt 10 25 26
Born: 18 Oct 1824 - West Overton, Westmoreland Co, PA 25
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Catharine Lippincott Newmyer (1831-1894) 26
Marr: 28 Jun 1853 25 26
8 M John S. Overholt 10 27
Born: 1 Jun 1826 27
Christened:
Died: 28 Sep 1846 27
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Abraham Overholt
He was born in 1774. [HWC 1882, 548 & BHCWC, 220]
In 1800, he came to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, from Bucks County, where his ancestors had settled half a century before; he located where is now the village of West Overton.
He established a small still on his farm in 1810, which used only a bushel and a half of grain per day. Before 1859 it had been enlarged, but in that year the firm of A. & H. Overholt erected on the same site a new distillery. It was a brick structure, six stories in height, one hundred by sixty feet, with capacity for two hundred and fifty bushels daily. On the first addition, about 1830, to the establishment a flouring-mill was added and steam-power introduced. Both corn and rye whiskey were made, and the superiority of its brands of flour and whiskey gave the mills a great celebrity. They were later operated by A. C. Overholt & Co., who had one hundred and thirty coke-ovens just north of the village, of which sixty-two were started in 1873, and the others in 1878. They gave employment to over a hundred men, and produced one hundred and eighty tons of coke daily. With the distillery was connected a large farm, on which was the elegant brick mansion in which A. S. R. Overholt resided, which was built in 1838 by Abraham Overholt. The post-office was established in 1850, and beginning in 1866 A. R. S. Overholt was postmaster, his predecessor being Jacob O. Tinstman. The village was laid out and built by Abraham and Henry Overholt, and grew up settled by their employes. The first store was kept by Christian S. Overholt & Co., and the later one by A. C. Overholt & Co. The village was prettily located in a rich agricultural and coal region, and many of its residences were fine brick structures. This place owed its existence to the Overholt family, who early settled in and around it, and where their descendants were numerous, being intermarried with many of the neighboring families. [HWC 1882, 686]
He was the next to the youngest child among his siblings. He was in his seventeenth year when the family migrated from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to Westmoreland County. He had learned the domestic weaver's trade in Bucks County, and while his brothers cleared the land he wrought at the loom for the family and the wide-about neighborhood. He prosecuted his trade continuously till about 1810, when he and his younger brother, Christian, purchased a special interest in the homestead farm, and after a couple of years' co-partnership with his brother in farming he bought out the latter's interest (comprising one hundred and fifty acres), at fifty dollars an acre, a price then regarded high. This purchase included a log distillery having the capacity of three or four bushels of grain per day only. At that time nearly every farm in the neighborhood possessed its private distillery. He soon after the purchase built a stone distillery, which had a capacity of from forty to fifty bushels per day, but he had no mill, and got his grain chopped on Jacobs Creek, in what is now Scottdale, and at Bridgeport. The hauling of the "chop" from those places to the distillery was principally done by cattle, driven by Mr. Overholt's younger sons, who throughout their lives had vivid memories of those slow and dreaded days, when the cattle were likely to "stall" at various points along the road. About 1834, Mr. Overholt built a brick flouring-mill, and thereafter did his own chopping for the distillery. This mill and the distillery mentioned were kept running till 1859, when both were taken down, and on their site was erected a large structure, comprising mill and distillery, and in dimensions a hundred feet in length, sixty-three feet in width, and six stories in height. The capacity of the distillery was two hundred bushels a day, that of the mill fifty barrels of flour. A short time before the erection of the new building, Mr. Henry S. Overholt, the oldest child of Abraham Overholt, purchased a half-interest in his father's farm and flouring and distilling business, and with him conducted the same till his father's death. During the period of his partnership with his father, in fact, for ten years before the partnership was entered into, Mr. Henry S. Overholt conducted the business of the mill and distillery, the elder Overholt generally supervising.
Abraham Overholt was the first discoverer of coal in that portion of Westmoreland County, and commenced to use it before others made use of it. Prior to its discovery coal was brought from the other side of the mountains to the blacksmith shops of the region, which it was later found stood over the finest strata of coal. Mr. Overholt used to exhibit his coal-mines in an early day as a curiosity to visiting strangers from the East.
Mr. Abraham Overholt as a business man was distinguished for the order with which he conducted all his affairs, for his firmness and decision, for promptness, great energy, and punctuality. He was never known to disappoint a creditor seeking payment, was gentle to his employes, and straightforward in all his dealings. As a citizen he was what his character as a business man would indicate. He was public-spirited, and was one of the earliest and most earnest advocates of the common-school system of the state. In politics he was ardent. During Jackson's latter term as president he was a "Jackson man," but opposed Van Buren, and became an old-line Whig, and continued such till the advent of the Republican party, when he naturally united with it, and took extreme interest in its welfare. He was a warm Lincoln man, and during the Civil War was deeply aroused over the affairs of the country. Being then nearly eighty years of age, he nevertheless visited the seat of war twice, in his anxiety over the state of the country and to encourage soldiers in the field with whom he was personally acquainted. [HWC 1882, 688]
General Notes: Wife - Maria Stauffer
from Fayette Co, PA
Different sources give different information about her parents; both are given here.