Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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David Alter and Elizabeth Mull




Husband David Alter 1 2 3 4

            AKA: Daniel Alter 5
           Born: 7 Feb 1775 - Lancaster (later Cumberland) Co, PA 2 4 6
     Christened: 
           Died: 1838 - Allegheny Co, PA 7
         Buried: 


         Father: Jacob Alter (      -      ) 4 8 9
         Mother: Margaret Landis (      -      ) 2 4


       Marriage: 1 Sep 1797 4



Wife Elizabeth Mull 6

            AKA: Elizabeth Mell,2 4 10 Elizabeth Mill 11
           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 


Children
1 M Joseph Alter 2 5 6 10

           Born: 1800 6
     Christened: 
           Died: 1861 10
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Margaret C. Dinsmore (      -      ) 6 10


2 F Nancy Alter 5 6 12

           Born: 1799 12
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1882
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Maj. George Dugan (1783-      ) 6 12


3 M Jacob Alter 5 6 13

           Born: 27 Apr 1802 - Washington Co, PA 5
     Christened: 
           Died: 7 Aug 1883 - Plum Twp, Allegheny Co, PA 5
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Jane Bratton (1802-1880) 5 13


4 M Samuel Alter 2 5 6 14 15

           Born: 1804 - near Logans Ferry, Allegheny Co, PA 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 1882 or 1885 - ? Westmoreland Co, PA 14 16
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Ann Stotler (      -Aft 1890) 15 16 17


5 M John Alter 5 6

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1882
         Buried: 



6 M David Alter 5 6

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Bef 1882
         Buried: 



7 M Henry Alter 5 6

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Bef 1882
         Buried: 



8 M Daniel Alter 5 6

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1882
         Buried: 



9 M Jeremiah Alter 2 5 6

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1882
         Buried: 



10 M Elias Alter 5 6 7

           Born: 20 May 1820 - Allegheny Co, PA 7
     Christened: 
           Died: 5 Jan 1889 - Springdale, Allegheny Co, PA 7
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Martha Ferson (1823-1906) 7
           Marr: 1849 7


11 M Samson Alter 5 6

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1882
         Buried: 



12 F Elizabeth Alter 6

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: while young
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Did Not Marry



General Notes: Husband - David Alter


The Alter family of Pennsylvania was of Swiss extraction, and first settled in Cumberland County. He married and removed with his wife and two children, in 1803, to Puckety Creek, in Plum township, Allegheny County, where he had purchased the old Miller tract. He erected the noted "Alters Mills," famous in early times as the resort for the milling of a large scope of country. He was a captain in the War of 1812. He and his wife were buried in the old Brady graveyard.

Soon after his father settled in Washington County, his third son, David, removed to Westmoreland County, building a grist mill on "Big Puckety Creek," about two and one-half miles from Parnassus. David Alter had ten sons and three daughters. Tradition says that these ten sons measured seventy feet in height and that in harvest they cut ten swathes across the field at once.
The descendants of these eleven [sic] children of David Alter . . .

He and his wife were from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and settled in Plum township, Allegheny County, where they lived and died. [HAC 1889 ii, 517]

About the year 1800 he and his wife moved from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, to Allegheny County, and effected settlement on Puckety creek, about two and a half miles from the present town of Parnassus, on the Allegheny river. Here he purchased lands on both sides of the creek, which is the dividing line between Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, and there built a grist mill which was known as Alter's Mills for over half a century. [PAHP iii, 73]

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Sources


1 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 364, 711.

2 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 489.

3 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 517.

4 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. III (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 73.

5 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 1313.

6 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 364.

7 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. III (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 74.

8 —, History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warners, Beers & Co., 1886), Pg 586.

9 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 188.

10 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 712.

11 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 711.

12 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 397.

13 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 413, 422, 575.

14 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 713, 714.

15 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 189.

16 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 490.

17 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 714.


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