SAMUEL E. AMBROSE, M.D., of Rural Valley, Armstrong county, has lived in that locality from youth and has a high personal and professional reputation in the community where he has found his life work. Aside from his duties as a physician he has interested himself in many things affecting the general welfare, and his work has been highly appreciated by his fellow citizens, who recognize his worth in all the relations of life.Mathew Ambrose, the Doctor's grandfather, was an early settler in what is now East Franklin township, Armstrong county, and was killed when a young man. His widow moved out to Illinois, where she passed the remainder of her life. Their children were John, Frank and Joseph R.
Joseph R. Ambrose, son of Mathew, was born in East Franklin township, and there followed farming for some years. Removing to Cowanshannock township in 1874, he settled one mile west of Rural Valley, and farmed there until ten years before his death. He then made his home in the town of Rural Valley, where he died Jan. 16, 1910, at the age of seventy years. He is buried there. Mr. Ambrose married Margaret A. Dougherty, daughter of Robert Dougherty, who was born in Lancaster county, Pa., and they became the parents of the following children: Thomas H.; Benjamin F.; Samuel E.; Grant W.; Margaret J., who died Nov. 15, 1907; Laura K., married to G. L. Stewart, D. D. S., of Rural Valley; and James G. The mother of this family died Dec. 5, 1897, and was buried at the West Glade Run Church in East Franklin township.
Samud E. Ambrose was born June 23, 1864, at Kittanning, Armstrong county, and received his early education in the public schools, attending at Rural Valley after the family moved to Cowanshannock township, and later becoming a pupil at the academy there. He also went to the Glade Run Academy for one term, and then attended school at Edinboro, Erie county, for one year. Returning home he took up school teaching, which he followed for six years in Cowanshannock township and one term in Allegheny township. For a year after this experience he was a student at Grove City College, and in the fall of 1895 entered Baltimore Medical College, where he took the full course, graduating in the spring of 1898. He began independent practice in September of that year, at Rural Valley, where he has since been successfully engaged. He merits the large patronage which he has enjoyed, for he has worked hard to give his patients conscientious attention and to maintain the high standards of his profession. He is pension examiner at Dayton for his district, and is a member in good standing of the Armstrong County Medical Society and the State Medical Society. As a public-spirited citizen he has taken part in many movements calculated to promote the general good, and he has been directly interested in several undertakings affecting the material welfare of the town and vicinity. In 1903 he was one of the Organizers of the Rural Valley National Bank, and in 1908 was elected a director of that institution. He is also a director of the Johnston-Beyer Hardware Company of Rural Valley, a substaritial commercial house of that place.
Dr. Ambrose married Charlotte M. Pettigrew, daughter of Dr. John M. Pettigrew. They have no children. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church and among its active workers, he serving at present as trustee. In politics he is identified with the Republican party. He is serving as one of the school directors of the borough, and has acted for many years as president of the school board.
Source: Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed September 2001 by Laurel Black Morris for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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