R P Bish
R. P. BISH, who owns and operates a farm near Kellersburg, in Madison township, Armstrong county, was born in that township Oct. 9, 1868, son of Joseph and Susanna (Porter) Bish.
Joseph Bish was born in Clarion county, Pa., Aug. 26, 1843, and there grew to manhood. During the Civil war he served in they Union army as a member of Company A, 46th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Eventually he settled on land in Madison township, Armstrong, county, where he engaged in farming and mining, and for four years he also carried mail on the Star route, between Rimer and Deanville. He has been a lifelong Republican, and is a member of the G. A. R. He resided on his twenty-acre farm in Madison township, one mile east of Kellersburg, until his death, Oct. 22, 1913. Mrs. Bish is now aged sixty-seven years. They were married in 1865. She is a daughter of James Porter, of Brady's Bend, who was a puddler in the iron mill there. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bish, namely: R. P.; Elmira, wife of Robert Campbell, of Natrona, Allegheny Co., Pa.; Silas, who married Carrie Kissinger (he lives in Madison township and is employed in a brickyard) ; Elizabeth, married to John Pence, living at Kellersburg; Mary, wife of Thomas Gething, living at Tarentum, Allegheny county; Maggie, deceased, who was the wife of A. 0. McGee, of Kellersburg; E. E., who married Viola Anthony, and resides in Madison township; Boyd, of Climax, Mahoning township, who married Margaret Rhoads; Estella, who died when eighteen years old; and two who died in infancy.
R. P. Bish received his education at Deanville. After leaving school he was engaged in railroad work for eight years, and then worked in a brickyard for five years before taking up farming on his own account, at that time settling on his present place. This is a tract of 106 acres, one mile south of Kellersburg, in Madison township, and Mr. Bish purchased it from Joseph Myers. During his ownership he has made many improvements on the property, including the remodeling of the present dwelling there and the erection of the barn. About twenty acres of this place is woodland and the balance is devoted to general crops. Mr. Bish has opened a coal bank f or his own use, and he has shown himself to be a progressive man in all his work, which he carries on in a systematic and business-like manner. He is one of the substantial citizens of his township, a member of the Madison township Grange, and in politics a Progressive Republican. He has taken no part in public affairs.
Mr. Bish married Arvilla Henry, who was born in East Franklin township, this county, daughter of Sylvester and Elizabeth Henry, and they have had six children, viz.: Edward, who was born in Clarion county; and Lloyd, Edith, Flora, Owen and Robert, in Madison township.
Source: Pages 760 - 761, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed February 1999 by Doris Rizza for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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