John K Gearhart
JOHN K. GEARHART, of Templeton, Armstrong county, member of the mercantile firm of O. W. Gearhart & Son, though one of the younger business men of that place has become thoroughly established in the confidence of his fellow citizens there and is building up a fine trade. He was born June 19, 1887, at Putneyville, this county, where his father, O. W. Gearhart, formerly lived.
O. W. Gearhart was born Jan. 7, 1863, at Canada, Pa., he being a son of John F. Gearhart and the youngest son of a family of five sons and seven daughters. John F. Gearhart owned and tilled a farm one mile east of Putneyville. This place is still known as the Gearhart farm. He died March 24, 1892, at the age of sixty-seven years, and his wife, Susanna, died the same year. They were stanch members and workers in the M. E. Church at Putneyville. John F. Gearhart was a son of Isaac Elias Gearhart, who with three brothers settled in Jefferson county, having ventured to this section from eastern Pennsylvania.
O. W. Gearhart has been interested in farming all his life, and settled on the farm one and a half miles east of Templeton, in Boggs township, Armstrong county, where he now makes his home, on Sept. 1, 1910. He is associated with his son John K. in the mercantile firm of O. W. Gearhart & Son, and "Gearhart's" is one of the reliable business houses at Templeton. Mr. Gearhart has never taken an active part in politics or aspired to office. On Sept. 10, 1885, he married Alvira V. Patton, of Brattonville, Armstrong county, and they have had four children: John K., is mentioned below; Harry A., born Nov. 27, 1889, educated himself at the D. & I. State Normal School and Grove City College, and for three years has taught grammar school; Auda M., born July 23, 1893, is at home; Everett E., born April 1, 1899, is at home. Mr. and Mrs. Gearhart are members of the M. E. Church of Templeton.
John K. Gearhart attended the Kittanning Academy, and also studied for a time at the Dayton Normal Institute. After leaving school he was in the employ of Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, at Templeton, for two years, and for another period of two years traveled for the International Correspondence School, of Scranton, Pa., in the Chenango valley. In the latter part of August, 1910, he located at Templeton, where he bought a store building of W. J. Reedy and put in a stock of boots and shoes and men's furnishings, also doing a merchant tailoring business. Here he has since been engaged, his father being interested with him as O. W. Gearhart & Son. The stock is ample and well selected, and the store is well kept, being a desirable trading place. Mr. Gearhart is gaining a substantial footing in commercial circles and among local business men, and has the good will of all who know him in and around Templeton.
On June 7, 1910, Mr. Gearhart married Carrie D. Fair, of Washington township, Armstrong county, daughter of P. F. Fair, and they have one son, Earl.
Source: Page 969, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed November 1998 by Joyce Sherry for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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