James Heilman
JAMES HEILMAN, has never moved from the old Heilman homestead in Kittanning township, Armstrong county, where he was born Feb. 15, 1829, in the old log house where he still lives and which dates back to the year before his birth, being now more than eighty-six years old. The youngest child in the family of Jacob and Susanna (Waltinbough) Heilman, he is a grandson of Peter and Elizabeth (Harter) Heilman, of whom a considerable account appears elsewhere in this work. His great-grandfather, Christian, was the emigrant ancestor of the family, and settled in Northampton county, Pa. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution from that county, as shown on page 308, General Muster, 4th Battalion, Northampton county, May 14, 1778, Col. John Siegfried, Captain Edleman.
Jacob Heilman, the youngest of the family of twelve children born to Peter and Elizabeth (Harter) Heilman, said to have been born in Northampton county in April, 1791, lived on the Peter Heilman tract in Kittanning township where his parents settled in 1795-96. He was a distiller, and it was he who made the celebrated Heilman whiskey. He died Dec. 27, 1876 (tombstone says 1877), in his eighty-sixth year. His wife, Susanna (Waltinbough), who died April 27, 1878, in her eighty-sixth year, was a daughter of John Adam and Rosina (Hoover) Waltinbough, the former a mechanic, by trade a blacksmith. He served as a soldier in the Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Waltinbough were pioneers in Kittanning township. He died Aug. 1, 1833, aged eighty-two years, his wife Sept. 12, 1822, in her sixty-fourth year. The list of their children will be found in the Heilman family sketch previously referred to.
James Heilman had limited educational opportunities, only such as the schools of the neighborhood afforded. A born farmer, he took the greatest pride in his fine orchards and live stock, and in improving his property. He also engaged in merchandising, and was appointed postmaster, serving four years in that position. An intelligent, honorable man, and a deep thinker, he has always been a promoter of business enterprises which were for the good of the community. He has spent all his life among the secens of the father and grandfather who were the founders of his home for him.
On Oct. 9, 1856, Mr. Heilman married Magdalena Reichart, who was born Jan. 9, 1837, at the Reichert residence, on the corner of Water and Mulberry streets, Kittanning, daughter of Rev. G. A. and Lydia (Tyson) Reichert. Her father moving to Philadelphia she spent her childhood there and received her education in that city. When she was seventeen years of age her father removed to his farm near Kittanning, and two years later Magdalena, at the age of nineteen, married James Heilman, residing on the old Heilman homestead during the remainder of her life. Her death occurred April 2, 1904. She was a woman of fine mind and noble character, and is held in loving memory by all her children. Four sons and six daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. James Heilman: James Tyson resides in Kittanning; Ella Louise died unmarried; Emanuel Schmauck died in childhood; Rosina Caroline died aged twenty-four years, unmarried; Jacob Philip died in infancy; Ulysses G. is next in the family; Grace Reichert, who taught school, died unmarried; Maggie Grant married Dr. David L. Everhart, of Melbern, Ohio, and has three children, Ward A., Bernice and Claire; Emma Rebecca, Mrs. Ellis, is deceased; Ethelina is the wife of John L. Learner.
Ethelina Heilman, youngest child of James and Magdalena (Reichert) Heilman, attended the State normal school at Slippery Rock several terms, and taught school for two terms. She was married Jan. 30, 1912, to John L. Lerner, and they have one child, James Richard. They reside on the old homestead of her father in Kittanning township. Mrs. Learer is a member of the Lutheran Church.
Source: Pages 980-981, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed November 1998 by Kathy Zagorac for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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