George Householder
GEORGE HOUSEHOLDER (deceased) was for many years one of the thrifty and well-to-do farmers of Bethel township, Armstrong county, and the farm upon which he made his home for over half a century is still occupied by his widow and two of his sons.
Mr. Householder was born May 24, 1828, in Westmoreland county, Pa., and passed his early life there, coming to Armstrong county with his parents, John and Elizabeth (Serene) Householder, the latter of French descent. After his marriage he settled in Bethel township, Armstrong county, on the farm where he ever afterward made his home, dying there Nov. 4, 1910. The property consists of 146 acres, and is one of the most valuable farms of its size in the county, not only because of its natural resources, which are excellent, but because of the intelligent and thorough cultivation which has developed these resources to the utmost. There are few places in the county that have been kept up better, no detail of the farm work being overlooked that would add to the value or the appearance of the estate.
On Jan. 28, 1858, Mr. Householder married Katherine Zuver, of Armstrong county, daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Claypool) Zuver, the former coming from Mercer county, Pa., and settling in Bethel township, Armstrong county. Mrs. Zuver was born and reared on the Claypool homestead in Bethel township. Her parents were Joseph and Catherine (Ourey) Claypool, her father coming alone to this country from England and settling in what is now Bethel (then Allegheny township, Armstrong Co., Pa., at an early day; he became an important man in that locality. He lived to be eighty-seven years old, his wife dying long before him, when about sixty years old.
In an old history of Armstrong county we find that a blockhouse called the Claypoole blockhouse was built by one James Claypoole near the river bank about eighty rods below Fort Run. It is not known now just when it was built, but it must have been between 1790 and 1796. His wife, Lavina Claypoole, died in the latter year, and was buried a few rods from the graves of the three men killed by the Indians at Bloody run, so called from this unfortunate incident; the Indians had tied a duck to attract the attention of the white men, who were ambushed, and all three fell in the creek.
A family of eleven children was born to Mr. and Mrs. George Householder, eight sons and three daughters, namely: John, who is deceased, married Lizzie Shotts and the had seven children, Howard, Laura, Elmer, Paul, Mary, Frank and Mabel, all living; Margaret is unmarried; William married Matilda McKinney and they have three children, Violet, Henry W. and Roy; George married Florence Grey and had nine children, Bessie, Johnson E. Dale, Catherine, Eddie, Samuel, William, Maud, and two that died in infancy, James and George; Catherine is unmarried; Reuben died when two years old; Samuel married Ellen Boyd and they have five children, Myrtle, Blanch, Arthur, Harry and Godie P.; Thomas J. Lives at the old home; Miles married Mrs. Nannie (West) Bowers (they have no children); Elizabeth is next in the family; Joseph Z. is engaged with his brother Thomas in the management of the old farm, where they raise general crops. This family is associated with the Presbyterian Church, the Appleby Manor Memorial Church in Manor township.
Source: Pages(s) 709, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed October 1998 by Neil G. Anderson for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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