Joseph G. Dale

JOSEPH G. DALE, lumber dealer, Tionesta, was born in Centre county, Penn., May 15, 1815, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Gates) Dale. His paternal grandfather, William Dale, was a Quaker of influence and prominence. On his mother's side, his grandfather, Henry Gates, formerly or Centre county, Penn., settled in Tionesta township in 1814, cleared and a farm upon which he died. In 1816 our subject was brought by his mother to Tionesta, where he was reared and received a good common-school education. At the age of fifteen years he left home to work at lumbering and rafting on the rivers, at which he continued for eight years. In 1836 he was appointed a lieutenant in the State militia, commanded by Gov. Ritner. Two years later he embarked in the mercantile business, in which he secured a remunerative patronage during the succeeding seven years, when he sold out that he might again return to lumbering, at which he has spent the greatest number of years of his business career. While engaged in merchandising Mr. Dale married, December 24, 1840, Nancy, daughter of Alexander and Clarissa (Sexton) Holeman, of Tionesta township, to which union five children were born: Belle M. (Mrs. Jacob Dewees), Jennie C. (Mrs. A. H. Partridge); John T., Ada V. and Alexander H. But one death has occurred in the family, that of Ada V., in 1860. Mr. Dale has accepted many public positions, all of which have been filled with integrity and satisfaction. For a number of years he held the office of postmaster under Abraham Lincoln, resigning in 1867. About this time he was largely engaged in producing oil, at first on the Ball farm on Oil creek; later he became the owner by purchase of the Ball farm near Pithole, at the nominal price of $105,000. During Andrew Johnson's term he held the position of department internal revenue collector. From 1865 to 1873 he was the principal owner of a savings bank conducted in his native village. In securing the removal of the county seat from Marienville to Tionesta he was largely instrumental. For three years he was proprietor of and faithfully conducted the Forest Republican, then, as now, the only republican newspaper in the county. In the palmy days of Pithole, he was a director of the Pithole Valley Railroad Company, the only railroad that entered that bubble city. For five years he held the office of associate judge of Forest county with dignity and credit to himself and the commendation of its citizens. In politics he was formerly a Whig, but since the Republican organization he has made that party his home, although for a few years he identified himself with Greenbackism until the old parties purged themselves of some of the greater wrongs and inequalities of which it complained. He been a member of the I. O. O. F. since 1853, and of the Masonic fraternity since 1858. Probably no name is more widely or favorably known than his in Forest and the adjoining counties, particularly by those in need of financial assistance, which his large heart would not refuse, though frequently resulting in pecuniary loss to him. Truly Mr. Dale has proved himself a friend to those in need. He is a man of broad views, clear judgment and insight. Among men he is social and at home a true husband and father.

Source: Page(s) 927-9287, Chapter 15 Biographical Sketches - Tionesta Township and Borough of Tionesta
Hickory and Harmony Townships
History of Counties of McKean, Elk and Forest, Pennsylvania.
Chicago, J.H. Beers & Co., 1890.
Transcribed November 2005 by Nathan Zipfel for the Forest County Genealogy Project
Published 2005 by the Forest County Pennsylvania Genealogy Project

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