Samuel R. Brosious:

Samuel R. Brosious. When it is stated that in a modest dwelling that stood on the site of his present attractive home, in Rose Township, Samuel R. Brosious was born on the 6th of December, 1849, it becomes evident that he is of a pioneer family of this county. With equal assurance may it be stated that he has long held prestige as a progressive and influential exponent of agricultural and livestock industry, his finely improved farm constituting one of the attractive and valued estates. As a citizen and man of productive enterprise he has well upheld the honors of a family name long and worthily identified with civic and industrial development and progress.  

Mr. Brosious is a son of Peter and Christianna (Shumacher) Brosious and is a scion of stanch German pioneer stock. Peter Brosious was born in Northumberland County, Pa, in the year 1821, and was a lad of 16 when, in 1837, his parents settled in Jefferson County. He was a son of Michael Brosious and the family name of his mother was Delp. These sterling pioneers settled at Old Town, Beaver Township, one and one-half miles from the present home of Samuel R. Brosious.

Michael Brosious attained to venerable age and died in the year following the close of the Civil War. After the death of his first wife he married her sister, Elizabeth Delp, and of this marriage Peter Brosious was one of the children; Mrs. Brosious survived her husband by several years.

Peter Brosious remained at home until he attained the age of 22, when he married Christianna Schumacher, then 18 years of age. The young couple soon established a residence on the farm now owned by their son Samuel, the original habitation being a primitive shanty, built primarily as a place in which to make shingles by hand, only three acres of the land having been cleared. For the ensuing fifteen years Peter labored unremittingly in reclaiming his land, which implied active association with lumbering.

At the expiration of that period he removed his family one mile east of Summerville, in Clover Township, where he felled pine timber for lumber and where he developed one of the best farms of the day. He brought under cultivation about 140 acres of land, which area since has been increased to fully 180 acres; the place is now owned and operated by a grandson, Clyde P. Brosious.

On this homestead Peter Brosious resided until his death, at the age of 76 years, on the 17th of October, 1897. His widow, born Dec. 28, 1825, was summoned to eternal rest on the 29th of June, 1915, about six months prior to her 90th birthday. This remarkable woman, one of the revered pioneers of the county, retained to the last splendid control of both her mental and physical powers, and was held in affectionate regard by all who had come within the compass of her gentle and gracious influence. In this connection it may be noted that she was an appreciative and valued friend of Dr. McKnight, author of this history.

Peter Brosious was long and prominently identified with lumbering operations on Beaver Run for 40 years. He was an expert hewer of timber and cut the timber on fully 400 acres of land, which he hauled to the banks of the creek, and received for his share half of the amount realized from the manufactured product. He was one of the energetic and resourceful pioneers who aided largely in the material development and advancement of the county and was a loyal and public-spirited citizen who commanded unqualified esteem. His political support went to the Democratic party and for some time he served as supervisor. Both he and his wife were zealous members of the Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. Brosious was a charter member; she outlived all her associates in the early membership of the church. Both are interred in the cemetery at Ohl.

In the early days Peter Brosious and his five brothers were "mighty hunters" like Nimrod of old, and many deer and other wild game fell as trophies of their skill. Daniel, Michael and Jacob Brosious all reached advanced age and lived and died in Beaver Township, the other brother, Joseph, having been a young man at the time of his death. All of the four sisters married and reared children and three of the number remained in Jefferson County. Of the children of Peter and Christianna Schumacher Brosious the eldest is Benjamin, who is a substantial farmer in Beaver Township; the next is Cristopher, whose well improved farm in Beaver Township adjoins that of his brother Samuel; Hiram H. resides at Brookville; Corson H. died at the age of 32 years; James B. is a prosperous farmer in Clover Township; John M. is a member of the executive corps in the First National Bank of Brookville; Mary N. married Harrison Clyde, of Elk County; Ellen is Mrs. Brose Eisenman, of Brookville; Eliza Jane is the wife of Joseph Jamison, of Clarion; Emma married William Lehman, of Clover Township.

In the boyhood and youth of Samuel R. Brosious he was not denied a full share of fellowship with arduous toil, and in the meanwhile attended the local schools when opportunity offered. When a lad of twelve he drove a team and assisted his father in lumbering. He squared timber in the autumn and hauled it over the snow, later helping in running the loaded rafts down the river to Pittsburgh. With such lumbering activities he continued during a period of forty years, ten years of which were on his present farm, which he purchased of his father in 1886. He remained at the parental home until he was thirty years of age, and in his independent career as a lumberman and farmer he was brought to bear that energy and discrimination that are certain to bring success and prosperity.

His farm comprises 100 acres of fertile land, and the major part of the same has been cleared and brought under cultivation. He has further manifested his thrift and progressiveness by the erection of good buildings, including an attractive commodious home. The land has been found underlaid with a vein of coal, but no development work in this connection has as yet been instituted, though he has given leases for the development of natural gas. In addition to the homestead Mr. Brosious owns a tract of thirty acres lying one mile to the east, twenty acres of this farm being available for cultivation. On this also is one of the best of the producing wells of the Phillips Gas Company, the royalties being an important addition to his income.

Mr. Brosious is independent in politics, but is vigorously opposed to the liquor traffic and was for a number of years actively aligned with the Prohibition party. He has at all times taken lively interest in local affairs, and has been called upon to fill a number of township offices. He and his family are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for fully a half century he has been one of the active and influential members of the church at Belleview.

He has given many years of effective service in the offices of class leader and Sunday School superintendent and has on several  occasions represented his church as a lay delegate to the annual Conference. For twenty years Mr. Brosious was a member of the board of trustees of Belleview Academy, in which excellent institution hundreds of young men and women have received their education; he assisted his brothers and sisters in acquiring their higher education, all of them becoming successful teachers.

On the 12th of June 1885, occurred the marriage of Mr. Brosious to Elizabeth Agnes Stahlman, born and reared in Limestone township, Clarion County, and who was 28 at the time. She was but a lass at the time of her mother's death, whose family name was Himes, and upon her devolved the domestic affairs of the home and caring for the two younger children. Under such condition she remained with her father, Moses Stahlman, until her marriage. Mrs. Brosious, devoted wife and mother, was summoned to life eternal on the 20th of February, 1906, and is survived by six  children: Newton Webster holds a clerical position in a general store at Old Town; Henry Clay attended Iron City Business College, and is now a successful teacher in Jefferson County; Rena Maude is the wife of Ladd M. Reitz; Jessie Ruth is the wife of Harry W. Reitz, and prior to her marriage had been a popular teacher in the district schools; Hilda Esther is the wife of Frank Galbraith, of Oliver Township, and she likewise had an excellent reputation as a teacher; Mamie Graham, a graduate of the common schools, remains at the parental home.

On the 1st of October, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brosious to Anna Harp, daughter of Jonathan Harp, who was for many years successfully engaged in business as a wagonmaker at Brookville.  Mrs. Brosious has a wide circle of friends in Jefferson County. 

Transcribed by Steven A. Stahlman from “Jefferson County, Pennsylvania – Her Pioneers and People”, Volume II, by Dr. William James McKnight, published in 1917 by the J. H. Beers & Company, Chicago, Ill. Page 624.