PARKER S. SPHAR. The Sphar
family have been identified with the history of Washington county for many
years.
Mattern Sphar was born in
Switzerland, and, in company with two brothers and one sister, immigrated
to America
about 1760, at the age of
seventeen years. He first settled in Williamsburgh, Va., and on April 21,
1767, took the oath
of allegiance under Queen
Anne. He was there married to Margaret Shively, and in 1780 came to Washington
county,
Penn., and purchased of
one Col. Cooke 200 acres on the Monongahela river, in what is now Washington
county. He
took an active part in the
Whisky Insurrection, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He died about
1822, leaving three
children, namely: John,
Mattern (who moved to Adams county, Ohio, thence to Indiana), and Henry
(who lived in this
county).
John Sphar was born in 1777,
in Loudoun county, Va., and when but three years of age came with his parents
to
Washington county, Penn.
He received a subscription-school education in Allen township, and when
a young man was
married to Susanna Redd,
a native of Washington county. They settled on a farm in Allen township,
and reared the
following children: Mary,
wife of John Shively, Guernsey county, Ohio; Jacob, who was first married
to Susanna
Wood, and after her death
to Charlotte Wilson; Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Dunlevy; Daniel, who married
Mary Speer,
and lived in Kentucky; Ann,
wife of William Spah, of Indiana; Barbara, wife of William Hollingshead;
Mattern,
married to Margaret Coyle,
of Ohio; Sarah, widow of Joseph Beazell, of Allen township; Rachel, married
to Robert
Gailey, of Clarion county,
Penn.; John, who married Lucy Ann Scott, and Henry. Of this family three
are yet living,
viz.: Sarah, John and Henry.
The father voted first with the Whig, afterward with the Republican party,
and served as
supervisor of the township.
He and his wife were members of the Baptist Church. He died in 1856, having
been
preceded by his wife in
1852.
John Sphar was born February
26, 1817, on the old place in Allen township, Washington county. In 1839
he was united
in marriage with Lucy Ann
Scott, daughter of Parker and Sarah (Carson) Scott, all of whom were natives
of
Fallowfield township. Her
parents had twelve daughters, of whom Mrs. Sphar is the only one yet living.
Mr. Sphar
owns seventy-five acres
of the old homestead, where he has followed general farming. He cast a
vote for William
Henry Harrison, and since
the organization of the Republican party has been one of its most earnest
supporters, and
has served as a member of
the school board and also as supervisor. He is no less interested in religious
than in political
movements, having been licensed
as an exhorter and class-leader in the Ebenezer M. E. Church, with which
his wife
is also identified. Mr.
and Mrs. John Sphar have had children as follows: Sarah, wife of William
Rodgers, of
Fallowfield township; Parker
S.; Henry, married to a Miss McElhaney, of Armstrong county, Penn.; James,
who died
in his twenty-sixth year;
John E., living in Allen township; Ann, widow of Ephraim McKee; Gertrude,
married to J. H.
Redd, and Wesley, deceased
at the age of nineteen years.
Parker S. Sphar was born
April 9, 1842, in Allen township, Washington county, and was reared to
manhood on the
home place. On September
18, 1862, he was united in marriage with Sarah R. Dunlevy, a native of
Allen township,
and daughter of Andrew Dunlevy.
After his marriage Parker S. Sphar located on ninety-six acres of land
in Allen
township, containing a good
stone quarry adjoining Charleroi. He does an extensive business in building
stone, besides
general farming. In political
opinion he is a Republican, and in religion he and his wife are members
of the Ebenezer
M. E. Church. Their children
are Cora D., wife of Ellsworth Redd, of Fallowfield township; William A.,
married to
Maggie Williams, of Fallowfield
township; Andrew and James.