602
COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES
religious denomination she lias a broad out look u]K>n life, and is liberal in her tolerance o f other people’s views. .Mr. and M rs. Hess have had four children; Clark IL, who is now u{>crnting the homestead, married .Anna Stahl, a daughter o f W illiam Stahl, a veteran of the C ivil w ar, and thty have eight children, Ethel Albcrtha, Elliott Stahl, Evelyn Mildred, W il liam Haym an, M yron Clark, G race Margcr)'. Corcne .Anna and Blanche F a y; .Ario Lockard died at the age o f seven y e a r s; a daughter died in infancy unnam ed; Guy Lester is at home. T he principles o f DcmocTacy have alw ays appealed to Mr. H ess, and he has ^ v e n them intelligent support. A man o f action, he has naturally toen called u}x)n to serve in Idtral offices and w as roadmaster fo r six years, a school director fo r three terms (during which period he acted as secretary and treasurer of the b o ard ), and fo r three terms an efficient member of the board o f su|>crvisors. repre senting his township. F o r years M r. Hess has tocn a member of the G. ,. R . Post at O rangeville, Pa., and has vcr>' miwh enjoyed meeting his old comrades at (he reunion.'. The Reform ed Church has had in him one o f its most effective members and workers. In ever>relation o f life Mr. Hess has proved himself worthy of the rcsjKCt and confidence he in spires. A s a soldier he was hravc and obe dient to organized authority, while as a private citizen he has labored to bring about a better ment o f existing conditions and to raise tlic m oral standard o f his neiglitorhood. in hts work as an agriculturist he rendered his call ing valuable a^si.stance, and has reared his sons to follow him in this line. R O B E R T J . R U H L . manager of the Bloomsburg Paper Company, w as bom in Baltimore county, Md., in A pril, 1856. and ^ n t his boyhood at New l-'rcedom, Y ork C o., P a., where he attended school. A t an early age he b ^ n to to self-supporting, com mencing work as an iron ore miner, and so continued fo r some twenty-three years, be coming superintendent of the mining depart ment of the Princess Iron Company in V irinia. In M arch, 1903, M r. Ruhl came to Uoomsburg, P a „ to lake charge of the old established paper mill which was owned by his f.a(hcr-in-law, Jam es M . .8|iew, now deciMscd. 'llie plant tunis out waterproof jiapcr which is sold throughout the anthracite region, Ten men arc |iiveii steady einploymctit. This plant w as entirely destroyed by fire on Nov. 24, IQ 05, but refmilt within the six months following, the latest improved machinery suit
f
able fo r the manufacture o f this special kind o f paper being installed. There arc about forty-three acres of land connected with the plant, making the projierty very valuable. T he history of the mill is interesting, as it was built ami operated by Thomas Trench as a gristm ill. It was three stories in height. A .Mr. Phillips succeeded M r. Trench as owner, and he operated a small button factory in conjunction. Mr. Trench rcgaine<l the property in ti^ o, and converted the gristm ill into a ]>at>er mill. Later it came into the hands o f M r. .Shew. M r. Ruhl married L yd ia Shew, a daughter o f Jam es M. Shew, late o f Bloomsburg. and they have two children, as follow s: Gladys, who maTried A . J . Robbins: and Jessie, who married W illiam M cK elvy Rebcr. M r. Ruhl is an elder of the Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg and takes a deep interest in that body. In addition to his other interests, he is a director of the Bloomsburg National Bank, having held that office since 1909, and without doubt he is one of the best known business men o f his city. R E V . J O S E P H J . C P E T R O V I T S, pas tor o f S t. .Mary's Roman Catholic Clturch of Berw ick, Columbia Co., P a ., w as b o m at Kovccses, N)-itTa Co., H u n g r y, in 1886, a son o f Jacob and M ary (P e te r) Pctrovits. T he ancestors o f his father, Jaco b Petrovits, cante from Germany. H is father, however, was bom in .Austria. White in the m ilitary service he stayed three years in Kom arom . H ungary, where, after the expiration o f his military years, he married his present w ife, who is a Hungarian by birth. In 18 8 3 he brought his fam ily to A'edrod, Pres.sburg county, in order to assume charge of the g ar dens of the estate o f Count Joscph Zychy. Both parents are still living there. T h e y had eight children: Ju lia, V aleria, Joscph J . C . M ary, Josephine, W illiam, Theodore and Elizatoth. F o r two years Rev. Father Petrovits at tended school at Budapest, and then continued his studies at Prcssburg, where he .stayed for two years, leaving for Nag)'Szombat. one of the oldest in.stitutions o f learning in Hung.nr)’. There he graduated, finishing his prelaratoiy studies for the university. In njoz IC entered the setninary at Esztcrgom . that country, where he carried on h is studies fo r a year. In r<;03 he came to the United States and entered the S t. Charles Borrom co Sem inary o f Philadelphia, where he completed a four vears’ course, and was ordained to the
