JOHN E. 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 at the age of seventeen years, about the year 1760. He first settled in Williamsburg, 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 Colonel Cooke 200 acres of land on the Monongahela river, in what is now Washington county. He took an active part in the Whiskey Insurrection, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He died about the year 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, and reared the following children: Mary, wife of John Shively, Guernsey county, Ohio; Jacob was first married to Susan Wood, who died, and he was then married to Charlotte Wilson; Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Dunlevy; Daniel, married to 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, Allen township; Rachel, married to Robert Gailey, Clarion county, Penn.; John, married to Lucy Ann Scott, and Henry. Of this family, three are yet living: Sarah, John and Henry. The father voted with the Whig and Republican parties, 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 and mother in 1852. John Sphar was born February 26, 1817, on the old place in Allen township, Washington county, Pennsylvania. 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 an earnest supporter of that faction, having 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. The children of this influential family are as follows: Sarah, wife of William Rogers, of Fallowfield township; Parker S.; Henry, married to a Miss McElhaney, of Armstrong county, Penn.; James, deceased in his twenty-sixth year; John E.; Susanna, widow of Ephraim McKee; Gertrude, married to J. H. Redd, and Wesley, deceased at the age of nineteen years. John E. Sphar, the fourth son of John and Lucy Ann (Scott) Sphar, was born December 27, 1849, in Allen township, this county. He received a district-school education, then attended one term at the college at California, this county. After leaving school he began to follow farming, and on October 29, 1872, was married to Sarah Jane, daughter of Cornelius and Harriet (Phillips) McKenna. They were early settlers of Allen township, this county, where their daughter, Sarah Jane, was born. They moved to Ohio, but in the spring of 1873 Mr. and Mrs. Sphar settled on the homestead farm in Allen township, where they now are living. He is an ardent Republican. He assisted his father on the farm till 1887, when he became owner of part of the farm. While he was thus engaged, foreseeing in the near future the development of the coal lands for which the Monongahela Valley is noted, he turned his spare time to reading surveying. After some practice in land surveying and town plats, he was called to construct maps of coal fields. He drew the first map of the coal field that is now known as the Red Bird mine. Then followed the mapping of the extensive field now owned by the Laughlins, known by the name of Vesta Coal Mines. He also located the main gas line from the famous Parson Well in the Maple Creek gas field; then carved out and optioned some coal land for which he found ready sale, besides doing much other work, being the only surveyor in Allen township. He is a member of the Mt. Tabor M. E. Church and secretary of the Sabbath-school. The following children have completed the family circle: Clark Herbert, at the age of nineteen is wire chief in the main office of the Western Union Telegraph Company, in Chicago; Nellie Ethel, Rena Maud, Eldora Belle, Gertrude, Lawrence Garfield, Jennie May, Evangeline, John McKenna, Russell Harrison, and Bessie Inez. Parker S. married a Miss Dunlevy, daughter of Andrew Dunlevy of Washington county.

Text taken from page 1033 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed March 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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