BIOS: John C. ANKENY, Milford Twp., Somerset County, PA

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History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania; Bedford County by E. 
Howard Blackburn; Somerset County by William H. Welfley; v.3, Pub. The Lewis 
Publishing Company, New York/Chicago 1906, ppg. 300/1

John C. ANKENY.

John C. Ankeny, posperous farmer of Milford township, Somerset county, 
Pennsylvania, was born at Marshalltown, Iowa, December 10, 1891.
His father was David E. Ankeny, born in 1836, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania. 
He learned the blacksmith trade in early life and completed with the training 
and speeding of horses.  He followed it throughout life.  About 1869 he removed 
to the sprightly inland city of Marshalltown, Marshall county, Iowa, where he 
worked at his trade until the summer of 1883, when he and his family visited his 
native state, and while at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he was robbed and killed 
during the month of August.  He married Delia Carpenter, daughtrer of John C. 
Carpenter and wife, by whom one child was born, John C., of whom later.  Mrs. 
Ankeny married for her second husband, William Pettigrew, by whom she had three 
children: Archie, Inez, and Lloyd, all of whom still reside in Nebraska.  Mrs. 
Pettigrew died in Spetember 1902, at Solona, Nebraska.
John C. Ankeny's paternal grandfather was David C. Ankeny, a native of Somerset 
county, Pennsylvania, where he farmed all his life.  He died in 1886.  They were 
the parents of ten children, as follows: Samuel, Elijah, Noah, Alexander, 
Andrew, Joseph, David E., Lizzie, Mary (married William Lowry) and Susan 
(married a Mr. Sellers).  The Ankeny family were descended from German ancestry 
many generations back.
John C. Ankeny, a "Hawkeye" by birth, attended the public schools of 
Marshalltown, Iowa, receiving a limited education.  He came from Iowa with the 
family in 1883, and with the exception of a few trips west, to Iowa and 
Nebraska, in settlement of his father's estate, etc., he has resided in Somerset 
county, Pennsylvania, ever since, and has followed farming, with the exception 
of a short period, when he teamed.  Politically he votes with the Republican 
party, and in church relations is a Lutheran.  He married, at Oakland, Maryland, 
Lola Bruner, a daughter of Israel and Lovinia Bowman, of Milford township, 
Somerset county, Pennsylvania.  Mrs. Ankeny was one of four children born to her 
parents.  Mr and Mrs. Ankeny have four children: Bessie L., born November 25, 
1893; Inez, January 25, 1895; Irma, July 25, 1899; Loita, December 29, 1904.