BIOS: John J. ENGLE, Elk Lick Township, 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. 399-401

John J. ENGLE.

  John J. Engle, a prominent and progressive agriculturist, miller and 
lumberman of Elk Lick township, traces his lineage from German ancestors, who 
were among the very earliest settlers of that township.  Clement Engle, born 
in Germany, was the American ancestor.  He came to this country prior to the 
Revolutionary war, fought with the colonists and did his part in throwing off 
the yoke of the tyrant.  He afterward settled in Elk Lick township and 
acquired considerable property, land, timber, etc.  This land has always been 
in the possession of the family and is the homestead farm of the Engle 
family.  Clement Engle married and was the father of the following children: 
John, see forward; Clement, Peter, Samuel, Jacob, Frederick, Martin, Adam, 
Susan and Elizabeth.
  John Engle, eldest son of Clement Engle, was born in Elk Lick, Pennsylvania, 
January 7, 1786.  He was a farmer and held the family possessions and added 
thereto.  He was a consistent member of the Reformed church, and politically 
an independent Democrat.  He married (first) Salome, daughter of Solomon 
Sterner, of Garrett county, Maryland, and their children were: Catherine, 
born in 1812; Solomon, 1816; Elizabeth, 1822; Lydia, 1824; Sarah, 1827; 
Susan, 1835; John J., 1839; and two who died in infancy.  Mrs. Salome 
(Sterner) Engle died in 1845.  Mr. Engle married (second) Catherine Lichty.  
John Engle died March 1, 1863.
  John J. Engle, son of John and Salome (Sterner) Engle, was born on the old 
homestead in Elk Lick, December 15, 1839.  He was reared on the farm and 
attended the public schools until he was sixteen years old.  From that age 
until twenty-three he was an active worker on the farm in his father's 
employ.  During the great war of the rebellion, Mr. Engle enlisted in the 
Union army and was attached to Company K, One Hundred and Seventy-first 
Regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers.  He participated in several skirmishes and 
raids and luckily came out uninjured.  At the close of his term of enlistment 
he was honorably discharged from the service August 6, 1863, with the rank of 
second sergeant.  In 1865 Mr. Engle was included in a draft made on 
Pennsylvania for troops, but before reaching the front General Lee had 
surrendered and the greatest of all civil wars was over.  Since laying aside 
the sword for the pruning hook, Mr. Engle has resided on the homestead.  At 
first he managed the farm and later became its owner by purchase, and in 
addition to the cultivation of his farm, which consists of three hundred and 
five acres, he operates the saw and grist mill built by his grandfateher in 
1806.  There has never been a time in the history of this fine property when 
it has been the home of any family other than the Engles.
  Mr. Engle is a consistent and influential member of the Reformed church in 
Salisbury, of which he was organist for twenty years and now an elder.  He 
cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln and has always upheld the principles 
of Republicanism.  He was for thirteen years a working member of the school 
board, has served innumerable times as judge of election and has twice been 
supervisor.  Mr. Engle married, July 7, 1871, Sarah E., born November 26, 1850, 
in what is now Garrett county, Maryland, daughter of Henry Wagner, of Salisbury. 
Eleven children have been born of this marriage, ten of whom are living (1906): 
George G., born January 15, 1873, a farmer, unmarried.  Salome, April 3, 1874, 
wife of David Keim and mother of the following chidren: George, Frank, Mary, 
Edna, Ernest P. and Sarah M. Keim.  Calvin Ulysses, July 28, 1875, married 
Cora Newman; children: John Jerome and Charles Albert. Irwin J. is a veteran 
of the Spanish-American war, member of Company I, Fifth Pennsylvania 
Regiment.  Elizabeth, April 15, 1878, teacher in Boynton school.  John Wagner, 
January 16, 1880, resident of Pittsburg.  Mary Susan, November 9, 1881, 
teacher in the Meyersdale schools.  William Sherman, July 11, 1883, died June 
10, 1885.  Samuel Evans, January 25, 1885.  Lloyd Francis, September 10, 1886, 
student at State Normal school at California, Pennsylvania.  Lewis Franklin, 
April 29, 1888.  Henry Wagner, father of Mrs. Sarah E. (Wagner) Engle, was born 
in Salisbury and was a son of William and Margaret (Hare) Wagner.  William 
Wagner was an early settler of Somerset county, to which he came from eastern 
Pennsylvania. Henry Wagner married Elizabeth, daughter of Levi Shockey, who was 
a son of Christian Shockey, an honored soldier of the Revolution, a land owner 
of Elk Lick and a resident of Salisbury, where he died April 29, 1829, aged 
seventy-three years.  Christian Shockey served all through the Revolution, 
enlisting April 7, 1777, in the Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment, holding the rank 
of corporal.  He was wounded at the battle of the Cowpens.  He served with the 
Eleventh through their many battles and campaigns and also with the First 
Pennsylvania, and in January 1781, was transferred to the Third Pennsylvania, 
with which he fought at Yorktown and was again wounded.  Christian Shockey 
returned to Salisbury, Pennsylvania, where he made his home.  In 1822 he 
announced himself a candidate for sheriff of Somerset county in the following 
address to the voters: Fellow citizens of Somerset county: Having spent the 
bloom of my youth in six campaigns, suffering cold and hardship to assist in 
wresting liberty from a tyrant, and still being willing to serve you, and being 
solicited by numerous friends to offer myself as a candidate for the office of 
sheriff at the ensuing general election, I trust a soldier of the Revolution 
will not appeal to Americans in vain.  And should I be honored with a majority 
of your votes I pledge myself to discharge the duties of the office with 
generosity and impartiality.  Signed, Christian Shockey, May 15, 1822.  At the 
election he was defeated, his successful opponent being Isaac Ankeny.  Mary 
(Welsh) Shockey, wife of Christian Shockey, survived him, dying at the age of 
eighty-six.