BIOGRAPHY: Isaac B. BARNHART, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 369
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ISAAC B. BARNHART, an intelligent, enterprising and progressive farmer of Upper 
Yoder township, this county, is a son of Michael and Elizabeth (Sell) Barnhart, 
and was born February 6, 1846, in Yoder township, near Roxbury, this county. The 
trans-Atlantic ancestry of the Barnharts can be traced to the German Empire, but 
the paternal grandfather, David Barnhart, was born in this country, and settled 
at an early day in what, at that time, was a part of Somerset county, 
Pennsylvania, now in Cambria county, where he located on a farm, and followed 
the avocation of a farmer for many years.
     Michael Barnhart, father, was born in Quemahoning township, Somerset 
county, in 1809. He attended the old subscription schools of his boyhood days, 
and then engaged in farming, to which pursuit he always directed his attention. 
He was a member of the Lutheran church, and lived a straightforward and honest 
life in the community in which he resided. He was a republican in politics, but, 
while taking an active part in local politics, would never hold any office. His 
marriage with Elizabeth Sell resulted in the birth of seven children, four sons 
and three daughters, all whom are living, except the oldest daughter, who died 
in 1893. He died in November, 1889, and, although he had reached the advanced 
age of eighty years, his mental faculties and physical powers were unusually 
well preserved.
     Isaac B. Barnhart was reared on the old homestead in Yoder township, and 
received his education in the common schools of that locality. On leaving school 
he worked on his father's farm until 1864. In the latter year he entered the 
rolling-mill of the Cambria Iron company, under Alexander Hamilton, where he 
remained for eighteen years. In 1882 he removed to his present home in Upper 
Yoder township, and adopted the pursuits of a farmer, which avocation he has 
followed until the present time. In 1895 he sold ten acres of his farm to the 
Roxbury Driving association, which they have since converted into a driving 
park.
     In politics he adheres to the principles of the Republican party, and has 
been an active supporter of the maxims of that party. He has at various times 
filled nearly every local office in his community. He has filled the office of 
school director several terms, and at various times has served on the election 
board, and is at the present time judge of that board. He is prominently 
identified with the Methodist Episcopal church, and takes an active interest in 
its advancement.
     In 1869 he was married. The union has been blessed in the birth of ten 
children: Mary, Charles, Herbert, Lizzie, Myrtle, Curtis, Ralph, Irene, Horace, 
and Freddie.