[p. 905] a representative citizen of Ellwood City, who has been prominently identified with many of her manufacturing and business interests for a long period, is a native of Pennsylvania and was born July 4, 1850, in Granville Township, Mifflin County. His parents were Richard and Catherine (Houser) Roelofs.
The father of Mr. Roelofs was born in Holland and was six years of age when he accompanied his parents, Richard and Catherine M. Roelofs to America. They had four sons and one daughter, namely: Richard, Catherine, Anthony, John and William, all being present residents of Philadelphia. Grandmother Roelofs died in 1849 and was survived by her husband until 1862. The mother of Samuel A. Roelofs was born in Union County, Pennsylvania, where her parents first settled after reaching America from Germany. From there they moved to Mifflin County, where the father engaged in farming and there both he and wife died. leaving a family of eleven children, Mrs. Roelofs being the youngest. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Roelofs was a school-teacher at Bellefonte, Center County, and later became station agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad, at McVeytown, where he remained until he died.
The parents of Samuel A. Roelofs were married in 1848 and they had eleven children born to them, as follows: Henry H., Samuel A., Anthony, Annie and William, who both died young; Richard, Maud, who died young; John, Arthur, Landis and Bertha. Henry H. is engaged in business in Philadelphia, as a manufacturer of hats. He married Minnie Stetson, who is a daughter of the late John B. Stetson, the manufacturer of the well-known Stetson hats. Anthony is in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and married Barbara Butler of Hollidaysburg, Blair County. Richard, residing at Altoona, is an employe of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He married Lydia Robinson of Altoona. John is a traveling salesman, having his home in Philadelphia. Arthur resides in Philadelphia and is a foreman in the hat factory of Henry H. Roelofs. He married Viola Forepaugh. Landis, residing in Ellwood City, is employed in the freight department of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He married a lady of Oil City, Pennsylvania. Bertha resides in Philadelphia. The mother died in 1885, aged fifty-three years.
In the second year after his marriage, Richard Roelofs left off farming and entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad, starting in at the bottom, as a laborer, and through industry and reliability he was rapidly promoted, becoming conductor of a construction train, then freight conductor and subsequently station agent at Hollidaysburg. With the exception of a period of a few years (when he was manager of a blast furnace), the larger part of his active life was devoted to railroad work. He lived at Hollidaysburg from 1856 until 1906, with the exception of about four years. He retired from the railroad in 1900, and for the past two years has been a resident of Philadelphia. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. In his religious connection he is a Presbyterian.
Samuel A. Roelofs spent his youth up to fourteen years, attending the excellent public schools of Hollidaysburg, leaving his books at that time to accept clerical work, in the commission house of Lloyd & Henry, at Hollidaysburg. From that firm he went into the freight and ticket office of the Pennsylvania Railroad, also in Hollidaysburg, where he continued until the spring of 1867, when he left the employ of the railroad company and in November, 1868 went with the Blair Iron and Coal Company, a branch of the Cambria Iron Company, of Johnstown, with works at Hollidaysburg, and continued with that corporation directly and indirectly, except for about two years, and in different capacities, until 1889. In December of 1889 he went to Beaver Falls as bookkeeper for the Hartman Manufacturing Company and was associated with Mr. Hartman from that time on in Beaver Falls and Ellwood City until Mr. Hartman sold his interests, in 1904, serving in different offices of the various enterprises, and was secretary, treasurer and is now vice president of the Pittsburg Company and its underlying interests. Mr. Roelofs has been identified, as mentioned above with many of the manufacturing and industrial enterprises of Ellwood City, making his first visit here in the spring of 1890, and has been connected with The Pittsburg Company since its incorporation.
Mr. Roelofs was closely associated with Mr. Hartman, who built the first shafting and tube works, now Factory B., of the Shelby Steel Tube Company, also the Standard Tube Works, now known as the Standard department of the Shelby Works. Other notable structures were: the Enamel works now owned by the Valley Roofing Company; the Gas Stove and Stamping works, now the Glen Manufacturing Company; the Baker Forge, now the Steel Car Forge; the Beaver-Ellwood Railroad, a connecting link between the Baltimore & Ohio, New York Central and Pennsylvania system; the Ellwood Shortline from North Sewickley to Rock Point, which later became a portion of the Baltimore & Ohio main line between Pittsburg and Chicago; the Hotel Lawrence and other structures of more or less note. In all these enterprises Mr. Hartman was ably seconded by Mr. Roelofs and the credit was equally divided. Mr. Roelofs is a man of strong personality and of more than the usual amount of business acumen. Wherever he has lived he has taken a public-spirited interest in his place of residence and has generously contributed to movements which promise to be of general benefit. In politics he is a Republican, but his tastes have not led him into the heat of political campaigns or to seek political favors.
In August, 1870, Mr. Roelofs was united in marriage with Matilda M. McIntosh, who is a daughter of James and Jennie McIntosh, of Newry, Blair County, Pennsylvania. Of their children, six survive: Henry H., unmarried, residing in Cleveland, Ohio, is sales manager in the tube department, for the W. M. Pattison Supply Company; William C., whose home is in Chicago, is a traveling salesman, married Myrtle Dutton and they have an infant son, Samuel A., Jr.; Arthur, who is bookkeeper for the Ellwood Lumber Company, resided in Ellwood City, married Marie Fletcher; and Annie, Edward F. and Mary, all living at home. Edward F. is teller of the First National Bank of Ellwood City. Mr. Roelofs' family belong to the Catholic Church and while he is not connected with any church, is liberal in his support of all agencies of a benevolent or charitable nature, regardless of the denominations which inaugurated them.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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