[p. 526] one of New Castle's old established business men, dealing in pianos and sewing machines and making a specialty of talking machines and records, with quarters at No. 18 West Washington Street, was born in Venango County, Pennsylvania, in 1842, but from childhood has lived at New Castle.
Ezekiel R. Sankey, father of H. R., was a son of William Sankey, and a nephew of David Sankey, who was the father of the noted evangelist and vocalist, the late Ira D. Sankey. Ezekiel R. Sankey was a carpenter by trade, later became a contractor of note, at New Castle, subsequently engaged in farming and during the closing years of his life used his capital in investments.
H. R. Sankey attended school in Union Township and at New Castle, and then learned the shoemaking trade, at which he was working when the Civil War was declared. Lawrence County was very loyal and no one was more ready to put aside personal aims and ambitions than was Mr. Sankey, and in 1861 he enlisted in Company H, One Hundredth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which was then known and is still proudly spoken of as the Round Head Regiment, and, with this brave body of men he served for three years. On one occasion he was captured by the enemy but contrived to escape before incarceration in a horrible prison. He enlisted as a private and at the time of his honorable discharge was a sergeant in rank.
Upon his return to New Castle Mr. Sankey worked at his trade for about seventeen years and then embarked in a general mercantile business, which he conducted for eight years, and then became interested in his present line. For about twenty years Mr. Sankey has been the leading piano dealer in this section. He has an additional interest in a brokerage business.
In 1865 Mr. Sankey was married to Miss Sarah Frazier, who was born at New Castle and is a daughter of Thomas Frazier, a native of Scotland, who was a settler here when the place was but a village. Mr. and Mrs. Sankey have five children, namely: Necie Belle, who is the wife of Benjamin Bigley, of New Castle; Estella Ann, who is the wife of David Pyle, who is superintendent of the American Tin Plate Company's plant at New Castle; J. Maud, who is the wife of Roy Evans, of Emporia, Kansas; Sarah, who is the wife of Walter Kelty, of New Castle, and Gulie E., who is the wife of John Kuntz, also of New Castle. Mr. Sankey attends the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has always taken a decided interest in politics, not only in public affairs of the country, but also in local matters, where so much depends on a proper municipal government to advance the prosperity of a community. He is identifled with the Republican party. He is a member of the G.A.R. Post, No. 100, at New Castle, and he belongs to the Protected Home Circle.
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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