Age 69

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 of 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.

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