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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~
June 25, 1964
By H. W. Strawbridge

The Loker Family

An oldtime family name in Plum Township is the Loker name. It appears that no one definitely knows their nationality, but one person had understood that they were of Dutch descent. Two other variations in the spelling of the name were Looker and Lokey.
The Loker family came from the state of Virginia to Plum Township in either 1836 or 1837. Members of the family included a widowed mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Loker and children, James, Sarah and John. It is said that James and John were half-brothers. Therefore, James must have been Elizabeth’s stepson.
Their father, John Loker, was a slaveholder in Virginia. He died about 1835. The remainder of the family was against slavery, so they decided to move north. They settled on several acres of the old Samuel Dale estate in the southern end of Wallaceville. Mrs. Lokers’s maiden name was Cowen, and she was a sister of William Cowen who settled in Plum Township a few years previously. The Cowens were of Scotch-English origin, though early ones moved to Germany before their arrival in America.
Elizabeth was born around 1790, and she died in Wallaceville in 1870. She is probably buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery of that community. She and her son, John, and his wife were early members of the Methodist Church there.

Mysterious Death

John Loker remained at Wallaceville and was married to Miss Phoebe Seely. She died of cancer in 1892. His death occurred suddenly and rather mysteriously on Sept. 27, 1889. He was found dead in a horse stable of the Brady hotel. Examination showed his neck had been broken. It was thought that the horse turned its head quickly and struck him in such a manner as to break his neck. He was 64. Phoebe and he are buried at Wallaceville. They had two children, Mrs. Sarah Woodruff of McKean County and William James Loker, first of Wallaceville, and later of Titusville.
Sarah Woodruff had a daughter named Elda. William James was married twice, to Etta McClelland first, and then Alice McClelland. There was one son to the second marriage, Ardra Loker, who died very recently in Titusville.
John Loker’s sister, Sarah, was married to George Daugherty of near East Troy. They lived there several years where he farmed. They last lived in the Kinzua area. They had a son, David Daugherty.
The half-brother, James Loker, with whom this sketch will principally deal, was born in Virginia on Sept. 13, 1822. He was married in 1845 to Miss Elizabeth Zeigler, who had come to this vicinity from Centre County about the same year that she married. She was born April 7, 1824, one of 14 children – seven boys and seven girls – of George and Susan Murray Zeigler. The Zeiglers were German, and the Murrays were Scotch.

Eloped on Horseback

Family tradition states that Elizabeth ran away from home on horseback to marry James. Her father disowned her because she had married a Southerner. James and Elizabeth bought 100 acres a few years after their marriage from James Foster for $450. It was situated practically in the center of Plum Township. He cleared the farm, and in 1872 he sold the north half to the Seely family. This left him with around 50 acres which he maintained until his death.
In all probability they first lived in a log house. Their frame house stood on the three corners, sometimes call “Loker’s Corners.” It wasn’t until 1868 that the east-west road which bisects the road in front of the Loker house was laid out and established. There was no cellar under the “old part” of the frame house, which was a story-and-a-half structure. In later years James added a new part on the north side of the main house, and a cellar was dug under the new part. It was a seven or eight room house with a fireplace when completed. The customary woodshed was attached to the west side. A picket fence once stood around the yard, and in the yard there was a mock orange bush which stood six or eight feet high. This bush had clusters of white flowers in late May. Part of it was alive a few years ago, but it isn’t to be seen anymore. James was primarily a farmer. He had a large barn situated beside the newer road, and he kept three or four cows besides a flock of chickens.

Parents of Seven Children

James and Elizabeth were the parents of the following seven children: John R. Loker, Jan. 12, 1846; Mary Elizabeth Loker, Dec., 1848; William Henry Loker, April 18, 1850; David Wilson Loker, July 25, 1854; George Frank Loker, May 15, 1859; Edwin Dayton Loker, Feb. 11, 1861 and Hannah Adeline Loker, Nov. 15, 1864.
John was married to Miss Amanda Bender of Wallaceville. They resided near Troy Center where he operated a sawmill and farmed. His wife died in 1909 and he died Oct. 5, 1924. They had five children, Clarence Loker of West Virginia, Mrs. Edith Cochran of Troy Center, Charles Loker of Oregon, Mrs. Cora Trumble of near Troy Center and Roy Loker of Titusville. All are deceased.
Mary was married to Miller M. Thomas of near Wallaceville in 1867. He died in a plowing accident in 1870. She was again married to Joseph Ford in 1881. He was a farmer and huckster. He died in 1918. Mary died in Troy Township on Jan. 6, 1933. She had one daughter by her first marriage, Elda Louisa Thomas, who fell into a tub of scalding water when two years old and it proved fatal.
William Henry Loker died in infancy. Wilson was married to Miss Amanda Williams and they lived at Orangeville, Ohio, where he was a successful farmer. His farm is scheduled to be covered with water in a new dam project planned in the near future. He died in July 1931 and his wife had preceded him in death. They had a daughter, Mrs. Grace Williams, who lives at Orangeville.
Frank was married to Miss Celinda McClelland of Chapmanville. The couple resided in that community where he farmed. She died in 1933 and Frank died Feb. 1, 1936. They had one son, W. Harold Loker, who resides on the family farm just north of Chapmanville.

Worked in Lumbering

Edwin was married to Miss Helena Smith of Bradleytown. They lived on a small farm beside the creek which flows from Diamond to Wallaceville. He worked in the lumbering operations. He died at Hammond Run on May 17, 1904. They had two daughters, Mrs. Margaret Courtney, deceased, of Titusville, and Mrs. Mildred Urey of near Pioneer.
Adeline was married to John E. Homan of near Chapmanville. They lived in Plum Township where he farmed. He then worked for the Whitaker Liehl Construction Company of Harrisburg constructing bridges. He died in Reading in 1930, and Adeline also died there on Nov. 15, 1940. They had five children: Miss Isabelle Homan of Reading, Mrs. Maude E. Dempsey of Townville, George Homan, deceased, Mrs. Dorothy A. Strawbridge of Plum Township and Joseph V. Homan of Reading.
James Loker, the father, was tall and thin and he wore a white beard. He is said to have been a very interesting man with whom to talk, because his recollections of the pioneer days were keen indeed. He often visited his neighbors.

Fine Old People

Mrs. Elizabeth Sherman Carson of Pleasantville used to go there as a little girl with the family of her father, Rev. O. C. Sherman, from Chapmanville. She recalls there was a melodian in the parlor and that the rest of the folks always coaxed her to play it. She thought both
James and Elizabeth Loker were fine old people. Elizabeth was short and stocky. She was one who did a lot of knitting, quilting and spinning linen. She was an attendant of the Wallaceville Methodist Church. James was a member of the oldtime Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union No. 286 of Wallaceville. He was once in partnership with R. P. Seely and A. C. Miles.
At one time a James Loker was in partnership with Jack McIntosh in the Wallaceville store. But the writer doesn’t know whether it was this James or his nephew, William James Loker, commonly call “James” too. James had an excellent apple orchard, peach orchard and chestnut orchard on his farm.

Hit by Lightning

Beside his house there stood a pine tree. During a storm on Sept. 16, 1897, lightning struck this tree and jumped onto his house. Damage was done to the shingles and siding. Behind the pantry there was another small room which was called “the milk room,” because Elizabeth kept cans of milk in it. The lightning bolt caused the cans of milk to upset and there was milk all over the floor.
Just north of James’ house there stood another smaller house. The family of his son-in-law and daughter, John and Adeline Homan lived in it for years. Also, a neighboring couple, Mr. and Mrs. David Ehrhart, began housekeeping in this small house. Between the two houses there was a little spring run in which many geese swam.
James Loker died Nov. 30, 1899, from a critical illness of nine days. Heart trouble and a stroke led to his death. He was unconscious at the last. On Dec. 2 he was buried in the Chapmanville Cemetery following a service in his home. The snow was very deep, and the coffin was taken to the cemetery in bobsleds. Elizabeth died at the home of her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Mary Ford, on Oct. 11, 1916, at the age of 92. She had had a stroke.
The James Loker farm is now included in State Game Lands. The house has been gone for 50 years. Part of its lumber was used for interior siding and ceiling upstairs in the new David Ehrhart house nearby. Joseph Ford razed the house. The barn stood a few years longer. The water well is still visible with a few small poles thrown across it. The spring run is dried up, and the old pine tree, still living, keeps a lonely vigil over the old foundation which is nearly hidden by brush.

Transcribed by Penny Kulbacki Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription ofinformation from both early and late (current contributors) work.