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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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WILLLIAM HIPPENSTEEL, one of the highly respected citizens of Fairview, a deputy county constable, and the owner of a pleasant, comfortable home here, was born April 9, 1854, in Pine Grove, Cumberland Co., Pennsylvania.

John Hippensteel, his grandfather, was born in Germany, and his three children were: Barbara, who married and is living at Mount Alto, Pa.; William; and John (2), the father of our subject.

John Hippensteel (2) attended the local schools in his boyhood, and as soon as able to work, began the business of charcoal burning, which he followed in Pennsylvania and Maryland for some seventeen years, understanding the whole management of the charcoal pits, a business with many details and which requires close and careful attention. He married Sophia Davis, daughter of James Davis, a native of Ireland, who later lived in the vicinity of Burnt Cabins, Fulton county. After. his marriage John Hippensteel lived for a short time in Cumberland county, and then went to Maryland, where he followed his trade until the spring of 1872, at which time he returned to Cumberland county. He died at Fairview in December, 1894, and was buried at Zion Lutheran Church. His wife died in 1886, and was interred at the same place. They were members of the Methodist Church. In politics he was a Republican. Their children were: Samuel, who was employed by the government, died aged seventeen years; James, who married Jennie McCombs, lives in Harrisburg; William is mentioned below; Charles Theodore, who married Sallie McCombs, sister of his brother’s wife, lives at Fairview (she died in 1894); Denton O., who married Sallie Glessy, lives in Harrisburg, and is in the iron business; Elmer lives at Steelton, where he is a member of the police force; Sherman, who married Catherine Staller, is a butcher at Steelton; Annie married Robert Irwin, an iron worker in Clearfield county; and Samuel, who married Annie Hoffman, is an iron worker at Clearfield.

William Hippensteel attended the common schools until eleven years of age, and then went to work in an ore bank in Maryland, and continued working in iron ore until he was seventeen years old, when he came to Fairview, and learned heating and puddling in the furnaces here. This hard work Mr. Hippensteel followed industriously for twenty-nine years, accumulating a competency that enabled him to buy a comfortable home at Fairview in 1883.

On June 4, 1876, Mr. Hippensteel married Margaret Seidle, who is a daughter of Gotleib Seidle, of Cumberland county, and they have had these children: Edward, born April 26, 1877, took a course at a business college, and now has a position as material man at Lenota; Mary died when seventeen months old; Clinton died when seven years old; Annie, born Aug. 26, 1882, married John Koffman, a railroad man, and they live at Jersey City; George, who is learning the blacksmith trade, lives at home; Virgie, Nora, Laura, and William, Jr., complete a pleasant, united family.

In politics Mr. Hippensteel is a Republican. In 1903 he was appointed to the office of deputy constable and he was re-appointed at the expiration of his first term. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Eureka Lodge, No. 203, A. F. & A. M., of Mechanicsburg, and Harrisburg Consistory, thirty-second degree, of Harrisburg.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company. 

View additional Cumberland County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Biographies

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