My Genealogy Hound

ALONZO H. RUTH, a prosperous farmer, stockraiser and dairyman of Shippensburg, Pa., was born in Hopewell township, Cumberland county, July 20, 1855, a son of William and Elizabeth (Conner) Ruth. John Ruth, his grandfather, was born in Lancaster county, and was a miller by trade. He married a Miss Musser, and reared a large family. On the maternal side of the house the grandfather was George Conner, a farmer, who married Mary Baer.

William Ruth, father of Alonzo H., was born in Lancaster county, and was a miller, while his wife was born in Cumberland county, in 1836, and died in 1898; she is buried in the Reformed Church graveyard in Hopewell township, where the father is also interred. The children of William Ruth and his wife were as follows: Isaiah J. married A. S. McCoy and lives at Mechanicsburg; Mary R. is the wife of Benjamin Zeigler and resides in Cumberland county; Emma C. married William Brubaker; Alonzo H. is mentioned below; Anna J. married William Davidson, of Cumberland county; Ellen J. is deceased; John W. resides in Shippensburg; William is deceased; Minnie A. and Elizabeth U. complete the family.

Alonzo H. spent his boyhood and early school days in Mifflin township. He remained upon the farm until he was twenty-six years of age, having married, however, when twenty-four, Miss Mary G. Meyers, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Reside) Meyers. Sometime after his marriage Mr. Ruth settled in Hopewell township, Cumberland county, where he engaged in general farming, but in 1890 he moved and located in Shippensburg township, locating on the Abram Hostetter farm, which he is still occupying, renting the property. He is a hard-working, industrious and thrifty farmer, and thoroughly understands all his work. The farm contains eighty acres, and is located in the vicinity of Shippensburg.

Mr. and Mrs. Ruth are the parents of two children: George R. graduated in his seventeenth year, and is now in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; William Mark, an intelligent young man, is a student in the Cumberland Valley Normal School. Mr. Ruth is a Democrat, and takes an active interest in local politics. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Reformed Church, of which he is trustee. Fraternally, he is a member of the Royal Arcanum, and he is a man widely known and highly respected.