History of Centre and Clinton County, Pennsylvania, 1893



Anthony  Bierly Biography

Anthony Bierly was one of the pioneer settlers of Brush valley. He leased a tract of three hundred acres, on part of which Rebersburg is now situated, from Col. Samuel Miles in 1791, and it is probable that he brought his family into the valley in the spring of the same year.

They came from Mahantango Creek, now Snyder County. Mr. Bierly and his son, Nicholas had been up during the previous fall to clear and put in grain a small piece of ground for the family's subsistence. A Mr. Strawbridge had cleared about half an acre; and built a hut on this tract when Mr. Bierly first came, and there were a few huts standing in the woods through other parts of the valley. Mr. Bierly's house was situated about mid way between the present homes of Peter S. and thony Bierly. There are several apple-trees around the place which were brought from below, one of which measures thirteen and one-half feet in circumference.

During the Revolutionary war Anthony Bierly served in the militia, but it is not known in what engagements he took part. On one or two occasions he, with other parties, followed Indians who had murdered white families. This occurred while he was still living along the Mahantango. He came to the valley with his family through Brush Valley Narrows, over the road which Samuel Miles had opened but a short time before, and was the first man that traveled it in a conveyance. Anthony Bierly was a native of Bavaria; his parents and an only brother, Nicholas, came to America at the same time probably, but in what year is not known. His brother settled in Ohio somewhere. His father's name was Melchior, and he lived along the Mahantango also until the Indian troubles of 1778, when he left with the "Great Runaway," and never returned from the eastern part of the State. His wife brought along a beautifully ornamented bottle from the old country, which is today a cherished relic in the family of a great-grandson, Melchior Bierly, of Rebersburg. Anthony Bierly was married to a Miss Warner; he died in 1825, and was eighty-two years of age; both he and his wife lie buried in the Lutheran and Reformed graveyard, Rebersburg, and neither grave has a tombstone with an inscription. Children,-Nicholas, John, Anthony, Margaret, married to John Philips; Mary, married to Michael Kehl; Sarah, first married to Henry Grenninger, and after his decease to George Leash; Anna, married to Philip Glantz; Barbara, married to Frederick Womeldorf; Rosina, married to Christian Gramly; Elizabeth, married to Peter Berry; Eva, married to Michael Ketner; Catharine not married. All the children are dead. (Meyer.)

Source: History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania; John Blair Linn; Philadelphia; Louis H. Everts; 1883.












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