| Prominent in those industrial days, the Scanlon
family is still represented in the village by Mrs. William Johnsonbaugh.
She had six sisters and three brothers. Their father was Patrick
Scanlon, who emigrated from Ireland when he was 18. His wife
came over when she was three years old. She had been left motherless
almost from birth and was cared for by an aunt who, on coming to America,
brought little Bridget along.
After the couple had met and married, they began housekeeping at
Pennsylvania Furnace. Several of the children were born there, notably
a little girl whom the mother decided to call Cecelia. Since she
was unable to make the journey with him to Bellefonte, it fell to the father's
lot to bring the infant to the church to be christened.
Evidently the exigencies of being nursemaid were too much for him,
for when the priest asked what name should be given to the child, Pat had
completely forgotten. But, "Just call her Bridget after her mother."
he admonished. So Bridget she became and Bridget she remained until
confirmation allowed them to amend her to Cecelia.
After Mr. Scanlon found work at Boiling Spring, the family moved
into one of the six company houses that were built across the creek on
the hillside. All these are now torn down and Mrs. Johnsonbaugh remembers
nothing about living in one of them save that she fell down the
steps and broke her arm.
To own his own home was the ambition of most of the employees of
the shop, so when the house owned by Fearon Mann, built by Steele Heverly,
was offered for sale the Scanlons bought it and moved into it. This
is still Rachel Scanlon Johnsonbaugh's home. She was the sixth
child and is one of the four yet living. The others are Mrs. Frank
Barron of Altoona, Mrs. George Vetter of Pittsburgh and Mrs. Agnes Culver
of Harrisburg.
All these daughters were married in Bellefonte, either in the church
or at the rectory, depending on whether their husbands were of their own
faith or not, and although they are widely scattered, they all come back
for visits in the summer, and for a little time are girls again
in the old homestead.
The Johnsonbaughs have been married 20 years. Mr. Johnsonbaugh
tells to all and sundry that his girl kept him going to the Scanlon house
25 years before she would marry him and it is true that she preferred to
remain with her aging parents and fulfill her duty to them before
taking on other obligations.
In the winter she worked in Altoona in a tailor shop; in the summer
she returned to her home in Axemann. Growing up in the place, everybody
called her by her first name, Rachel, often shortening it to Rach.
Little children addressed her in the same way and after she and the persistent
young man were married, the youngsters, called him Mr. Rachel until they
were taught better by their parents.
They went to Niagara Falls for a time to live but soon returned
to the old home, leaving brother Henry Scanlon in the city where he since
died. Both of the seemingly-youthful couple are delightful company.
No small part of this history was related to them, and both enjoy reminiscences
and jokes of their earlier days even when the joke is on them.
During their term of courtship, Mr. Johnsonbaugh rode a horse from
his home to Axemann, varied adventures befalling him in consequence.
One of these was when a party of girls stole his horse and buggy and drove
it into Bellefonte. The horse was a balky beast. It stopped
in the middle of the road in the Borough and would not budge. So
the girls had the worst of it that time.
One other evening he rode a horse that kicked and tied it to the
barn as usual. When ready to start home he had the girl friend
accompany him to the barn with a lantern so he could avoid the animal's
heels and mount it safely. But their approach sent the horse's hoofs
thundering against the sides of the stall and Miss Rachel screamed, clutched
the lantern more closely to herself and fled outside, leaving her gallant
in pitch-black darkness with the vicious brute. Only by lying flat
on the ground was he able to escape being killed. |