Horner, Daniel M.

Farmer

Birth: October 2, 1854, Pleasant Valley, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Death: April 18, 1935, Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio
Burial: Hillside Cemetery, Cortland, Trumbull County, Ohio
Find a Grave memorial

Published Biography

From Harriet Taylor Upton, A Twentieth Century History of Trumbull County, Ohio, A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, Its People, and Its Principal Interests (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Volume 2, pp. 267-268:

DANIEL M. HORNER, who is one of the more recent settlers of Trumbull county, Ohio, is a native of Mt. Pleasant township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, born near the town of Mt. Pleasant, October 2, 1853, a son of Samuel and Anna (Mohler) Horner, both of whom were natives of Somerset county, Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1803 and the mother in 1822. The grandfather, Jacob Horner, was born east of the mountains in Pennsylvania and came to Westmoreland county at a very early day, continuing to reside on his farm until his death. The maternal grandfather, William Mohler, was a native of Switzerland and came to America, locating at Myersdale, Pennsylvania. He was by occupation a distiller and followed it for the Myers Bros. of Myersdale for several years, and indeed up to the date of his death. Samuel Horner, the father, became a land owner in Pennsylvania, not far from the old homestead, where he operated a farm up to 1870, then retired, keeping a portion of his farm upon which he resided until overtaken by death, August 13, 1885. His wife died December 23, 1897.

Daniel M. Horner was the youngest of two children born to his father, by a second marriage. He obtained his education at the schools of Westmoreland county, where Tarr station now stands, on the electric line, between Mt. Pleasant and Greensburg. When twenty years of age Mr. Horner set out in the world to make for himself a place among his fellow-men. The first six years he farmed on his father’s land, then moved to Wood county, Ohio, and there purchased forty acres of land. After living there one year his first wife died, after which he exchanged his farm for a larger tract of land, which later he sold and went back to Pennsylvania and farmed there a year. He then embarked in the shoe business at Bloomdale, Ohio, continued one year, then sold out and again went to Pennsylvania and worked on the farm another year for his father. The following two years he was variously engaged, but unsettled. He then married again and continued to farm on his father’s lands until after the latter’s death. Mr. Horner then remained on the homestead with his mother until the spring of 1890, when he engaged in the lumber business in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, making his home at Scotdale until 1900, when he went to Indiana county, Pennsylvania, and purchased a fifty acre farm, upon which he remained until 1906, then sold and again moved to Westmoreland county. He resided there about one year, then removed to Trumbull county, Ohio, settling in Vienna township in the month of November, 1907, on a farm of a fraction less than one hundred acres, which land he had bought in 1906, and where he expects to remain permanently. Here he follows general farming and dairying and expects to make a specialty of the milk business.

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is also his wife. Politically, Mr. Horner is in accord with the principles of the Republican party, but has never sought or held local office.

He was united in marriage, first on May 18, 1872, to Esther Louisa Tarr, born in Bethany township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvnaia, May, 1855, a daughter of Daniel B. and Hester Tarr, both natives of Westmoreland county. The father was a manufacturer of earthenware, also a cooper by trade, and followed these two occupations until he became disabled. He served three years as a soldier in the Union cause, during the Civil war and drove the headquarters’ wagon. After the close of the war he followed his trade several years. He died at the Soldier’s Home in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the winter of 1893, sometime during the month of February. His wife died August, 1889, at her old home in Bethany. By this union two children were born: William Wellington, born March 2, 1877, married Ida Koser of Fayette county, whose two children are William and Ruth; Anna May, wife of Bert Mauck, residing near Warren on a farm, is the mother of four children—Blanch, born in December, 1896; Grace, in Jannuary, 1898; Maud and Mabel (Twins), born in December, 1904.

Mrs. Horner died January 31, 1878, and for his second wife Mr. Horner married Anna Belle Schaffer, born at Laurel Run, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1862, a daughter of Peter and Maggie (Nicholson) Schaffer. The mother was born in Fayette county, as was also the father, and the maternal grandparents resided in Fayette county all of their lives. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Horner were born twelve children: One child died in infancy; Harry Akin, born February 8, 1883, is employed by the Warren & Niles Telephone Company; Lillian, born October 24, 1885, at home; Margaret, born November 25, 1887, at home; Amelia, born November 24, 1889; Ethel, born April 6, 1891, at home; one who died in infancy; Roy Samuel, born January 17, 1894, at home; Russell, born June 23, 1898; another who died in infancy; Idessa D., born November 25, 1902; one who died in infancy.