John Forney, miller, Washington Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was born in Mifflin Township, Dauphin County, 30 March 1822, the son of John Forney.
John Forney, the father, was one of the following children:
Simon Forney, farmer, Hummelstown;
Leah Jane Forney, wife of Isaac Weitzel, Upper Paxton Township;
Sarah Ellen Forney, wife of John Bonawitz, Elizabethville;
Carolyn Forney, wife of Isaac Row, Washington Township; and
Eliza Ann Forney, unmarried.
John Forney attended school, worked at home and lived out among the farmers and thus passed his youth. He later drove a huckster team for his stepfather, Benjamin Reigle, and at the age of sixteen years drove team to Pottsville. He was married in Mifflin Township, 30 December 1844, to Miss Susan Lenker, daughter of Jacob Lenker and Rebecca [Hoy] Lenker. After marriage he lived for one year with his stepfather and then bought twenty and a half acres of land near Berrysburg and was engaged in gardening for three years, after which he sold the place and took up his residence in one of the houses of his stepfather, in which he remained three years. He next farmed the place of William Lenker two years and then bought a farm of one hundred and nine acres in Upper Paxton Township, on which he located and has lived there for thirty years. Mr. John Forney now owns seven farms, on all of which there are good buildings and first-class improvements, containing altogether four hundred and sixty acres. In February 1886, he bought mill property of Mr. Falkenmeyer and has since operated the mill in connection with farming, His children are:
George W. Forney, married to Susan Lenker, and farms in Upper Paxton Township;
William Forney II, first married Lizzie Whitcomb of Centre County, Pennsylvania, and secondly married Lizzie Lenker;
Kate Forney, married Joseph Matter, resides in Washington Township;
Sarah Forney, married Harry Keefer, resides in Elizabethville;
Daniel Peter Forney, laborer, in Upper Paxton Township;
John L. Forney, farmer, married to Annie Bohner, resides in Upper Paxton Township;
Jacob E. Forney, married to Bertha Enders, a farmer in Upper Paxton Township;
Lizzie Alice Forney, married Carson Kromer, Millersburg, Pennsylvania;
Carrie Agnes Forney, wife of M. D. Bonawitz, head miller for Mr. Forney.
In his political views Mr. John Forney is a Republican and takes an active part in the interest of his party. In Upper Paxton Township he served as supervisor, tax collector and constable. He is also an active and energetic member of the United Brethren church.
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The above information was modified/edited from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, published in 1896 by J. M. Runk and Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A free download is available from the Internet Archive.
See also:
Findagrave Memorial #32404396. John Forney died 4 February 1901 in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He is buried at Forney’s Cemetery, Rife, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.