Henry Rider, p. 700

HENRY RIDER. Among those hardy frontiersmen whose energy and patient toil have made the dreary wilderness "to blossom as the rose," the ancestors of this gentleman were prominently associated. His grandparents, Chrystopher and Mary Magdalene Rider, were early settlers of Fallowfield township, and of the children born to them was a son, named John.

John Rider was born in 1799, in Fallowfield township, this county. He attended the subscription schools in early life, and was afterward married in Washington county, to Hannah Budd, who was born in Westmoreland county in 1800. They settled on a farm adjoining the home place in Fallowfield township, and children were born to them as follows; Joseph; Henry; Hannah, wife of John Carson of East Pike Run township, and five who are deceased. The father was a Whig and Republican, having served as justice of peace, also filling the office of constable for ten or fifteen years. He and his wife were members of the Disciple Church, of which he was an elder. He died in 1882, aged eighty-three years, followed by the mother in 1891.

Henry Rider was born March 10, 1824, on the farm in Fallowfield township. From boyhood he was trained to agricultural pursuits, which he has continued to follow. In early manhood he was married to Eliza, daughter of Solomon and Rebecca (Sheplar) Cooper, pioneers of this county, now deceased. The young couple settled on the homestead in Fallowfield township, where his wife died, leaving four children, namely: John, Teagarden, Rebecca Ann, and Hannah (who is living in Fallowfield township). After the death of his first wife (June 5, 1859), Henry Rider was married September 6, 1861, to Rebecca, daughter of Simon and Rebecca (Crawford) Wilson, pioneers of Fallowfield township, who have both been laid to rest. After his marriage, Mr. Rider bought 107 acres adjoining the homestead, and now owns 239 acres of well-cultivated land, where he carries on general farming and stock raising business. He takes an interest in public questions, votes with the Republican party, has been prominently identified with educational progression, and has served as a member of the school board. In religious faith he is a member of the Disciple Church. Mrs. Rider died in 1880, leaving two children, Henry E., a widower (living on the home place), and Simon.

Text taken from page 700 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).

Transcribed May 1997 by Dawna Trainor of Baltimore, MD as part of the Beers Project.
Published June 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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