History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

Vols. 2-3: Genealogical memoirs, compiled under the editorial supervision of John W. Jordan.

Pgs. 605-606

Hezekiah O. Van Tine. The father of Hezekiah O. Van Tine, of Vandergrift Heights, was Thomas H. Van Tine, who was born on a farm near Shearsburg, Westmoreland county. After his marriage he moved to Armstrong county, buying a farm near Cochran's Mill, on which he resided during the remainder of his life. For several years he served as justice of the peace, and during a long period held many of the township offices. He was a staunch Republican, and a member of the Lutheran church, in which he held office during the greater part of his adult life. Mr. Van Tine married Esther Shoop, and their ten children with one exception are now living: Julia, wife of W. C. Deemer, of Allegheny township; Hezekiah O., see forward; Mary J., wife of P. H. Shull, of Kittanning; William, of Allegheny township; David, of Wheeling, West Virginia; John of Hulton, Westmoreland county; Daniel, of Portland, Oregon; Cochran, of Centralia, Washington state; and Elmer, of

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Armstrong county. Mr. Van Tine, the father of the family, died at the age of seventy-five.

Hezekiah O. Van Tine, son of Thomas H. and Esther (Shoop) Van Tine, was born October 31, 1845, in Armstrong county, and educated in the common schools. At the age of nineteen he went to Illinois, where he was for ten years engaged in farm work. After his marriage he returned to Pennsylvania, settling in Leechburg, where for some fifteen years he worked as a miner. In 1890 he moved to Appollo [sic] and obtained a position as a steel worker in the mills of the Apollo Iron & Steel Company, with whom he has ever since remained in the same capacity, having removed to Vandergrift Heights on being transferred to the new plant there. He has served on term in the borough council of Vandergrift Heights, two terms as a member of the school board and now holds the office of tax collector. He belongs to Vandergrift Lodge, No. 1116, I. O. O. F., is a Republican in politics and a member of the Lutheran church.

Mr. Van Tine married, December 18, 1874, Jennie, daughter of John Wertz, a prominent farmer of La Salle county, Illinois, and the following children were born to them: Harvey W., deceased; Charles A., deceased; Clara May, wife of E. V. Stitt, of Zanesville, Ohio; Myrtle, wife of Ira E. Hilty, of Verona, Pennsylvania; Nellie T., at home; Pearl M., also at home; and Jennie, deceased. The mother of these children died January 13, 1904.