My Genealogy Hound

NELSON A. WADE, one of the well known and much respected citizens of West Pennsboro township, and the leading mill owner and operator in this section, is also an honored survivor of the great Civil war. He was born in 1842, in Dauphin county, Pa., son of Jacob Wade.

Hugh Wade, the grandfather of Nelson A. Wade, was also born in Dauphin county, where he married, and where both he and wife died, as did also his brother, Richard. His children were: David died in Michigan; Jacob; Samuel died in Iowa; Amos died in Indiana; Benjamin died in Michigan; Sarah and Martha both died in Indiana; and Mary still lives in Indiana.

Jacob Wade was born in 1819, in Dauphin county, and was reared to agricultural pursuits. In 1841 he married Mary Ann Straw, daughter of John and Bessie Straw, all of Dauphin county, and they had these children born to them: Nelson A., of this sketch; Jefferson, who lives at Harrisburg; John, who is a resident of Dauphin county; Franklin, who lives in Indiana; Jacob, also living in Indiana; and William and Alice who still reside in Dauphin county. Jacob Wade died there in 1897, but his widow still survives and resides with her daughter Alice.

Nelson A. Wade attended the schools of his neighborhood until he was sixteen years of age, and then chose milling as his vocation. He worked in a Dauphin county mill for three months, and then spent six months at the old Cumberland mills in Cumberland county, completing his apprenticeship in 1862, at the mills in New Cumberland.

In 1863 Mr. Wade entered the service of his country, enlisting in Company F, 20th Pa. Cavalry. He accompanied his regiment first to Harrisburg, then to Maryland and six weeks later to Berkley Springs, Va., where the regiment was stationed three months. On Sept. 7, 1863, he engaged in a skirmish in which he lost his horse, and was one of the seven men then on picket duty at that point, who escaped capture. Mr. Wade’s term of enlistment expiring, he worked one year in a railroad roundhouse at Marysville, Perry county, Pa., but in February, 1865, he re-enlisted, the rest of his service until he was honorably discharged in August, 1865, being spent in the Shenandoah Valley.

After his return from the army, Mr. Wade worked at his trade at Fort Hunter, near Harrisburg. In 1884 he came to Cumberland county, and settled at Big Springs, in West Pennsboro township, where he engaged in milling for seven years, coming then to his present home, on Conedoguinet creek. Mr. Wade bought the old Shellenburger mill property, consisting of nine acres of land and the mill. The latter was in a dilapidated state when he took charge of it, but through improvements in every part he has now one of the most valuable mill properties in the county, and he enjoys a fine trade.

In 1866, Mr. Wade married Lydia Straw, daughter of Benjamin Straw, of Dauphin county. She died in 1876, leaving a daughter, Maggie, who married Alfred Nell, of Big Springs, and has four children, Gertrude, Nelson, Arthur and Earl. In 1880 Mr. Wade married Lizzie Spong, daughter of John and Frances (Brandt) Spong, of West Fairview, Cumberland county. To this union has come one daughter, Annie. In politics, Mr. Wade is identified with the Republican party. He has served on the election board in his township, and is considered one of the reliable, representative men of the locality. With his family he attends the Lutheran Church at Newville.