A John Dressler was born in Union county, Pa., on the 28th day of February in the year of 1794.

He came to Clearfield county in the year 1841, and settled on the tract of land which now compromises the farm of Levi R. Dressler, in Union township-which farm was at that time a part of Brady township. At that time the county was quite a wilderness. The nearest settlement was the farm of John Brubaker, close to the present village of Rockton, about three and one-fourth miles distant. At the age of twenty he married Miss Elizabeth Gelnett, of Union county.

He died in the year of 1856, at the age of sixty-two years. His family consisted of twelve children-five sons and seven daughters-seven of whom are now living.

His son, David Dressler, a resident of Union township, has been a justice of the peace for thirty years, and was the first justice elected in Union township. His wife, who still survives him, is now eighty years old, and resides with her son, Levi R. Dressler, on the old homestead farm, in said township.

Mr. Dressler was a member of the Lutheran Church, at Luthersburg, for a number of years. He cleared and improved about fifty acres of land the tract he bought only having a few acres partially cleared at the time of his settlement.585