George
Wright Zahniser
Rev.
GEORGE W. ZAHNISER was born March 19, 1823, in the borough of Mercer.
His parents were Jacob and Catharine (Wright) Zahniser. The father was
reared on a farm, and at an early period in his life was employed as a
clerk in a store. He operated a mercantile store in Mercer for some
time, and died in 1852. He was superintendent of the Sabbath-school of
the First Presbyterian Church of Mercer for over thirty-five years, and
was an elder. He was the father of the following children: Margaret,
William, George W., Mary (died when small), Jacob and Michael. The
mother of the above children died in 1860, and was a consistent member
of the Presbyterian Church.
Our subject was educated
in the old Mercer Academy and Washington and Jefferson College,
graduating at the latter in 1846. The year following he was a tutor in
that institution. At that time Dr. R. J. Breckenridge was president of
this college, and finally resigned to accept the pastorate of a
Presbyterian Church of Lexington, Ky. It was through Mr.
Breckenridge’s influence that Mr. Zahniser was induced to take charge
of a classical school at Lexington, which grew so rapidly under his
efficient management that he induced Judge Lawrence, the now famous
blind orator of Bellefontaine, Ohio, to associate himself with him in
this institution, which connection lasted for about one year. After
closing his term in Lexington he entered a theological seminary at
Princeton, N. J., where he remained for two years, and then came to his
home; was soon afterward licensed by the Erie Presbytery, and began
his ministerial labors at Conneautville, Crawford Co., Penn. Here he
continued with good results for eight years. He was then called to
Huntingdon County, and preached in Huntingdon City from 1859 to 1876. At
the latter date he returned to Conneautville and had charge of that
congregation for one more year, when he withdrew from regular
pastorates, and has since been a supply minister for various
congregations of his faith. He began the career of a school teacher when
sixteen years of age, teaching his first term in the Cranberry District,
in the neighborhood of what is now Grove City. Later he taught in the
public schools of Mercer, and still later he was associated with Rev.
Vincent and James L. Rodgers, respectively, giving instructions in the
old Mercer Academy. He also taught for two years in Conneautville, while
in charge of his Presbyterian congregation at that place. He was married
in 1854 to Jane Forker, by whom he had one daughter, Mary, the wife of
Herman Frankel. Mrs. Zahniser died in 1859, and in 1864 he was again
married, to Miss Kate Gaston, of New Jersey, who died soon after
marriage, and he selected a third wife in the person of Mrs. Lizzie
McGill, this: marriage occurring in 1866. She was born in Somerville, N.
J., and by her he had the following children:
George (now a student at a college in Bethlehem, Penn.), Kate G.
and Albert. Rev. Zahniser is a Republican, and one of the most respected
and worthy citizens of Mercer County.
History
of Mercer County, 1888, pages 701 and 703
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