Sarah Smull & Samuel Gramley of Centre County

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UNK SMULL > HENRY SMULL > SARAH SMULL m Samuel Gramley

Sarah Smull was born 15 Mar 1832 in Rebersburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania to Henry Smull and his first wife, Elizabeth Royer.

She married Samuel Gramley on 07 Aug 1849 in Aaronsburg in Centre County. Samuel was born 04 Mar 1827 in Rebersburg.  He attended school as he could during winter months. He loved mathematics. After he finished his rural education, he began teaching. His first school was a subscription school in 1848, after which he went to Mifflinburg Academy in Union County for 18 weeks where he trained to teach. He then taught in his home school and secured its first-ever blackboard. In Spring 1849, he spent 10 more weeks at Mifflingburg Academy and then taught again at his home school. he continued teaching until 1861, when he moved to one of his father's farms and began cultivating the land. He also studied surveying and became a surveyor.

Gramley served as elder in the Lutheran church and held the position of superintendent of the Sunday School for 34 years. And,despite his being a Republican in a heavily Democratic township, he was elected as justice of the peace in 1869 and held that job for 15 years. He also served as a county commissioner starting in 1870 until 1873. Since he didn't seem to have enough to do, he also served as the Centre Hall Mutual Insurance Co. representative for 25 years. He owned two farms and a house in town, making him a substantial citizen of the area.

Sarah and Samuel had eight children: Isabella (died in infancy), Tiras (died in infancy), Cephas, Sarah Annie (died young), Titus, Clement, Naomi, and Adah.

Sarah died 14 May 1880 in Rebersburg. Samuel remarried to Catherine Spangler Ocker, a widow with five children. Samuel died 13 Jan 1903 in Rebersburg.

I'll cover Titus and Cephas in a separate post.