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Clover Family Research Compendium


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The Bloom Family 
BIO: T. Jeff BLOOM, Clearfield County, PA
Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Sally
Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/1picts/swoope/swoope.htm
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From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 485 - 487.
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  T. JEFF BLOOM, contractor, builder and millwright, was born March 31, 1844, on the farm of 160 acres which he owns and occupies and which lies one and one-half miles east of the center of Curwensville, Pike township, Clearfield county, Pa. He is a member of one of the prominent and substantial pioneer families of the county, a great-grandson of William Bloom, a grandson of William Bloom (2), and
a son of Isaac Bloom.
      Great grandfather William Bloom was born in Hunterdon county, N. J., and was of German parentage.  He served for six years under General Washington in the Continental Army and continued his military life until the colonies had attained independence.  He married a Miss Clover, [sic?] of New Jersey, and their eldest son was born on the day of the battle of Monmouth, in which the young father participated.  Some time prior to 1798, William Bloom and family traveled by ox-team to Center county, Pa., and from there, in 1801, to Clearfield county.  He cleared up a small tract of land near the present borough of Curwensville, in Pike township, which is now called Peewees' Nest.  Owing to some misunderstanding about the ownership of this land, he waived his claim and moved to the Col. Irvin place, on the west branch of the Susquehanna River.  By that time some of his children were married, and they established their own homes on or near the river, although a large part of the country was nothing but a
wilderness, with Indians numerous and hostile.  There were no roads, the county not yet having been organized, and such conditions prevailed that only men and women of courage and endurance could have been content to make so wild a region their home.  William Bloom and wife had eleven children born to them, namely:  Isaac, William, John, Abraham, Benjamin, James, Peter, Annie, Sarah, Nancy, and
Mary.
  William Bloom, son of William, and grandfather of T. Jeff Bloom, was born in New Jersey, in 1780.  He married Mary Roll, of Clarion county, Pa., and they had ten children, namely:  Hannah, Sarah, Mary, Jane, Mrs. Irvin Thayerson, Isaac, John, David, Harrison and Eli.  After his marriage, William Bloom lived in Pike township, where the farm then included 500 acres, 168 of which he cleared, beginning with nine acres, which he immediately started to cultivate.  He then erected a large log house, big enough to accommodate his own growing family and also to offer hospitality to the traveling public that was then passing over the Meads road on the way farther west.  He had a fine trade and was a shrewd business man, as was evidenced by his moving to a part of his farm which was adjacent to the newly constructed Erie turnpike road.  For years he conducted a hotel near where Mr. Porter now resides, in Pike township.  He was a very robust, well proportioned man and had a corresponding strong constitution, living to be ninety-two years of age, dying in 1872.  He was a Jacksonian Democrat and was elected to many public offices.  He was constable when the township had but sixty-two voters, later was sheriff of Clearfield county. Having a cash fortune of $30,000 he was considered the wealthiest man in Clearfield county.  His wife lived to be seventy years old.  They are both buried in McClure's cemetery, where the ashes of the pioneers of the family also repose.
  Isaac Bloom was born in 1813, on the present Bloom farm, in Pike township.  Three months of school attendance covered all the educational advantages he ever had, but nevertheless he became a successful business man and one whose judgment was often consulted concerning public matters.  He resided on the present farm until within a few years of his death, when he retired to Curwensville, where he passed away in 1864, at the age of fifty-two years.  His burial was in the Oak Hill cemetery.  He was a strong Democrat and probably at that time the Bloom family held the voting power in Clearfield county, on account of their numbers and about all of them being Democrats.  In 1848 he was elected treasurer of Clearfield county and for many years he was a justice of the peace in Pike township.  He married Leah Hoover, who was born in 1816, a daughter of George Hoover.  She died in 1879, at the age of sixty-two years.  They were most excellent people in every relation of life, setting an admirable example to their thirteen children, whom they reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church.  Of this family, T. Jeff Bloom was the sixth in order of birth, the others being:  Cortez, Miles, Henrietta, Jane, Hannah, Flora, Belle, Mary, Annie, Blanche, Robert and Walter.
  T. Jeff Bloom was seven years old when he began attending school at Curwensville, and he continued to live there until 1880.  For ten years
following his marriage he was in the contracting business at Curwensville, combined with building.  He has done an immense amount of work along this line.  For three years he did all the contracting at Patton, Cambria county, where he erected all the buildings.  He estimates that he has done as much as $500,000 worth of contracting since he started into business.  Among the numerous structures he has contracted for and built, is the handsome Curwensville National Bank.
  In 1868 Mr. Bloom was married to Miss Rosa Thompson, who is a daughter of J.W. and Annie Eliza (Wilson) Thompson, and they have had nine children, namely:  Frank P., Ralph, Grace, Charles, Dean, Walter, Henrietta, Seth and Thompson.  Of the above, Ralph, Charles, Walter and Thompson are all deceased.
      Mr. Bloom retired to his farm in 1880, where he has done a large amount of improving.  There are still some old landmarks left of his grandfather's time, but his handsome, modern residence he erected himself, and has added other substantial buildings.  This place is richly underveined with coal and an open mine, which has an output of 200 tons of fine coal daily, exceeding the mines of his neighbors who work their mines with such an output monthly, is a comfortable source of wealth.  His residence and mine both are on the Ferncliff branch of the B. R. & P. Railroad, making transportation easy.  This fine mine is leased by the Clearfield-Collier Company, of Clearfield, Pa., Mr. Bloom receiving a handsome royalty.  He is interested also in some 5,000,000 feet of hemlock timber, and has additional interests in financial concerns.  Like other members of his family, Mr. Bloom is a Democrat and is one of the leading factors of the party councils in the county and at times has attended state conventions as a delegate and has also held a number of township offices.  He attends and contributes to the Baptist church, of which Mrs. Bloom is a member.  Fraternally he is identified with the Order of the Moose and has taken many of the degrees in the Knights of Pythias organization.

Note: I don't think that William Bloom, sr married a Clover. I think he married a Mary Mettler who was probably a sister of Nancy Metler who married Paul Clover. 

From the Ancestral file:
 William BLOOM
 Born:  26 Feb 1752  Place:  , , Rheinpfalz, Germany  
 Died:  4 May 1828  Place:  , Clearfield Co., Pa.  
 Buried:  1828  Place:  Mcclure Cemetery, Pike Twp., Clearfield Co., Pa.  
 Married:  2 Apr 1778  Place: , Hunterdon Co., New Jersey  
  Father:  John Peter BLUM  
 Mother:  Anna Eva WAGNER  
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Wife's Name
 Mary METTLER
 Born:  10 Apr 1754  Place: , Hunterdon Co., New Jersey  
 Died:  1 Aug 1827  Place:  , Clearfield Co., Pa.  
 Buried:  1827  Place:  Mcclure Cemetery, Pike Twp., Clearfield Co., Pa.  
 Married:  2 Apr 1778  Place:  , Hunterdon Co., New Jersey  
  Father:  Johann Philip METLER  
 Mother:  Ann   

Contributed by Sheila Johnston for use by the Clearfield County Genealogy Project
(http://www.pa-roots.com/~clearfield/)
McClure Cemetery
Curwensville, Pike Township
Clearfield County PA
located in Curwensville just off the Lumber City Highway
1. William Bloom, Sr 28 Feb 1752-4 May 1828
2. Mary (Metler) Bloom 8 Feb 1756 - 4 Aug 1827
1. William Bloom, Jr 17 Apr 1782 - 12 Aug 1871
2. Mary (Roll) Bloom 16 Oct 1783 - 18 Dec 1862
1. David Bloom 18 Dec 1815 - 28 June 1867
2. Sarah (Hoover) Bloom 12 Aug 1821 - 28 Nov 1871
1. Isaac Bloom Aug 1779 - 8 Feb 1859 79y 6m
2.Sarah (Apgar)Bloom 1785 -11 Sept 1868 83y
1. John Bloom 1786- 30 Jun 1872
2. Susan (High) Bloom 1788- 28 May 1874
1. Peter Bloom 7 Feb 1789 - 27 May 1840
2. Mary (McElhatten) Bloom died Apr 1855 40y
James Bloom 28 Feb 1789-18 Sep 1866
Mary Bloom (Passmore) 2 Mar 1802-5 Oct 1883
Mary J Bloom 24 Aug 1822-13 Jule 1825
1. William Bloom 17 July 1807 - 20 Oct 1842
2. Hannah (Conklin) Bloom 9 May 1814 - 24 Mar 1848
1. Harrison Bloom
2. Sarah A. Bloom 23 Dec 1844 - 29 Feb 1880
3. Zada T Bloom 4 July 1874 4y 22d
1. Matilda (Hoover) Bloom 22 Aug 1824 - 6 Sep 1905
2. J. Ross Bloom 1. Allison Kile Bloom 9/20 1877 - 10/3 1901
2. Josephine (McClure) Bloom 8/3 1883 - 7/20 1902
Reuben Bloom died 12/24 1845 son of D & S 4y 8m 18d
Reuben Bonsall 1862-1926