BIO: John K. HOSTERMAN, Centre County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including 
the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing 
Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. 
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
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  JOHN K. HOSTERMAN. A  problem which has perplexed every soul 
conscious of its responsibilities on the earthly plane is the finding 
of a right aim in life, a work to which one may safely and with entire 
contentment devote one's energies; and it is not strange that amid the 
disappointing and annoying complications of modern life there are those 
who regard the simple routine of a farmer's calling as furnishing, for 
them at least, a satisfactory answer.  Like Count Tolstoi, they hold 
that whatever may be said of the value of the work of the poet, the 
lawyer, the physician, they can at least be absolutely sure that in 
raising grain and fruits to feed the hungry they are meeting, and 
meeting wisely, a vital need of humanity.  It is doubtless for the best 
that each should choose his work according to his inclinations, but it 
is quite in accordance with reason that we should find among our 
agricultural communities some of the best types of manhood and 
womanhood, whose lives and speech and manners reveal, in their 
straightforward adhesion to first principles, a grasp of realities 
which is not always found in more artificial modes of life.
  The many friends of Mr. and Mrs. John K. Hosterman, of Miles 
township, Centre county, will be gratified to find in this brief 
history a permanent record of their useful life.  Mr. Hosterman is a 
member of a pioneer family of Miles township, Centre county, where he 
was born December 26, 1826.  His father, George Hosterman, a native of 
Haines township, was a tanner by trade, and at the time of his death, 
which occurred when he was aged thirty-three years, he was residing at 
Millheim.  His wife, Catherine Kramer, was born in Berks county, Penn., 
and was brought to Miles township, Centre county, by her father, Daniel 
Kramer, who at one time resided in Kramerville.  Our subject was the 
eldest of four children; Sarah died in childhood before her father's 
death; Amanda married Samuel Wolfe, and died at Tylersville; William, 
once a merchant at Madisonburg and Rebersburg, died at St. Louis. The 
mother married a second husband, Henry Smull, of Brush Valley; she died 
in Rockville when more than seventy-five years of age, and was buried 
in Rebersburg. By her second marriage she was the mother of six 
children.
  Mr. Hosterman was but a boy of eight years when his father died, and 
soon after this event he went to Brush Valley to live with relatives, 
spending a short time at the home of John Kramer, and then going to an 
uncle, David Wolfe, near Wolfs Store.  He attended the schools of his 
time, which were decidedly inferior to those of the present day, and 
was reared as a farmer boy, his work being chiefly clearing land.  
After several years with Mr. Wolfe he began to learn the tanner's trade 
under Jeremiah Haines, but the work did not agree with him, and he 
returned to the farm.
  In 1848, Mr. Hosterman was married in Brush Valley to Miss Margaret 
Brungart, daughter of George Brungart.  She bore one child, but it died 
in infancy, and she passed to the unseen life in less than a year.  
Later Mr. Hosterman married his present wife, Susanna Gramley, who was 
born May 15, 1828, in Rebersburg, daughter of Philip and Barbara 
(Poorman) Gram-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.  383 

ley.  Eleven children were born of this union Olevia, February 1, 1850, 
is now Mrs. Uriah Spangler, of Harvey, Kans.; William A., February 23, 
1853, died August 29, 1859; George W., February 22, 1855, took the 
degree of D.D.S., and is now practicing dentistry at Centre Hall; Emma 
J., February 3, 1858, married Washington Shaffer, of Brush Valley; 
Annie V., April 17, 1860, died October 28, 1864; Mary A., July 27, 
1862, died November 4, 1864; Edwin G., May 9, 1865, is a farmer of 
Brush Valley; Ida M., April 14, 1867, died March 25, 1870; Ella A., May 
12, 1868, is now Mrs. Wallace Kreider, of Brush Valley; Lizzie V., 
March 22, 1871, is at home; and Thomas C., April 4, 1873, is a dentist 
at Rebersburg.  Mr. Hosterman has educated his sons well, and is in 
favor of better schools for all.  From 1852 until 1886 he rented a farm 
from his uncle, David Wolfe, which he bought at the latter's death.  He 
lived on the place until April, 1893, when he purchased his present 
comfortable home at Wolfs Store, and removed there.  Even at his 
advanced age he can often be seen at work on his farm, the habits of 
industry, strengthened by more than sixty years of active work at his 
business, being difficult to lay aside.
  Mr. Hosterman is well known, and by his courteous manners has made 
many friends.  His methods of doing business have always been such as 
to secure for him a reputation for the strictest integrity.  He is a 
Democrat in politics, but while taking keen interest in the success of 
his party he is not a politician. He has served as judge of elections, 
and for twenty-one years was overseer of the poor.  He belongs to the 
Reformed Church, while his estimable wife is a Lutheran in faith.  Both 
are descended from prominent and highly respected families of Centre 
county, and both do credit to their ancestry.  Kind-hearted and 
hospitable, their home is a most pleasant place, and the serene 
influence of their lives has done good which cannot be measured by 
earthly standard.