| Notes |
- http://pegihouck.com/family_history.html
David Joseph Houck, son of Joseph and Catharine [Buser] Houck, was a teacher, carpenter, and Justice of the Peace. In 1891 he engaged in the bottling business, buying out the firm of Gregory & Miller which he conducted until 1901, when he purchased from Jacob Krug the American House on Miller Street, Hastings, of which he was proprietor. From 1898 to 1901 he served Hastings as councilman for two years filling the president’s chair. During this incumbency he inaugurated a fight against the Independent Water Company, advocating municipal ownership, which fight he carried out successfully, and today the borough enjoys the privilege of its own water supply as the result of his untiring efforts. He had been reared on a farm in Nicktown, Pennsylvania.
Catherine Gessler [stemming from the Von Gesslers, Von meaning royalty, from the Black Forest region of Germany, had been, according to Letty Houck Shutty, political exiles and later pardoned], a kind and compassionate woman, became his wife. Catherine was the daughter of a Civil War hero [having won the Mill-Race], Colonel Eberhard Gessler, buried at Union Cemetery, St. Boniface, and Caroline [Sidler] Gessler. Nine children were born to them, Austin being the first-born.
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, d. 12 Jun 1961, Hastings, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, USA