My Genealogy Hound

ZACHARIAS BASEHORE, one of the prominent, substantial and representative citizens of Hopewell township, was born in 1840 in North Middleton township, Cumberland county, son of William Basehore. His paternal grandfather early located in Lancaster county, where he followed farming and reared two sons, William and David.

William Basehore, father of our subject, was born in Lancaster county, and came to North Middleton township, Cumberland county, where he followed his trade of shoemaking. He married Susannah Orris, who was one of a numerous family, her brothers and sisters being as follows: John, Christopher, George B., Zacharias, Margaret, Sarah, Maria, Catherine and Elizabeth. Both parents of our subject died in Frankford township, and are buried at the Stone Church. William Basehore and his wife lived quiet, uneventful lives, respected and beloved by all who knew them. Their children were: Zacharias; Isaac, a prosperous farmer in Missouri, where he married; Isaiah, who died in infancy; Maria, who married George B. Drawbaugh, and is living at Carlisle, where her husband is a mechanic, and they have these children, Adda, William, Effie, Florence, Maud and Emma.

Zacharias Basehore attended the public schools of Frankford and Mifflin townships, but only in the winter seasons, for at the age of nine years he had to begin to support himself. He went first to his uncle, Christopher Orris, and spent a year on his farm in North Middleton township, and then went with Jacob Hoover. His contract with Mr. Hoover called for board, clothing and schooling. This he received after a fashion, and remained with him until he was fourteen years of age, when he was presented with a suit of clothes. He had but poor school advantages, and has mainly taught himself. The death of his mother, at this time, made him feel very forlorn. Mr. Basehore remembers that the first money he ever received for work was from Jacob Nickey, who paid him $5 a month for six months, and this sum probably looked much larger to him than $100 would at the present time. He then hired for one summer to James Logan, in Frankford township, and to John Perry and Peter Derrick, in Mifflin township.

In 1861 Mr. Basehore married Sarah Christlub, daughter of Jacob and Jane Ann (Myers) Christlub of Mifflin township. Her father died at the age of ninety-six years, and her mother at the age of fifty years, and both were buried at Newville. Their children were: Samuel, Jane, Anna, Elizabeth, Nancy, Sarah (wife of our subject), David, Levina, and Levi and Ellen (twins).

After his marriage, Mr. Basehore located on the old John Ahl farm in Mifflin township, and was living there when he was drafted for the Civil war in 1862. He sent a substitute after spending a month in Chambersburg under Capt. Walker, of Carlisle. After his return to Mifflin township, he continued to farm there for four years, spent one year engaged in the butchering business, and then returned to farming for the next three years.

When Mr. Basehore came to Hopewell township, he located on the old John Carson farm, which he operated for eleven years, and at the death of J. C. Carson and the settlement of the estate he bought this fine piece of property, including 100 acres of excellent land, and the improvements which are of a substantial character he has made himself. He has continued to live on this farm, which he has made one of the most profitable and best cultivated in the township.

Mr. Basehore has this family of children, all of whom are well and favorably known through this section: George, a prosperous farmer in Illinois, married Mary Hildebrand; Mira J. is the wife of Daniel Mowery, a farmer in Mifflin township; Sarah Ellen is the wife of George Laughlin, a farmer of Hopewell township; Laura Jennie is the wife of David Foglesonger, at Waynesboro, Pa., a commercial traveler; John C., a farmer in Hopewell township, married Mabel G. McGaw; Jacob, a farmer in Illinois, married Elizabeth Church; Elizabeth, a Normal School graduate, has been teaching school in Bucks county for the past four years; and William is with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Harrisburg.

Mr. Basehore has always been prominently identified with the Democratic party, and has held many of the local offices, serving as assessor for nine years, school director for twenty years, member of the election board, and jury commissioner. His term as the latter expired in April, 1904, but he is still serving as assessor, having been re-elected to that office in the current year.

Mr. Basehore and family belong among the leading members of the Reformed Church of Zion, in which he is very deeply interested, and of which he has been a deacon many years. He is one of the truly representative men of the township, useful, honest, capable and upright.