Mercer County PAGenWeb

Richard Tunison


RICHARD TUNISON, retired merchant, was born in Reading, Steuben Co., N. Y., January 16, 1823. His parents, Cornelius and Catharine (Hays) Tunison, were natives of New Jersey, but were married in New York State. In the spring of 1853 the family came to Mercer County, and located north of the site of Thiel College. The parents died on that farm, the father August 20, 1854, aged sixty-eight, and the mother March 10, 1865, aged ninety-one years. Both adhered to the Baptist faith, Mrs. Tunison being one of the original members of the Greenville congregation. Cornelius Tunison was in the United States Army eight years, and served in the War of 1812. In early life a Democrat, he subsequently became a Whig and then a Republican, to which political faith he adhered until his death. Richard Tunison grew to manhood in his native county, receiving the usual common school education. He was married in Bound Brook, N. J., to Miss Mary E. Sullard, a native of that town. They resided in New Jersey about three years, and Mr. Tunison then engaged in the grain trade on Seneca Lake, N. Y. In the spring of 1853 he removed with his parents to the vicinity of Greenville, where he followed farming until his removal to that borough some twenty years ago, where he purchased and ran the St. Charles Hotel for one year. In 1873 Mr. Tunison erected a store-room on Main Street, and in partnership with his son, William F., opened a grocery house. In the fall of 1 882 he retired from the firm, and his son conducted the business till the spring of 1888, when he sold out. To Richard and Mary E. Tunison have been born three sons: William F., H. A. and Charles, deceased. Both he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the family are all stanch supporters of the Republican party.

History of Mercer County, PA, 1888, pages 830-831


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