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Susan (Brand) Steele-Sharp
Susan Brand was born on October 22, 1850 in Clearfield Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Augustine John and Mary (Noel) Brand. She was baptized at St. Augustine Catholic Church in St. Augustine where her parents were founding members; her godparents were John Feuder and Elizabeth Noel.
Susan was the seventh of eight children born to Augustine and Mary, and she grew up on a farm in Clearfield Township.
When she was just two years old her mother died after giving birth to her sister Matilda, who died young. Less than four years later her father remarried to Philomena Martin who was 25 years his junior. Philomena gave birth to eleven children over the next 23 years.
About 1868 Susan married David Steele, a native of New York state. Susan and David were the parents of three children: Mary Jane (Steele) Weld, William Steele, and Samuel Steele.
David died sometime between 1875 and 1880. He is buried in Grandview Cemetery, Johnstown.
In 1880 Susan resided in Reade Township, Cambria County with her three young children.
Susan remarried to Harry Sharp, who was thirteen years her junior. Harry was born on August 22, 1863 in New Florence, Westmoreland County, the son of William J. and Anna Barbara (Decker) Sharp.
Susan and Harry resided in Johnstown where he was an employee of the Penn Traffic Company.
Susan's son Samuel enlisted to fight during the Spanish-American War of 1896, although it is believed that the war ended while he was still in training.
Susan died on January 4, 1912 in Johnstown at the age of 61. She is buried with her first husband David Steele in Grandview Cemetery.
Harry remarried to Ollie B. Dias/Dyess just six months after Susan's death. Although he and Susan had no children together, Harry and Ollie, who was about seventeen years his junior, were the parents of three sons: Bruce, Harry, and Lewis Sharp. When he died on March 28, 1943, Harry was reported by The Tribune of Johnstown to have weighed over 450 pounds.
Mary Jane married Selden Weld about 1885. He was 27 and she just 16. She and Selden were the parents of at least nine children, the names of the oldest eight being Bertha M. (Weld), Ella M. (Weld), Charles Steele Weld, Susie Ethel (Weld), Arthur Selden Weld, Mary Eva (Weld), Samuel T. Weld, and William R. Weld. They raised their children on a farm in Beccaria Township, Clearfield County. Their son Charles served overseas during World War I and sadly died during the war. Mary Jane later lived in Mercer, PA for a time, then removed to Jefferson County, Ohio, where at least one of their children, Arthur, was living. She died in 1967 at the advanced age of 97.
Samuel, like his step-father, was an employee of the Penn Traffic Company, eventually putting in 36 years of service. He married Rhoda Edwards in 1903 in Cambria County. They were the parents of six children: Evelyn (Steele) Leiter, Margaret (Steele) Zilch, Mary Jane (Steele) Worthington, Harry Steele, Ann (Steele) Heidorn, and Martha (Steele) McGowan. Samuel later married Ella Mae Waters. He died in 1955 at the age of 79.
William Steele's fate is unknown. It is thought that he died sometime between 1900 and 1910.
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Brandt 
