Bernard Verstine was born at Zute, Belgium, on the 9th of May, 1829, and passed the closing period of his life in the city of Detroit, Mich., where his death occurred on the 28th of January, 1911, his remains being brought back to his old home in Pennsylvania for interment in beautiful Brookville cemetery.

Reared to manhood in Belgium, where he received good educational advantages, Mr. Verstine set forth to establish a home in the United States. His equipment was honesty of purpose, industrious habits, an alert mentality and a determination that recognized no bounds, so that he was well fortified, even though his financial resources were of most meager order at the initiation of his independent career. On the 1st of September, 1849, about eight months prior to attaining his legal majority, Mr. Verstine, accompanied by a companion, Victor DeHau, embarked on a sailing vessel for America, the land of promise. they landed at Philadelphia on the 24th of December, 1849, after a protracted and stormy voyage across the merciless sea, and within a short time thereafter Mr. Verstine located at a place then known as New Flanders, near the present city of St. Marys, Elk county, there having been at the time a flourishing Belgian colony at that place, as the name New Flanders implied. After finding employment for a time in clearing land, Mr. Verstine began seriously to consult ways and means for advancing himself, and ere long he showed his wisdom by taking unto himself a companion.

In September, 1851, a few months after his marriage, Bernard Verstine came with his young wife to Brookville, and here his first work was that of carrying brick in the erection of the old “Union Hotel.” Later he labored lustily in the lumber woods of this section, and was finally enabled to engage in lumbering in an independent way, in Clearfield county, his timber having been sawed in the mill then operated at Brookville by the late Judge Philip Taylor. He eventually formed a partnership with Judge Taylor, and they came into control of large and valuable timber tracts in Jefferson county, in the development of which they realized substantial profits. Mr. Verstine also acquired a tract of timber and operated a sawmill at Five-mile Run, and in this connection he carried forward his operations in partnership with a man named Delworth, of Pittsburgh. In continuing his successful lumbering enterprises Mr. Verstine became interested in the firm of Carrier, Verstine & Klein, in which his associates were C.M. Carrier and Bernard Klein. They operated a large sawmill known as the North Fork mill, and Mr. Verstine continued his active association with the business until 1891, when he removed to Detroit, Mich., in which State he had accumulated important financial interests, the same demanding his personal supervision. He sold his business interests in Jefferson county to his sons at the time of his removal to Michigan, and, as before noted, passed the remainder of his life in the beautiful city of Detroit, though he continued to make frequent visits to his old home in Brookville.

Mr. Verstine entered loyally into all community affairs during the long years of his residence at Brookville and did much to further the advancement of the fine little county seat, including the erection of several fine buildings. In early years he was an active and valued member of the Brookville Guards, a well disciplined military organization. He was one of the organizers of the Brookville Water Company, in July, 1883, was a member of its first board of directors, but the following year sold his stock in the company. In 1879 he was one of the organizers of the old Brookville Fair Association and took an active part in its development, as did he also in all other matters pertaining to the community welfare and progress. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party and though he had no ambition for public office or the activities of the political arena, he served with special earnestness and efficiency as a member of the borough council.

Mr. Verstine began his career without financial resources or other fortuitous aid and by his energy, good judgment and well ordered endeavors he acquired a substantial fortune. He stood “foursquare to every wind that blows” and his name and memory shall be held in lasting honor in the county and village that long represented his home. He was kindly, generous and considerate in all things, made his life count for good in its every relation, and thus justified his being in an emphatic and benignant way.

Mr. and Mrs. Verstine became the parents of six children: Mary T. is the wife of George T. Sandt, of Brookville; Caroline became the wife of Dr. William H. Mahneske, and both were residents of Pittsburgh at the time of their deaths, Dr. Mahneske having been a graduate of Heidelberg University, Germany, and a representative physician and surgeon of Pittsburgh at the time of his demise; Henry, who has charge of his father’s estate in Detroit, wedded Rebecca Heihold; Frank L., of Brookville, is mentioned in succeeding paragraphs; Charles E. married Alice Kerstetter and lives at Detroit, where he is retired from active business; Malcolm died in Detroit, in 1913, and his remains rest beside those of his father in Brookville.