Four years ago, Mrs. Hampton U. Huff of Athens, Pa., a native of Olanta, reported seeing a Gearhart knitting machine in a western museum at Dillinger, Montana. Even more unique was the experience of Mr. and Mrs. Tim Ryan of 210 Johns Drive, Clearfield, during a vacation trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this past summer. "We were introduced to a family who are proud owners of a Gearhart Knitting Machine, manufactured in Clearfield by the Clearfield Knitting Machine Co. (a successor to the Gearhart company), They wrote to The Progress, "In ,the early '50s the Leo Trabert family purchased this knitting machine, along with a knitting manual of instruction and Sales, first edition, in a second-hand store in Milwaukee for $5. The copyright date of the manual is 1927. The Traberts continued to purchase parts from the Clearfield company until about 1960. The knitting machine is in working condition and continues to be used by the Trabert family for making socks and the like.
       The Gearhart Knitting Machine was the invention of Joseph Emery Gearhart, whose roots went back to the early days of this country. His great grandfather,  John Gearhart emigrated from Germany in the 1700s, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War and then settled at Centre County. His grandfather, John, served in the War of 1812 and moved to Clearfield County in 1820. John S. Gearhart, father of Joseph, was born on his father's farm near Phillipsburg and spent most of his life as a farmer in Boggs Township, Clearfield County, two miles west of West Decatur, (then known as Blue Ball).
       Joseph Emery Gearhart, born April 22, 1849, grew to manhood on the family farm and was educated in the country schools of that era. His first employment after leaving the farm was with the lumber firm of Hoover,

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