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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