Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania, Part 12

Author: Wiley, Samuel T. ed. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Philadelphia [J.M. Gresham & co.]
Number of Pages: 652

USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 12

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" His ancestors were Scotch-Irish, and they had emigrated to this country before the Revo- lution. His father, Peter Alexander, was born in Cumberland county, Pa. The family were whigs and patriots during the war of the Revo- lution. The wife of John B. was a Miss Smith, of Cumberland county. He had no children. His wife survived him, and on her death the property went to the collateral heirs. Besides two sisters he had two brothers : Samuel Alex- ander, who was a leading lawyer of the Carlisle, Cumberland county bar, and Thomas Alexan-

INDIANA COUNTY.

der, who once lived with his brother in Greens- burg, and who was never married.

"In business transactions the integrity of Alexander was inflexible. He was never known to do a dishonest or dishonorable action. No man could say that he ever defrauded him of a dollar. His handsome fortune was all gained by honorable professional toil."

W ASHINGTON P. ALTMAN. Promi-

nent among the citizens of Indiana stands Washington P. Altman, the veteran chief of police. Strictly attentive to duty, and stern in the discharge of it, he is the terror of evil- doers. He is a son of Capt. Henry and Juli- ann (Sloan) Altınan, and was born at Indiana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1845. His grandfather, Henry Altman, Sr., was a native of Germany, and came to this country in early manhood, and followed the occupation of farming. His son, Colonel Henry Altman (father), was born in Indiana county, in the year 1803, By trade he was a carpenter and builder, living most of his life in Indiana. At the breaking out of the " Great Rebellion," he enlisted in Co. K, 105th regiment Pa. Vols. ; was elected captain of the company. His death, which occurred soon after he resigned, was occasioned by exposure in the Virginia swamps. He died at the age of sixty-three, deeply de- plored by the community in which he resided. He was a prominent member of the Presbyter- ian church, and always took an active part in the church work. He married Juliann Sloan, who was a native of Armstrong county, and from early life was a sincere member of the Presbyterian church. She died in November, 1888, at the advanced age of eighty-four years.

Washington P. Altman was reared at Indi- ana, and acquired his education in the public schools of the borough and Indiana academy, from which he was graduated in 1862. In June, 1863, he enlisted for six months in Co.

A, 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry. When dis- charged in December following, he enlisted in the regular army, as a member of Co. A, in the 19th U. S. Infantry, for three years, with the rank of first sergeant. During most of this time his regiment was stationed in Tennessee, Arkansas and Indian Territory. After his discharge he taught school for seventeen years in Arkansas, Illinois, Colorado and Iowa, as well as in his native State. He was a most successful teacher ; his long service in the army having given him special training as a disci- plinarian. At length the confinement to the school-room impaired his health, obliging him to seek other employment. In 1880 he was appointed chief of police of Indiana, which office he still holds; here, too, his army train- ing aids him in the discharge of his duties.

On March 17, 1870, he married Belle, daugh- ter of James M. White, of Indiana. She died in 1879, leaving one child, William Houston. His second wife, whom he married December 9, 1880, is Ella, daughter of William Glass, of Indiana county. To this second union have been born three daughters : Lulu, Julia and Helen.

W. P. Altman has always been a republi- can, and attends the Presbyterian church. He was a member of Palladium Lodge, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Shavano Lodge, No. 28, Knights of Pythias, and Indi- ana Lodge, No. 260, Jr. O. U. A. M. He is very prominent in the Grand Army of the Re- public, a member of Torbert Post, No. 11, and Logan Camp, No. 77, Sons of Veterans, of Colorado. While teaching in Colorado he was elected to the offices of department commander of the Grand Army of Colorado and judge advocate of the department of Colorado of the Sons of Veterans ; the latter office he still holds. Although a scourge to wrong-doers, he is quick to sympathize with and aid the suffer- ing, living up faithfully to the initiatory vows of the various orders of which he is a member.

BIOGRAPHIES OF

V ILLIAM BANKS was a native of Mif-

- flin county, Pennsylvania, and studied law in the office of his brother, Hon. John Banks, at Mercer, Pa. He commenced the practice of law in Indiana in 1826, and for many years was a leading member of the bar. He was naturally sensitive and diffident, and only commenced to argue cases before the jury when circumstances compelled him. He he- came a forcible advocate, concise, to the point and sometimes eloquent. He was fond of sci- entific studies, and was very conversant with the Scriptures. He filled the offices of deputy attorney-general and prothonotary, and was a member of the legislature. After serving in the legislature he totally abjured holding pub- lic office. He died on the 10th day of August, 1871, aged seventy-six years."

ROBERT BARR, M.D .- The late Robert Barr, M.D.,of Indiana, was a leading, skill- ful surgeon and physician, a useful citizen, a true friend, and a sincere and an honest man. He was a son of Thomas and Catherine Coleman (Gor- don) Barr, and was born in that part of Green, which is now Cherry Hill township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1828. His paternal grandparents were Robert and Sarah Barr, who settled in this county in an early day. Robert Barr was a Revolutionary sol- dier, and one of his children was Thomas Barr (father), who served as a soldier in the war of 1812. He was twice married ; his first wife was Elizabeth Evans, and after her death he married Mrs. Catherine (Gordon) Coleman, and the only child born of the second marriage was Dr. Robert Barr.

Robert Barr was reared on a farm and re- ceived his education in the rural schools and Indiana academy. He had determined at an early age to become a member of the medical profession, and to this end directed his educa-

tion. He read medicine with Dr. Stewart, of Armagh, and Dr. Thomas St. Clair, of Indiana, and graduated from Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia, in the class of 1854. After- wards he attended schools of surgery in Phila- delphia and other cities and also practiced in the hospitals to make himself more proficient in surgery. He commenced the active practice of his profession at Armagh, but soon removed to Indiana, where he practiced until his death, excepting the time of the late war. On No- vember 8, 1861, he was mustered into the U. S. service as surgeon of the 67th regiment, Pa. Vols., and aided in its organization. He was actively employed in the field with his regi- ment, brigade and division until the expiration of his term of service, in the fall of 1864, and then left field duty on account of physical dis- ability, incurred from exposure and continued service. While in commission he was intrusted with the most responsible duties, and was always fully equal to their proper discharge.

He was promoted to surgeon-in-chief, and in the trying and severe campaigns of 1863 and 1864 was conspicuous for skillful surgical oper- ations and efficient discipline in the medical corps under his charge. The high esteem in which he was held in the Army of the Potomac is attested by the complimentary order with which he was mustered out of the service. Re- turning home from the army, he resumed his practice and was actively engaged until a few months before his death, in 1882.

October 15, 1868, Dr. Barr united in mar- riage with Cordelia E. Elder, who still resides in her pleasant home at Indiana, and is a mem- ber of the First Presbyterian church of that place. Her father, Robert Elder (3d), was born December 23, 1809, on the farm on which he always lived, and on which he died March 26, 1890. He was a son of Robert Elder, Jr., who married Mary Smith, and whose father, Robert Elder, Sr., the first settler on the ridge that bears his name, was a grandson of Robert and

INDIANA COUNTY.

Eleanor Elder, who were Scotch-Irish natives of Druminore, county Down, Ireland, and set- tled near Harrisburg, Pa., about 1730. Robert Elder (3d) was a quiet man of wide-spread in- fluence, and was the last, but one, surviving of the fifty original members of Dr. Alexander Donaldson's congregation. He donated the ground for the last church structure of that congregation, besides most generous subscrip- tions toward its erection. He was a hearty supporter of churches and schools, and liberal of means toward any movement for the benefit of his community. He married Nancy W. Doug- lass, who still survives him. One of his sons, Lieut. John D. Elder, was killed at Malvern Hill, while in command of his company.

In his private practice Dr. Barr was noted for his sincerity and frankness with his patients. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and, although sometimes stern in man- ner, yet his heart was always sensitive to the tale of sorrow or the voice of suffering. He died of Bright's disease of the kidneys, at midnight on Thursday, March 2, 1882. His remains were borne to their last resting-place in Indiana cemetery, by his old comrades in arms, the members of the Grand Army of the Republic, but the memory and example of his useful life remains behind him.

TOSEPH F. BARNES. - Every town or borough has its wide-awake and leading business men who seem to have been born to be publicly useful. Of this class of men is Joseph F. Barnes, of Indiana. He is a son of Henry and Mary (Chapman) Barnes, and was born in Burrell township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1828. The early an- cestors of the Barnes family were rigid non- conformists of England. Several of them suf- fered martyrdom in England for adherence to their faith, and one of that number was Dr.

Barnes, who was burned at the stake. Among the "Puritan Fathers" wlio settled at Plymouth and other points in Massachusetts were several members of this family. One of these, Richard Barnes, settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony prior to 1636, when he served in the Pequod war in Connecticut. Charmed with the coun- try, he settled on the. site of New Haven in 1638. His son, Gilbert Barnes, born in 1636, was an active business man, and reared a family of seven sons and three daughters. His son, Stephen Barnes, born 1677, was the father of four children, one of whom was Timothy Barnes, who was born in 1700. His children were Timothy, Capt. Steplien,' Israel, Michael, Prudence, Faith and Hope. Capt. Stephen Barnes, born in 1736, commanded a company during the Revolutionary war, married Ezudia Kellogg, and removed, in 1787, to Northamp- ton county, Pa. His children were Joseph, Stephen, Gilbert, Timothy, Ruth, Margaret, Elizabeth and Clara. The eldest son, Joseph Barnes (grandfather), was born June 3, 1777, learned the trade of mill-wright, and in 1799 started on foot for the Connecticut reservation in Ohio, but stopped at a ford on the Cone- maugh river, two miles below the site of Blairs- ville. He there, with characteristic Yankee foresight, saw a fortune within the grasp of the man who would start a ferry, and accordingly secured the land on both sides of the river at' that point, and opened a ferry, which soon be- came a source of large income to him. He erected a grist-mill, followed farming and built flat-boats for the Pittsburgh trade. On April 3, 1801, lie married Barbara Beck, a daugliter of Simon Beck, a native of Switzerland. She was born April 15, 1785, and died in 1839. He married Mrs. Elizabeth Leer in 1840, and after her death married Mrs. Clarissa Griswold. He died at Sharpsburg, Allegheny county, in 1855. His children were Henry, William, Stephen (a missionary to Africa), Jolin B. (once attorney-general of the Republic of Texas),

BIOGRAPHIES OF

Elizabeth (wife of John Davis), Simon P. and David M. The eldest son, Henry Barnes (father), was born in 1802, learned the mill- wright trade with his father, erected many mills and made over one hundred and fifty inven- tions and improvements. He married Mary, daughter of Francis Chapman, of Green town- ship, and reared a family of nine children : Joseph F., Sarah (wife of J. Haughton), Bar- bara E. (dead), Stephen A., George, Mary L. (Indian missionary in Nebraska), John C. (de- ceased), Phebe A. and Lydia E. (wife of John H. Martin). Mrs. Mary Barnes' mother, Jen- nie (Drum) Chapman (maternal grandmother), was a daughter of Lord Drum, of England, whose estates she was heir to until she was eight years of age, when a son was born to her father, who had re-married when she was about six years of age. Her mother's maiden name was Henderson. Their remains sleep in the Blairsville cemetery.

Joseph F. Barnes was reared on a farm, and received his education in the rural schools of his native township and Elder's Ridge acad- emy. Leaving school, he went to Blairsville, where he published for two years a paper called the Appalachian. He then was engaged for thirteen years in teaching in the common schools of Indiana County and the public schools of Pittsburgh. During this time his vacations were spent as a proof-reader, local reporter and staff correspondent on the papers of Pittsburgh. In 1864 he quit teaching and went to the oil country, where he remained for two years. He then came to Indiana and engaged in the jobbing, produce and oil busi- ness, which he has followed successfully ever since. He handles, some years, as much as $60,000 worth of produce and from ninety to one hundred car-loads of oil. He handles over fifty different kinds of oil.

In 1858 he united in marriage, at Pittsburgh with Mary, daughter of Robert and Agnes McLaren, both natives of Scotland. Mr. and

Mrs. Barnes have been the parents of five chil- dren: Ida C., wife of W. C. McKnight, of Pittsburgh ; Robert M., a practicing lawyer of Pittsburgh ; Agnes C., Joseph F., Jr., and Henry T., a stenographer of New York city, who married Flora Weaver, had one child named Edith, and was drowned in 1889, in Hackensack river while trying to rescue his cousin John C. Barnes from drowning.

Joseph F. Barnes owns a farm near Blairs- ville and valuable property at Indiana. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. and Indiana Lodge, No. 313, F. & A. M., and has a beauti- ful P. M. jewel which was presented to him by that lodge. He is a democrat and has served as school director for several terms. He is a member and deacon of the Indiana Baptist church and has been for over fifteen years the honored superintendent of its Sunday-school. As clerk of the Indiana Baptist Association Mr. Barnes has rendered valuable service to his church. As a writer he wields a ready pen and writes clearly, forcibly and at times very elo- quently. As a man he is respected and honored for his integrity and usefulness.

TTUGH M. BELL is prominent among the sons of Indiana county, who have won their own unaided way to prosperity and who have made for themselves names that will always figure conspicnosly in the history of the industries of Indiana borough. He is a son of George and Mary (Beatty) Bell, and was born in Black-Lick township, Indiana county, Penn- sylvania, December 13, 1852. The Bells are of Scotch-Irish descent and George Bell was born in Black-Lick township, in 1820, where he was reared to manhood and resided until his death, in 1855, at the early age of thirty-five years. He was an industrious farmer and a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His early death prevented him from acquiring

INDIANA COUNTY.

much of a competency. He married Mary Beatty, who now resides at Latrobe, Westmore- land county, this State.

Hugh M. Bell was bereaved of his father at so early an age that he could neither remember him nor realize his loss. Even before he had completed his first decade of years, he was use- . fully employed, to a considerable extent, on the farm on which he was reared. His education was acquired in the winter district common schools, which at that day had not arrived at the degree of excellence they have now reached. At seventeen years of age, imbued with the laudable ambition to win his own way in the world, he sought employment and accepted the first honest labor which came to his hand and was in the shape of driving a mule in a bitumi- nous coal mine. He soon obtained a chance to leave his mule cart and dug coal, which paid him better wages than his former job of driving. In February, 1870, he came to Indiana, where he secured a position as clerk in the implement, grain and lumber house of John C. Moorhead. One year later he became a clerk in the dry goods house of A. S. Cunningham, where he remained for eighteen months. He then went into the foundry establishment of McFarland, with whom he continued for ten years and where he laid the foundations of his present honorable and successful business career as a manufacturer and general dealer in en- gines, mill machinery and agricultural imple- ments. In 1882 he left the foundry and was employed for two years as a clerk in the pro- thonotary's office; but not liking the work, al- though rendering good satisfaction and having a decided inclination for the machinery busi- ness, he left the office to form a partnership, in October, 1884, with the Sutton Bros., under the firm name of Sutton Bros. & Bell. They pur- chased the plant of the Chilled Car Wheel & Plow company, of which they assumed posses- sion on January 21, 1885. They have increased the foundry and machine shops, have added

large blacksmith and paint shops and extensive storage rooms. Their plant now covers over half a square in area and employs a regular force of twenty-five hands. The foundry turns out land rollers, road scoops, stump pullers and all kinds of castings, and in the machine shop, engine, saw and flouring-mill machinery is manufactured and repaired. The firm deals largely in Syracuse chilled plows, engine boil- ers, iron and wood-working machinery, belting and steam and gas fittings. The present mem- bers of the firm are Thomas Sutton, John W. Sutton and Mr. Bell, and for thorough work and extensive patronage their establishment will compare favorably with any of its class in the western part of the State.

In 1876 he was married to Jennie Kerr, daughter of Valentine and Catherine Kerr, of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Bell have six chil -. dren : George M., Harry M., Emma V., Mary, Gilmore C. and Hugh M., Jr.

Hugh M. Bell is past master of Palladium Lodge, No. 346, I. O. O. F., past master of Clymer Lodge, No. 28, K. of H., past archon in the I. O. H., past W. H. of Indiana Lodge, No. 313, F. & A. M. and a member of Indiana Grange, No. 313, P. of H. He is a member of Zerubabel Chapter, No. 162, H. R. A. M., and Pittsburgh Commandery, No. 1, Knight Templars. In politics Mr. Bell has been an adherent of the Republican party, served as chairman of the Indiana county re- publican committee in 1883, and in 1889 was a member of the republican State central commit- tee. Like most men whose lives are largely devoted to business he has spared but little time to public affairs, and although never seeking of- fice he has never refused to serve his fellow-cit- izens in a public position. Since 1885 he has served as burgess of West Indiana and as a member of the school board of that borough. Hugh M. Bell has been the architect of his own fortunes and has had no one to help him so much as he has helped himself. He isa self-made man,

BIOGRAPHIES OF

who by his business ability and energy has passed in a few years from the depths of the coal mine to an honorable and important posi- tion in the manufacturing industries of the county.

TOHN A. BELL, the well-known and efficient assistant agent of the P. R. R. company at In- diana, is a wide-awake, energetic and industrious citizen of Indiana county. He was born in Green township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, December 9, 1849, and is a son of William R. and Mary (Lydick) Bell. William R. Bell, of Irish extraction, is a native of eastern Pennsyl- vania, came to Indiana county in 1836, and located in Green township. He was a very prosperous farmer and came to Indiana in April, 1866, where he has resided ever since. After coming to Indiana he was engaged in the lum- ber business for some time and for the last fifteen years has been janitor of the court-house. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and in political opinion is a democrat. He married Mary Lydick, daughter of Jacob Lydick. She was a native of Indiana county, died September 16, 1886, aged seventy years, one month and nine days, and was also a member of the Pres- byterian church.

John A. Bell was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the public schools of the county. Leaving school, he entered the employ of the P. R. R. company, November 11, 1867, as warehouse-man and by strict attention to business has attained to the position he now occupies. He served continuously for eight years as a member of the West Indiana council, but resigned in 1888. In 1889 he was elected as overseer of the poor and is now holding that office. He served very efficiently as treasurer of West Indiana borough in 1888 and 1889.

On September 4, 1872, he married Sarah A., daughter of William Lewis, of Indiana. They

have five children, one son and four daughters : Mamie, Lottie, Lee, Alice and Stella.

J. A. Bell is an active and influential citi- zen and is ever ready and willing to aid in any enterprise that will be of benefit to the town. He is a strong democrat in political opinion, and always yields a whole-hearted support to his party. He is a member of Indiana Lodge, No. 21, A. O. U. W., Improved Order of Hepta- sophs, No. 180, P. R. R. Voluntary Relief de- partment, and the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is also a trustee. He has been for nearly a quarter of a century continuously in the employ of the Pennsylvania Central Rail- road, and this long service fully attests to his business ability and complete trustworthiness.

M AJOR RICHARD M. BIRKMAN. No braver officer or nobler soldier served in the armies of the Union during the late war than Major Richard M. Birkman, the founder of the present Indiana Progress, and editor of it for the first decade of its existence. He was a son of Peter and Hannah (Swoyer) Birkman, and was born in St. Louis, Missouri, April 8, 1837. His paternal grandfather Birkman was a strict lutheran and resided in Sweden, where his son, Peter Birkman (father), was born on the banks of the Wetter lake. Peter Birkman was a subaltern in the Swedish army at sixteen years of age, then was six years at Brest, France, after which he came to the United States and about 1820 became a teacher at Harrisburg, Pa., where he married Hannah Swoyer. He soon left there and finally accepted a situation as a book-keeper in St. Louis, Mo., where he died July 26, 1837. He was a man of high moral courage and noble principle.

Major Richard M. Birkman was reared and received his education in Harrisburg, Pa. He visited a cousin at Blairsville in 1858, spent the

INDIANA COUNTY.

next year in Memphis, Tenn., and then was in Philadelphia until Ft. Sumter was fired upon by Beauregard, when he returned to Blairsville where he enlisted, on June 10, 1861, in Co. E, 11th regiment, Penna. reserves. He was pro- moted on May 13, 1862, to second lieutenant, to first lieutenant September 22, 1862, and when his three years had expired, on June 6, 1864 was made captain of Co. A, 190th reg., Pa. Vols. With his regiment he remained till the close of the war, and in April, 1865, received from President Andrew Johnston the rank of brevet-major for meritorious duty and gallantry in the service. The splendid record of his regi- ments, on a score of bloody battle-fields, needs no repetition here, and Capt. Birkman was always found at the head of his company. After the war he returned to Blairsville, where, in January, 1867, he bought the New Era and published it until January, 1870, when he con- solidated it with the Indiana Register and American, under the name of the Indiana Pro- gress, which he edited until March 1, 1880 when he sold the paper to Wm. R. Black. From 1876 he had been slowly going down with con- sumption and died in less than two months after disposing of the Progress. "His heart was in the Progress. It was his life-work ; and when he yielded up his paper, it was like the final separation of dear friends. He had a right to be proud of the Progress, for under him it had been the friend of temperance, morality and the oppressed."

On June 8, 1865, he united in marriage with Mary L. Black, of Blairsville, and their union was blessed with two children: Sarah and Agnes.

Major Birkman was a member of the Pres- byterian church and an earnest Christian. He died, April 24, 1880, when in the forty-third year of his age, but left a record upon which his widow and children can always look with pleas- ure. His remains were interred in the Blairs_ ville cemetery under the auspices of the Grand Army of the Republic. Comrades around his

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Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania, Part 12

Author: Wiley, Samuel T. ed. cn Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Philadelphia [J.M. Gresham & co.] Number of Pages: 652

Author: Wiley, Samuel T. ed. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Philadelphia [J.M. Gresham & co.]
Number of Pages: 652