Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania, Part 17

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 17
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 17

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practical and accurate business man. He mar- ried Elizabeth McRorey, and has reared a fam- ily of six sons and two daughters. Although in his seventy-third year, he is yet able to conduct his farm and manage all of his business. His wife is one year his junior in age, and has been for many years a member of the United Pres- byterian church.

David C. Mack was reared on the home farm till he was thirteen years of age. His educa- tion was received in the common schools and Elder's Ridge academy. Leaving school he followed teaching for seven or eight years, at the end of which time he purchased a farm in West Wheatfield township, and was engaged in the stock business for twelve years. In 1883 he built house and store-room at New Washington, on the old Frankstown road, in the eastern part of the township, where he embarked in the gen- eral mercantile business, which he followed for four years. In 1887 he was elected on the re- publican ticket as sheriff of Indiana county, and moved to Indiana, where he now resides, and is the first sheriff to occupy the new jail. He is a republican from principle, has always been active in politics and is well acquainted with all the political issues of the day. In 1890. Sheriff Mack formed a partnership with J. A. Johnson, under the firm-name of Johnson & Mack, and engaged in the general mercantile business at the old stand of Wegley & Johnson, on the corner of First and Philadelphia streets. Their mercantile establishment is known as the "Farmers' Headquarters," and is well filled with a large, varied and complete stock of general merchandise. They deal extensively in country produce, and are exclusive agents for improved harrows and plows and other useful farm ma- chinery. By close attention to business and the requirements of their patrons they are building up a very prosperous trade.

On July 18, 1872, he married Emma K. Wilson, of New Wilmington, Mercer county, Pa. They have five children, four sons and

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one daughter: Joseph P., James W., Edgar McRorey, Olive E. and Paul W.

Sheriff Mack owns a valuable farm of one hundred and twenty-one acres of well improved land in West Wheatfield township. He is a man of good judgment, of fine business ability and extended business experience. His manner of discharging the duties of the sheriff's office has made him very popular with the masses of the people throughout the county, irrespective of party. He is courteous, prompt and accu- rate in the discharge of either public or private business, and has many warm and faithful friends.

JOHN McGAUGHEY, the oldest real estate

agent now doing business at Indiana, and a battle-scarred veteran of one of Pennsylvania's most famous fighting regiments of the late war, is a son of Nicholas and Sarah (Lowry) Mc- Gaughey, and was born in Armstrong town- ship, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1842. The McGaughey family is of Scotch- Irish origin, and was early settled in south- eastern Pennsylvania. Alexander McGaughey, Sr. (great-grandfather) came from York to Westmoreland county prior to the war of 1812, but soon thereafter removed to Conemaugh township, where he was a farmer. He married Sally Marshall, and one of their sons was Alex- ander McGaughey (grandfather), who married Jane Coleman, and followed farming in Cone- maugh township until his death. His son, Nicholas McGaughey, was born October 6, 1806, and died in June, 1872, aged sixty-six years. He removed in 1834 to Armstrong township, where he purchased two hundred and thirty acres of land, which was in the woods, and cleared it out, and made of it one of the best improved farms of this day. His wife was Sarah Lowry, who died in 1855, at forty-seven years of age. They were members of the United Presbyterian church, and their remains are buried in Crete church Cemetery. Mrs.

McGaughey was a daughter of Robert Lowry, who was a native of Ireland and a well-to-do farmer and good millwright of Armstrong township, where he died about 1850, when in the ninety-second year of his age.

John McGaughey was reared on the farm and attended the common schools of his native township until he was nineteen years of age, when he enlisted on September 25, 1861, as a private in Co, K, 105th regiment Pa. Vols. and was promoted to corporal in 1863, and to color-sergeant January 1, 1865. He partici- pated in the Peninsular campaign, fought in all of the hard battles of Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant, and was honorably discharged on July 11, 1865. At the battle of Fair Oaks a musket-ball went through his right arm, at Gettysburg, on the 2d of July, a piece of a shell wounded him in his right side and hand, and in the Wilderness fight, of May 5th, a rifle-ball struck him in the right leg. After the close of the war he was engaged in farming until- 1875, when he removed to Indiana and dealt in farming implements for three years. He then embarked in his present real estate and general agency business. He buys, sells and exchanges real estate. He is a member of Indiana M. E. church, Lodge No. 21, A. O. U. W. Improved Order of Heptasophs, Indiana Post, No. 28, G. A. R., and commander of Encampment No. 11 of the Union Veteran Legion. He is a re- publican from principle and a member of the borough council, in which he has frequently served within the last ten years. He is prompt and attentive to the interests of his patrons, has secured an extensive business and is active and energetic in all of his various enterprises. He is honorable and fair-dealing in all of his busi- ness transactions.

On March 22, 1866, he united in marriage with Susan Lowman, daughter of Michael and Nancy Lowman, of Armstrong township. Mr. and Mrs. McGaughey are the parents of two children, Mary L. and Charles McGaughey.

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C JAMES McGREGOR. One who has in-

herited the careful foresight, the prudent thrift and the strict morality of his Scottish an- cestors is James McGregor, the present register and recorder of Indiana county. He was born in Potter township, Jefferson county, Pennsyl- vania, December 6, 1840, and is a son of Mah- lon and Margaret (Chambers) McGregor. Dur- ing the latter half of the eighteenth century, one of the sturdy Scotchmen who left his native county and came to Pennsylvania was Alex- ander McGregor. He was a mill-wright by trade and located near Bedford, in Bedford county, where he purchased a farm which he cultivated until his death. His son, Daniel McGregor (grandfather), was born in Bedford county, learned the trade of carpenter, came to Washington township, this county, where he remained four years and then removed to Por- ter township, Jefferson county, in which he resided until his death in April, 1880, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He was a farmer and a member of the Baptist church. Of liis sons one was Mahlon McGregor (father), who was born in Bedford county in 1810, and died in Armstrong county, July 12, 1873. In his twenty-first year he removed to Jefferson county, where he located in Porter township. He then followed farming and stock-raising until 1869, when he went to Cowanshannock township, Armstrong county, and continued in the same line of business until his death. He was an active business man, a member of the Presbyterian church and a stanch republican, but was never an aspirant for any office. He married Margaret Chambers, a daughter of James Chambers, an extensive farmer of Jeffer- son and Indiana counties, as well as being en- gaged in the general mercantile business. Mrs. Margaret McGregor was a native of Perry township, Jefferson county, a member of the Presbyterion church and died February 4, 1845, in the twenty-sixth year of her age. She was baptized, married and had her funeral

sermon preached by the same minister, Rev. John Carothers.

James McGregor was reared on his father's farm and obtained liis education in the common schools. At thirteen years of age he went to work in a brick-yard, where he remained one year. Three ycars later he engaged in teaching, which he followed for one year and then ac- cepted a position as clerk in a store. After seven years' experience as a clerk he engaged in the mercantile and live-stock business for him- self at Marion, this county. In 1884 he was elected sheriff of Indiana county and served in that capacity from January 1, 1885, to January 1, 1888. In 1889 he was nominated by the republicans and elected register and recorder. On the first Monday of January, 1890, he took charge of that office and his term of service will expire on the first Monday of Jan- uary, 1893.

James McGregor was married on September 20, 1860, to Catherine, a daughter of John Pounds, of East Mahoning township, who died March 11, 1880, leaving eight children : Daniel E., William H., James C., May O., Clara L., Alice C., Anna D., and Harvey M. On the 14th of March, 1883, Mr. McGregor married for his second wife, Mrs. Agnes A. (Duncan) Sutton. By his last marriage he has three children living, two sons and one daughter : John, Frank and Ola A.

In religious belief he is a methodist, of which church he has been a member for twen- ty-one years. He was president of the board of trustees of Marion M. E. church, and a member of the building committee which erected the present M. E. church at that place. After removing to Indiana in 1884, he was elected to the same position he had held at Marion and was one of the committee who built the handsome M. E. Parsonage in 1888 at Indiana. In politics he is an ardent and en- thusiastic republican. He served for a long period as school director in Marion borough

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A. J. Mitchell

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and also as justice of the peace for five years. As sheriff he gave good satisfaction and has so far filled the office of register and recorder in a manner creditable to himself and acceptable to the public. Mr. McGregor is always firm and decided in doing that which he believes to be right, and allows no influence to swerve him from any duty. In business he is liberal, honest and straightforward and those who have to do with him will find him an affable and courteous gentleman.

W ILLIAM J. MITCHELL. Among the older business men of Indiana who are highly respected by all who know them, is William J. Mitchell, the accommodating and efficient cashier of the First National Bank of Indiana, Pa. He was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1837, and is a son of James and Sarah (Johnston) Mitchell. Among the many pioneer settlers who came from Cumberland county and the grand old Cumberland Valley into western Pennsylvania, was James Mitchell (paternal grandfather), who selected, purchased, cleared out and improved a tract of land in Armstrong county, on which he resided until his death in 1845, at seventy years of age. His wife, who was Agnes (Sharp) Mitchell, was the first white child born west of Crooked creek, in this county. Of their sons, one was James Mitchell (father), who was born in Armstrong county in 1811, and died at Black Lick, aged about sixty-four years. He came to Indiana when a young man, was en- gaged in the mercantile business for many years, and traded in live-stock. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church, and a republi- can, and was a prominent and energetic business man of the borough. His wife was Sarah Johnston, a daughter of John Johnston, who came from Ireland to Armstrong county, Pa., where he engaged in farming near Elderton, and died in 1843 at the age of about sixty-four

years. He and A. C. Boyle built and operated a very fine flouring-mill at Indiana, which burned down a few years ago. Mrs. Sarah Mitchell was a United Presbyterian in religious faith and church membership, and passed away in 1864, when in the fifty-first year of her age.

William J. Mitchell was reared principally at Indiana, having come with his father to that place in 1845, when but seven years of age. He received his education in the common schools when they were not so far advanced as they are now. From 1861 to 1870 he was employed as a clerk for J. P. Carter, who was in the grain business. The nature and extent of Mr. Car- ter's trade made the position of clerk a very difficult one to fill, while in connection with it was some very hard labor. In 1870 he was given the position of teller in the Indiana Coun- ty Deposit Bank, which he held for one year, when he accepted the position of teller in the First National Bank of Indiana, Pa. In 1878 he was made cashier and has acted in that capac- ity ever since. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church and a republican in poli- tics. He lias served as school director of Indi- ana for nine years, also trustee of the Indiana State Normal school for the last six years, be- sides holding other borough offices, and is now a member of the town council of West Indiana, where he resides, and has a nice house and beau- tiful grounds.

On May 4, 1858, he married Sarah E. Adair, daughter of Joseph H. and Eliza (Todd) Adair, of White township, this county. They are the parent's of two children : Maggie F. and Della L. Maggie F. is married to S. M. Jack, a prominent lawyer of Indiana, and Della L. is the wife of James R. Daugherty, Jr., who is assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Indiana, Pa.

Although denied the educational advantages of the present day, William J. Mitchell added much to the limited education which he received

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by reading, observation and meditation. By his energy and faithfulness and business ability, he has always gained the confidence of those by whom he has been employed. By his wil- lingness to work and close application to what- ever labor has been given him he has been able to hold any position in which he has been placed, for as long a time as he has desired. His business career in life has been chiefly confined within the limits of the county, yet has been eminently successful in all that truly goes to make a career successful, which is integrity, honesty, liberality and the practice of the Golden Rule. Mr. Mitchell has never sought for political preferment, and is a good citizen as well as a successful business man. In his business in- vestments he has been fortunate, and has secured for himself a beautiful and comfortable home.

FERGUS MOORHEAD, one of the pioneers of Indiana county, was a man of honor, honesty and great courage.

" In the month of May, 1772, Fergus Moor- head, his wife and three children, his two brothers, Samuel and Joseph, James Kelly, James Thompson and a few others bid farewell to their friends and relatives in Franklin county, and set out on their journey to the 'Indian country' west of the Allegheny. Though the prospects of acquiring extensive possessions and wealth for themselves and pos- terity might buoy up the adventurous spirits of the three brothers, it may well be imagined that Mrs. Moorhead left home and all its en- dearments with a heavy heart. But, being a woman possessing great energy of character, as is shown in the sequel, and touched, perhaps, with that romantic spirit peculiar to that period of which we are writing, she pressed forward with a firm step and a resolute heart, deter- mined to share with her devoted husband the dangers and trials of the wilderness.

".At length, at the end of four weeks from

the time they had left Franklin county, the party reached the point of their destination. Where the town of Indiana is now built was the spot that had been selected for a settlement by Fergus Moorhead, who had made an excur- sion into this section in 1770. For reasons which to them were obvious, the party changed their determination, and located a few miles further west. Though they were now relieved from the fatigue incident to their journey, our pioneers were far from living at their ease.

"The land now owned by Isaac A. Moor- head was that which they selected for their future residence."

In July, 1776, he took command of the frontier fort at Kittanning, while his brother Samuel, the commandant, was recovering from an attack of small-pox. Upon Samuel's recov- ery, Fergus started for home, accompanied by a soldier named Simpson ; and when they ar- rived at "Blanket Hill," on the Kittanning path, they were waylaid by Indians, who shot both their horses and killed Simpson. Moor- head was taken prisoner, dressed in Indian costume, and, after arriving at his captors' camp, was compelled to run the gauntlet. He was then taken to Quebec, and sold to the British, who kept him in close confinement and on miserable food for eleven months. At the end of this time he was exchanged and sent to New York, from which he set out on foot for his former home in Franklin county, which he reached after enduring great hardships. He there found his wife and three children, who had given him up for dead and returned to that county. In 1781 he and his family returned to their border home, and in a few years be- came comfortably situated. Mr. Moorhead lived to the ripe old age of eighty-nine years, and has left a numerous and respectable progeny, many of whom are yet residents of the county. Of his sons one was William Moorhead, and another was Fergus Moorhead, Jr., who was the first white child born in Indiana county.

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INDIANA COUNTY.

C YAPTAIN JAMES S. NESBIT. One who has passed through the perils incident to early western mining camps, and shed his blood and risked his life on southern battle-fields, is Captain James S. Nesbit, ex-associate judge of Indiana county, and a prominent merchant of Indiana borough. He is a son of James and Margaret (Smith) Nesbit, and was born in Con- emaugh township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- vania, October 30, 1833. The Nesbit family, of which Captain Nesbit is a member, was founded in Conemaugh township in 1805 by his paternal grandfather, Nathaniel Nesbit, who came in that year from Ireland and settled in the above-mentioned township. Of his sons, James Nesbit (father) was born in 1807, and died May, 1852. He was a prosperous farmer, a member of the United Presbyterian Church, and married Margaret Smith, who was a native of " Elder's Ridge," and united at an early age with the U. P. Church. She was born in 1812 and passed away in 1843, when in the early prime of life.

James S. Nesbit was reared on a farm, and received his education in the early common schools of Conemangh township and Elder's Ridge academy. Leaving school, he was engaged for some time as a clerk in a niercantile estab- lishment, and in 1854 made the then perilons trip across the " Plains " to the gold fields of Califor- nia, where he was engaged for six years in mining. In 1860 he returned to this county, and on September 19, 1861, enlisted in Co. F, 55th regiment Pa. Vols. He was elected captain and commanded the company in South Caro- lina and in the armies of the James and Poto- mac. They fought bravely in some very hard battles. On June 3, 1864, Capt. Nesbit suc- ceeded to the command of the regiment at the battle of Cold Harbor. During that terrific struggle lie carried a line of Confederate breast- works, and, in daringly exposing himself to the enemy's fire, he was struck in the left thigh by a musket-ball. He was borne from the field

and taken. to the hospital at Washington City, from which he was sent home. After a short stay he reported on crutches to the hospital at Annapolis, Md., where he was discharged Octo- ber 8, 1864, on account of liis wound. In January, 1865, he engaged in the drug business at Indiana, which he followed until 1873, when he went to Virginia and bought a farm in the Roanoke Valley. After two years of exper- ience in farming there he returned to Indiana, where he engaged in general mercantile busi- ness, in which he continued for five years. At the end of that time he again embarked in the drug business and followed it successfully until 1887, when he removed to Walworth county, South Dakota. He there turned his attention to farming, but at the end of two years returned to Indiana. In November, 1889, he opened his present general mercantile establishment on Philadelphia street. His stock is large and well selected, and his patron- age is good and rapidly increasing.

November 20, 1860, he married Margaret Houston, daughter of William Houston, of Indiana. They have nine children : Robert, James, William, Frank, Annie, Joseph, Charles, Samuel and. Maggie. The four old- est sons are now in South Dakota.

Capt. James S. Nesbit is a member of the United Presbyterian Church, Indiana Post, No. 28, G. A. R., and Encampment No. 11, U. V. L. He is a stanch republican and was elected associate judge of Indiana county in 1870, but resigned two years later upon removing to Vir- ginia. He has served as burgess and school director. His life has been one of activity and event, of adventure and travel, and of patriot- ism and usefulness. He is one of Indiana county's honored sons and useful business men.

EDWARD NIXON, the second male child born at Indiana and a prominent mer- chant and influential citizen of that progressive

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borough for over half a century, was a son of Robert and Mary (Sutton) Nixon, and was born at Indiana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1807. His paternal grandfather, Edward Nixon, was a life-long resident of Ireland, where he married a Miss Bracken and reared a family. One of his sons, Robert Nixon (father), was born in county Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1780. He came to the vicinity of Carlisle, Pa., in 1794, but removed the next year to Washington county, and then in 1798 came to Newport, on Black Lick creek, this county, where he was engaged as a clerk in a store for several years with his second cousin, Robert Nixon. In 1803 he purchased some of the first lots sold at Indiana, and erected a story and a half hewed log house on the corner of Philadelphia street and Carpenter's alley. In the upper part of his house he opened a store which was reached by a pair of outside stairs. In 1812 he removed his store to a larger room and in 1832 he opened the celebrated Nixon hotel, of which he was proprietor for several years. He died in 1850, aged seventy years. He married Mrs. Mary Ayers, who was a daughter of Peter Sutton, Jr., and died in 1851, at seventy years of age. Their children were : Edward, George, Mary, wife of Rev. Robert White ; James and Robert.

Edward Nixon was reared at Indiana, where he obtained his education in the public schools of that place. He was an excellent mathemna- tician and one of the finest penmen in the State. At an early age he engaged with his father in the mercantile business and afterwards was associated with him in conducting the Nixon hotel. He was engaged in the mercan- tile business at Indiana for over half a century, excepting four years, during which he operated Sharp's mill and conducted a store in connection with it. His health became impaired in 1861, and he was more or less of an invalid until his death, in 1889. He was a relative of Col. John Nixon, who first read the Declara-

tion of Independence to the people of Philadel- phia on July 8, 1776. He was a Democrat in politics and a consistent member of the Protestant Episcopal church. At the end of a long, honorable and highly useful life, he passed away on June 2, 1889, and his remains were interred in Oakland cemetery.

On July 3, 1843, he married Phebe Birg Keely, who is a daughter of Henry Keely, and was born at Mifflin, Mifflin Co., 1818. They were the parents of five children : Robert, now a clerk in the post-office, who married Lizzie Hawes, was a clerk for the Cambria Iron con- pany and lost his wife and three children in the Johnstown flood; Fannie W .; Emma T., who died May 31, 1890; Mary B., wife of Frank T. McAvoy, of Duke's Centre, Pa .; and Virginia B., married to John McCune, of Johnstown, Pa.

Fannie W. Nixon received her education in the public and select schools of Indiana. She was a clerk in Judge Clark's law office for eight years, and in December, 1888, was com- missioned, for four years, by President Cleve- land, as postmaster of Indiana. She is an in- telligent woman of unusual business ability, and under her excellent management the Indiana post-office has won its justly merited reputation of being one of the best managed and most systematically conducted offices in the State of Pennsylvania. Miss Nixon is courteous, amiable and obliging, yet insists upon everything in the post-office being done according to correct busi- ness principles, and has given good satisfaction to all interested in postal matters at Indiana.

E DWIN G. ORR, one of the successful mer- chants and popular young business men of Indiana, was born in Armstrong township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, October 16, 1862, and is a son of Andrew and Martha J. (Lowman) Orr. The Orr family has been

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resident of Ireland for several centuries. James Orr (grandfather) was born in the year 1801 in. that country, and was brought to Indi- ana county when but seven years of age. He was an extensive farmer of Armstrong township, where he owned a large tract of land. He was a consistent member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, reared a family of eight sons and six daughters, lived a quiet but useful life and died in 1881, when he had reached his four-score years. His son, Andrew Orr (father), was born in 1830, in this county, where he resides in Armstrong township, and is chiefly engaged in farming and dealing in horses, cattle and hogs. He makes the State of Indiana the field of his extensive stock purchases. He is a democrat, a member of the Lutheran church and married Martha J. Low- man, who is of the same religious faith and church membership as her husband. She is a daughter of Abraham Lowman, who was a strict presbyterian, a farmer of East Mahoning township and lived to be eighty-three years of age. Andrew and Martha Orr have ten chil- dren : Jas. I., Mary A., Lizzie C., Agnes L., Maggie Olive, Bertha A., Carrie C., Paul Lafayette, Grace Amber and Edwin G.

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Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania, Part 17

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