USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 27
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85
" He accompanied General Arnold upon his famous expedition up the Kennebec, and across into Canada, and being by the heroic Mont- gomery when he fell at Quebec, was the first to raise him from the ground. He fought gal- lantly in many battles, and after the revolution returned home broken in health by the terrible exposure to which he had been subjected.
"In 1795 Lieut. McCabe died, leaving the subject of this sketch to the care and control of the widowed mother. He learned the trade of carpenter, but soon went to Philadelphia, and some time afterwards became a clerk in a Pitts- burg store. Leaving the Iron City, he acted for several years as a manager of iron-works. He read law at Richmond, Va., and Harris- burg, was admitted to the bar, and commenced to practice at Huntingdon. Subsequently he came to Blairsville (1830), where be resided until his death, January 10, 1860.
"His antiquarian researches were extensive, and to him we are indebted for the preservation of much of the early history of western Penn- sylvania. His 'Brady' and other sketches are found in nearly every history of the State. At the close of his life he was engaged upon a 'Biography of the Priest of the Allegheny mountains' - the Russian prince Gallitzin, which promised to be a most charming and in- teresting work."
In 1820 he married Sarah A., daughter of John Holland. To their union were born eleven children.
During the time he resided at Blairsville he was elected and served one term as prothono- tary of Indiana county.
JOSEPH MOORHEAD. The Blairsville
Enterprise, since it came into the hands of Joseph Moorhead, has had a strong hold upon the public by its honest independence in all things and in being a thoroughly pure news- paper in which there is no objectionable read- ing. Joseph Moorhead is a son of Hon. Samuel and Martha (Bell) Moorhead, and was born in Burrell township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- vania, August 16, 1829. The Moorhead and Bell families trace their trans-Atlantic ancestry back to the north of Ireland. Samuel Moor- head, paternal grandfather of Joseph Moorhead, was born in 1769, in Cumberland county. He learned the trade of tanner and then removed to the northern part of Westmoreland county where there was no tannery and consequently sold his leather as fast as he could manufacture it for many years. He purchased eight or ten farms, became very wealthy and died in 1853, aged eighty-four years. His son, Hon. Samuel Moorhead (father), was born in Burrell town- ship, this county, where he was engaged largely during his life-time in farming. He was a presbyterian and a democrat, built the dam be- low Blairsville on the old Pennsylvania canal and died in 1848, aged fifty-seven years. He was a man of keen perception and remarkably good judgment. In 1830, Gov. George Wolf appointed him associate judge of the courts of Indiana county, which position he held very creditably for six years. Judge Moorhead married Martha Bell, who was a member of the Presbyterian church. She was a daughter of John Bell (maternal grandfather), who re- moved, in early life, from Cumberland to West- moreland county.
Joseph Moorhead was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the common schools. He was engaged in farming until 1863, when, in July of that year, he enlisted in Co. A, 101st regiment, Pa. Vols. He served until April, 1865, when he was honorably dis- charged at Camp Reynolds, Allegheny county,
205
INDIANA COUNTY.
and returned home to resume charge of his farm. In 1886 he removed to Blairsville and became editor and proprietor of the Blairsville Enter- prise, which had been started in 1880. It is a quarto of eight columns to the page, filled with carefully selected reading matter and containing, in condensed form, all the important county news and local happenings. Among other com- mendable features of the paper, it gives a com- plete and accurate church and society directory of Blairsville. It is republican in politics and has attained a circulation of seven hundred copies.
In 1852, Mr. Moorhead married for his first wife Rebecca Armel, daughter of Isaac Armel, of Burrell township. She died in 1870, leaving three children : Richard E., George R. and Jessie M. Mr. Moorhead was re-married in 1871, to Rebecca Hosack, daughter of Alexan- der Hosack, of Burrell township. To this second union have been born five children, three sons and two daughters : John W., Harry S., Joseph P., Alice C. and Myrtilla B.
Joseph Moorhead is a republican and an elder of the Blairsville Presbyterian church. He is a member of Blairsville Lodge, No. 9, Order of Solon, and Findley Patch Post, No. 137, Grand Army of the Republic. On July 24, 1890, he was appointed, by President Harrison, post- master of Blairsville, for a term of four years. Mr. Moorhead has aimed in journalism to give the public a clean and pure paper, devoted to the true interests of Blairsville and Indiana county and success has crowned his efforts.
SAMUEL HOWARD SHEPLEY, A.M., whose death occurred November 18, 1874, was born at Quincy, Mass., March 5, 1810. He fitted for college at an academy in New Hampshire, and was graduated from Bowdoin college, Maine, in the class of 1833. After graduation he was principal of an academy for two years and then entered Andover Theologi-
cal seminary to study for the Christian min- istry, but completed his course at Bangor The- ological seminary. He was licensed to preach in June, 1838, and in October was ordained pastor of the Congregational church of New Gloucester, Maine. In 1848 he returned to teaching, and in 1852 became principal of the Blairsville Female seminary, which position he filled most acceptably for thirteen years.
The following tribute is paid to his memory by Rev. George Hill, D.D .: "His last years were spent without any direct pastoral or edu- cational charge, but he was not idle. He preached, as opportunity offered, in vacant churches and in the pulpits of his brethren in the ministry, many of whom are indebted to him for valuable help in time of need. He loved the prayer-meeting and especially the monthly concert, and contributed by his pres- ence and his words of cheer to make them in- teresting and attractive to others. He was always deeply interested in revivals of religion, and his very last public address, made at the October meeting of Presbytery, was on this subject, when it, at his suggestion, was before that body for conference and prayer. He was even then suffering great pain from the disease which terminated his life. After a sleepless night he returned home, in the early morning, to lie down upon the bed from which, six weeks later, good men carried him to his burial. These weeks, particularly the last two, were weeks of severe suffering, amounting much of the time to extreme agony. But no word of complaint or impatience, not even a groan escaped his lips. He often expressed the desire to fly away and be at rest; but he was willing to wait, and did patiently wait all the days of his appointed time until his change came."
ANTES SNYDER. One regarded as an authority upon railroad engineering in the western part of the State is Antes Snyder, of
206
BIOGRAPHIES OF
Blairsville, engineer of right of way, Pennsyl- vania Railroad Division, and a grandson of Governor Simon Snyder, after whom Snyder county, Pennsylvania, was named. He was born at Selinsgrove, Snyder county, Pennsyl- vania, December 9, 1836, and is a son of George A. and Ann Ellen (Duncan) Snyder. Governor Snyder's father, Anthony Snyder, was a me- chanic, who came, in 1758, from Germany to this State, where he died in 1774. Governor Snyder was born in Lancaster county, Novem- ber 5, 1759, and died near Selinsgrove, Pa., November 9, 1819. He learned the trade of tan- ner, and in 1784 removed to Selinsgrove, where he became a large land-owner, a prosperous business man and a popular and influential democratic leader. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, was speaker of the house for six terms and originated the "hun- dred-dollar act," which embodied the arbitra- tion principles and provided for the trial of causes where the amount in question was less than $100. In 1808, 1811 and 1814 he was elected on the democratic ticket as governor of Pennsylvania by majorities ranging between twenty thousand and fifty thousand. He was a man who had the courage of his convictions, and made an excellent governor. In 1817 he was elected as a member of the State senate, and two years later died on November 9, 1819, aged sixty years. He married, and one of his sons was George A. Snyder (father), who was born in the latter part of the last century and removed to Williamsport, Pa., where he resided until his death. He was a lawyer by profession, a unitarian in religion and married Ann Ellen Duncan, who was a native of Lycoming county.
Antes Snyder was reared at Selinsgrove and Pottstown and received his early education in the public schools of the former and the private schools of the latter place. Leaving school, he studied civil and topographical engineering with his uncle, Capt. Pollston, who was a graduate of West Point Military academy and a civil
engineer on the Reading railroad. After com- pleting his studies with his uncle he was en- gaged in the engineering department of the Read- ing railroad and remained on that road as an en- gineer until 1857. He then went to Farrands- ville, Clinton county, where he assumed charge of a rolling mill and coal mines, which were well understood to be the individual property at that time of Christina, queen of Spain. In 1859 he left Farrandsville and went to New Jersey, where he had charge of the construction of the railroad from Millville to Cape May. " In 1863 he came to Blairsville and completed the con- struction of the Western Pennsylvania railroad from Blairsville to Allegheny city, which had been undertaken by the Northwestern railroad company, which had failed when the road was nearly graded. After the completion of the last-named road he removed (1869) to Freeport, Armstrong county, and was in charge of the construction of the Butler Branch of the West- ern Pennsylvania R. R. In 1871 he left the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad company and was engaged for two years in the lumber business, first at Freeport and then in Pitts- burg. In 1873 he again accepted service with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and has remained in their employ ever since. He was stationed by the company at Springdale, Alle- gheny county, from 1873 to 1876, and in Johns- town, Cambria county, from 1876 to 1879. Since the last-named year he has resided at Blairsville and been in charge of the office of engineer of the right of way.
In 1866 he united in marriage with Emma F. Evans, daughter of Robert Evans, of Blairs- ville, but formerly of Lancaster county. They have four children : Fannie E., Ellen D., An- tes L. and Emma.
Antes Snyder is a republican in politics. He is a warden and vestryman of St. Peter's Prot- estant Episcopal church, and owns a pleasant and comfortable home at Blairsville, where he is highly respected as a gentleman and a citizen.
207
INDIANA COUNTY.
S YAMUEL D. STIFFEY, a well-established and active dealer in stoves and tinware at Blairsville, is a son of Daniel and Mary (Altman) Stiffey, and was born in Black Lick township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1842. His father, Daniel Stiffey, was born in Prussia, in 1790, and early in life emigrated from that country to eastern Pennsylvania, where he remained for several years. He eventually established himself in Black Lick township, where he followed his trade of reed- maker and at the same time was engaged in farming. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church until his death, which occurred in 1844, when he was fifty-nine years of age. He married Mary Altman, who was a member of the old family of Altmans in Black Lick township, who had taken up a tract of land in 1796, known as the " Deserted Vil- lage," from the fact that on it had been an Indian camping-ground for many years. In the house in which she was born, she was after- ward married and also died. She was a hum- ble and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a daughter of Philip Altman, a farmer, who was born December 28, 1763, and died May 29, 1813.
Samuel D. Stiffey was reared on his father's farm, attended the common schools of Black Lick township and at the age of eighteen years went to Blairsville, where he learned the trade of tinner, serving an apprenticeship of three years. During the second year of the late war (August 15, 1862) he enlisted in a regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served until May 24, 1863, when his regiment was mustered out of service. He was in several engagements on the Rappahannock and fought under General Hooker, at Chancellorsville. After his return from the army he worked at his trade until 1865, when he and his brother, Williamn Stiffey, formed a partnership, bearing the firm title of W. A. Stiffey & Bro., and became dealers in stoves, tinware, etc. He retired from this
partnership in October, 1865. His brother continued the business until his death, in Feb- ruary, 1886, when Samuel D. Stiffey purchased the storc and stock of goods of the administra- tors of his brother's estate, and has continually added to his stock until now his establishment is one of the largest of its kind in his section of the county. He is located on Market street, and always furnishes promptly anything called for in his line of business.
In 1870 he married Martha Green, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Green. Mr. and Mrs. Stiffey have two sons and one daughter: Annie L., Frank and Harry E.
He is a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has been a member for many years. He is a temperance advocate and an able and active supporter of the prohibition party. He has served as assistant burgess of his borough, and has held the office of overseer of the poor for the last ten years. Mr. Stiffey is a member of Chosen Friends, Order of the Iron Hall, and Royal Society of Good Fellows. Thoroughgoing and prompt in business, Mr. Stiffey has continually increased his patronage and ranks among the honorable and substantial citizens of the county.
ROBERT G. STITT, of the enterprising liv- ery firm of Stitt & Bender, is a son of John A. and Nancy B. (Wickson) Stitt, and was born in Derry township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, December 30, 1852. The Stitt family is of Irish descent. John A. Stitt (father) was born in 1826. In his youth he was a canal boatman, and ran a boat on the old Pennsylvania canal until the latter was sold to the Pennsylvania railroad company. He then entered the employ of the railroad company, in which he remained until 1888, when he retired from active life. He resides at Blairsville, where he has made his home since 1865. He married Nancy B. Wickson. He is a republi-
208
BIOGRAPHIES OF
can, and attends the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife is a member.
Robert G. Stitt was reared at Blairsville and received a common-school education. During the early part of his life, he worked in the employ of the Pennsylvania railroad company, first as a fireman and then as an engineer on freight and passenger trains running on their road between Altoona and Pittsburgh. From 1884 to the spring of 1889 he kept a butcher shop at Blairsville. In August, 1889, he went into partnership with F. B. Bender, and en- gaged in the livery business, under the firm- name of Stitt & Bender. They have a large stock of fine buggies and first-class driving and riding horses, and, although they have been in their present business but one year, yet they have already secured, by fair dealing and courteons attention to the public, a large patronage.
In 1876, Robert G. Stitt married Sarah Mor- ford, daughter of Stephen Morford, of Derry township, Westmoreland county. Their union has been blest with two children: Ella S., and Walter B.
He is a strict adherent to the principles and tenets of the Republican party. In his former positions on the passenger trains of the Penn- sylvania railroad, Robert G. Stitt gained con- siderable knowledge of human nature, which has been of great benefit to him in his later business ventures. Conrteous in manner, al- ways to be relied upon in whatever he promises, he has gained the confidence and esteem of all those with whom he has come in contact.
LIEUTENANT WILLIAM LINTLER TURNER, a reliable business man of Blairsville and a commissioned officer in the 5th regiment of the National Guard of Pennsyl- vania, is a son of James M. and Matilda (Lint- ler) Turner, and was born in Butler township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1857. His grandfather, James Turner, was a
native of eastern Pennsylvania, but removed to Centre township, Indiana county, early in life. He was a fuller by trade, but when he removed to Indiana county, he bought a farm which he tilled during the remainder of his life. He was an honest, upright man, who commanded the respect of his neighbors. He married and reared a family. One of his sons, James M. Turner (father), was born near Jacksonville, Centre township, and received his education in the public schools of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1858 he returned to Indiana county, to what is known as " Campbell's Mills," in Burrell town- ship, and opened a general mercantile store which he sold in 1868, and then formed a part- nership with a Mr. Smith. They opened an office in Burrell township, on the Indiana branch of the Pennsylvania Central railroad, where they have since dealt largely in coal, under the firm-name of Smith & Turner. They have an extensive patronage, and not only furnish coal to local dealers, but also, as wholesale dealers, ship it in large quantities to distant points. Mr. Turner is an elder in the Blairsville Pres- byterian church, of which he has been for many years an active member. He is a pronounced temperance man and an ardent supporter of the Prohibition party. He married Matilda Lint- ler, who was born in Burrell township, and died in 1880.
William L. Turner was reared on his father's farm and attended the Blairsville academy, where he made a specialty of the study of civil engineering, which he followed for the first fonr years after he left the academy. Since 1884, he has been engaged with his father in the coal business, at Blairsville. He is a member of Co. D, 5th regiment, Pennsylvania National Gnard, and on February 7, 1888, was appoint- ed second sergeant of the company to which he belongs, and in July of the same year was pro- moted to the office of first sergeant. On May 10, 1889, he was elected first lieutenant of his company and has served as such ever since.
209
INDIANA COUNTY.
Co. D is composed of citizens of Blairsville, and is well spoken of. Lieutenant Turner is courteous and obliging and gives strict attention to his business, which demands the larger part of his time.
RICHARD W. WEHRLE, one of the lead- ing jewelers of the progressive borough of Blairsville, is a son of Blossous and Cornelia (Tinthoff) Wehrle, and was born at Indiana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, October 1, 1853. His father, Blossous Wehrle, was born in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1809, and learned the trade of jeweler in his native country, from which he emigrated, in 1828, to the United States. He located at Indiana, where he was engaged in the jewelry business until his death, in 1887. Like most of the citizens who have learned their trades in the Fatherland, he was a complete master of his trade in all of its de- tails. Endowed with energy and industry and being known as a fine workman, he was success- ful in his particular line of business. He was a devout member of the Catholic church, a sup- porter of the Democratic party, and was held in high estimation by his friends and neighbors. He married Cornelia Tinthoff, daughter of William Tinthoff, of Indiana. She was also a consistent member of the Catholic church, and died in that faith in 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Wehrle sleep in the Catholic cemetery at In- diana.
Richard W. Wehrle was reared at Indiana, attended the public schools of that borough, and then served an apprenticeship in the jewelry business with his father and the firm of S. M. Tinthoff, at Brookville, Jefferson county. He opened a jewelry store in 1873, at Blairsville, which he has carried on successfully ever since. A skilled workman, a pleasant, genial, courteous gentleman, and withal possessing a keen sense of business honor, he has secured the esteem of the community, and with that a lucrative trade.
In 1889 he purchased two stone quarries, both of which are situated in Indiana county, and from these he is shipping blue stone and Belgium-block paving stone to Pittsburgh. In connection with the sale of stone, he is also dealing in coal.
He is a strong democrat and a member of the Presbyterian church of Blairsville, and Lodge No. 355, Free & Accepted Masons. His jewelry establishment is located on Main street, and he has a large and choice stock of watches, clocks and silverware. He gives special attention and direct supervision to re- pairs of all kinds of work in his line of busi- ness. He is a first-class workman and has many friends within the circle of his acquaint- ance.
REV. ISAAC WILLIAM WILEY, M. D., D.D., LL.D., one of the early mission- aries to China and a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church, was born at Lewistown, Pennsylvania, March 29, 1825. At fourteen years of age he entered an academy to fit lıim- self for college, hoping to be a minister. Al- though licensed at eighteen, yet his health failed him and he did not enter the ministry, but after- wards read medicine and was graduated front the medical department of the University of New York. In 1846 he came to Blairsville, where he practiced with fair success until 1850, when he offered himself to the Philadelphia conference as a minister, but there was no room for him. Dr. Durbin then prevailed upon him to go to China as a medical missionary. He remained in China until 1853, when his wife died and he came back to the United States. From 1854 to 1858 he filled a pastorate in New Jersey and then for fifteen years was principal of a seminary and editor of the Ladies' Reposi- tory, of Cincinnati. In 1872 he was elected as a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church. Twelve years later, while on an episcopal tour
13
210
BIOGRAPHIES OF
he visited the missions which he had founded in Foochow, China, and died there in November, 1884, in the house in which he had resided as a missionary in 1852.
In the field of religious literature he was known as a clear writer. He published two books and edited several works of importance and value. As a pastor Dr. Wiley was useful and respected, as a teacher he was successful and popular and as an editor his taste was ex- cellent and his style chaste. As a bishop he was prudent, deliberate and clear, and seldom made an error either in the interpretation of constitutional or parliamentary law or the selection of men for particular posts in the M. E. church.
TIEUTENANT-COLONEL GEO. WIL-
KINSON. Among the older business men of Blairsville, highly esteemed by all who know him, and well performing the duties of good citizenship, is Lieutenant-Colonel George Wilkinson, one of the few remaining officers of the old Uniformed Militia of Pennsylvania. He was born on his father's farm in what is now the suburbs of Scranton, Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania, May 7, 1815, and is a son of Mott and Phœbe (Freeman) Wilkinson. Mott Wilkinson was born in Hartford, Con- necticut, in 1760, and served in the Revolution under his uncle, Capt. Daniel Lawrence. At the close of that war he remained to nurse liis uncle, who was sick, and when the latter had recovered they left their quarters in the old Dravo prison to follow the trail of their com- pany on its homeward march through the woods by marks on the trees. They had five pounds of biscuit, and after these were consumed they lived for nine days on mountain tea and berries. Finally this scant food supply gave out and they cooked to a crisp and ate the bottoms of their buckskin pantaloons. At this juncture, when about to perish, one of their comrades
came back to them with a few pounds of horse beef, which enabled them to reach home. Shortly after this Mott Wilkinson removed to the site of Scranton, Pa., where he purchased land and cleared out a farm, which is now in- cluded in the suburbs of that city. In 1820 lie came to Black Lick township, this county, where he followed farming for eight years and then removed to Bairdstown, in Derry town- ship, Westmoreland county, at which place he died on December 4, 1856, when lacking but four years of being a centenarian. He was of English descent, was a whig and afterwards a republican, and with all of his family belonged to the M. E. church. He married Phoebe Freeman, a native of Connecticut, who died May 7, 1855, aged sixty-five years. They had eight children: Lucy Turner, Elisha, James, Phobe Geer, Dennison, John, Deborah Goff and Col. George.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.