USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 45
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 45
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"In 1852 he was nominated by the whig State convention for the judgeship of the supreme court. In the general overthrow of the whig party, which resulted in the defeat of Gen. Scott for the presidency, Judge Buffington was
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defeated, his competitor being the late Chief Justice Woodward, of Luzerne county.
"The same year he was appointed by Pres- ident Fillmore chief-justice of Utah territory, then just organized, but declined to accept the proffered honor.
" In the year 1855, on the resignation of Hon. John Murray Burrill, judge of the Teuth District, he was appointed to that position by Gov. Pollock, with whom he had been a fel- low-member of Congress. In the fall of 1856 he was elected to fill the position to which he had been appointed, for a term of ten years. In 1871 failing health admonished him that the judicial labors, already too great for any one man to perform, were certainly too severe for one who had passed the meridian of life and had borne the burden and heat of the day. It was, indeed, liard for him to listeu to the demands of a feeble frame; but, sustained by tlie consciousness of duty well done, and cheered by united voices from without, proclaiming his life mission to the public nobly performed, he left the busy scenes of labor and retired to pri- vate life after forty-six years' connection with the bench and bar of the Commonwealth, to the thoroughness and industry of which the State reports of Peunsylvania bear silent, but eloquent testimony. Surrounded by friends and every comfort of life, the following year passed quickly ; but, as in the case of many an overworked professional man, the final sum- mons came without warning. On Saturday, February 3, 1872, he was in his usual health, and, rising from dinner, he went to an adjoin- ing room, across which he commeuced walking, as was his custom. His wife, coming in a few moments later, found him lying peacefully upon the sofa in the sleep of death. He was buried according to the services of the Episcopal church, of which he had been an attendant, officer and liberal supporter for many years. He was buried iu the cemetery at Kittanning, where his resting-place has been marked by a
substantial granite monument,-a fitting em- blem of the completeness of his own life."
M AJOR-GENERAL JOHN ARMSTRONG, the hero of Kittanning, was one of Wash- ington's bravest and most successful generals. He was born in the north of Ireland in 1725, and some time between 1745 and 1748 he be- came a settler in tlie Kittatinny Valley, west of the Susquehanna river, then the frontier of Pennsylvania and on the coufines of civiliza- tion. He was well educated, and followed his profession of surveyor in his new-world home. In 1750 he and a Mr. Lyon laid out Carlisle, and four years later he was sent by Gov. Morris as a commissioner to Connecticut in regard to a land trouble between the Indians and Connecticut settlers in Wyoming Valley, Pa. In 1755 Mr. Armstrong surveyed and opened a road from Carlisle to the "Three Forks" of the Youghiogheny river, over which supplies were to be carried to Braddock's army. After Braddock's defeat he enlisted as a private in a froutier company, but in January, 1756, was elected captain, and on May 11th of the same year was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. In the summer of 1756 he comanded the expedition against the Indian village of Kit- tanning, which has made his name famous for all time to come in American history, and which is given in detail in the historical sketch of the county. In 1757 he served on the fron- tier, was commissioned colonel on May 27, 1758, and commanded the advanced division of the Pennsylvania troops in Forbes' expe- dition against Ft. Duquesne. He was a tower of strength on the frontier during Pontiac's war, and on the 30th of September, 1763, led a very successful expedition against the Indian towns on the west branch of the Susquehanna. He was the first brigadier-general commis- sioned (March 1, 1776) by the Continental Congress. He served at Ft. Moultrie, in
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
Charleston harbor, and on April 5, 1877, was commissioned major-general by the Supreme Council of this State. He commanded the Pennsylvania Militia at the battles of Brandy- wine and Germantown. He was sent to Con- gress in 1778, and again in 1787. His public career closed with his last term in Congress, and he spent the remainder of his life at Car- lisle.
His son, Major-General John Armstrong, Jr., was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, No- vember 25, 1758, and died at Red Hook, New York, April 1, 1843. He served in the Revo- lutionary war, was the author of the celebrated " Newburg Letters," and was secretary of war in 1814, but was obliged to resign because he did not prevent the capture of Washington City by the British, in August of that year Another of his sons, Col. Henry B. Armstrong, fought gallantly in the war of 1812.
Gen. John Armstrong was a member of the Presbyterian church, and was largely instru- mental in establishing the first church which was organized at Carlisle, in 1757. On March 9, 1795, the spirit of the grand old hero left its tenement of clay, and passed into the great beyond. His remains lie entombed in the old cemetery at Carlisle as yet without a suitable . monument.
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H TARRY A. ARNOLD. One of the most active and best business men of Kittanning is Harry A. Arnold, a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and a leading representative of the most reliable fire insurance companies of the United States and England. He is a son of Harry J. and Mary (Mechling) Arnold, and was born on Jefferson street, at Kittanning, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1852. Prominent among the early business men and influential citizens of Kittanning borough and Armstrong county was Major Andrew Arnold, the grandfather of the subject
of this sketch. He established an extensive tannery at Manorville, had large landed interests in the county and ranked as one of the wealthy men of his day. He was a man of talent and ability, as well as of business enterprise, and served with distinction as associate judge of Armstrong county for many years. An old- line whig and an ardent supporter of Henry Clay, he naturally was drawn into politics and became an able leader of the Whig party in his Congressional district. His wife was Isabella Parks, daughter of Robert Parks, an early settler and leading citizen. Their family con- sisted of two sons and two daughters. The eldest son was born at Kittanning and died there in 1862. Harry J. Arnold succeeded his father in charge of the Manorville tannery and the management of several productive farms. In addition to these lines of business he sought for a wider field of labor, and accordingly embarked in the mercantile business at Kittanning and be- came one of the owners and operators of Dudley furnace, four miles distant from Parker. He inherited his father's financial ability and ranked high 'among the able and successful business men of the county. A democrat in politics, he was elected treasurer of Armstrong county and served most acceptably until the end of his term. He was a member of high degree in the Masonie fraternity ; was very charitable, and was popu- larly known as the poor man's friend. He married Mary Mechling, daughter of Philip Mechling, a large property holder of Kittanning. She died and left two children, Harry A. and Belle. For his second wife he married Mary Crum, who bore him two daughters. Elizabeth, the eldest, is the wife of T. W. Young, a large oil producer, and the younger daughter married C. N. Royce, superintendent of the Green Line Oil road.
Harry A. Arnold received his literary educa- tion in the public schools of Kittanning and Princeton college, and to thoroughly fit himself for a business career in life he attended and took
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
the full commercial course of Duff's college, Pittsburgh, from which he was graduated in 1870. His first employment was as a clerk for Campbell, McConnell & Son, with whom he re- mained for three years. He then went to Parker, Pa., where he had an interest in several oil wells, and was a successful oil producer for six years. At the end of that time he came to Kittanning, where he was in the employ of J. A. Gault in the mercantile business for two years. He then (spring of 1880) embarked in his present life and fire insurance business. He is agent for the Equitable Life Insurance company, but makes a specialty of fire insurance and represents many of the old line and standard companies of both the old and the new world in this important branch of insurance which renders its patrons safe from loss by fire. Mr. Arnold is a republican in politics, a member of the First Presbyterian church of Greensburg, Westmoreland county Pa., and is a Royal Arch Mason in Masonry. He is secretary of his chapter, is well up in the work of the lodge and chapter and has fre- quently been deputized to give instructions in the beautiful, beneficent and moral teachings of Masonry in lodges and chapters of the order. He is conducting his present business with skill, honesty and success, and large numbers of the prudent householders of the county are his patrons.
Harry A. Arnold on April 19, 1882, united in marriage with Ida B. Luker, daughter of Benjamin Luker, of Kittanning, and a former mercantile partner of J. A. Gault. To their union has been born one child, a son named Ben- jamin Luker Arnold, born in 1888.
F REDERICK AYE. Among thie success- ful grocery firms of Kittanning is the firm of Fred. Aye & Co. The senior member of the firm, Frederick Aye, is one of the successful young business men of his town. He was born in the Third ward of Allegheny city, Allegheny
county, Pennsylvania, January 7, 1848, and is a son of George and Barbara (Shaffer) Aye. His parents were natives of the Kingdom of Bavaria, now a part of the great German em- pire, and were life-long members of the Evan- gelical Lutheran church, in whose faith they had been reared. They came to the United States about 1830, and located in Allegheny city. The father, George Aye, followed team- ing for ten years and then came to Manor township where he followed farming until his death, in 1870, at sixty-two years of age. The mother, Barbara Aye, who was a consistent Christian, died in March, 1890, when she had attained to her three-score and ten years. Mr. and Mrs. Aye were the parents of eleven chil- dren.
W. C. BAILEY, a member of the present efficient and courteous board of commis- sioners of Armstrong county, and a substantial and influential farmer of Manor township, is a son of Jackson and Jane (Cunningham) Bailey, and was born on the old Bailey homestead, in Manor township, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- vania, October 22, 1849. The Bailey family of Armstrong county traces its ancestry back to the Bailey family of Centre county, of which it is a branch.
Richard Bailey, the paternal grand father of W. C. Bailey, was born and reared in Centre coun- ty. Late in life he came to Armstrong county, where he purchased a tract of four hundred acres of land on the Allegheny river, three miles below Kittanning. He spent the re- mainder of his days in clearing and improving his land. He married a Miss Johnson, of Centre county, who bore him seven children, all of whom grew up to years of maturity. One of the sons was Jackson Bailey (father), wlio was born in Centre county, and came with his father to this county when a young man. He followed farming and stock-raising, was
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one of the thrifty and substantial farmers of his community, and possessed many of those qualities of character which contribute to his success. He was a republican in politics and a presbyterian in religious faith, and died after a life of activity and usefulness. The record of his life is uneventful indeed so far as stirring incident or public position is concerned, but is still distinguished by the most substantial quali- ties of character, and exhibits a long and honest career of private industry pursued with mod- eration and crowned with success. He was popular in his neighborhood for his many good qualities of head and heart. He married Jane Cunningham, a daughter of William Cunning- liam, a well-to-do farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Bai- ley were the parents of ten children, of whom nine are living.
W. C. Bailey was reared on his father's farm, where he was trained to habits of industry and economy. He received his education in the common schools of his native township, and was successfully engaged in farming until 1885. In that year he was nominated for county com- missioner by the republicans, and was elected by a very respectable majority. At the end of his term of office, in 1887, his course of action in taking care of the county's financial interests had been so commendable to his own party, and so satisfactory to the public, that he received a re-nomination from the hands of the former and an increased majority over the previous election from the vote of the latter. He is now serving on his second term with every manifes- tation of continued popularity with the public.
In 1881 he united in marriage with Mary Speer, daughter of Alexander Speer, a druggist of Sharpsburg, Allegheny county. Their union has been blessed with one son and three daugh- ters: Ida, Florence, Laura and Richard.
In politics Mr. Bailey has always been a republican. In religious belief he is a presby- terian, and is a member and trustee of his church of that denomination, in Manor town-
ship. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. Active indus- try has been and continues to be with W. C. Bailey the habit of his life. His time is well occupied and equally well-ordered, and his work is done with due moderation, but also with every preparation for success.
TOSEPH & ORR BUFFINGTON. Joseph Buffington, the senior member of the law firm of Buffington & Buffington, of the Kit- tanning Bar, is a son of Ephraim and Margaret C. (Orr) Buffington and was born at Kittanning, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, September 5, 1855. The Buffington family is one of the old families of Pennsylvania which traces its an- cestry into the early days of Pennsylvania's colonial history. In 1677, Richard Buffington, who was a Quaker, and born at Great Marle, up- on the Thames, in Buckinghamshire, England, about 1654, was resident at Upland, near the Delaware river. He was the father of the first- born child of English descent in the province of Pennsylvania. His second son, Thomas (born 1680, died 1739), was the father of Jona- than Buffington, who was born in 1736, mar- ried Ann Clayton, and died in 1801. Their third child, Ephraim, was born in 1767 and died in 1832. He married Rebecca Francis and kept the noted " White Hall Tavern " at West Chester. About 1813 he left Chester county and came west, settling at Pine creek, on the Allegheny river about five miles above Pittsburgh. One of his sons was Judge Joseph Buffington, and another was John Buffington (grandfather), who was born about 1799, and died March 31, 1832. He married Hannalı Allison. His son, Ephraim Buffington (father) was born at Pine creek, near Pittsburgh, August 8, 1821. He received his education in Allegheny college, at Meadville, Pa., and Jef- ferson college, at Cannonsburg, read law with
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
his uncle, Judge Buffington, was admitted to the Armstrong county bar, and practiced his profession for several years. He then retired from active practice in order to devote his time to land interests which demanded his attention, and gave his attention to the coal and oil busi- ness, in which lie was interested ] During the late war he served as a provost-marslıal, and afterwards was connected for several years with the internal revenue service in which he was deputy collector for Armstrong county. He lias always beeu a strong republican. He is an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal church. He married Margaret C. Orr, daughter of ex- Sheriff Chambers Orr, of South Bend, on the 21st of January, 1845. They have six chil- dren, all of whom are living.
Joseph Buffington attended the Lambeth and other schools of Kittanning, and in the fall of 1871 entered Trinity college, from which insti- tution of learning he was graduated July 1875. He read law with Judge Janes B. Neale, of Kit- tanning, and Judge Logan, of Greensburg, was admitted to Armstrong county bar, September 5, 1878, and formed a law partnership with Judge Neale, which lasted until the latter took his seat upon the bench in 1879. In 1881 he and his brother, Orr Buffington, formed their present law partnership under the firm- name of Buffington & Buffington. This firm is recog- nized as one of the foremost in practice in Arni- strong county. On January 29th, 1885, Mr. Buffington married Mary Alice Simonton, a daughter of Rev. Dr. Simonton, of Emmitts- burg, Maryland. As a lawyer, he has estab- lished a reputation for ability and success. His political connections have been with the repub- lican party, and he has taken an active part in advocating the measures and men of that organ- ization.
Orr Buffington, the junior member of the firm, and a promising young member of the Armstrong county bar, was born at Kittanning, April 29th, 1858. He received his academic
education in private schools of his native town, and entered Trinity college, from which he was graduated June, 1879. He read law with his brother, Joseph Buffington, was admitted to the bar in 1881 and immediately eutered into part- nership with him in the practice of law, to which he devotes his time and close attention. He married, in 1882, Charlotte M. Hyde, a daughter of S. T. Hyde, a prominent lawyer of the New York city bar. They have three children : Morgan, Margaret and Sydney.
AUSTIN CLARK, of Kittanning, is one who stands in the front rank of the many able and prominent lawyers of Armstrong county and western Pennsylvania. He is a son of Jo- seph aud Pauline (Kelley) Clark, and was born in the then sheriff's residence at Kittanning, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1854. The founder of the Clark family of western Peunsylvania, of which the subject of this sketch is a member, was Capt. James Clark, a brave Revolutionary officer. After participat- ing in the battles of the great struggle which won the independence of the thirteen colonies or " seashore republics," he came to Westmore- land county about the time of the burning of Hannastown (1782) and helped to win the soil of western Pennsylvania from the power of the merciless Indian. He reared a family of chil- dren, among whose descendants are many honor- able and distinguished citizens of the great com- monwealth of Pennsylvania. One of his sons was William Clark (grandfather), who lived near South Bend, in Armstrong county, where Clark's block-house or station once stood in In- dian times and was so named in honor of lis father. William Clark was born in 1778 and died in 1823. He married Saralı Woodward, who was born in 1786 and died in 1821. One of their sons was James, the father of Judge Silas M. Clark, a justice of the Supreme Bench of Pennsylvania, and another was Joseph Clark
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(father), who was born at South Bend, this county, March 3,1813. He resided for a short
time at Shielocta, where he built a hotel. In 1842 he removed to Kittanning, kept the Prit- ner hotel and Nulton house and in 1850 went to Freeport as supervisor of the Pennsylvania canal. In 1852 he was elected sheriff of Arm- strong county, in which office he served for three years and then, in recognition of his abil- ity, firmness, honesty, high standing with the people and useful services for his party, he was appointed by Gov. Packer in 1857 as revenue inspector of the port of Philadelphia. The ap- pointment gave general satisfaction and he dis- charged the duties of the office in a very com- mendable and praiseworthy manner. In 1865 he returned to Kittanning, where he resided till his death, which occurred October 26, 1885. He was prominent in political life, was a life-long democrat, served as delegate to several State conventions of his party and possessed in a large degree the elements of political leadership. His name was above the breath of suspicion and never was coupled with bribery or corrup- tion. He was a member of the M. E. church and the Masonic fraternity. He married Pau- line Kelley, who was born March, 1819, and died July 18, 1881. She was a daughter of Hon. Meek Kelley, who served as State sena- tor, afterwards was associate judge of Indiana county and married Jane Moorhead, a daugh- ter of Absalom Moorhead. Hon. Meek Kelley was an excellent surveyor and ran the boundary lines and laid out Potter and Mckean counties, this State, into townships. Two of his sons, James and Pliny, were in the Mexican war and the latter served as captain of a California company under Sheridan in the late war. Jo- seph and Pauline (Kelley) Clark were the par- ents of four sons and two daughters: Meek, Emma, who died in infancy; Sarah, died at seventeen years of age; Joseph, of Pittsburgh, who was the youngest enlisted soldier of the late war, being but twelve years and three
months old when he was sworn into service ; Ney and Austin.
Austin Clark received his education in the public schools of Kittanning, Blairsville acad- emy and the State Normal school at Indiana, Pa. He tauglit school for several terms, served as assistant principal of Blairsville academy and left the profession of teaching to engage in tlie study of law. He passed the preliminary examination and registered in 1878 as a law student with his cousin, Silas M. Clark, of In- diana, Pa., who became, in 1882, a judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In 1879 he came to Kittanning, where he completed his legal studies with Judge James B. Neale and was admitted to the bar of Armstrong county, on September 20, 1880. Immediately after ad- mission he entered upon the active practice of his profession, which he continued successfully until the present time, when he has a well estab- lished and extensive patronage.
In politics he follows in the footsteps of his honored and respected father, and has always been an active advocate of the principles of the Democratic party. He possesses judgment, de- cision and energy, the all-powerful qualities of political leadership and success. In 1888 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Con- vention of St. Louis that nominated Cleveland for president. Austin Clark has rapidly won his way to a prominent position in his profes- sion. He is a fluent and polished speaker, who wins attention by his well-chosen words, a log- ical and earnest reasoner who disarms prejudice by the fairness of his propositions and a deter- mined and persistent worker who wins success by his fertility of invention as well as the mas- terful array of his facts.
TTON. SAMUEL B. COCHRANE, prom- inent in civil and educational affairs of Armstrong county, a member of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania and one of the
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founders of the teachers' Review and Training school of Kittanning, was born on his father's farm in Pine now Boggs (township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1860, aud is a son of William and Mary S. (Quigley) Coch- rane. Samuel B. Cochrane is a lineal desceud- ant of one of England's titled houses, through his paternal great-grandfather, William Coch- rane, who was the son of Sir John Cochrane. Wil- liam Cochrane was born in an eastern Pennsyl- vania county and settled shortly after the Revo- lutionary war in what is now Armstrong coun- ty, where his sou, James Cochrane (grandfather), was born. He owned a considerable body of land and was an iron manufacturer. He was the leading member of the company who pro- jected Ore Hill Furnace, in 1845, and gave a fifty acre tract of land, upon which the above- named furnace was erected. He was a strong presbyterian, a prominent man in his day and married Esther Gibson, a member of the large counection of Gibsons living in Armstrong and . Indiana counties. One of their sons was Wil- liam Cochrane (father), who was born in Pine township, December 10, 1813, and died Febru- ary 6, 1876. He was a farmer by occupation and taught school for fifteen winters. He was a member and elder of Mt. Zion Presbyterian church, from the time when it was founded under the name of Lower Pine church. He was a democrat until Lincoln's election, wheu he became a republican and strong anti-slavery man. He served nearly continuously as school director from the establishment of the Free School system until his death. He was a suc- cessful business mau and commanded the re- spect and esteem of the community in which he resided. He married Mary S. Quigley, a daugh- ter of William Quigley. Mr. aud Mrs. Coch- rane were the parents of six sons and five daughters, of whom eight are living: James L., an extensive silver miner, iu Montana; John Q., a member of the Armstrong county bar and justice of the peace at Apollo; C. C.,
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