USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 49
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 49
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He was married October 30, 1879, to Char- lotte E. Turner, daughter of John Turner, of Freeport. To their union have been born four children, of whom three are living: Bessie Knox, born July 22, 1883; Gilpin Monteith, born September 23, 1885; and James Harvey, born April 1, 1889. Mrs. McCain's father John Turner, is a cabinet-maker by trade, and has been successfully engaged for the last twenty- five years in the oil business. He married Nancy Ford, who bore him two sons and two daughters, and whose father, Peter Ford, mar- ried Elizabeth King, a daughter of Capt. Robert King, of Revolutionary war fame.
J. H. McCain is a republican, but has never asked for an office, although he has served two terms as burgess of Kittanning. He is a mem- ber of Kittanning Lodge, No. 244, F. and A. Masons, and the Second Presbyterian church of Kittanning, in which he is an elder. As a
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lawyer, as a citizen and as a man he stands well at the bar, in his community and with the public.
R. A. MCCULLOUGH, an active and promising young member of the Kittan- ning bar, was born at Eddyville, Mahoning township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 7, 1859, and is a son of David and Fran- ces (Hoffman) Mccullough. David McCul- lough comes of a hardy and industrious race. He is a son of David McCullough, who came to near Salem, in Westmoreland county, Pa., from Lancaster, Pa.
David McCullough was born in 1820, and about 1845 removed to Mahoning township, this county, where he followed liis trade of millwright in connection with farming. In 1878 he went to Cedar county, Nebraska, where he has been engaged in farming exclu- sively ever since. He is a veteran soldier of the late war. In 1861 he enlisted in Co. G, 61st regiment, Pa. Vols., and when his term of three years' service had expired he re-enlisted and served till the close of the war. He en- listed as a private, but was promoted to captain. He served in the Army of the Potomac, parti- cipated in many of its battles and escaped with being but slightly disabled. He was a demo- crat till near the close of the late war, and had served as justice of the peace, but he then be- came a republican. He was reared in the faith of the Reformed church, in whose teachings he believes. He married Frances Hoffman, a daughter of George Hoffman, who came from eastern Pennsylvania and settled near Harrison City, in Westmoreland county. Her grand- father was a commissioned officer in the Revo- lutionary war. Mr. and Mrs. McCullough reared a family of twelve children, of whom nine are living. Mrs. McCullough died in 1867, aged forty-six years, and Mr. McCullough afterwards married a Mrs. Conger, of Clarion county, Pa.
R. A. Mccullough was reared in his native township and received his education in the common schools and Oakland academy, from which institution of learning he was graduated in 1881. He taught six terms of school and was assistant principal of Kittanning schools for one term. Having made choice of the pro- fession of law, he successfully passed the required preliminary examination in all the branches of a thorough English education and the ele- ments of the Latin language, and was registered in 1884 as a student-at-law with Hon. Edward S. Golden, of Kittanning. In 1884 Mr. Mc- Cullough founded The Kittanning Globe, a weekly newspaper, published at Kittanning, and one of the most prosperous papers in this county. He acted in the capacity of editor for three years, when he entered upon the practice of the law. In 1887 he passed his final exam- ination for admission as an attorney and was admitted to the bar of Armstrong county. Since then he has been actively engaged in building up a practice. In politics he has always been a stanch and uncompromising democrat, although his father and his five bro- thers are all republicans. In 1890 he was elected chairman of the democratic county com - mittee of Armstrong county, which position he still holds. In religious opinion he is a be- liever in the doctrines and a member of the Reformed church.
September 25, 1889, he united in marriage with Susanna E. Heeter, a daughter of George Heeter, of Clarion county, Pa. For a young man Mr. Mccullough enjoys a very good prac- tice, and has acquired considerable business in- terests, and by his present activity and earnest labor bids fair to command an extended pat- ronage before many years.
YEORGE W. McNEES, the present (1890) 25
active and reliable treasurer of Armstrong county, is a man of fine business tact and exec-
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utive ability and has won marked success in all of his undertakings. He was born at Slippery Rock, Butler county, Pennsylvania, August 15, 1854, and is the only son of James and Sarah (Armstrong) McNees. The McNees family is one of many substantial and reliable families of Western Pennsylvania which werc founded in the latter part of the eigh- teenth century. James McNees, the grand- father of George W. McNees, was born in Westmoreland county, this State. He was a farmer by occupation, a presbyterian in relig- ious belief and was a member of the famous Poke Run church of that denomination. He married Miss Taylor, by whom he had two sons and six daughters. One of these sons was James McNees, who was born in Butler county, Pa., May 27, 1812. In early life lie engaged in the pottery business, which he still follows. He was one of the first men in Butler county to take a pronounced position on the slave question, and was an able de- bater and active agitator in favor of the aboli- tion of chattel slavery. He was an old- line whig until that party was swept out of existence and then joined the Republican party, in which he has remained ever since. Al- though active in politics and well informed on all the great issues of American political history, yet he never sought for any office. He was originally a presbyterian, but being more liberal in his views on Calvinistic doc- trines than was allowable by the discipline of that church, he withdrew his name from the roll of members and united with the Cum- berland Presbyterian church, in which he has served for several years as an elder. He is a man of positive views on all subjects. His first wife was Elizabeth Anderson, who bore him seven children. After her death he married Sarah Armstrong, by whom he had one son, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Sarah McNees was a daughter of George Armstrong, who with his parents moved from Path Valley to Westmore-
land county, this State, and thence to Slippery Rock, Butler county, and clearcd up a home in what was then a wilderness. Mrs. McNees, on her grandmother's side, was descended from the Harris family, which, so far as we have been able to learn, are the same family after whom the city of Harrisburg is named. Mrs. Mc- Nees died at Girty, in Armstrong county, Jan. 8,1881.
George W. McNees acquired his education in the common schools of Mercer county, Elder- ton and Livermore academies and the State Normal school at Indiana. In early manhood he took on himself the responsibility of teacher, which he bore very creditably. He taught four terms in Armstrong and two in Indiana county, this State, besides one term in Kansas. The outlook in teaching was not wide enough for the exercise of the energies of Mr. McNees, who embarked in business life by engaging in the pottery business at Girty, Pennsylvania. His line of manufacture is first-class stone-ware. In 1887 he was nominated by the Repub- lican party of Armstrong county for treasurer and at the ensuing election in November was elected by the handsome majority of 1,598 votes. He entered upon his office on January 1, 1888, and ever since has merited and receiv- ed the approbation of his fellow-citizens for his able management of the county treasury. George W. McNees has a cordial sympathy for his friends, which gives him a warm place in their affections. He is an active republican, a true friend and a thorough-going man, who will undoubtedly accomplish many more sub- stantial results than have already attended his efforts.
G. W. McNees was married on the 25th day of December, 1883, to Anna R. George, the accomplished daughter of Johnston and Marga- ret (Shoemaker) George, of Girty, Armstrong Co., Pa. As a result of this union three chil- dren have been born to them : Wendell George, Sterling Glenn and Clifford Bowman.
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F RANK B. McVAY, a prominent contrac- tor and a leading politician of Kittanning, is one of that class of business men so essential to the material prosperity of any county and so useful in its commercial development. He was born on the corner of Thirty-second street and Broadway, New York city, September 8, 1851, and is a son of David and Elizabeth (Fulton) McVay, who were both natives of Ireland. His grandfather, William McVay, was a civil engineer and a political writer of great force. For his writings against the English government he was compelled to flee to France, where he died. David McVay (father) was born in county Antrim, Ireland, March 4, 1806, came to New York city at eighteen years of age and for thirty years was engaged as a partner of Gen. Moore in the building rock business. In politics he became and ever remained an un- compromising democrat. In 1858 he removed to Kittanning, where he was engaged extensively in contracting on railroad work. He went to Central America in 1851 and was engaged in the building of the first railroad across the isthmusof Panama-then Darien. He had a large force of men, of whom he lost all but one on account of their contracting miasmatic fever, which was prevalent everywhere. In the war with Mexico he served as a soldier under Gen. Phil. Kearney, and when the late war broke out he enlisted in the three months' service and at the end of his term of enlistment he volunteered for three and served nearly four years as a ser- geant in Co. G, 78th regiment, Pa. Vols. He served with credit and distinction in a regiment whose record at Stone river and in the cam- paigns of the Army of the Cumberland has re- flected undying glory upon itself and the State from which it went. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, a well-read man, a good conversationalist and died November 13, 1878. He was generous and warm-hearted and had a wide circle of friends. He was twice married. His first wife bore him one son, William, who
was killed at the battle of Antietam. He mar- ried for his second wife, Elizabeth Fulton, who is a daughter of Alexander Fulton, of Ireland, and resides now in Minnesota. By his second marriage he had six sons and six daughters. Alexander Fulton came to the United States and accompanied his son-in-law to the isthmus of Panania, where he died.
Frank B. McVay was reared and has always resided at Kittanning, where he received his education in the common schools of that place. He learned the contracting business with his father and has steadily pursued the same ever since. In his line of business he has always been signally successful, as well as being now one of the leading bridge contractors of the western part of Pennsylvania. He has erected nearly all of the stone work of the present bridges on the Allegheny Valley railroad, be- sides the stone work of all but three of the bridges which span the Allegheny river. He was contractor for the stone work of the In- diana county jail, the bridges on Stony creek and Conemaugh river near Johnstown and numerous bridges in adjoining counties. His field of operations has not been limited to this State, but embraces several of the eastern and southern States, in which his work on large rail- road bridges and important public buildings has received very flattering but well-deserved mention. In politics he treads in the footsteps of his highly respected father and is an ardent democrat. In season and out of season he is active in the cause and for the success of the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland. He is now (1890) the nominee of the Democratic party of Armstrong county for Assembly and possesses many qualifications of a good representative. His good judgment, quick perception and firm determination, together with his wide observa- tion and extended experience would admirably fit him to guard and protect the welfare of his fellow-citizens and the best interests of his county. In every business position in which he
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has been placed, of trust or responsibility, he has never been found wanting, but always suc- cessful in the discharge of whatever duties he had assumed.
June 20, 1877, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth Hague, a daughter of Frederick Hague, of Kittanning. To their union have been born six children, of whom but one is liv- ing-a daughter, named Margaret Rebecca, who was born May 18, 1884. Mrs. Elizabeth (Hague) Mc Vay was born in Valley township, and is a member of the First Presbyterian church.
H TON. WILLIAM B. MEREDITH. One of the leading and influential citizens of the county is Ex-State Senator William B. Meredith, of Kittanning. He is a son of Hon. Jonathan and Caroline (McKee) Meredith, and was born at Kittanning, Armstrong county, · Pennsylvania, September 17, 1839. His great- grandfather, Thomas Meredith, was a resident of Centre county, where his son, Owen Mere- dith (grandfather), was born. Owen Meredith was a man of intelligence, a whig and a suc- cessful farmer of Madison township. He was a baptist and died at ninety years of age, leav- ing eight children, of whom one was Hon. Jonathan Meredith (father), who was born December 11, 1810. He came to Kittanning in 1836, where he died March 11, 1888. He followed surveying, and was a strong whig. He was elected, in 1845, again in 1848 and a third time in 1857, as prothonotary by majorities of over 1,000, when the county was democratic. He was an Odd Fellow and Mason, served one term as a member of the State Senate, and mar- ried Caroline McKee, by whom he had two sons and two daughters.
William B. Meredith received his education in Kittanning and Elder's Ridge academies and Jefferson college, from which lie was grad- uated in the class of 1860. During the late
war he was assessor of internal revenue and op- erated in oil. For over fourteen years he has been secretary and treasurer of the Armstrong water company, besides being interested in water works in Butler, Warren, Westmoreland and Greene counties. He is a republican, has frequently been a delegate to State conventions and in 1884 was elected as a member of the State senate. He is a presbyterian and a thirty-third degree Mason.
On June 23, 1868, he married Eliza M., youngest daughter of Alex. Colwell. Senator and Mrs. Meredith liave two children: Mar- garet Colwell and Edith Caroline Mckee.
RANK A. MOESTA. Kittanning is uot only becoming a celebrated centre for the iron industry, but likewise for many other lead- ing and important industries, among which is the manufacture of stone and china-ware by the Wick China company. One of the members of this important manufacturing company is Frank A. Moesta, a successful young business man of Armstrong county. He is a son of Frederick and Mary (Frank) Moesta, and was born at Kittanning, Armstrong county, Penn- sylvania, January 18, 1860. His paternal grandfather, J. C. Moesta, of Germany, was killed in a mine. Of the children which he left one was Frederick Moesta, the father of Frank A. Moesta. Frederick Moesta was born in Ahlen, Germany, Jan. 28, 1830, and came to America, landed at Baltimore Nov. 3, 1851, from there to Philadelphia, then to Pittsburgh, where he worked at the trade of tailor, which he had learned in his native country. He then came to Kittanning March 31, 1854, where he worked for several years. At the end of that time he opened a tailoring establishment for himself on Jefferson street, which he conducted very successfully until 1884, when he fitted up a complete and first-class merchant tailoring es- tablishment at No. 215 Market street, where
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he did a good business and had a large trade until his death, May 15, 1886. He was one of the founders and an elder of St. Luke's Reformed church. He was a Free Mason, a strong republican and a remarkably successful as well as active business man. He had filled various borough offices and was a member of the school board at the time of his death. He mar- ried Mary Frank, who is a daughter of J. C. Frank, of Saxonburg, Butler county, and was born in 1835. She is a member of the Re- formed church and resides at Kittanning. Mr. and Mrs. Moesta were the parents of five children : Charles J., a member of the Wick China company; Frank A., Elizabeth, Fred- erick (deceased), and Henry E.
Frank A. Moesta was reared and obtained his education at Kittanning. He learned the trade of watch-maker and jeweler in Wheeling, W. Va., and in 1879 opened a watch-making and jewelry establishment at Kittanning, which he conducted successfully until 1886. In that year he disposed of his business and went to Kansas City, where he was engaged for three years in various lines of business. In April, 1889, he returned to Kittanning, where he be- came a member of the general mercantile firm of Wick, Moesta & Co., which continued in business until February, 1890. In March, 1890, he became a member of the present Wick China company, which is engaged upon a large scale in the manufacture of iron-stone china, white granite and decorated ware. The works are extensive and comprise a long three-story building with a five-story tower and two three- story wings. They are conveniently located for shipping purposes and turn out ware that is in constant demand. The company receives and fills large orders from many different States of the Union and have a trade which taxes the utmost capacity of their works to supply. The magnitude of their business may readily be in- ferred from the fact that they employ a force of one hundred and eighty persons in their works.
The members of the company are J. Wick, Jr., Frederick Wick, C. J. Moesta and Frank A. Moesta.
Frank A. Moesta has always been a republi- can and is the youngest councilinan that has ever been elected at Kittanning. He is a mem- ber of the Reformed church, and stands well in business circles, where he is favorably known as a man of energy, activity and success.
MARSHALL B. OSWALD. The printing- press, the light and life of the world's mod- ern civilization, made its appearance at Kittan- ning as early as 1810. To-day the oldest paper in Armstrong county, and one of the representative republican newspapers of western Pennsylvania, is the Union Free Press of Kittanning, pub- lished by M. B. Oswald & Son. Marshall B. Oswald was born in Franklin county, Pennsyl- vania, and is a son of Benjamin and Sarah A. (Brenham) Oswald. In Maryland among its wealthy planters was John Oswald, whose son, Benjamin Oswald (father), was born in 1803. He resided near Hagerstown, in the western part of that State, until about 1833, when he removed to Chambersburg, Pa., where he published, for three years, the Chambersburg Whig, which is now the Repository. He then went to Lancas- ter, Ohio, where he remained two years and published a weekly paper in the interests of the Whig party. Not deeming the inducements and advantages of his Ohio field of journalism to be such as could be found in the older States of the American Union, he returned in 1838 to Pennsylvania, where he selected Kittanning as a favorable point for newspaper success. On April 5, 1838, he purchased the Kittanning Gazette and in the first week of May, 1841, changed the name to that of the Democratic Press and afterwards to the Kittanning Free Press, which name it bore until his death, March 17, 1855. He was a well educated
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man, wielded a ready pen and expressed his thoughts upon any topic of general interest or subject of political agitation in good style and vigorous English. He was an old-line whig and later a republican and served as postmaster of Kittanning from 1841 to 1845, having been commissioned by President William Henry Harrison. He also served as justice of the peace and school director, besides holding various other borough offices. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church and married Sarah A. Brenham, who was a daughter of John Brenham, of near Hagerstown, Maryland, and died August 7, 1889, aged eighty-one ycars. They were the parents of nine children.
Marshall B. Oswald was reared principally at Kittanning, where he received his education in the public schools of that place. He learned the trade of printer, which he followed for several years. From 1861 to 1867 he served as mail agent between Kittanning and Pittsburgh. In 1867 he purchased his present paper, the Union Free Press, which is the name that had been bestowed upon the old Kittanning Free Press when it was purchased from Mrs. Oswald in May, 1864, by a publishing company. He conducted the paper successfully until 1890, when he admitted his son, John R. Oswald, as a partner of the present newspaper firm of H. B. Oswald & Son. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and Kittanning Lodge, No. 244, F. and A. Masons. He is a constant worker in the Republican party, but has never asked an office.
On February 22, 1864, he married Mary J. Bell, daughter of Morris Bell, a contractor of Pittsburgh, Pa. They have five children : John, engaged as a partner with his father ; Basil, a route agent of Adams Express com- pany; Horace G., in the printing business ; Marshall and Sarah.
The Union Free Press is devoted to news, politics and general intelligence, and claims to have the largest circulation of any paper pub-
lished in the county. It is a folio sheet 30x44 inches and contains thirty-six columns of reading matter and advertisements. It has able and point- ed editorials on political matters and never gives any uncertain support to the Republican party or its interests or candidates. It contains the latest reliable news of national affairs, State hap- penings, local events of the borough and the various townships of the county, useful inform- ation upon general subjects and a column devoted to agriculture and the interest of the grange. A first-class job office has been attached to the paper. The Press was founded in 1838 under the name of the Democratic Press and was the successor of the Gazette and Columbian, which came into existence in 1831 by the consolidation of the Gazette, established in 1825, and the Columbian, founded in 1819, as the second paper in the county. Under M. B. Oswald's charge the Press has come to be recognized as a power in the politics of Arın- ' strong county.
WALTER S. OTTO. The art of photog- raphy comes near to our affections, for by its means we are cnabled to preserve, at light expense, the pictured semblance of loved ones. Kittanning is fortunate in having several first-class photographers, and one of that num- ber is Walter S. Otto, a skilled photographer and crayon artist. He is a son of Dr. Andrew B. and Mary A. (Barenstock) Otto, and was born at Kittanning, Armstrong county, Penn- sylvania, December 4, 1863. As the name would indicate, the Ottos are of German lineage, and Christian Otto (grandfather) is a native of one of the present States of the Ger- man Empire. He came to Pennsylvania when a young man, and settled at Butler, Pa., where he engaged in his present hotel business, in ad- dition to which he conducts a butchering estab- lishment. He married and reared a family of children. His son, Dr. Andrew B. Otto, was
Im Owen
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born at Butler, and died in 1868. He read medicine, attended lectures at Jefferson Med- ical college, of Philadelphia, and practiced his profession at Kittanning until his death. He was a republican, a member of the Presbyterian church and an able physician, who was enthusi- astically devoted to his profession. He married Mary A. Barenstock, who still survives him. Their family consisted of three children, of whom two are living: Walter S. and William B., a jeweler of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Walter S. Otto was reared at Kittanning and received his education in the public schools of that place. When but eleven years of age he was employed as a clerk in a store, which posi- tion he held for several years. In 1885 he made choice of photography as his life-pursuit, and entered C. C. Shadle's photographic gallery at Kittanning. In 1886, in order to perfect himself in crayon work, he went to Chicago and spent eighteen months in the study of those special branches of artistic work. He then re- turned to Kittanning, where he established his present photograph gallery and art studio, at No. 304 Market street. He enjoys a large and substantial patronage from those who appreciate fine work in his line of business. An excellent specimen of his work as an artist is to be seen in the court-house. It is a fine oil painting of Judge Boggs, which is from the brush of Mr. Otto. He is a republican, but takes no active part in the local politics of his borough. He devotes his time to his gallery and studio. His , rooms are well furnished, and display a large number of unusually fine photographs, paint- ings and crayon-pictures which fully attest the taste and skill exercised by Mr. Otto in their production.
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