USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 51
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 51
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380
BIOGRAPHIES OF
benville, Ohio, where he arrived on the 17th of October. He read law with B. Tappan, of Steubenville, and Judge Baldwin, of Pitts- burgh, was admitted to the Pittsburgh bar November 17, 1815, and soon thereafter moved to Kittanning, where he engaged in practice. He was prothonotary of Armstrong county from 1816 to 1821, and in 1826 was elected as State Senator from the Twenty-fourth Senatorial Dis- trict of Pennsylvania, then composed of the counties of Venango, Warren, Jefferson, Indi- ana, Cambria and Armstrong. On September 26, 1822, he married Nancy, daughter of Hugh Davidson, of Berkley county, Va., and died in Harrisburg, Pa., March 28, 1829, when in the very prime of life. He was a man of extensive reading and literary tastes of a high order, be- ing familiar with all the famous English au- thors and Latin poets. On March 18, 1829, on motion of Hon. Richard Vaux, of Philadelphia, he was unanimously elected as a correspond- ing member of the Historical Society of Penn- sylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have been the parents of five children, of whom three are living : Emma, wife of Elder Montgomery ; May Olive and Cornelia. May Olive Robin- son married, November 3, 1883, William Gates Reynolds, a member of the Armstrong county bar, and a son of Thomas J. Reynolds, who was a brave soldier, one of the prominent men of the county, and married Mary Gates, a daughter of William Gates, an influential busi- ness man, and one of the founders of the Kit- tanning rolling-mill.
William D. Robinson is a democrat and ac- tive in politics, although never an aspirant for office or public favor. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Protestant Episco- pal church, in which he has frequently served as a vestryman.
TTON. JOHN W. ROHRER, ex-member of the Pennsylvania House of Representa- tives and a member of the Armstrong county bar, is the well-known editor of the Armstrong Democrat and Sentinel. He is a son of Fred- erick and Mariamne (Stevenson) Rohrer, and was born at Kittanning, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1823. His paternal grandfather, George Rohrer, was of German origin, and was born on the French side of the Rhine, and settled in Westmoreland county, where his son, Frederick Rohrer (father), was born some time prior to 1800. Frederick Rohrer learned the printing business at Pitts- burgh in the office of the old Mercury, whose proprietors he paid $500 for the privilege of being entered as an apprentice. In 1819 he established the Columbian, which he sold in 1832, and then engaged in the mercantile busi- ness until shortly before his death, in 1837. He served as register and recorder, and as pro- thonotary of the county, and was a justice of the peace at the time of his death. He was a strong democrat, and married Mariamne Ste- venson, of Gettysburg. Of their family of six children, five are living.
John W. Rohrer was reared at Kittanning, where he read law with John S. Rhey, and was admitted to the bar. He served three terms as district attorney of the county, and was elected as a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1859.
In 1864 he became editor and proprietor of the Armstrong Democrat and Sentinel, which has been under his administration an able and prosperous democratic journal.
June 25th, 1851, he married Ann E., daugh- ter of Rev. William Hilton. They have one son living: Frederick, who is assistant editor of the Sentinel.
J. W. Rohrer is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Kittanning Protestant Episcopal church, of which he was a vestryman for many years.
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
A. S. SCHRECKENGOST, a skilled, relia- ble and successful photographer and ar- tist of Kittanning, is a son of Isaac and Cath- erine (King) Schreckengost, and was born near Frantz' mill, Kittanning township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1865. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin Schreckengost, was born in a beautiful valley amid the lofty mountains of Switzerland, from which he emi- grated to western Pennsylvania when a young man. He was a farmer and miller, and built what is now known as Frantz' mill. He mar- ried Sallie Eurie, of this county, and of the children born to them one was Isaac Schreck- engost, the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born in Armstrong county, is a pros- perous farmer, and holds membership in the Lutheran churchi, of which he has been an elder and deacon. He is a conservative republican in politics.
He united in marriage with ' Catherine, daugliter of Jacob King, of Westmoreland county, this State. To their union were born ten children, of whom six sons and one daugh- ter are living. The latter, Louisa by nanie, is the wife of William Montgomery, of Denver, Colorado.
A. S. Schreckengost was reared in Kittan- ning township, and received his education in the common schools. At twenty years of age he becanie interested in the art of photography, which he learned and has since followed suc- cessfully. For a while he was in partnership with C. C. Shadle, an old and experienced photographer of Kittanning; but recently he has rented large and convenient rooms in the Orr building, which he has furnished with all late and improved photographic apparatus. He is now prepared to do any kind of work in his line of business from the small ambrotype, so popular with a past generation, to the life-size picture that has such large space in the pho- tographic productions of the present. He makes first-class photographs, ranging in size
from the gem up to the cabinet and panel. A laudable ambition to excel in his work, united with a desire to please his patrons, has led un- doubtedly to the success which he has achieved, and is indicative of increased future pros- perity.
In politics he is a . republican. He is a member of the Equitable Aid Association and St. Luke's Reformed church. He is well established in his closen business in a pleas- ant and thriving borough, and having found his level and life-work, nothing should prevent him from becoming a leading photographer in the future.
C. C. SHADLE, the oldest resident photog- rapher of Kittanning and an artist of superior ability in his line of business, was born four miles from Clarion, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, October 17, 1845, and is a son of Isaac and Mary (Shirely) Shadle. Isaac Shadle was born in 1817, in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, where he was reared to manhood. He then removed to Clarion county, but in a short time puslied fartlier westward and located at Blairsville, in Indiana county, where he now resides. He is a natural mechanic and con- siderable of an artisan. As such he has worked successfully in various trades with but little instruction and did creditable work as a plasterer, shoemaker, cabinet-maker and jeweler. At the age of forty-five he learned photography, which business he has followed uninterruptedly and successfully ever since. He has a well fitted and convenient gallery at Blairsville, wherc lie makes the best of work, although in the seventy-third year of his age. He is a democrat, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a man of excellent standing in tlic town where he resides. He married Mary Shirely, by whom he had seven children. Slic died and he married for his second wife Haunalı Fink, a native of this State.
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
C. C. Shadle was educated in the common schools, learned photography with his father and then spent three years as an engineer. At the end of that time he opened a photograph gallery at Apollo, where he remained for three years and then removed to Tarentum, Pa., at which place he followed his business until 1869. In that year he came to Kittanuing and estab- lished his present large, well-fitted and con- venient photographic gallery and art studio. He understands well every department of pho- tography. He does any and all kinds of work that comes within the line of his art, and the general satisfaction which he has given is highly commendatory of his ability as an artist. Abundaut success and a remunerative and flat- tering patronage has rewarded his constant and assiduous efforts to please the public. He is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian church of Kittanning and as one of the committee on selection of site had much to do in securing the fine location of the present beautiful church structure. He is a democrat in politics, be- longs to the Equitable Aid Union and served one term as school director of the borough. He has always been remarkably active in all move- ments which have been undertaken of late years for the material improvement of Kittanning or the advancement of its business interests. He owns a good farm five miles from the borough, besides valuable town property.
He married Jane Wherry, daughter of John Wherry, of South Bend, this county. They have four children : Charles, who was graduated in 1890 at Washington and Jefferson college; Helen, a graduate of Washington Female semi- nary; and Laura and John, who are attending school.
TOHN TEMPLE SIMPSON. In the jour- nalistic history of Armstrong county, one of the papers that has attained a prominent position and extended circulation is The Kittan-
ning Times, which is edited and published by John Temple Simpson. He is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth G. (Hutchinson) Simpson, and was born on the site of the present public school building at Kittanning, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1852. The early an- cestors of the Simpson family of western Penn- sylvania were members of the strictest sect of the old historic covenanters. James Simpson (grandfather) located in 1806 in what is now Cowanshannock township, of which he was one of the pioneer settlers. In the latter part of life he removed to Manor township in which he died at ninety-one years of age. One of his brothers served in the war of 1812, while two or three more of them were the ancestors of the Simp- sons of Iudiaua county, Pa. He married Jane Shearer, who lived to be ninety years of age. He reared a family of eight children, to each of whom on their marriage he gave a good farm. One of these children, Joseph Simpson (father), was born in 1816, and now resides in Indiana county. He is a carpenter by trade, but follows farming. He is a republican, like his father before him, and when the late war broke out he enlisted in Thompson's Independent Battery, but after two years and three months' active service was discharged on account of ill health. He is now a member of the G. A. R. He mar- ried Elizabeth Greenfield Hutchinson, a daugh- ter of Philip Hutchinson, of Chambersburg, Pa., and has four children living.
John T. Simpson received his education in the common schools. At nine years of age he worked in a rolling-mill, from which he went to a farm for a short time and then went to work in a woolen-mill. At sixteen years of age he commenced upon his life-work by entering the office of the Armstrong Republican, where he remained for three years. He next worked on the East Brady Independent for one year and then went to Pittsburgh, where he worked on the Leader and various other papers of that city. In 1873 he came to Kittanning, opened
383
ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
a job office in January, 1874, and in May, 1876, he and Benjamin Oswald became part- ners in the Valley Times, whose name was afterward changed to that of The Kittanning Times. In January, 1886, Mr. Simpson pur- chased his partner's interest and has been the editor and proprietor ever since. The Kittan- ning Times is a four-page paper, 24 x 36 inches in size and containing twenty-eight colums of choice reading matter and important advertise- ments. It is a newsy local sheet, independent in politics and having a circulation of over two thousand copies. It is published in the Times building on Friday of each week at one dollar per year. It makes a specialty of local news and aims to present, in brief but interesting par- agraphs, the substance of the latest happenings in the borough and the county. It also gives a large amount of selected miscellany valuable to every class and profession ; nor is it neglectful of the political news, as it spreads before its read- ers, in concise form, the great or notable political events of the day, with the platforms and movements of every political party asking for the support of the people. A complete job printing department has been organized and thoroughly fittted up with first-class machinery and is kept very busy in filling the orders which it is constantly receiving.
Christmas day, 1877, he united in marriage with Jennie M. Williams, of Kittanning. They have two children : Harry Temple Simpson, born September 3d, 1879, and Rowland B. Simpson, born April 16th, 1883.
In political sentiment Mr. Simpson is a strong republican. He was elected coroner of the county in 1888, and on February, 1890, was elected as one of the justices of the peace for Kittanning. He is a past regent in the Royal Arcanum, past dictator in the Knights of Honor, district deputy in the Knights of Honor, past archon in the Heptasophs, district deputy in the O. U. A. M., and was the representative of District No. 3, Knights of Labor, to the
State convention of that organization in 1887. John T. Simpson has wasted naught of life in idleness or inactivity. Ever moving, always ac- tive, he has won success and position by his own unaided efforts.
LIEUTENANT ROBERT S. SLAY- MAKER, the lately elected register and recorder of Armstrong county, and at present the chief clerk in that office, is one who is not only well-known for his ability to transact busi- less with ease and energy, but also for his cour- teous and kind attention to all with whom he comes in contact. He was born in Lower Win- sor township, York county, Pennsylvania, Oc- tober 16, 1838, and is a son of Samuel R. and Anna M. (Smith) Slaymaker. His paternal great- grandfather, Henry Slaymaker (or Schlier- macher, as the name was originally written), was a native of Germany, and came in 1710 to Strawberry township, Lancaster county, where he followed farming until his death. His son, Samuel Slaymaker (grandfather), owned and operated a stage line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and died at sixty years of age. He was succeeded in the ownership of the stage line by his son, Samuel R. Slaymaker (father), who continued to operate it until the building of the Pennsylvania railroad, which took the travel of the old pike and terminated the existence of the stage lines. In 1833 he removed to York county, where he was engaged in farming until 1842, when he came to this county and rented a farm on the site of Ford City. In October, 1844, he removed to the McCall farm in Butler county, and in 1847 re- turned to York county, where he. operated a foundry for twenty-two years. He then (1869) went to Evanston, Illinois, where he died at the residence of his eldest son, Henry S. Slay- maker, in 1878, aged seventy-six years. He was an old-line whig and republican and a member of the Presbyterian church. He mar-
384
BIOGRAPHIES OF
ried Anna M. Smith, of Philadelphia, who was a member of the Presbyterian church and died in 1877, at sixty-six years of age. They reared a family of four sons and oue daughter, of whom three sons are living.
Robert S. Slaymaker was reared in York and Armstrong counties and received his education in the common schools and York County acad- emy of the former county. In the dark days of 1861 he was one who responded to his coun- try's call for troops. On August 24, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Co. A, 37th regiment, Pa. Vols., was promoted to sergeant-major December 25, 1862, and to first lieutenant of Company H, of his regiment, on January 13, 1863. He participated in all the engagements of his regiment until the fall of 1863, when he was discharged on September 13th of that year, at Martinsburg, W. Va., on the surgeon's certificate of disability. After being discharged he returned to York county, where he was en- gaged in the manufacture of water-wheels uutil 1869, when he removed to Armstrong county and remained for a few months. He then (June, 1870) went to Chicago, where he engaged as a clerk in a large mercantile establishment, but only remained until November 1st of that year, when he returned to Armstrong county and engaged in the general mercautile business at Kittanning with P. K. Bowman. He re- mained in the store until February, 1881, when he was appointed chief clerk in the register and recorder's office which position he has filled sat- isfactorily ever since. On May 3, 1890, he was nominated by the republicans for register and recorder of Armstrong couuty, and on Novem- ber 4, 1890, was elected by a majority of 574 votes.
April 25, 1866, he married Jane Oswald, who was a daughter of Rev. Jonathan Oswald, D.D., of York county, and died September 5, 1867. Mr. Slaymaker was remarried on May 25, 1871, to Lizzie K. Bowman, daughter of P. K. Bowman, of Kittanning. By his second
marriage he has three children, one son and two daughters : Agnes E., Philip K., and Anna F.
In politics Mr. Slaymaker is a republican, and his maternal and paternal ancestors were republicans and whigs as far back as he is able to trace them. He is a member and elder of the Presbyterian church. He is also a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M., and John F. Croll Post, No. 156, Grand Army of the Republic.
W TALTER J. STURGEON, one of the young business men and a leading drug- gist of, Kittanning, is a son of William and Mary E. (Kiskadden) Sturgeon, and was born in North Buffalo township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1861. His paternal grandfather, James Sturgeon, was born in county Armagh, Ireland, aud came to Kittanning in 1840, then bonght a farm in North Buffalo township, where he followed farming until his death, in 1861, at seventy-seven years of age. He married Elizabeth McComb, of county Down, Ireland, and reared a family of six children. One of his sons was William Stur- geon, who was born in county Armagh, Ireland. June 14, 1818, and came to Kittanning about 1843. During the next year he located on a farm in North Buffalo township, where he lived until 1888, when he returned to Kittauuing and has resided there ever since. He has been a farmer by occupation until of late years, when he retired from active life. He is a republican from principle, and a member of the Presby- terian church. On February 16, 1840, he mar- ried Mary E. Kiskadden. Her father, William Kiskadden, who was born in 1799 and died in 1869, was one of the pioneer settlers of Slate Lick, and was a son of Thomas and Margaret (Knox) Kiskadden. He married Elizabeth Morrison, a daughter of William Morrison, who was one of the pioneer Presbyterians and earliest settlers of Armstrong county. William and
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
Mary E. Sturgeon are the parents of two chil- dren,-Lissa and Walter J.
Walter J. Sturgeon received an academical and business education, taught in the common schools, then attended the Iron City Commercial col- lege, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and was graduated from that well-known business institution December 24, 1882. For the next two years he taught in the common schools. In 1885 he opened a drug store at No. 305 Market street, Kittanning, and has continued in the drug business until the present time. He is a member of the Presby- terian church. He is a republican in political matters, but gives his time to his business inter- ests and takes but little part in politics.
Mr. Sturgeon's eligibly located, well-stocked and carefully conducted drug house is one of the main business establishments of Kittanning. His well-assorted and varied stock of goods embraces first-class drugs, standard proprietary medicines, fancy and useful toilet articles, perfumes, mineral waters and fine stationery. Mr. Sturgeon is re- liable and accurate as a druggist, has a good trade and stands well in his line of business. He is extensively known and is everywhere re- garded as an honorable and upright business man and a well-respected citizen.
B BRIGADIER-GENERAL HUGH MER-
CER, one of the ablest chieftains of the Revolutionary war, was born near Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1723, and was liberally educated. He became a physician and served as a surgeon on the bloody field of Culloden, in 1745. About 1750 he came to Mercersburg, Pa., and afterwards removed to Virginia. He served with Washington under Braddock at the fateful battle of the Monongahela, and in 1756 was a captain in Gen. Armstrong's expedition to Kit- tanning. In 1758 he was promoted to colonel and served under Forbes. Twelve years later he left his drug store and an extensive medical
practice and drew his sword in behalf of his adopted country. On June 5, 1776, he was commissioned as a brigadier-general and won distinction at the battle of Trenton. He com- manded the van of the American army at Princeton, where he fell mortally wounded while rallying his troops in the face of a British charge.
He married Isabella Gordon and left a family of four sons and one daughter.
In the action at Kittanning Gen. (then Capt.) Mercer was induced by some of his men, who were somewhat acquainted with the country (or claimed to be), to detach himself with twelve others to reach the road by a short route. Ac- counts differ as to the wound he received when he ran into an Indian ambush on the near route pointed out by his guides. One author says he was shot in the wrist and another states that his arm was broken. Bancroft says: "Mercer, who was wounded severely and separated from his companions, tracked his way by the stars and rivulets to Fort Cumberland."
Sixty-three days after Gen. Mercer had fallen on the battle-field, the Continental Congress re- solved to erect a monument to his memory, in Fredericksburg, with a suitable inscription; and also resolved, " That the eldest son of General Warren, and the youngest son of General Mer- cer, be educated, from this time, at the expense of the United States."
That "youngest son of General Mercer" was Col. Hugh Mercer. He was born at Fredericks- burg, Virginia, in July, 1776, and died at the "Sentry Box," his pleasant residence near his birth-place, on December 1, 1853. "His mother was Isabella Gordon, who survived her martyred husband about ten years, and during that time made an indelible impression of her own excellence of character upon that of her son. He was educated at William and Mary college, in Virginia, during its palmiest days, while under the charge of Bishop Madison. For a long series of years he was colonel of the
386
BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
militia of his native county (Spottsylvania), and for twenty years lie was an active magistrate. For five consecutive years he represented his district in the Virginia legislature, when, pre- ferring the sweets of domestic life to the turmoils of politics and public office, lie declined a re-election. He was soon afterward chosen president of the branch bank of Virginia, located at Fredericksburg, and held that situa- tion until his death. Throughout his long life Colonel Mercer enjoyed almost uninterrupted health until a short time before his departure. He was greatly beloved by those who were related to him by ties of consanguinity or friendship, and was universally esteemed for his solid worth as an honorable, energetic, and methodical business man and superior citizen. He was one of the few noble specimens of the Virginia gentleman of the old school."
M AJOR-GENERAL JAMES POTTER was a son of John Potter and was born
on the bank of the river Foyle, in county
Tyrone, Ireland, in 1729. At twelve years of age he came with his father to New Castle, Delaware, and subsequently removed to what is now Cumberland county, of which his father became the first sheriff. In 1742 he was a lieutenant in a frontier militia company, and in 1756 commanded a company in Gen. Arm- strong's Kittanning expedition. He was after- wards promoted to major and then to lieutenant- colonel. He was an active advocate of the Revolutionary cause. In 1775 lie was appoint- ed colonel and on April 5, 1777, was commis- sioned as a brigadier-general in the Continental army. He rendered Washington good ser- vice in 1777. He was actively engaged dur- ing the entire Revolutionary struggle and was commissioned as a major-general in 1782. He resided in Penn's Valley, Centre county, from 1772 until his death in. November, 1789.
General James Potter was a stout, broad- shouldered man of dark complexion. He served for some years as an associate Judge of Northumberland county.
APOLLO.
Historical and Descriptive .- One of the most flourishing and prosperous business centres of western Pennsylvania is the progressive borough of Apollo. It is situated on the Kiskiminetas river, about ten miles from its confluence with the Allegheny. It was laid out in 1816 by William Johnson and J. R. Speer, and named Warren, after either an old Indian chief or an early English trader who bore that name. It was surveyed into lots in November, 1816, by William Watson, and its name was changed to the classical one of Apollo on August 15, 1827, when the post-offiee was established. As tra- dition is uneertain for whom it was first named Warren, so history is silent as to who gave it the name of Apollo. The site of the town was known as "Warren's Sleeping Place," and among the first settlers were Isaac Mclaughlin, Robert Stewart, Abraham Ludwick and Cath- erine Cochran, mother of the late Judge Coch- ran.
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