USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 52
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 52
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The first hotel was opened in 1824, and the first tannery was established in the same year by John Wort. The first resident physician was Robert MeKissen, and the leading physi- cians of the borough to-day are Dr. William MeBryar and Dr. Robert E. McCauley. Jacob Freetly, of the present law firm of Freetly & Guthrie, is the first resident lawyer since 1855. The first church in the town was the Presby- terian, which was founded in 1825, sinee which time the Methodist Episcopal, Lutheran, United Presbyterian and Baptist churches have been organized. The first mill was built in 1849, the first sehool-house was a frame structure
which was erected in 1850. The first military organization was the Charleston Guards (1840), and they were succeeded in 1850 by the Apollo Blues, which became so famous during the late war as Co. G, of the 11th Pa. Reserves. Jolın B. Chambers was the captain of the first packet- boat that ran between Apollo and Pittsburgh.
The building of the Pennsylvania canal helped the growth of the town in 1855; the great iron industries of the borough were inau- gurated by the formation of the Kiskiminetas Iron company, which ereeted its rolling-mill in 1856. This mill was operated under different proprietors until 1876, when it passed into the hands of P. H. Laufmau & Co., limited, who have increased its capacity from 65 to 300 tons per week. In 1886 this company erected their present large and well-equipped sheet iron and decarbonized steel plant, in which they employ 150 men. In 1890 P. H. Laufman erected his copper-plating works. The Apollo Foundry company was organized in 1889, and employ a force of 25 men in their works, which are well equipped with modern machinery.
Apollo has over two thousand population, and contains a bank, newspaper, five churches, a graded sehool, two planing-mills and two flouring-mills. Of its hotels, the "Chambers House " is deserving of special mention, for it is up, in every respect, to the highest standard, and is under the management of James H. Chambers, one of the leading business men and publie-spirited citizens of the borough. Apollo, within the last deeade, has grown steadily, and within the last few years, rapidly. A canal 387
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town of the past, a railway town of the present, Apollo is destined to become an iron city in the future. She has within her grasp the materials and facilities for wealth and growth, and bids fair to rank high in the future as one of the in- land manufacturing cities of the Keystone State.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
D AVID D. P. ALEXANDER, postmaster of Apollo, a successful merchant and a Union soldier of the late war, was born in Allegheny city, Alleghenty county, Pennsylva- nia, March 4, 1837, and is a son of John S. and Sarah (Drury) Alexander. John S. Alexander was born in Philadelphia, this State, in 1794, and died at Brackenridge, Cauldwell county, Mo., in 1870. In early life with his father he crossed the Alleghenies by the old State road and came to Pittsburgh, where he learned the trade of chair-making. After residing at dif- ferent places he removed in 1847 to Apollo, where he embarked and continued in the mer- cantile business for many years. He was a quiet, peaceable man and a consistent member of the Baptist church, and from 1860 he sup- ported the republican party, having previously voted the democratic ticket. He married Sarah Drury, daughter of James Drury, of New Alex- andria, Westmoreland county, by whom he had six sons and two daughters.
David D. P. Alexander was reared at Apollo, where he attended the public schools. Leaving school, he became an apprentice at Apollo to the saddlery and harness-making trade, but finished his apprenticeship at Cannonsburg, Washington county. When the late war commenced he was among the first to enter the Union service. He did not come up in size to the required standard of a soldier at that time and enlisted on April 27, 1861, as a musician in Co. G, 11th Pa. Reserves (or 40th regiment Pa. Vols.). He was a drummer and was with his regiment in
all of its long marches, numerous skirmishes and many hard battles, under Mcclellan, Hooker, Meade and Grant, until it was mustered out on June 13, 1864. This regiment was commanded by Col. T. F. Gallagher and Gen. S. M. Jackson and was in some of the hardest fighting that occurred in the Army of the Potomac. After the war he embarked in the grocery and confectionery and the hardware business.
On June 13, 1865, he married Abigail Wray, daughter of John M. Wray, of Shady Plain, Pa. Their children are: Maud Ella, assistant postmaster at Apollo; Maggie Irene, Sarah Emma, Edna Loretta, Aline Stewart, Nina Gertrude, Mary Ada, Helen Grace, Olive Ethelwin and Wilda Leota.
On April 1, 1889, Mr. Alexander was ap- pointed postmaster of Apollo. He is a repub- lican in political opinion, and a member of Kiskiminetas Lodge, No. 1993, Knights of Honor, E. S. Whitworth Post, No. 89, Grand Army of the Republic, and Encampment No. 1, Union Veteran Legion of Pittsburgh, Pa. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and a useful business man and highly respected citi- zen of Apollo.
TOHN BENJAMIN, an efficient iron-worker and well-informed citizen of Apollo, is the eldest son of William and Martha (Rivens) Benjamin, and was born in Monmouthshire, in the south of England, February 22, 1844. His grandfather, William Benjamin, Sr., was an iron-worker in England. One of his sons was William Benjamin (father), a rail-jointer by trade. He died in 1850, when the subject of this sketch was but six years of age. He mar- ried Martha Rivens, who came to the United States after her husband's death, remained here but a short time and then returned to England, where she died in the spring of 1882, when in her eighty-sixth year.
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John Benjamin had but little opportunity to acquire any education whatever, for soon after the time of his father's death the duty of earn- ing and paying the rent of the family devolved upon him, as he was the eldest child, a task by no means light for a boy. In 1867 he came to Northumberland county, Pa., where for the three succeeding years he followed the trade of puddler. He then removed to Leechburg, and was a puddler in the first heat made in the rolling-mill there by natural gas. In 1876 he went to Tennessee to follow his trade, where he remained a short time. He then removed to Apollo, where he has been in the employ of the Apollo Iron & Steel company for thirteen years. He is a practical workman, capable of taking part in any branch of the iron industry and holds the highest recommendation from Blanaven Iron company, McElroy, Laufman & Co., as well as from the firm of Van Allen & Co., for whom he worked in England.
He was married in England, on March 23, 1864, to Mary Ann Watkins, daughter of James Watkins, a miner still living in the south of England. They have had nine children, seven of whom are living: William J., born in 1865, a music dealer at Apollo; Sarah, wife of Hubert Lewis; Florence Mand, John Henry, David Thomas, George Roberts and Martha Washington.
In politics Mr. Benjamin follows no party lines, but uses his own judgment in regard to the reliability of the candidates, and votes for the one he considers most trustworthy. He has been strictly temperate since boyhood, when lie was often ridiculed for sending back the beer that was furnished with his dinner. To his temperate habits he attributes the fact that he is still a vigorous man, who for forty-four years has never lost an hour's work from sickness. He is a trustee in the Baptist church, of which he and his wife are esteemned members. Witlı all the odds against him, John Benjamin has fought his way from extreme poverty to a
competency, and an honorable position in the ranks of the skilled mechanics and the useful citizens of his town.
TAMES HUTCHINSON CHAMBERS, a union officer of the late war, ex-register and recorder and ex-sheriff of Armstrong county, and manager of the leading hotel of Apollo, is a son of Capt. John B. and Martha (Guthrie) Chambers, and was born in Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1838. His great-grandfather, James Cham- bers, was born about 1748 in Ireland and set- tled at Chambersburg, Pa., where he married a Miss Hutchinson, by whom he had two children : William (grandfather), and Jane, who married Judge Bovard, of Butler county, Pa. After his marriage he removed to (near Apollo) Washington township, Westmoreland county, where he died in 1848, aged one hundred years. He took up seven hundred acres of land, was captured by Indians once and kept prisoner on an island in Lake Erie until the close of that Indian war. After this the In- dians once stole his horses, but his stentorian cries brought the soldiers from the block-house two miles away and they recovered the horses. His son, William Chambers, was born in 1777 and died in 1851. He married Fannie Bovard, who was born in 1787 and passed away in 1864. Eight children were the issue of their union : James, Capt. John B., William, George H., Mary, Jane, Margaret and Nancy. Of these William is still living. Capt. John B. Cham- bers (father) was born June 13, 1813. He fol- lowed farming until April 1, 1845, when he moved to Apollo, Armstrong county, Pa., where he built the "Apollo Packet," a boat which ran between Apollo and Pittsburgh, on the Pennsylvania canal. He was passenger and freight agent at Apollo for eighteen years and was engaged in the mercantile business from 1849 to his death, October 21, 1886. On May
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29, 1871, when the ·" Apollo Savings Bank" was organized, he was elected president of that institution and was annually re-elected as long as he lived. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Apollo and contributed generously of his means to the erection of churches of all denominations. He was a man of sterling moral character and was universally esteemed. His various business enterprises were well managed and the people ever had confidence in his judgment and sagacity. He was a public-spirited citizen as well as a suc- cessful and honorable business man, and his memory will be long held in kind remembrance by the citizens of Apollo. On May 6, 1837, he married Martha Guthrie, a daughter of Wil- liam and Mary (Hill) Guthrie, and who was born in Salem township, Westmoreland county, August 27, 1811. Her father, William Guth- rie, was of Scotch-Irish descent and was a son of John Guthrie, wlio was one of the early settlers on Beaver run, near Delmont. The off- spring of the marriage of John B. and Martha Chambers were four children : James H., Sam- uel H., born June 14, 1840, died February 24, 1889; William G., born December 15, 1842, and Mary Jane, born January 20, 1844, now intermarried with D. A. Heck, of Butler, Pa.
James Hutchinson Chambers spent much of his early life in his father's store. He attended the common schools, completed his academic course at Saltsburg academy, and taught two terms in the schools of his native county. In 1858 he went to Missouri, where he found a bet- ter field for teaching than then existed in Penn- sylvania. He taught until 1861, when he returned home and enlisted as sergeant in Co. C, 103d reg., Pa. Vols. He participated in all of the battles of the Peninsula nnder McClel- lan, was then transferred to North Carolina, where he took part in the engagements of Kingston, White Hall, Goldsboro' and Plym- outh. At the last-named battle he was wounded and taken prisoner with Co. F, to
which he had been transferred. He was con- fined in the Confederate prisons at Macon, Ga., Charleston, S. C., where he was placed under the fire of the Union batteries, and Charlotte, N. C. On March 1, 1865, he was paroled for exchange, and was honorably discharged from the service at Annapolis, Md., after serving six months beyond his time of enlistment. He was color-bearer of his regiment until 1863, when he was commissioned sergeant-major. On May 20, 1863, he was promoted to second lieutenant of Co. F, and July 4, for meritorious bravery, was promoted to first lieutenant. After the war he engaged in mercantile business for two years. From 1869 to 1870 he was in the oil business, then embarked again in mer- chandising at Apollo, which he quit in 1875 to become register and recorder of Armstrong county. After serving two terms he was elect- ed sheriff in 1883. In 1886 he became cashier of Dubois (Pa.) Deposit bank and served nntil 1887. In 1889 he, with several others, pro- jected the Chambers House at Apollo, which was opened on February 6, 1890. This ele- gant hotel is situated on the corner of First street and Warren avenue, in the very business center of the town. It is a fine brick structure of modern style and finish. Internally its arrangements are up to the highest standard of comfort and elegance. It is heated throughout by natural gas and has water and electrical bells on every floor.
May 28, 1867, he married Kate R. Brenner, who was born near Jacksonville, this county, December 15, 1847, and is a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Mahaffey) Brenner; the former born December 13, 1813, and a son of Michael Brenner, of York county, P.a., and the latter born June 25, 1812, and a danghter . of Joseph Mahaffey, of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have one child : Edith McCrum, who was born October 5, 1869.
James H. Chambers resides on the old home- stead and employs the most of his time in the
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management of his different business enter- prises. He is a presbyterian, a decided repub- lican and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Masonic fraternity.
MICHAEL HERMOND COCHRAN is editor of the Apollo Herald. He was born in South Beud township, Armstrong coun- ty, Pennsylvania, October 24, 1859, and is a son of Robert Scott and Mary (Hart) Cochran. The Cochrans were among the early settlers of Apollo, and Judge Michael Cochran, the grand- father of Michael H. Cochran, was born May 10, 1810, at Crawford's mills, Westmoreland coun- ty, Pa., where his father followed the occupa- tion of milling. His mother's maiden-name was Catherine Risher. He was bouud out at four years of age to a man named McKissic, with whom he remained for several years. At nineteen years of age he learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed at Apollo for several years, during which time he was elected and served as a justice of the peace. In April, 1846, he removed to Cochran's Mills, where the present post-office was established uuder that name in 1855. Here he built a mill and followed successfully his father's occupation. He also establislied a store which he conducted. About 1855 he was elected as an associate judge of Armstrong county for a term of five years ; one other associate and the president judge con- stitutiug the county judiciary at that time.
Prior to 1846 he married Catherine Murphy, who died in 1857. In 1858 he married Mrs. Mary Jane Cummings, who bore him five chil- dren, of whom one, Elizabeth Jane Cochran, has since become famous as a writer and made the trip around the world in seventy-two days. By his first marriage Judge Cochran had nine children, of whom one was Robert Scott Coch- ran, the father of the subject of this sketch, who has been a prominent and influential man
in the county for many years. He has been identified for several years with the firm of Cochran & McGlauglin in the real estate. busi- ness at Apollo.
Michael H. Cochran received his education in the public schools of Apollo and Indiana (Pa.) Normal school. Leaving school in 1878, he was engaged in teaching until 1882. He taught one term in Madison township, two terms at Apollo, and in 1881 was elected as a teacher in the public schools of Johnstown, where, after teaching one term, he declined a re-election and went to Pittsburgh where he was occupied for two years in several capacities, and at one time during this period did some newspaper work. He then returned to Johnstown and became a teacher in the Conemaugh school. The next year (1886) he was elected teacher in the Johnstown schools, which position he resigned to become a newspaper man. He purchased the Apollo Herald September 3, 1886, and has successfully edited it ever since. It is a weekly eight-page independent paper, issued every Saturday at $1.50 per annum and devoted to general news of importance, and the latest local news of the near county. It has a remarkably wide circu- lation, and is regarded by advertisers as a valu- able medium of reaching the reading public. At no distant day in the future, Mr. Cochran, who has beeu greatly encouraged by his success- ful efforts with a weekly sheet, will issue a daily paper to meet the wants of his progressive and live town.
June 13, 1889, he united iu marriage with Minnie McGeary, daughter of John McGeary, of Apollo. Their union has been blest with one child, a daughter, named Gladys C. Coch- ran, who was born June 19, 1890.
In politics Mr. Cochran is a republican. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Apollo, Darling Council, No. 250, Jr. O. U. A. M., Fraternal Mystic Circle and the Order of Solon. Through the Herald he has labored long, faithfully and successfully for the progress
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
and prosperity of Apollo, having written and pushed several petitions which have resulted in permanent improvements, a notable one be- ing the opening of Warren avenue extension from First to South Fifth street, which was formerly an alley ; another improvement being the re-naming of the streets with a local nomen- clature, and the numbering of the houses ac- cording to a scheme suggested and pushed through the council by him.
JOHN Q. COCHRANE. A man of widely varied and unusually successful business experience is John Q. Cochrane, justice of the peace and principal of the public schools of Apollo. He is a son of William and Mary S. (Quigley) Cochrane, and was born near Kittan- ning, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1849. The trans-Atlantic home of the Coch- rane family was in the north of Ireland, from which they came to eastern Pennsylvania near two centuries ago. William Cochrane, the great-grandfather of John Q. Cochrane, came to what is now Armstrong county, where his son, James L. Cochrane (grandfather) was born in 1787. James L. Cochrane was a farmer by occupation, a democrat in politics and a presby- terian in religious faith. He built "Ore Hill" furnace, which he operated for some time pre- vious to selling it to a company. He was a man above medium height, held various town- ship offices and married a Miss Gibson, of near Kittanning, by whom he had seven children. The oldest son and child was William Cochrane (father), who was born February 14, 1813, in what is now Boggs township, where he followed farming and teaching, and where he died Feb- ruary 6, 1876. The war issues of 1861 changed him to a republican in politics, while in religion he was a united presbyterian, and served for years as elder in one of the churches of that de- nomination. He was an unassuming man, who acquired considerable property, served continu-
ously as school director and in other township offices, and had the good-will of his neighbors. He married Mary S. Quigley, who is a daugh- ter of John Quigley, of this county. They had eleven children, of whom eight are living.
John Q. Cochrane attended the common schools and Dayton academy, after which he taught a few months and then pursued a course of study at Ann Arbor university, Michigan. In addition to his literary studies there he also entered the law department, in which he re- mained for one year. At the end of this time he entered the law office of M. G. McCaslin, of Butler, Pa., where he completed the required course of legal study, and was admitted to the bar of that place in 1874. After admission, he practiced law for two years at Millerstown and at Butler, Pa., for one year. He then went to Pittsburgh, where he became a partner for one year with Webster Street in the law business. At the end of that time he went to Parkersburg, W. Va., where he spent two years as an oil-well contractor and oil producer. He was then engaged for one year as a traveling salesman of heavy oils for the Commercial Oil company, of Park- ersburg. Leaving their employ, he became manager of the celebrated Brush Electric Light company, of Pittsburgh. Six months later (fall of 1882) he accepted the principalship of the public schools of West Monterey, Pa. In 1884 he was elected to the principalship of the Apollo public schools, which position he has held until the present time. He is a member of the firm of Cochrane Bros., railroad and steamship ticket agents. This agency represents the leading railways and principal steamship lines.
He united in marriage, on Nov. 7th, 1875, with Lizzie Roup, daughter of Francis Roup, of Kittanning. Their union has been blessed with two children : Earle and Alexander, aged respectively thirteen and eleven years.
John Q. Cochrane is a member of the Pres- byterian church. He has always been a repub- lican, and was elected justice of the peace in
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1887, for the borough of Apollo. As a school principal he has been very successful, while his extensive business experience and his fine knowl- edge of the law has enabled him to make a splendid record as a justice of the peace.
CAPTAIN THOMAS A. COCHRAN, a leading druggist of Apollo and a man of business ability and experience, is one of the surviving officers of the old 103d regiment of Pennsylvania. Volunteers. He is a son of John and Isabella (McKee) Cochran, and was born in Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 27, 1837. His paternal grandfather Cochran, was a native of Scotland, and settled in Westmoreland county, where he was engaged in farming and milling until his death, in 1812. His eldest son was John Cochran (father), who was born December 15, 1802, and died at Apollo, May 19, 1884. When he was ten years of age his, father died and he became the main support of his mother and his younger brothers and sisters. He helped to clear the site of Apollo and afterwards purchased a farm five miles east of that then small place. He was a whig and afterwards a republican, and served as constable of his township, besides hold- ing other local offices. A methodist in early life, he afterwards became a presbyterian. A man of pleasant manners, he was scrupulously honest and very popular. He married Isabella McKee, who was a daughter of Joseph McKee, and only survived her husband one year. They were the parents of ten children : Silas, Joseph, John G., Keziah, married to D. Hill; Margaret, married to Joseph Spang ; William M., Thomas A., W. S., James H., and K. D. Of these children but two are living, William M. and Thomas A. W. S. was sergeant in and Thomas A. was captain of Co. C, 103d regiment, Pa. Vols. James H. belonged to the 139th regi- ment, Pa. Vols., and was killed in one of the Wilderness fights, while K. D., who was a
member of the same regiment, became sick and was sent home and died of disease contracted in service. Thus, of the four sons from this family that went to the front in 1861, but two only came back.
Thomas A. Cochran attended the common schools of Kiskiminetas township and Leech- burg academy. In 1858 he entered Duff's Com- mercial college, of Pittsburg, from which he was graduated the same year. He then studied den- tistry and returned to Apollo, where he taught school and practiced dentistry for some time. Just before the commencement of the late war he went to Missouri as a favorable field for dental work and teaching. The war deranged all business in that State, and after serving a few weeks in a citizens' guard, he returned to Pennsylvania, where, on September 16, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Co. C, 103d regiment, Pa. Vols. He was soon promoted to sergeant, became second lieutenant July 18, 1862, was promoted to first lieutenant January 14, 1863, was commissioned captain July 11, 1863, and commanded his company until it was mustered out of the service June 25, 1865. The 103d regiment bore up well at Fair Oaks, on the Peninsula, was highly complimented by Gen. Foster for their fighting qualities in North Caro- lina, where all of the companies were taken prisoner, except Capt. Cochran's company (C), which was absent from the regiment at that time, at Roanoke island. Capt. Cochran was now placed in command of his own company, the other soldiers of his regiment who had been ab- sent on furlough and in the hospital and tliree newly-recruited companies. He held this com- mand until the men were mustered out, and in addition to this position he was given charge of an important fort and had thie muster and pay- rolls of his regiment to make out from April 20, 1864. After the war he was engaged in the dry-goods business for several years. In 1868 he opened his present drug house on First street, Apollo. He carries a full and
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