USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 58
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 58
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
whose father, Robert Patterson, was lost at sea while on the way to Europe. They had four sons, of whom three are living (see sketch of W. J. Elwood). Mrs. Elwood survived her hus- band two years and died in 1880.
Thomas J. Elwood was reared at Apollo, where he received his education in the public schools and learned the trade of harness-maker. When the late war broke out he enlisted in the 17th regiment, Pa. Vols., but was assigned to duty, by the secretary of war, at harness-making in the Allegheny arsenal, where he served out his term of enlistment. After the war he came to Leechburg, where he was engaged in the manufacture of salt for several years. At the end of that time he went into the grain and flour business, which he followed successfully until he purchased the Leechburg flouring- mill, which he operated until 1884, when he sold it to Schiwalm & Elwood and accepted his present position with the West Penn Steel com- pany as assistant manager of their works. He is a republican, has held all of the borough offices except that of burgess and in 1878 was elected treasurer of Armstrong county. He so well performed his duties of treasurer as to secure the commendation of all, irrespective of party. He carefully protected the interests of the county and insisted upon a due and just economy in all public expenditures.
January 12, 1877, he married Bella Parks. They are the parents of three children : John Bratten, born in 1878 ; Thomas Jefferson, Jr., and Robert Parks.
In religious belief Mr. Elwood is a presby- terian and a member of the Leechburg church of that denomination. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, Free and Accepted Masons, and Kittanning Chapter, High Royal Arch Masons. He is a republican from principle. Intelligent, prominent and useful as a citizen, his career as a business man has been remark- ably successful, and his services in his present responsible position have been alike creditable
to himself and profitable to the important manu- facturing company with which he is engaged.
JAMES T. ENWER, a man of many years' successful mercantile experience and the proprietor of one of the leading mercantile estab- lishments of Leechburg, is a son of John and Priscilla (Douthett) Enwer, and was born in Allegheny city, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1856. His paternal grandfather, Robert Enwer, was born in Ireland and came with his parents to Westmoreland county, Pa. One of his sons, John Enwer (father), was born at the village of North Washington, Westmoreland county. At an early age he was employed as a clerk in the retail dry-goods store of his uncle in Pittsburgh. At eighteen years of age lie entered mercantile life for himself and did business for several years on Federal street, in Allegheny city. In 1872 he disposed of his stock of goods and entered the employ of the well-known firm of Boggs & Buhl and is now their head salesman. He ranks as one of the leading salesmen of the State. He is a member of the Third United Presbyterian church of Allegheny city, and a republican in politics. He married Priscilla Douthett, a daughter of William Douthett, of Mercer county, and they have been the parents of four children : James T., Robert A., John and Minnie.
James T. Enwer was reared in Allegheny city and attended the third ward public schools of that city and Oakdale institute. Early in life he was employed as a clerk in his father's store for two years, then entered a store on the corner of Chestnut and Long streets as a sales- man and remained two years. He was tlien successively employed in the mercantile houses of Bennett, Mckean and Caldwell, of Pitts- burgh. Leaving Caldwell's, he was a salesman for Boggs & Buhl, of Allegheny city, for five and one-half years, at the end of which time he engaged with Joseph Horne & Co., and had charge of their dress-goods department for six
441
ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
years. On September 17, 1887, he purchased the store of Joseph Anderson, of Leechburg, and entered into the general mercantile business, which he has pursued successfully ever since. His natural good taste and his valuable experi- ence in the leading mercantile establishments of Pittsburgh and Allegheny city, enable him to select the latest, most fashionable and best goods in the market. His mercantile establishment is on the corner of Market and Middle streets and is constantly filled with a fine stock of goods needed to meet the wants of his many patrons.
November 30, 1882, he united in marriage with Mamie Campe, a daughter of Henry E. Campe, of Sharpsburg, Pa., the son of a French nobleman, who came to Tarentum, Pa., but soon returned to his native land. Mr. and Mrs. Enwer have three children, two sons and one daughter : Henry Campe, born February 11, 1884; Edith Mamie, born in March, 1886 ; and James T., Jr., born in November, 1888.
James T. Enwer is a member and trustee of Leechburg Baptist church and the efficient superintendent of its Sunday school. Healways takes an active part in the work of the church. He is a republican in politics, a member of the Royal Arcanum, and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. Mr. Enwer is a courteous and honorable gentleman, a successful business man, and is especially deserving of the success he has achieved and the esteem in which he is held.
YEORGE H. GOODSELL, one of the G owners and the general manager of the West Penn steel-works at Leechburg, is a po- tent factor in the iron-producing industries of the great Allegheny Valley and possesses a varied business experience acquired in many different parts of the world. He was born in Broome county, New York, September 27, 1839, and is a son of Dr. Isaac and Rachel (Panna) Good- sell. According to the accounts handed down in
the family, there were two brothers by the name of Goodsell who emigrated from England to Massachusetts long prior to the Revolutionary war, and from one of them is descended the Goodsell families of New York and Pennsyl- vania. A descendant of the New York family was John Goodsell (grandfather), who was a native of Duchess county, that State, where he followed farming. He served in the Revolu- tionary struggle, was a member of the Methodist church in the early days of its existence in the United States, aud gave to his children the best education that the times in which he lived al- lowed. He had three sons and one daughter. John, the eldest son, was president of a college in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. ; the second son, Buell, a prominent minister and presiding elder in the M. E. church, was the father of Bishop Good- sell, now of Texas, and the youngest son was Dr. Isaac Goodsell (father), who was a graduate of a leading New York medical school. When about thirty years of age he removed to Broome county, New York, where he practiced his pro- fession successfully until about 1845. He died in 1852 and left behind him the record of a well- spent life. He was an active member of the M. E. church, a strong anti-slavery advocate and a remarkably successful physician. He married Rachel Panna, who was a daughter of Isaac Panna, and died when comparatively a young woman and left eight children, all of whom grew up to years of accountability and of whom six are still living.
George H. Goodsell was reared in his native county, and, after leaving school, learned the trade of machinist in the Susquehanna machine shops. At the end of his apprenticeship he de- sired to see something of sea-life, and shipped on a whaling vessel, which sank a year after- wards in the Indian ocean, and from which he barely escaped. He then sccured the position of machinist and second engineer on board the British ship " Sea Snake," which was a mail steamer, and ran from South Africa to many
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
different points in India aud along the Red sea. At the end of eighteen months he resigned this position and returned to New York, where he worked at his trade until August, 1861, when he enlisted in Co. F, 50th regiment, N. Y. Vols., and served three years and one month in the Army of the Potomac. He was shot in the left foot in the last fight in which he was en- gaged, and when he had fully recovered from his severe wound he went to the oil region of Penn- sylvania as the agent of the Coalville Petroleum Oil company, and while there he also secured the agency of the Eldorado Oil company of Philadelphia. In addition to transacting the business of those companies he engaged in con- tracting and sunk several wells. In 1867 he sundered his entire connection with the oil business and removed to Michigan, where he remained for two years. He then came to Leechburg, and, after three months' service as an engineer at Apollo, he became master me- chanic or chief machinist of both the Apollo and Leechburg iron-mills (while in this posi- tion he was the first person to apply natural gas in the manufacture of iron), which position he held for some time, but resigned in order to superintend the erection of the new mill of the Apollo Iron and Steel company. He also superintended the building of the present mill of the West Penn Steel company at Leechburg,. of which he is one of the stock-holders and the general manager.
September 28, 1865, he married Mary Ann Trout, daughter of Jacob Trout, of Westmore- land county. They have five children : Jennie H., a teacher, and attending De Pauw university ; Homer H., a shearman in the mill ; John W., Mary and Charles, who are attendiug school.
Politically Mr. Goodsell is a republican, who believes in the tariff as being essentially necessary not only for the protection, but also for the very preservation of American industries. The West Penn steel-works comprise an open-hearth steel furnace, located at Allegheny, and a sheet and
finishing mill at Leechburg, and in operating them Mr. Goodsell employs over one hundred and twenty-five men. He is a member of the Lutheran church, the Masonic fraternity, the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the Grand Army of the Republic. With an aptitude for business and considering its various and extensive benefits, George H. Goodsell has come to look upon it as a duty and a pleasure. By nature fitted for the bustle of the world, his plans are no sooner properly matured than in- stantly put into executiou. He possesses strong common sense to adopt the right view of a sub- ject and foresight and promptitude to avail himself of first opportunities, by which he has often won success over seemingly insurmounta- ble obstacles.
A LBERT M. GOSSER, a resident and one of the leading merchants of Leechburg, was born January 14, 1834, at Adamsburg, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of William and Susan (Kistler) Gosser, a native of Northampton county, this State, who came to this county at an early day, and was a contractor on the Greensburg and Stoystown pike. One of his sons, William Gosser (father), was a blacksmith, and prior to 1840 worked at his trade in Adamsburg; but in that year he removed to Leechburg, where he continued at his trade until some twenty years before his death, when he retired from business. He died at Leechburg in 1888, at the age of eighty-five years. He belonged to the Lutheran church, was a life-long democrat and a popular man, serving his borough as a burgess and council- man. Strong-willed, honest and successful in life, he was highly regarded by all who knew him, and had hosts of friends. His wife, who was a member of the Lutheran church, died in 1838, at Adamsburg.
Albert M. Gosser, though born at Adams- burg, was reared at Leechburg, Armstrong
albert MASosser
445
ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
county, Pa., where he received a common-school education. He afterwards learned the trade of marble-cutting at Greensburg, Pa., with his cousin, Capt. Daniel Kistler, who was mortally wounded. He carried on the marble business for several years, and had a large trade in Westmoreland, Armstrong and Indiana coun· ties. The inhalation of marble dust so im- paired his health that in 1865 he relinquished the marble business, and purchased a boat called the "Spartan," which plied on the Allegheny river, and of which he was captain. This was during the early oil excitement in Venango county, where he sold at Pithole City seventy cargoes of coal and potatoes at $1 and $1.25, respectively, per bushel. The A. V. R. R. was soon built after this, and destroyed the profita- ble river trade. Capt. Gosser then disposed of his boat in 1867, and returned to Leechburg, where he was engaged in the mercantile busi- ness until 1871, when he sold liis store and removed to Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, where, in 1872, he erected his present fine residence on a high plateau which over- looks the Kiskiminetas Valley and West Penn- sylvania railroad for many miles. In 1883 he again embarked in the mercantile business at Leechburg, which he has pursued successfully ever since. In 1883 he erected his large three- story brick mercantile establishment on the corner of Market street and Bridge alley. He carries a large stock of general merchandise, including special lines of fine dress goods, clo- thing, shoes and carpets. He has always been the leading merchant of his borough, and in 1884 he was one of the democratic nominees for assembly, but with the remainder of his party ticket was defeated by a small majority.
Albert M. Gosser was married in 1858 to Susan, a daughter of Israel Hill, of Armstrong county, by whom he has four sons and four daughters: Newtou H., Emma D., Homer D., Franklin I., Lydia K., Lottie E., Grace L. and William A. Of these children, Franklin
I. Gosser is a graduate of the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and a practicing attorney of Pittsburgh. New- ton H. Gosser is engaged in the furniture and contracting business at Apollo. D. Homer is a graduate of Buffalo, N. Y., Commercial col- lege and clerk in his father's store; and the others are yet at home.
It was mainly through the efforts of Mr. Gosser that the bridge across the Kiskiminetas river at Leechburg was made free to the inhab- itants of Westmoreland and Armstrong coun- ties. Mr. Gosser felt that it was a great impo- position on the people of Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, and Leechburg to have to pay taxes to keep up the bridges in the other parts of their respective counties, and then liave to pay toll on their own bridge. After a long and persistent contest, Mr. Gosser's efforts in behalf of his fellow-citizens were crowned with success, and in June, 1890, the bridge was made free. This event was hailed with great rejoicing by his fellow-citizens, who were pro- fuse in their thanks to him for having so ably championed their cause, and having so successfully secured for them their just rights. He is a member of the Lutheran church, and enjoys the confidence of the public. He is an active and successful business man, and one of the best and most enterprising citizens of the county.
C YAPTAIN ALFRED HICKS. Among the gigantic industrial enterprises that are cen- tered in western Pennaylvania, are the coal and coke industries, and in the development of their northern fields in Westmoreland and Armstrong counties, none have taken a more active, useful and prominent part than Capt. Alfred Hicks, of Leechburg. He was born near Bristol, Eng- land, July 21, 1841, and is a son of Nelson and Cecelia (Morgan) Hicks. The Hicks family in England have been practical iron-workers for
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
the last two centuries, and have taken a justifi- able pride in their superior skill and workman- ship. Nelson Hicks was born near Bristol, August 29, 1803 and came in 1842 to Duncans- ville, Blair county, where he resided until his death, May 22, 1882. He was a metal refiner by trade ; but metal refining, such as he fol- lowed, has now passed out of use. Reared in the Quaker faith, he was a fine Bible scholar and a great student of history, both sacred and profane. He was a strong anti-slavery man and a republican in politics, but conservative in his views. Industrious, thrifty and successful in business, he was a zealous and true Christian whose walk in life was consistent with his relig- ious professions. He married Cecelia Morgan, of English nativity, but German descent, and who died July 4, 1876, when in the seventy- third year of her age. To them were born six childreu, of whom five are living: Anna, wife of John Hyle, of Blair county ; Philemon N., engaged in the iron business in Perry county ; Daniel B., an iron-worker in Pittsburgh ; Sam- uel H., superintendent of the Wilkesbarre & Western Railroad ; and Alfred.
Alfred Hieks was but one year of age when his parents came to Blair county, and received his education in the common schools. His first employment was with his father in the iron business. When the late war commenced, he was working in an iron works at Milesburg, Centre county, and was among the first to re- spond to President Lincoln's call to arms. He enlisted on April 16, 1861, as a private in the 2d regiment, Pa. (three months) Vols., in Co. H, of which Gov. James A. Beaver was first lieutenant. The following letter, written by the boy soldier to his parents, three days after- wards, illustrates better than a volume the motives that inspired him :
HARRISBURG, PA, April 19. 1861. Dear Father, Mother and all :
I hope you are all well, as I am. I am going to Washington to help to defend it against rebels and
traitors. I know it will be hard for you to hear of my going without seeing me; but it is country or no country. Now I hope you will take it calmly, and not let mother know it. I am in Curtin's Bellefonte company. I go in good spirits, and all the boys from the works, and some married men, are along. Cousins John and William are here and well. Good- bye, but I hope not forever.
Your loyal son, ALFRED HICKS.
There are about twelve thousand troops here.
At the expiration of his term he enlisted in Co. C, 76th regiment, Pa. Vols. (or Keystone Zouaves) as private, on August 18, 1861, and was mustered out as captain, July 18, 1865. He was in the siege of Ft. Pulaski, the unsuc- cessful attacks on Charleston and Ft. Wagner, and the battle of Pocotaligo Bridge, served under Butler in some heavy fighting on the Weldon R. R., fought under Grant at Cold Harbor, the Mine Explosion and Deep Bottom, and participated in the capture of Ft. Fisher. He was promoted from private to second lieu- tenant October 17, 1861; to first lieutenant, September 2, 1862, and commissioned eaptain May 1, 1863, to succeed John W. Hicks, who was promoted from captain to major and after- wards became colonel. Capt. Alfred Hieks commanded the 76th in front of Petersburg, and at the Explosion of the Mine, and was highly complimented by Generals Butler and Ord for "gallant and meritorious conduct on the field of battle." He was in Ford's theatre at Washington, when President Lincoln was assassinated. At the elose of the war Capt. Hicks went into the service of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad company as a passenger conduc- tor, and served as such for ten years to the day, -two years on the Pittsburgh division and eight years on the West Penn division. He then became station-agent at Leechburg, which position he held for seven years. During that time he developed the several large eoal enter- prises in which he is now so largely interested. He is superintendent and one of the heaviest
alfred . Hieke
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
stockholders of the Bagdad Coal and Coke company, whose plant, near Leechburg, con- tains six hundred acres of coal land, and whose mines, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, have a daily output of four hundred tons. He is president and princi- cipal owner of the Blackstone Coal company's. plant, which is some two miles east of Alle- gheny Valley Junction. He is also largely interested in the Avonmore Coal company, and the Pine Run Coal & Coke company. There is no company store in connection with his var- ious mines, and his employees, between four and five hundred in number, are paid off every two weeks. He is also opening a mine on the A. V. R. R., for the purpose of shipping coal to Cleveland and Buffalo. He is also president of the Leechburg Building and Loan association, one of the most flourishing associations in the Kiskiminetas Valley, which was started to help poor industrious people to get homes of their own. Through the efforts of the captain, Leechburg lias an abundant supply of water running through every street in the town, witlı pressure enough to throw the water over the highest buildings. He was indefatigable in his efforts to have the railroad run through the town, instead of on the opposite side of the river. It is said that the railroad company had their plans all made, when changing the grade in 1887, to keep their main tracks in Westniore- land county, and build one bridge east of town and run a siding over to accommodate the ship- pers. The captain made a trip to Philadelphia and tried to show the officials of the railroad that they ought to run their main tracks through the town, which they finally agreed to do; adding a great deal to the comfort and conveni- ence of the patrons of the road, and the citi- zens generally.
When developing the Avonmore coal prop- erty, in 1889, he was attracted to the large piece of land on the opposite side of the river, known as the "Dutch-flats"-some nine hundred acres, which he bought and organized the Avon-
more Land & Improvement company. This beautiful tract is on the Beaver run gas belt, and is of great value as a town site. A win- dow-glass works and rolling-mill have already been located on it. The gas is brought from the wells through a twelve-inch main, and the supply is abundant, and likely to be durable. An important manufacturing town in the near future will grow on the "Dutch-flats." The captain deserves the thanks of the people of this Valley. He has done more to enlist out- side capital to develop its resources than any man in either Armstrong or Westmoreland counties.
On April 2, 1868, he married Martha E. Lewis, daughter of L. W. Lewis, of the firm of Lewis, Dalzell & Co., iron manufacturers of Sharpsburg, Pa. They have three children, two sons and one daughter: May, wife of H. E. Sheldon, manager of the Leechburg Iron and Steel works; Lewis, superintendent of the Avonmore coal works; and Nelson, superin- tendent of the Blackstone Coal company.
Capt. Hicks is a democrat in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He is at present serving as burgess of Leechburg, having been elected by seventy-two of a majority, although the borough is regularly republican by a majority of over one hundred and fifty votes. He takes but little part in political affairs, as his business interests demand the most of his time. He has always been foremost to render assistance in any case of suffering or distress, and was among the first to hasten to Johnstown, where, with a force of one hundred and fifty men, he labored almost incessantly for the benefit of that flood-swept city. He is a past master in the Masonic fraternity, and a member of the Loyal Legion, the Union Vet- eran Legion and the Grand Army of the Re- public. He has been throughout his life a thorough business man of unswerving determi- nation and untiring industry. He is pre-emi- nently a self-made man in the true seuse of that
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
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term, and his honorably achieved success is the result of his good judgment, caution, energy, perseverance, watchfulness and honesty.
EDWARD HILL, one of the young pro- gressive members of the Armstrong county bar and the popular editor of the Leechburg Advance, was born opposite Leechburg, on the old Hill homestead, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, April 19, 1861, and is a son of John and Mary Jane (McCauley) Hill. Of those daring frontiersmen who settled south- western Pennsylvania, was the Hill family. They located near the site of Salem in West- moreland county. Here the father was cap- tured by Indians and carried to Hickory Flats above Oil City, this State, where he was tortured to death. He left three children : John, Jacob and Hannah. John Hill, the eldest son, was born in 1772, and erected a grist and saw- mill on Beaver run. The grist-mill supplied the settlement with grinding for a radius of twenty miles, and was often run on Sunday dur- ing low water to accommodate settlers who had camped with their grists to await their turns. He afterwards built grist-mills on the Alle- gheny and the Kiskiminetas rivers, and in 1812 came to Gilpin township, this county, where he planted an orchard of one thousand apple trees. He manufactured wooden moldboard plows, and was a successful farmer. He was appointed as a commissioner to clear out the Kiskiminetas river. He was a lutheran, and an honest and upright man, and died January 9, 1848. He married Elizabeth Waltz, who died October 13, 1817, and left him ten children: Mary, Eliza- beth, John, Jacob, Levi, Eli, Daniel, Hiram, Israel and Deborah. He married for his sec- ond wife Susan Ammon, who lived to the ad- vanced age of ninety years. Of his second marriage were born nine children : Hetty, Leah, John, Ammon, Charlotte, Philip, Sarah, Noah and Salem. Of the first wife's children, Eli
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