USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 61
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 61
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
Amanda and Hannah E., wives of William and Francis Bedker, of Kansas. Those deceased were Diana E. (Timms), Catherine, Amelia and Lavina.
William P. Townsend was reared on a farm and received his education in the old subscrip- tion and early free schools of the county. Leav- ing school, he was engaged for some time in farming and then embarked in the mercantile business at Dam No. 3, which he followed for several years. He left merchandising to pur- chase the packet-boat "Indiana," which he ran two years and then re-embarked in the mercan- tile business. In 1880 he came to Leechburg, where he engaged in his present grocery, queens- warc and cutlery business. His store room is commodious and well arranged for the large stock of goods which he displays. His aim has been to please and satisfy his customers, and how well he has succeeded is attested by the popular- ity of his house and the large trade which he enjoys. He is a democrat in political opinion. He is conspicuous for promptness and energy and is well qualified for the business in which he is engaged.
December 23, 1851, he married Belle Claw- son, a daughter of Peter Clawson, the grand- father of Sheriff Lucian Clawson, of Westmore- land county. They have been the parents of seven children : Thomas T., born October 19, 1852, an excellent machinist and in the employ of the Westinghouse company, of Pittsburgh ; Lucy N., born December 12, 1854, and wife of Lewis Clawson; Daniel H., born December 27, 1857; Joseph T., who died in 1889; Kate, Eva, wife of Rev. W. J. Miller, pastor of the First Lutheran church of Leechburg; and William S., who was born February 16, 1869, and is en- gaged with the wholesale grocery house of R. C. Orr, of Pittsburgh, Pa.
T
THOMAS J. VAN GIESEN, ex-sheriff and
ex-district attorney of Forest county and a successful member of the Armstrong county bar, now resident of Leechburg, is a self-made man and has been pre-eminently the architect of his own fortune. He was born on his father's farm, in President township, Venango county, Pennsylvania, June 2, 1840, and is the son of Thomas J., Sr., and Rhoda (Crane) Van Giesen. The family traces its American ancestry to New Jersey, where John Van Gicsen, the pater- nal grandfather of Thomas J. Van Giesen, was born and reared. He served in the war of 1812, and afterwards removed to Venango county, where he followed farming until his death, which occurred when he was eighty-three years of age. He married in New Jersey and had two chil- dren : Thomas J., Sr., and Lettie, who mar- ricd and lived in New Jersey until her death. Thomas J. Van Giesen, Sr. (father), was born in Essex county, New Jersey, in 1797 and removed, in 1838, to President township, Ve- nango county, where he purchased a farm on the left bank of the Allegheny river and resided until his death, in 1849. He was an upright and God-fearing man of Quaker belief, who was of unassuming disposition, but firm in his convictions of right and duty. In political matters he affiliated with the Whig party. He was a man who strictly attended to his own busi- ness affairs. He married Rhoda Crane, a daugh- ter of Thomas Crane, of New Jersey, and reared a family of six sons and seven daughters. Mrs. Van Giesen died in 1853, aged fifty-two years.
Thomas J. Van Giesen was reared on the home farm until he was thirteen years of age, when, both of his parents being dead, he went out into the world to fight the battle of life for him- self. Without either friends or influence, he worked at whatever a boy could secure, and after being employed on a farm two or three years, he went, when only sixteen years of age, to the oil region, where he became an oil driller. When the late war commenced he left that business,
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
enlisted as a private, on August 19, 1861, in Co. G, 83d regiment, Pa. Vols., and served until 1865, when he was mustered out as first lieu- tenant of his company. He was twice wounded, the first time severely at Malvern Hill and the second time was struck in the head by a bullet, in front of Petersburg, on the 19th of June, 1864. At the close of the war he returned to the oil region, where he was engaged for several years in the oil business. In 1871 lie removed to Forest county, of which he was elected sheriff in 1873. At the end of his term of office he read law, was admitted to the bar in 1878, and four years later was elected district attorney of that county. He discharged the duties of that office in a very acceptable manner. When his term expired (1885) he removed to Edenburg, Clarion county, where he practiced his profes- sion successfully for three years. He then cameto Leechburg, where he is rapidly building up a good practice.
December 22, 1868, he married Cynthia E. Sloan, daughter of Samuel S. Sloan, a promi- neut contractor of Tionesta, Pa. They have three children living : Anna Maud, T. Lee, and W. R. Dunn. Mrs. Van Giesen is a mem- ber of the M. E. church. She is an active business woman, and couducts a large millinery store at Leechburg.
Thomas J. Van Giesen is a member and the class leader of the M. E. church of Leech- burg: He is a republican in politics, a strong and active worker in the cause of temperance, and a member of Forest Lodge, No. 184, A. O. U. W., and Leechburg Council, No. 1045, Royal Arcanum. He is one of the many veter- ans of the Army of the Potomac, who have their names on the roll of the Grand Army of the Republic. Three of his brothers were in the army with him : John H., who was a sergeant, was twice wounded and died in a Confederate prison ; Charles C. and Ira. Mr. Vau Giesen is a plain, unassuming man, a good lawyer and a respected citizen.
M ARTIN LUTHER WANAMAKER, the proprietor of the gas fitters' supply store at Leechburg, is a son of John and Margaret (Wegley) Wanamaker, and was born at Leech- burg, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, Febru- ary 12, 1849. His great-grandfather, Wana- maker, was born iu Germany, but emigrated from the Fatherland to Westmoreland county, where he afterwards died. His son, Henry Wanamaker (grandfather), was born in 1792, and in 1813 removed to Allegheny township, this county, and bought a farm on which he remained until his death. He was a quiet, in- dustrious farmer and was one of the elders of Zion Evangelical Lutheran church when it was organized. He married Susannah Silves, and died August 7, 1860, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. Mrs. Wanamaker was born in 1794, and died January 14, 1880, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. They had ten children : John, Elizabeth, Annie, Cyrus, James, Henry, Joseph, George, Esther and Caroline. The eldest son, John Wanamaker (father), was born on his father's farm, about four miles west of Leechburg, February 22, 1812, and during his youth worked on the farm. He learned the trade of cabinet-maker and about 1840 engaged in the furniture and undertaking business at Leechburg. In 1850 he sold his furniture establishment and embarked in the general mer- cantile business, which he followed for some time. He then became proprietor of a 'drug store, which he conducted for eight or ten years. In 1870 he formed a partnership with his son, M. L. Wanamaker, and engaged in the furni- ture business. Nine years later he retired from the business and for the last ten years has lived a retired life. Some twelve years ago he was bitten by a dog and has suffered considerably from the bite, which has never healed. He is a member of the general council of the Evangeli- cal Lutherau church, and is devoted to the interests of the Democratic party. On May 31, 1838, he married Margaret Wegley, who is a
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BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
daughter of John and Catherine (Bcck) Wegley, and was born January 25, 1814, in Burrell township, of which her parents were early settlers. To Mr. and Mrs. Wanamaker have been born seven children : Mary Ann, born July 28, 1839, and died May 11, 1863 ; James, boru June 21, 1841, and died the same year ; Sarah, born July 2, 1842, and died the same year; Eliza, born June 23,1844, and married to Henry Byrer, of Shelby, Ohio; Emma, born October 21, 1847, wife of Levi Hill ; Martin Luther, and Elizabeth, born October 4, 1851, and wife of Joseph Bowers, of Leechburg, now dealing in oil in Venango county.
Martin L. Wanamaker attended the public schools of Leechburg, and then engaged with his father in the furniture business. From 1877 to 1879 he conducted a photographic gallery in connection with his furniture estab-
lishment. In 1879 he and his father disposed of the furniture store, and he engaged in the confectionery business, on Market street. On January 1,1889, he opened a general gas fitters' supply store, and has since been engaged in gas. fitting. He has secured a large patronage and is constantly increasing his trade.
February 4, 1880, he united in marriage with Sarah Jane Artman, daughter of John Artman, of Armstrong county. Mr. and Mrs. Wana- maker have two children : Emma Irene and Effa Thirza.
Originally Mr. Wanamaker was a democrat, but joined the Republican party in 1884, cast- . ing his first republican vote for James G. Blaine. He is a good business man and fine. mechanic, being fully up to the times in every- thing connected with his present line of busi- ness.
FREEPORT.
Historical and Descriptive .- Freeport is a prosperous borough situated on the west bank of the Allegheny river, twenty-eight miles north of Pittsburgh, at the confluence of Buffalo creek with the above-named river. It was laid out by William and David Todd in 1796, and was in- corporated as a borough on April 8, 1833. It is supposed that a detachment of the French soldiers who evacuated Fort Duquesne in 1758 camped on its site for several months. Prior to 1792 Craig's block-house was built on what is now Water street, and but a short distance down the river stood Reed's Station, near which the In- dians captured Mrs. Massey Harbison, whose captivity and sufferings have so often been related in the histories of the frontier. In 1807 it contained but eight houses, but boat- building was inaugurated that year by Captain Edward Hart, of Boston, and by 1832 it con- tained over fifty dwellings. The Pennsylvania canal was then constructed through the town, and it increased rapidly in population and wealth, until its growth was checked for a time by the closing of the canal. Its present pros- perity dates from the building of the West Pennsylvania railroad through it, and the con- struction of the Butler Branch of the above- named railroad. In 1820 salt-water and oil were obtained in a well sunk on the Allegheny river just opposite the borough, and in 1857 - J. A. Mccullough and W. S. Ralston shut off the salt-water and began pumping the oil. From 1830 to 1855 ice-cutting for the southern market was prosecuted very successfully. The post-office was established in 1806, with Jacob
Weaver as postmaster. Its population from 1850 to 1880 is given by the census reports as follows: 1,073, 1,701, 1,640, and 1,614. In 1855 it had two schools running five and one-half months, with four teachers and an enrollment of four hundred and sixty-five pupils. Free- port was the prospective capital in 1845 of the then projected county of Madison.
Freeport was first known as Toddstown, but David Todd, its founder, had intended the town to always be a free port for all river craft, and accordingly named it Freeport, under which name it was incorporated. The first physician was Dr. C. G. Snowden, who came in 1830, and the earliest resident lawyer was James Stewart. In 1855 Williamson & Rhey established a distillery, which in 1866 passed into the hands of Guckenheimer Bros., whose Freeport distil- leries to-day constitute the largest manufactur- ing liquor plant in the United States. Their plant covers thirty acres of ground, and has a capacity of five thousand gallons of whiskey per day. They employ one hundred and fifty men, and use twelve hundred bushels of rye every twenty-four hours.
The Presbyterian church was organized prior to 1825. The Associate Presbyterian and St. Mary's Catholic churches were formed about 1826. The Baptist was organized December 11, 1830. The Methodist Episcopal in 1833, the Lutheran, 1835, aud the Associate Reformed in 1850. Freeport numbers among its prominent industries the Long lumber and planing mills, the Freeport planing mill, and the Freeport flouring mills.
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
BIOGRAPHICAL.
J AMES W. CRAIG, treasurer and general
manager of the Buffalo Milling company, and one of the energetic business men of Free- port, was born in Westmoreland county, Pa., Jan- uary 10, 1844, and is a son of Isaac and Mar- garet (Wolf) Craig. His paternal grandfather, Alexander Craig, was born and reared in Ire- land, from which he emigrated to the United States when he was a young man. He located in Venango county, where he was engaged in farming until his death. His son, Isaac Craig (father), was born in 1807. After he grew up to manhood he removed to Westmoreland county and purchased a packet-boat, which lie ran for many years between Hollidaysburg and Pittsburgh, on the old Pennsylvania canal. He was a life-long democrat and died at Blairsville, Indiana county, on May 28, 1866. He mar- ried Margaret Wolf, who was born at Blairs- ville in 1817. She is a member of the Method- ist Episcopal church, and resides now at Freeport. To Mr. and Mrs. Craig were born ten children, of whom six are living.
From two years of age until manhood James W. Craig was reared on a farm near Chambersburg, in Franklin county. He re- ceived his education in the public schools of Chambersburg, and was variously employed until 1878, when he came to Freeport. He secured a position on the telegraph repair line along the West Pennsylvania railroad. At the end of two years' service in that capacity he was given a position in the motive power de- partment, which he held till 1886. He was then employed as an engineer by the Buffalo Milling company, and after one year's faithful service as suchi he was made treasurer and general manager of the company, which posi- tion he still occupies.
On October 1, 1868, he united in marriage with Mary C. Shuman, daughter of Adam Shuman, of Franklin county, Pa. To this
union has been born one child, a daughter : Emma U.
James W. Craig has always been a democrat, and is now serving as treasurer of the school board of South Buffalo township, on whose territory he really resides, although he is in one of the unincorporated suburbs of Freeport. He is a member and deacon of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and a member of Freeport. Lodge, No. 379, I. O. O. F. He is a stock- holder in the Buffalo Milling company, which, under his successful management, has acquired a large and extensive trade.
TAMES EDGHILL, M.D., a graduate of C the University of Oxford, England, a man of intelligence and culture, and a thoughtful, observant and successful physician of Freeport, was born in Yorkshire, England, November 29, 1850, and is a son of Rev. James and Car- oline (McCaskey) Edghill. His paternal grand - father Edghill, and his maternal grandfather, McCaskey, were both natives of England, and farmers by occupation. His father, Rev. James Edghill, was born and reared in Yorkshire, where he received his education in the Morav- ian training-school. He then fitted himself for the work of the Christian ministry in the Moravian church. After many years of active pastoral labors, during which he had charge of several important churches, he retired from regular ministerial work, and now resides in his native county. He married Caroline McCaskey, of Yorkshire, and to them were born seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the third in order of age.
James Edghill was reared in Yorkshire, where he received his elementary education in the Moravian institute. He then entered the University of Oxford, and was graduated from that famous and grand old institution of learn- ing in 1875. After graduating he was var- iously employed in his native country until
.
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
1884, when he came to the United States and entered the Homeopathic Medical school, of Cleveland, Ohio. He took the full three years' course, and was graduated with high standing in the class of 1887. While pursuing his med- ical studies he also attended the homœopathic hospital, and, by actual practice during the last year of his course as an assistant, derived much valuable experience in the treatment of diseases.
The next year after graduating, Dr. Edghill came to Freeport, where he has been engaged ever since in the active and successful practice of his profession. He is an affable and honor- able gentleman, of fine education and good address. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
J AMES S. GALLAHER, general agent for the widely-known Barnes Safe and Lock company, is one of Freeport's active and useful business men. He is a son of James J. and Susan (McCoach) Gallaher, and was born near Dayton, in Wayne township, Armstrong coun- ty, Pennsylvania, December 19, 1855. Of the farming class of county Donegal, Ireland, was James Gallaher, the grandfather of James S. Gallaher. In 1825, James Gallaher came to Wayne township, where he died on his farm, in Dec., 1868, aged seventy-two years. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, of which his wife and all of his children were members. His son, James J. Gallaher, was born in county Donegal, in 1821, and died in Wayne township, Dec. 30, 1876. He was an extensive farmer, an active worker in the Prot- cstant Episcopal church, and was an ardent sup- porter of the Democratic party. He was a prominent man in his community and township, and married Susan McCoach, who was born in county Donegal, in 1830, and was brought, when six months old, by her parents, to Wayne township. She is an episcopalian in religious faith, and resides on the home farm.
James S. Gallaher was reared on the farm, and received his education in the common schools and Dayton academy. Leaving school, he was engaged in farming until 1878, when he contracted a spell of sickness from exposure in threshing and hulling clover seed. He was thus unfitted for business for nearly a year. In 1879 he opened a livery stable at Kittanning, which he conducted until 1886, when he en- gagcd as a general agent with the Barnes Safe & Lock company, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and has held that position until the present time. In April, 1888, he came to Freeport, where he has resided ever since. He owns two farms in the county, upon which he has tenant farmers. He is also engaged in oil production, and has a number of paying wells besides being interested in several other business enterprises.
He united in marriage, on June 5, 1887, with Sarah A. Jones, daughter of Michael and Sarah Jones, of Kittanning, this county.
James S. Gallaher is a vestryman of Free- port Protestant Episcopal church, and a mem- ber of Freeport Lodge, No. 379, I. O. O. F. He is a good business man, and has always been popular with the public and all with whom he has had dealings. He is a democrat politically. In 1882, Mr. Gallaher was honored by his party with the nomination for sheriff, and such was his popularity, that he came within one hundred and eighty-five votes of being successful, when Armstrong county was republican .by fifteen hundred majority.
TSAAC GUCKENHEIMER, one of the young, progressive business men of Pitts- burgh and the general superintendent at Free- port of A. Guckenheimer & Bros., distilleries, the largest manufacturing liquor plant in the United States, is a son of Asher and Ida (Wise) Guckenheimer, and was born in Allegheny, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, May 4, 1862. Asher Guckenheimer was born in 1825, in
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
Germany, where he was reared to manhood and where he married Ida Wise. In 1853 he came to Allegheny city, this State, where he was engaged for five years in droving. He next embarked in the wholesale grocery business, which he followed but a short time and then became a member of the present firm of A. Guckenheimer & Bros. They engaged in the jobbing liquor business and their trade soon became so extensive that, to fill their orders, they had to purchase and oper- ate a distillery at Freeport. As their trade increased the small five-barrel distillery was replaced by a larger distillery, and to it has been added several more distilleries until to-day A. Guckenheimer & Bros. are the largest distillers of rye whiskies in the United States. They have increased their plant until it covers over thirty acres of ground and has a capacity of five thousand gallons of whiskey per day. They employ one hundred and fifty men and use twelve hundred bushels of rye every twenty- four hours. These distilleries consist of a splendid series of buildings, equipped with all the latest apparatus and machinery used in liquor manufacturing, and including five pow- erful steam engines. The finest of grain is used and a liquor is made that has no superior in the market for purity. In addition to this plant they have, in Butler county and opposite Free- port, one of the handsomest distilleries in the United States. This distillery is operated un- der the name of the Pennsylvania Distilling company. A. Guckenheimer & Bros. have their offices at Nos. 93 and 95 First avenue, Pittsburgh. Their house has a well-established reputation not only throughout the United States, but also in Europe and South America, to which continents they export vast quantities of their double copper-distilled pure rye whis- key. Asher Guckenheimer is a democrat and resides in Allegheny city. His record as one of the leading and successful liquor business men of the United States is unparalleled in the history of this State.
Isaac Guckenheimer was reared in Allegheny and received his education in the Western uni- versity of that city and the New York college of New York city. Leaving college, he en- gaged in the liquor business with his father and has worked his way up to his present important position of general superintendent of the distil- leries at Freeport.
On October 12, 1887, Mr. Guckenheimer united in marriage with Mamie L. Garson, daughter of Leopold Garson, of Rochester, N. Y., who is the senior member of the firm of Garson, Kerngood & Co., one of the largest clothing manufacturing firms of the Empire State.
In politics Mr. Guckenheimer is a democrat and has served twice as a delegate to State democratic conventions. He is a member of Armstrong Lodge No. 239, F. & A. M., and resides in Allegheny city.
N TICHOLAS ISEMAN, one of the proprie- tors of one of Freeport's large flour and feed stores, prospected successfully for gold in California in 1856 and served faithfully as a Union soldier in the late war. He is a son of George and Susan Iseman, and was born in South Buffalo township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1836. Nicholas Iseman (grandfather) was of German origin and came, at an early day, from eastern Pennsyl- vania into what is now South Buffalo township, where he died on his farm, in 1839, at sixty years of age. George Iseman (Nicholas' father) was born in 1801 and died July 23, 1861. He was a life-long resident and prosperous farmer of South Buffalo township. He was a lutheran and a democrat and married Susan Hollibaugh, a native of South Buffalo township and a mem- ber of the Lutheran church, who died April 29, 1864, aged 55 years, 6 months and 20 days. Their family consisted of six sons and five
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
daughters, of whom two daughters and three sons are living.
Nicholas Iseman was reared on the home farm. He attended the common schools and at twenty years of age he went to California, where he was one of the few who were successful in gold-mining. After a stay of two years in the Golden State he returned home, where he was engaged in farming until Feb. 28, 1864, when he enlisted in Co. I., 14th Pa. Cavalry. He was in all the engagements of his regiment from the time he enlisted until the war closed. He was honorably discharged at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, July 31, 1865, returned home and was variously employed until 1879, when he made a second trip to California, but remained only eighteen months. At the end of that time he returned home again, and in 1883 engaged in his present flour and feed business at Freeport.
October 19, 1858, he united in marriage with Eliza Frantz, daughter of Isaac Frantz, of South Buffalo township, this county. To this union were born seven children, two sons and five daughters ; Annie E., Etta E., Rebecca M., William A., Minnie O., Maurice E. and Hattie B. Mrs. Iseman died December 2, 1878, aged thirty-eight years, two months and twelve days.
Nicholas Iseman is a member of Henry A. Weaver Post, No. 32, G. A. R., at Freeport. He is a straight republican in politics and has been a councilman of his borough since 1888. His flour and feed store is on Market street. He does a good business, has a large and paying patronage and is popular as a business man.
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