USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 74
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 74
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
In 1856 he married, and his wife died soon after marriage. In 1858 he married a Miss Barrel. To this second union have been born two children : Stephen, Jr., born in 1860; and Mary, born in 1862.
Stephen Jones has been an earnest supporter of the principles of the Republican party since his residence in this country. He has carefully reared his children; trained them to habits of industry and economy, and given them the ad- vantages of a good practical education. His life has been one of continual activity and hon- est hard labor. Although past his four-score years, he still exercises an active supervision over his farm and all other property which he owns. His rule through life has been to de- pend upon himself, and his success attests how well he has practiced that rule.
JOHN T. KIRKPATRICK, one of the oldest merchants in the county and post- master of Barnard' s ever since its establishment as a post-office in 1861, is a son of David and Mary (Thompson) Kirkpatrick and was born near Freeport, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, in August, 1823. The Kirkpatricks are Scotch- Irish. James Kirkpatrick (grandfather) was born in Cumberland county, from whence he moved in early life to Westmoreland county, where he lived a few years. In 1798 he located in Plum Creek township (now Cowanshan- nock). When living on Cherry run, near Elderton, his house was attacked by Indians and two of its inmates were killed, while a young child was wounded, but its mother made her escape with it to Loyalhanua, Westmore- land county, where it died. James Kirkpat- rick was a farmer by occupation, a whig in pol- itics and an active member and elder of the first Presbyterian church organized at Glade run, near Dayton. He married Mary Larimer and to their union were born eight children, four · sons and four daughters. One of these sons,
James, Jr., served in the war of 1812 and another son, David Kirkpatrick (father), was born in 1778, in Westmoreland county. He came to Plum Creek township, Armstrong county, with his father, and engaged in farm- ing. He died in 1844, when he was in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was a whig iu politics, a member of the Presbyterian church, and married for his first wife Elizabeth Varns, by whom he had two children: William and James. Mrs. Kirkpatrick died aud Mr. Kirk- patrick married Mary Thompson, a daughter of John and Jaue (Riddle) Thompson. To this second union were born eight children, of whom one, Robert B., enlisted in 1861, in the 78tlı regiment, Pa. Vol. Infantry, and served three years. Mrs. Mary Kirkpatrick's father, Jolın Thompson, was a native of Allegheny county, to which his father had come from Ireland. John Thompson was a farmier and a whig and mar- ried Jane Riddle, by whom he had three chil- dren. His wife died and he married for his second wife a Miss Breckenridge, who bore him eight children, three sons and five daughters.
John T. Kirkpatrick was reared on a farm and received his education in the subscription schools of his day. He commenced life as a clerk at Smicksburg, but afterward went to Kittanning and entered the employ of a merchant, with whom he remained until his father's death, in 1844. He tlien opened a gen- eral mercantile store at Barnard's, where he has continued in that line of business ever since. He has a heavy stock of merchandise, enjoys a good trade from a large section of country and was appointed postmaster of Barnard's, when that post-office was established in 1861. In addition to his mercantile business, Mr. Kirk- patrick is engaged, to some extent, in farming in Cowanshannock township, where he owns one hundred and six acres of land.
He married Sarah McGaughey, daughter of John McGaughey, of Wayne township. To their union has been born one child, John M.
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
John T. Kirkpatrick is a member of Glade Run Presbyterian church and a republican in political opinion. Half a century of experience as a clerk and a merchant has well qualified Mr. Kirkpatrick for the mercantile business, in which he has always been honest and honorable.
CALVIN P. MCADOO, M.D., one of At- wood's well-read and most successful phys- icians, is a son of Dr. John E. and Hannah (McCune) McAdoo, and was born in Cowan- shannock township, Armstrong county, Penn- sylvania, March 12, 1849 .. John McAdoo, grandfather of Dr. Calvin P. McAdoo, was in all probability a native of Indiana county, from whence he removed to Armstrong county, where he was engaged in farming until his death. One of his sons, Dr. John E. McAdoo (father), was born in Indiana county, graduated from Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia, and afterwards moved to Ohio, where he prac- ticed medicine till his death. He was a repub- lican in politics and married Mrs. Hannah (McCune) McCreery. They had one child, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. McAdoo's father, Christopher McCune, was a native of Ireland, and settled in Indiana county, where he en- gaged in farming and in the mercantile busi- ness at Plumville, at which place he afterwards died. He was a member of the United Pres- byterian church and a republican in politics, and served as a justice of the peace for several years. Mrs. McAdoo's first husband was Wil- liam McCreery, and they had two children : Margaret, who married a Mr. Des Moines (now deceased), and is a matron in a State Normal school ; and Mary, the wife of James Duff.
Calvin P. McAdoo was reared in his native township and after completing the full course of study at Rural Valley academy, read medicine with Dr. J. W. Morrow, of Atwood. He then practiced for a short time under Dr. Smith, of Apollo, and afterwards entered the medical de-
partment of Wooster University of Cleveland, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated in 1882. Immediately after graduation he came to Atwood, where he has successfully prac- ticed his profession ever since.
He married Charlotte Wagner, daughter of Jolın Wagner, of Washington township, Indi- ana county. Their union has been blessed with six children, three sons and three daughters : Nancy V., married to William Earhart, of At- wood, and has one child, Glenard Cloyde; Charles, John, Margaret, Harry and Winona.
Dr. Calvin P. McAdoo is a democrat in poli- tics and a member of the United Presbyterian church of Atwood. He enjoys a good practice at Atwood and in its surrounding section of country.
DAVID MCCULLOUGH. A much-missed citizen and business man of Atwood is the late David McCullough, who was a wounded veteran of the 14th Pa. Cavalry. He was a son of David and Elizabeth (George) McCul- lough, and was born in Plum Creek township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, November 8, 1824. The Mccullough family is of Scotch descent and one of its members, David McCul- lough, Sr. (grandfather), a native of Scotland, emigrated from Scotland to Pennsylvania, where he settled in Indiana county. He there, in 1782, married Hannah Rutherford and one of their sons was David Mccullough, Jr. (father), who was born January 3, 1817. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church, a democrat in politics and at one time served as constable of his township. He mar- ried Elizabeth George, a daughter of Alexander George, a native of Ircland and a farmer of Plum Creek township. To David McCul- lough, Jr., and his wife were born seven chil- dren : John, born' September, 1822, and is a farmer of near Elderton ; David, Alexander, boru December 30, 1826 ; Robert, born May 1,
33
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
1829, now living near Elderton ; William, born April 23, 1831; Jackson, born May 2, 1835; and James born June 10, 1837.
David McCullough was reared on the home farm and received a good common business education, after which he learned the trade of blacksmith. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. K, 14th regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry, as a blacksmith and farrier, although he partici- pated in most of the battles in which his regiment was engaged. He was wounded in the shoulder in the battle of Gilmore's Mill June 13, 1863, and was mustered out June 2, 1865. Returning from the army, he resumed blacksmithing, which he followed until his death. He passed away on October 15, 1889, after a life of honest and honorable toil. He was suc- cessful in his business and had acquired a farm of ninety acres adjoining Atwood, upon which his widow now resides.
On August 12, 1856, he married Jane Dow- ney, a daughter of Jacob Downey, who was born in Indiana county, where he followed blacksmithing. He was a republican in politics, a member of the United Presbyterian church, and married Elizabeth Cannon, by whom he had eight children; of whom five are living : Jolın, of Jacksonville, who served in a Pennsylvania volunteer regiment during the late civil war ; Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Spence, of Wayne township ; Jane, Isabelle, who married John Neil, a farmer of Indiana county ; and Mary. To David and Jane Mccullough have been born seven children, three sons and four daughters : Mary T., wife of Elder Kebbler, a farmer of Indiana county ; Anna B. (deceased) ; Eliza- beth D. (deceased) ; Abraham Lincoln, a car- riage manufacturer of Dayton ; Samuel G., Martha B. (deceased) ; and David H.
David McCullough was a republican in poli- tics, a member of the United Presbyterian church and a man who was well respected by his neighbors.
J
AMES D. McLEAN, now prominent in the
political and business life at Atwood, is one of the Union soldiers who were confined in Libby prison during the late war. He is a son of Alexander and Mary (Duncan) McLean, and was born in Cowanshannock township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1837. He is of Scotch descent and his great- grandfather, James McLean, came from Scot- land to Pennsylvania, where he settled in Indi- ana county, near Livermore. He was a farmer by occupation and a strong opponent of the Democratic party. He served as justice of the peace for a number of years and was a member of the old Seceder church. He married a Miss Miller and to their union were born seven chil- dren, three sons and four daughters. The sons were : John, Col. Alexander and Samuel. Col. Alexander McLean commanded a regi- ment of Pennsylvania troops in the war of 1812. John McLean (grandfather) was born on his father's farm near Livermore, and in 1813 removed to Jefferson county, Indiana, where hc was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in August, 1828, wlien he was in the sixtieth year of his age. He was a whig in politics, a member of the Seceder church and married Rachel Matthews (who died in 1826), by whom he had eiglit children, four sons and four daughters. One of these sons, Alexander McLean (father), was born on the old homestead farm in Indiana county, Septem- ber 25, 1810, and removed with his father, three years afterwards, to Indiana. In 1829 he returned to Indiana county, and in 1835 moved to Plum Creek township (now Cowan- shannock), where he cleared out a farm upon which he now resides. He was a whig and is now a republican in politics. He has served as supervisor and tax-collector of Cowanshannock township. Hehasheld membership since 1830, in the United Presbyterian church, of which he has been an elder for fifty years. He married Mary Duncan, who bore him five children, four
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
sons and one daughter. Of these sons, Ebene- zer enlisted in 1864, in Co. K, 14th regiment, Pa. Cavalry, and died the following year in the hospital at Frederick City, and Samuel enlisted in 1861, in Co. E, 11th regiment, Pa. Reserves, and was killed in the battle of Gaines' Mill, 1862. John McLean, the oldest son, is a farmer and Dorcas, the daughter, is living with her brother J. D. Mrs. McLean died in 1842, and in 1843, Mr. McLean married for liis second wife Rebecca McCausland, who died in 1849. To this second marriage were born three chil- dren : David M., Mary and W. H. McLean. In 1853, Mr. McLean married Margaret Gil- lespie, and to this third union have been born three children : Nancy J., Sarah E. and Mattie J. Mrs. Mary McLean was a daughter of Thomas Duncan (maternal grandfather), a na- tive of eastern Pennsylvania, and a weaver by trade. He came to Armstrong county, where he engaged in farming. He married Dorcas Todd, who bore him seven children, three sons and four daughters.
James D. McLean was reared in Cowanshan- nock township, attended the common schools of that township, the normal school at Indiana and Rural Valley academy, and taught two terms. In 1861 he enlisted in Co. A, 78th regiment, Pa. Vols., and served three years, two months and three days in the Army of the Cumberland. During the battle of Stone River he was taken prisoner and sent to Libby Prison, where he was held thirty-one days. After he was dis- charged he returned home and engaged in farm- ing, but finding his strength insufficient for that occupation, embarked, in 1870, in the mercan- tile business at Atwood. He has a large and well-assorted stock of general merchandise, and, by fair and honest dealing, he lias succeeded in building up a substantial trade.
May 27, 1865, he married Amanda McCaus- land, daughter of James McCausland, of Cow- anshannock township. To their union have been born seven children : Sarah, married to
Samuel Cuddy, a carpenter of Pittsburgh ; Mary L., Samuel A., Porter D., at home ; James M., died in 1873; Dorcas B. L., who died in 1876 ; and Reed A., who died in 1882.
Politically, Mr. McLean is a republican and is now serving as justice of the peace, school director and councilman of the borough of At- wood. He is a member of the United Presby- terian church, of which he has been a trustee for several years. Heisa member of Anderson Post, No. 149, Grand Army of the Republic, of Rural Valley.
A NTHONY MONTGOMERY is a care- ful and prosperous farmer of South Bend township. The Montgomery family is of Irish descent. Anthony Montgomery's father was born in Ireland on May 10, 1790, and came from the Emerald Isle to Greensburg, West- moreland county, in 1800, near which he was en- gaged in farming until his death. He married a Miss Woodward, daughter of Absalom Wood- ward. To their union were born nine children, of whom six are living, four sons and two daughters. Two of these children are Isabella C. and Anthony, the subject of this sketch.
Anthony Montgomery was reared on his father's farm, and attended the subscription schools of South Bend township. He has been a farmer all his life, and by patient toil and frugality has established himself in comfortable circumstances. He owns a one-half interest in the homestead, of one hundred and eighty acres, which is well cultivated. He and his sister Isabella live in the old homestead farm- house. He manages his farm very successfully and raises considerable stock. He makes a specialty of fine horses.
Isabella Montgomery owns one-half of the homestead farm, which is cultivated by her brother Anthony. She is a woman of consid- erable business tact, and has accumulated suffi- cient means to be able to live in comfort. Slie
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
takes an active interest in all matters affecting the community in which she resides.
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SMITH NEAL, one of the largest land- holders of eastern Armstrong county, and a prominent and influential member of the United Presbyterian church in Cowanshannock township, was born in Butler county, Pa., January 25, 1822, and is a son of Robert and Sarah (Love) Neal. The Neal family is of Ger- man descent, and one of its members, Henry Neal (great-grandfather), was a farmer in the Cum- berland Valley, who had three brothers who served in the Colonial army in the Revolu- tion, and were all killed in the battle of Bran- dywine. He married a Miss Smith, by whom he had three sons: William, who settled in Armstrong county ; John, who became a farmer in Butler county, and Smith Neal (grandfather), who was born March 5, 1764, in the Cumber- land Valley, from whence he removed to Butler county. He enlisted in the Colonial army during the Revolution and served one day. He was also a soldier during the war of 1812, and the gun that he carried has been preserved in the family, and is now in the possession of his grandson and namesake, the subject of this sketch. In 1833, Smith Neal removed to Armstrong county, where he purchased a farm, which he cultivated until his death, August 5, 1863, when he was in the one hundredth year of his age. He was a millwright by trade, a whig in politics, and a member of the Seceder church. He married Sarah Cochran, and they had one son, Robert Neal (father), who was born July 5, 1795. Robert Neal was a farmer of Butler county until 1834, when he bought a farm iu Arm- strong county. He was a member of the Seceder church until his death, December 24, 1863. He was a whig and afterwards a repub- lican ; was the first inspector of elections in his township. He married Sarah Love, by whom he had five children, three sons and two
daughters : William H., married Eliza Stuchel, and resides near Marion ; Rosetta P., wife of Thomas H. Marshall, a merchant and farmer of Dayton ; Alexander, who went to California ; Neal, and Mary J. (deceased), who married James Hanagan, and after his death married James Temple, of Iowa.
Smith Neal was reared on his father's farm, attended the subscription schools of his neigh- borhood, and has been engaged in farmiug ever since leaving school. Besides his Cowanshan- nock township farm of two hundred acres, lie also owns the home farm of five hundred acres.
On May 25, 1847, he married Margaret Sloan, a daughter of Samucl and Nancy Sloan, old settlers of Plum Creek township. To Mr. and Mrs. Neal have been boru five children, one son and four daughters : Nancy J., now living iu Philadelphia ; Amanda, wife of Johnson Irwin, a carpenter of Denver, Colorado; and Sarah, wife of Samuel Burns, a farmer of Cowanshannock township; Margaret and Alex- ander, who are both dead. Mrs. Neal passed away March 17, 1861, at thirty-nine years of age. On April 10, 1862, Mr. Neal married as his second wife, Caroline Jewert, a daughter of Alexander and Jane (Hickenlooper) Jewert, of Plum Creek township. To this second union were born six children, two sons and four daughters : Loella R., married J. P. Beyer, and after his death became the wife of A. M. Hines, a resident of Harrisburg, and a con- ductor on the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad; L. Adda, wife of John Downey, of New Brighton, who is the inventor of the " Keystone Driller" and a steam-pump; Al- don, married Maggie J. Rankin, and has one child ; Smith, Robert E., Mattie V. and Alice L.
In politics, Smith Neal is a republican, and has held various township offices. He and liis whole family are members of the United Pres- byterian church, of which he has been an elder for at least fifteen years. He represented the
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
Brookville Presbytery in the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian church, held in Philadelphia in 1887.
JOHN M. PETTIGREW, M.D., a skillful and successful physician of Rural Valley and eastern Armstrong county, is a son of Mat- thew and Jane (Windrem) Pettigrew, and was born in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Feb- ruary 28, 1835. The Pettigrews are of Irish descent and John Pettigrew (grandfather) was a farmer in Ireland. His son, Matthew Petti- grew (father), was born in 1801 and settled, when a young man, in Plum creek township, Armstrong county, where he was engaged in farming until his death. He died in 1887, when he was in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He was a democrat in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian church and married Jane Windrem, a daughter of James Windrem, a democrat and presbyterian of Plum Creek township, who was also a native of Ireland. Matthew Pettigrew had seven children, of whom the following five are living: Dr. John M., Sarah, widow of James Sturgeon, and a resident of Elderton; James W., residing on the homestead farm in Plum Creek township; Martha, wife of Josiah Shoemaker, a farmer of Kiskiminetas township; and Dr. Samuel H., a graduate of Jefferson Medical college and a practicing physician at Du Bois, Pa.
Jolin M. Pettigrew was reared on his father's farm, attended the common schools of his native township and Glade Run academy and read medicine with Dr. T. H. Allison, of Elderton. He entered the National Medical college of Washington, D. C., from which he was grad- uated in the class of 1860. He returned to his native State and after practicing at Elderton, Armstrong county, for some time, came to Rural Valley, where he has resided in the active practice of his profession ever since. He has a arge and extensive practice which extends into
the edge of Indiana county. He has prospered materially and now owns some seven hundred acres of well cultivated land in Cowanshannock and adjoining townships. He raises some very fine blooded horses and cattle, and full-blooded merino sheep, and makes a specialty of Jersey cattle and Dolphin and Hambletonian horses. He also has an interest in a lumber company.
On February 20, 1863, he married Cordelia R. McCurdy, daughter of John McCurdy, of Wayne township. They had nine children, three sons and six daughters : Delia J., mar- ried to B. F. Ambrose, a teacher and telegraph operator of Iowa; Matthew M., deceased ; Charlotte M., a graduate of Edinborough Normal school, and a teacher at Rural Valley ; John M., deceased ; Minnie M., at home; Mary deceased ; Blanche M., Martha M., and Bernard Clare at home.
In politics, Dr. Pettigrew is a democrat. He is no politician and, although accepting the office of school director to which he was elected, yet declined a nomination for the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. He is a member of Kittanning Lodge, No 244, Free and Accepted Masons, at Kittanning, and Rural Valley Lodge, No. 766, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Rural village.
W TESLEY PONTIUS, one of the reliable and leading business men of Wayne. township and his section of the county, was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, Sep- tember 15, 1813, and is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Lias) Pontius. His paternal grand- father, John Pontius, was a native of Germany and settled for a time near Philadelphia. He afterwards removed to Huntingdon county, where he remained but a short time and then located permanently in Wayne township Although reared a lutheran, he became a methodist, and in politics was successively a whig and republican. His family consisted of two sons and four
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
daughters. One of these sons was Jacob Pon- tius (father), who was born near Philadelphia. He owned a farm of two hundred acres near Dayton, besides several other tracts of land in the county. He was a methodist and a whig and voted his party ticket when he and one other man were the only whigs in their section of the county. He married Elizabeth Lias, whose father was a German, who removed from eastern Pennsylvania to Huntingdon county, where he followed farming until his death. Mr. and Mrs. Pontius reared a family of nine children.
Wesley Pontius was reared on a farm when the county was but barely past its pioneer days and when farming was accomplished only by the hardest of labor. He attended the schools of that day and worked on the farm until he was almost twenty-one years of age, when his father built a tannery and he learned the trade of tanner. At the death of his father he came into possession of a part of the farm, which he tilled until 1862, when he disposed of all of his land but fifty acres adjoining Dayton, which he still owns. In 1866 a stock company was formed at Dayton, which organized the " Day- ton Soldiers' Orphan School," and he was one of the heaviest stockholders as well as presi- dent for seven years of the board of managers of the company. He also has considerable stock in the Dayton Agricultural association, of which he was manager for a number of years.
He married Jane Traves, daughter of Thomas Traves, of near Dayton. They had three children, of whom two are living : Mary A., who married Rev. J. B. Gray, of the Pitts- burglı M. E. conference and has one child, Earle, who is a young man of bright promise; and Canaretia, wife of Charles H. Grey, a commer- cial traveler of Pittsburgh.
At the present time Mr. Pontius is not ac- tively engaged in any particular line of busi- ness, but gives his time to the management of
his farm, and in looking after his general busi- ness interests. He was a whig until that party went out of existence and remembers distinctly the political campaign of 1840, with its many exciting scenes in Armstrong county, where he voted for General William H. Harrison for President of the United States. He has always given his time to business and especially to edu- cational and agricultural enterprises calculated to benefit Dayton borough and Wayne town- ship. Wesley Pontius is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Dayton, of which he served as a trustee for many years.
TAMES S. RALSTON, a successful farmer,
and one of the leading business men of Armstrong county, is a descendant of two old time-honored families, which have been identi- fied with the history of Plum Creek township since its earliest Anglo-Saxon occupation. James S. Ralston was born at Shelocta, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1835, and is a son of David and Margaret (Sharp) Ralston. In the great westward tide of Scotch-Irish emi- gration that, during the closing years of the eighteenth century, swept over the Alleghenies from the grand old Cumberland Valley into western Pennsylvania, were the ancestors of the Ralston and Sharp families of Armstrong and Indiana counties. David Ralston, Sr., the pa- ternal grandfather of James S. Ralston, was a native of Cumberland county, married, in 1803, Agnes Sharp, the first white child born in the region of the west side of Crooked creek, and located in what is now Plum Creek township, Armstrong county, prior to 1798. In 1809, at a log tavern on the farm now owned by John Ralston, he was mistaken, when he came out of the house after dark, for another person, and was struck on the head with a club by a man lying in wait for the other man. The blow thus inflicted soon caused his death. He left three children : David, John and Mary, who
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