USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 77
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 77
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· Simon Nolf obtained a common-school educa- tion and learned the trade of boat-builder, which he followed for several years. He then purchased his present farm of eighty acres and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. By industry and economy he has succeeded well and has a very desirable and well-improved farm. He also owns the " Nolf House" and three town lots at Putneyville. On October 12, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Co. B, 78th regiment, Pa. Infantry, and served till the close of the war, participating in all the battles in which his regiment was engaged. He was at
Chickamauga, climbed Lookout mountain, served under Gen. Sherman when he commenced the famous " March to the Sea," and then his regi- ment was sent to Gen. Thomas and he was in the great fight that destroyed Hood's army.
On February 14, 1850, he married Savilla Rugh, of Westmoreland county. To their union have been born seven children, two sons and five daughters : Clarissa (deceased) ; Aman- da, Hannah C., Alice A., Turney G., Nancy J. and Lemuel C. (deceased).
In politics Simon Nolf is a democrat. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, while his wife is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church.
TFARVEY PARK, a wounded Union vete- ran soldier of the late civil war and a prosperous farmer of Brady's Bend township, is a son of James and Elizabeth (Duff) Park, and was born at Wilkinsburg, in Sterrett town- ship, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1825. The Park family is of Irish descent, and Mr. Park's paternal grandfather, William Park, emigrated from Ireland to America in 1793, and settled in the Chissococquallis valley, Pa., from whence he removed to Pittsburgh, in 1800. He was a stone-mason by trade, but after he went to Pittsburgh he engaged in farm- ing. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and a Free Mason, and voted the dem- ocratic ticket. He married Mary McCune, and had seven children : John, born in 1794, was a stone-mason in Allegheny city ; David, born in 1798, was a wheelwright and farmer in Beaver county ; William, born in 1800, was a farmer on Sandy Creek, in Allegheny county ; Robert M., born in 1802, was a carpenter, and removed to St: Lonis in 1833 ; Thomas, born in 1804, was a farmer in Allegheny county ; and Jane, who was born in 1806. James Park (father of Harvey Park) was born in 1796, and was a blacksmith by trade. In 1839 he removed to Butler county,
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
where he bought a farm which he cultivated until his death, March 4, 1860. In 1824 he married Elizabeth Duff, by whom he had five children : Harvey, Hettie J., born July 4, 1827, married Thomas Patterson, and died in 1854; William W., born in 1829, and died in 1832; an infant, born in 1836, and died in 1836; and Mary E., born in 1834, and wife of James Beswarick, a miner at Sandy Creek. After the death of his first wife, in 1842, James Park married Mrs. Jane Stewart, in 1848. To
this union were born three children
Mrs.
Elizabeth (Duff) Park, the first wife, was a daughter of John Duff (maternal grandfather), of Allegheny county, who was a soldier during the Revolution, and was wounded while in the service. He was a farmer and moved to Pitts- burgh in 1790. He was a member of the Pres- byterian church and a Free Mason. He had eleven children : James, John, William, George, David, Samuel, Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth, Hettie and Matilda.
Harvey Park attended the subscription schools of Wilkinsburg, from whence he removed to Sunbury, Pa., and afterwards, on September 4, 1853, to Brady's Bend, Armstrong county, where he engaged in wagon-making. August 22, 1862, he enlisted in Co. C, 139th regiment, Pa. Vols., for three years. On July 1, 1863, he was promoted from corporal to sergeant, and on September 2, 1863, to first sergeant. He was transferred to the Vet. Res. corps on De- cember 30, 1864, and was mustered out of the service August 31, 1865. He helped bury the Union dead at Bull's Run, and participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville (where his regiment was complimented by Gen. Wheaton for its gallant service), Gettysburg and all the hard fighting from the Rapidan to Appomattox Court-house. He was wounded in the thigh at Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864, and still carries the ball which struck him. He was also wounded in one of the Wilderness fights and at Spottsylvania.
On May 15, 1849, he married Mary Cum- berland. They had two children : Mina E., born January 22, 1850, and wife of Walter Moody ; and Sylvester J., born May 17, 1853. Mrs. Park died January 31, 1854, and Novem- ber 6, 1856, Mr. Park married Elizabeth My- ers, daughter of Adam Myers, of Brady's Bend. To this second union were born four children : Hortensia, born September 1, 1857, and wife of Melville Rupert, of Indianapolis, Ind .; Cos- tella, born August 31, 1859 ; Cassius M., born September 13, 1860, and died September 22, 1861; and Marion Arminta, born February 13, 1862 and died August 5, 1863. The second wife, Elizabeth (Myers) Park, died April 5, 1863, and on August 1, 1865, Mr. Park mar- ried, for his third wife, Annie E. Slyder, daughter of George Slyder, of York county, Penna.
Harvey Park is a member of T. M. Sedwick Post, No. 294, G. A. R., of East Brady. He is a republican in politics and has filled most of the various township offices.
SAMUEL M. ROBINSON. There are men who, by marked business ability, unweary- ing energy and great success, command them- selves to public attention. To this class, Sanı- uel M. Robinson, of Hovey township, justly belongs. He is a son of Elisha and Elizabeth (Roher) Robinson, and was born on the old homestead farm in Hovey township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1830. The Robinson family is of English descent, and the progenitor of the American branch of the famn- ily was one of the celebrated Pilgrim Fathers, who came over in the Mayflower. One of his descendants, Andrew Robinson (grandfather), married and reared a family, of whom one son was Elisha Robinson (father), who was born in Windham, Connecticut, December;4, 1791. In 1814 he settled in Hovey township, on the farm now owned by the subject of this sketch. He
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
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was a tanner by trade, a democrat in politics, and died October 17, 1874 (see sketch of W. B. Robinson, of Kittanning).
Samuel W. Robinson was reared on the farm on which he was born, and on which he has always resided. He received a good common- school and practical business education, and learned the trade of tanner with his father. He was actively engaged in the tanning busi- ness for twenty years, and at the end of that time embarked in the oil business in Armstrong and adjoining counties. As an oil operator and producer, he has been remarkably successful. Beside the home farm of one huudred and forty- five acres, to which he gives his personal atten- tion, and upon which he built, in 1875, one of the finest brick dwellings in the county, he owns auother well improved and highly pro- ductive farm of two hundred and eight acres of land iu Butler county. In addition to farm- ing, Mr. Robinson deals, to some extent, in stock, and frequently sends fat cattle to the eastern markets.
On September 13, 1860, he married Emma L. Prosser, daughter of Charles Prosser, of Butler county. To their union have been born 7 children, of whom four are living, three sons and one daughter; Charles P., of Pittsburgh, a graduate of Harvard college and law school, and a member of the Allegheny county bar; Elizabeth R., Paul D. and Frederick A.
Samuel M. Robinsou is a democrat in poli- tics, and has held all the offices of Hovey town- ship. He is a member of the Protestant Epis- copal church of Foxburg, of which he is senior warden. For over a quarter of a century Mr. Robinson has been interested in every industry of any importance in northern Armstrong coun- ty, and during that time has projected and car- ried forward to successful completion several large and intricate business enterprises. He is a tireless worker and a close observer, who familiarizes himself with every detail of his business, which he thus keeps well in hand, and
thereby has often escaped heavy losses that otherwise would have overtaken him. Eco- nomical but liberal, exacting in business, but generous in charities, Mr. Robinson is justly regarded as a public-spirited citizen.
ELISHA ROBINSON, a progressive and successful business man of the Allegheny Valley, is a leading citizen of Hovey township, and one of the large landholders of Armstrong and Butler counties. He was born in Hovey township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, December 4, 1832, and is the seventh son and ninth child of a family of ten children born to Elisha and Elizabeth (Rohrer) Robinson. On a dreary December day in the year 1620, a little band of pilgrims who had fled from the relig- ious intolerance and persecution then prevailing iu western Europe, landed on a granite boulder on the shore of Massachusetts bay, and there, in that inhospitable region, amidst discourage- ments and hardships almost intolerable, they planted deeply the tree of political and relig- ious freedom, under whose branches the happy millions of American freemen meet to-day. One member of this pilgrim band that came over in the Mayflower, and landed on "Plym- outh Rock," was the progenitor of the old and well-known Robinson family, of Massachusetts. One of his numerous descendants was Andrew Robinson (grandfather), who settled at Wind- ham, Connecticut, where his son, Elisha Robin- son (father), was born December 4, 1791. Elisha Robinson, in 1814, became oue of the early settlers of Hovey township. He was a man of activity, energy and usefulness, and a detailed account of his business life will be found in the sketch of his son, W. D. Robin- son, of Kittanning. The oil excitement brought Mr. Robinson into prominence iu west- ern Pennsylvania. His farm was soon dotted with oil wells, on which his royalties for leases amounted to as high as twenty thousand bar-
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
rels of oil per month. His integrity was incor- ruptible, and when he passed away (October 17, 1874) he left to his family a spotless reputation as well as his lands and wealth.
Elisha Robinson was reared on the farm on which he now resides, and received his educa- tion in the common schools and Kittanning academy. In 1861 he engaged at the mouth of Tom's run in the general mercantile business, which he followed until 1866, when he came to his present farm. In 1868 he was elected justice of the peace, but resigned after serving three years in order to take charge of his fath- er's oil business, and has been engaged more or less ever since in oil territory and oil produc- ing. His home farm is finely improved, while lis carriage and horse barn is complete through- out, and cannot be surpassed by any to be found in the western part of the State. Mr. Robin- son is a representative and progressive farmer and stock-raiser. He makes a specialty of blooded stock, many of which he purchases in Kentucky and Ohio.
November 22, 1857, Mr. Robinson united in marriage with Caroline Truby, of Brookville, Jefferson county. They have cight children, four sons and four daughters: Annie T., wife of Rev. J. E. Eggert, of Kansas, Illinois; Elisha M., of Pittsburgh, who married, and is engaged in the stone business ; Samuel T., an oil producer and farmer ; Elizabeth R., wife of A. S. Whiteman, superintendent of the Parker City glass-works; Alice M., Earnest W., Olive G. and Chase S. .
Like his father, Mr. Robinson is a democrat, and has served his township as overseer of the poor, school director and justice of the peace. He owns about five hundred acres of productive land in this and the adjoining county of Butler.
In 1857 he united with the Parker City Meth- odist Episcopal church, of which he is one of the oldest members, and its present class leader. Honorable as a business man, and respected as
a citizen, Elisha Robinson is popular in his sec- tion of the county.
TOHN A. SCHOTT. Among the great in- dustries of Pennsylvania is that of oil production, and one of the reliable and success- ful men engaged in that important line of business in the Butler-Armstrong oil belt is Jolin A. Schott, of Brady's Bend. He is a son of Adam and Catherine (Roarbaugh) Schott, and was born at Etman Rhode, Courhessen, Germany, July 4, 1851. His father, Adam Schott, was born in Germany, July 19, 1824. He was a farmer and a land-liolder, and in his youth served three years in the German army. He emigrated from Germany to America, in 1856, and settled in Brady's Bend township, where he still resides, at Snow's Hill. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, at Brady's Bend, in which he has served for many years as an officer, and of whose choir he is the leader. He is a member of the Knights of Honor, at East Brady. He is a republican in politics and lias held various township offices. He married Catherine Roarbaugh, and to their union have been , born five children, four sons and one daughter : Jolın A., Peter, born in 1854, and engaged in coal-mining ; Henry, who was born July 14, 1858, and is now an oil producer; Eliz- abeth, born in 1865, and married S. Story, an oil pumper; and William, who was born in 1867, and is engaged in the butchering business.
John A. Schott was brought by his parents, at five years of age, to Brady's Bend township, where he received his education in the common schools. At eleven years of age he was em- ployed in the coal-mines, where he remained for some time. He then embarked in butcher- ing, which he quit to engage in the oil business. He is now an oil producer, and his wells are located in the Butler and Armstrong belt.
In January, 1877, he united in marriage with Elvira Williams, daughter of James Williams,
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
of Brady's Bend, who, is an extensive farmer and a successful oil producer. To their union have been born seven children : Maud J., born February 22, 1878; Clara K., born May 8, 1879; Mary E., born November 9, 1880; Annie L., born September 30, 1882; Maggie M., born July 31, 1884; Arthur J., born Octo- ber 28, 1886; and Frederick W., born January 15, 1889.
In politics, Mr. Schott is a republican. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and a scarlet degree member of Alpine Lodge, No. 479, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is one of the substantial citizens of his borough and devotes his timc chiefly to his business interests and the management of his different oil wells in Butler and Armstrong counties.
PHILIP SHOEMAKER, a thrifty and prosperous citizen and the owner of one of the best coal farms of Mahoning township, is a son of Philip and Elizabeth (Rose) Shoemaker, and was born in Mahoning township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, March 2, 1825. The Shoemaker family is of Swiss origin, and John Shoemaker (grandfather), was born in Switzer- land. He came to the United States and set- tled in Virginia, but soon removed to Franklin township, Westmoreland county, where he en- gaged in farming. He had five children, two sons and three daughters. His son, Philip Shoemaker (father), was born in Virginia, Jan- uary 25, 1784, from whence he removed to Westmoreland county and afterwards came to . Mahoning township, where he purchased some four hundred acres of land, which he tilled until his death. He died April 10, 1860, when he was in the seventy-seventh year of his agc. Hc was an old-line whig until 1856, when he became a republican. He was a member of the German baptist church, and married Elizabeth Rose, daughter of George Rose. They had
nine children, five sons and four daughters : Mary, born April 14, 1812, and died in 1887; John, born October 22, 1813, and lives at South Bethlehem, in Mahoning township; Sarah, born January 5, 1814, and died young ; Joseph, born April 9, 1819; Isaac, born July 27, 1821; Philip, Susanna, born July 20, 1827; Eliza- beth, born May 17, 1831; and Samuel, born March 12, 1834. Mrs. Shoemaker's father, George Rose (maternal grandfather), was born near Murraysville, Westmoreland county, and was a farmer and hotel-keeper. Philip Shoe- maker was reared on his father's farm and attended the subscription schools of his day. He then engaged in farming, which he has followed ever since, excepting a few years, during which time lie operated a saw-mill. In 1851 he pur- chased the farm of two hundred acres of land on which he has since made his home. His farm is underlaid with several workable veins of good coal.
He married Salome L. Schoefner, a daughter of Henry Schoefner, a native of Switzerland, who came with his father to Lycoming county, when he was thirteen years of age, and who afterwards removed to Clarion county and then to Jefferson county, where he died. To Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker have been born ten chil- dren, eight sons and two daughters : Jeremiah, born November 5, 1852, and was a farmer in Illinois when he died; Margarite, born Jan- uary 16, 1854, and wife of Samuel Lenkerd, a farmer of Red Bank township; Ross, born August 20, 1855, married Lottie Mowry and is a farmer of Mahoning township ; Monroe, born April 9, 1859, and married Jane Prosious ; Mary Ellen, wife of Christopher Kimmel, a farmer of this county ; Anderson, born January 19, 1861, and now dead ; Ezra, born February 20, 1863, married Mary Meyers (now deceased), and lives on his father's farm ; Murray, born June 10, 1865; Isaiah, born April 22, 1867, and now dead; and Adam, born April 30, 1868, and married to Siseye Anthony.
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
In politics, Philip Shoemaker is a stanch re- publican, and at present is overseer of the poor of Mahoning township. He is a deacon of the German Baptist church, of which he and his whole family are members.
TOHN L. STOCKDILL, one of the young and progressive farmers of Mahoning township, is a son of George and Martha E (Foster) Stockdill, and was born in what is known as "The Cove," in Mahoning town- ship, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1861. George Stockdill, Sr. (grandfather), was born in Ireland in 1784, from which he emigrated to eastern Pennsylvania in June of 1822, and landed at Kittanning and moved to Franklin, Pa., which he soon left and came to Mahoning township in 1828, where he pur- chased the farm on which his grandson, tlie subject of this sketch, now resides. He owned one hundred and three acres of land, was a whig in politics and a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. Hc married Margaret Clark on March 16, 1809. She dicd Jan. 9, 1871. When he died, July 9, 1857, he left a widow and five sons and four daugh- ters. One of these sons, George Stockdill (father), was born on his father's farm, "The Cove," June 26, 1827, and lived on the old homestead until his death, which occurred May 9, 1872, when he was in the forty-fifth year of his age. He was a farmer by occupation and owned a farm of two hundred and thirteen acres of land, upon which he built (1859) the large brick house which is now occupied by his son, John L. He was a republican in politics, and a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. He married Martha E. Foster, and to their union were born seven children : Margaret C., Nov. 25, 1849, died Aug. 21, 1861 ; Mary J., wife of Milton Spencc, a farmer of Wayne township, who was born Sept. 30, 1867; Margaret F. was born Dec. 11, 1856, and mar-
ried Rev. Joseph Calhoun, a Presbyterian min- ister of Slate Lick; John L. and George, who died in 1869. Mrs. Stockdill was a daughter of Thomas Foster (maternal grandfather), who was born in Ireland, from whence he emigrated to Pennsylvania, and settled at Kittanning where he purchased the farm upon which Joseph Stockdill now lives. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church and married to Catharine McCauley by whom he had eight children, four sons and four daughters.
John L. Stockdill was reared on his father's farm, received his education in the common schools of Mahoning township and the acade- mies at Oakland and Glade Run. Leaving school, he taught one term and then engaged in farming on the old homestead, which he now owns .. He raises good crops and makes a specialty of fine stock.
On September 26, 1882, he united in mar- riage with Annie O. Alcorn, daughter of Thomas Alcorn, a farmer of Wayne township. To their union have been born two children, one of which died in infancy, and Thomas M., Feb- ruary 18, 1888.
John L. Stockdill is a republican in politics and is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is reliable, industrious and energetic.
R OBERT M. TAYLOR, a gentleman of con- siderable mercantile experience, and an energetic and competent business man and suc- cessful merchant of Hovey township, is a son of James and Nancy (McMurry) Taylor, and was born on the old homestead farm in county Down, Ircland, June 13, 1848. His father, James Taylor, was born in 1800, in county Down, Ireland, where he was a farmer all his life, and where he died, in 1884, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-four ycars. He was a member of the Episcopal church. He married Nancy McMurry, who is now residing at her
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
home in her native county (Down), in the eighty-fifth year of her age.
Robert M. Taylor was reared on his father's farm in Ireland, and received his education in the excellent schools of his native county. In 1870, at the age of twenty-two, he came to the United States and located where he now resides. In the same year he became a clerk in the gene- ral mercantile store of his brother-in-law, J. A. Morgan, with whom he remained for six years. At the end of that time he entered Duff's Bus- incss college, of Pittsburgh, at which he was a student for two months, and afterwards was engaged for two months as an assistant teacher in that useful business institution. He then re- turned to Hovey township, where he was en- gaged in the oil business for two years, after- wards working for four years in the Parker City glass factory as a mixer. In September, 1884, he opened his present mercantile establishment, opposite Foxburg, Clarion county, this State, where he has been successfully engaged ever since in the mercantile business. His store is filled with an ample stock of general merchan- dise, and he has succeeded in establishing a good and paying trade. His goods are first-class in quality, reasonable in price and varied in assort- ment to suit the wants of his many patrons.
In 1887 Mr. Taylor was married to Rosetta Taylor, daughter of Robert Taylor, of Ireland. Their union has been blest with three children, two sons and one daughter : William E., Mary A. and Samuel J.
R. M. Taylor is a republican in politics and a prohibitionist on the liquor question, and has served as school director of his township. He is a member and also an elder of the Presby- terian church of Parker City, and a member of the United Friends.
NYEORGE M. TIBBLES. One who has had G a wide and successful exprience in the great oil industry of Pennsylvania is the gen-
tleman whose name heads this sketch. George M. Tibbles is a son of Gustavus and Amanda (Morehead) Tibbles, and was born at Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, April 31, 1842. His grandfather, Dr. Tibbles, was born in Connecticut, and removed to Pompey, where he practiced medicine for many years. He was a Presbyterian, lrad held all the offices of his church, and died in Erie, Pa., about 1860. He married and had five children, three sons and two daughters: Lincoln U., who is engaged in the insurance business, in Erie; Charles M. (dead); Gustavus, Olivia, (dead); and Mary, wife of Joseph Farr, a promi- nent and wealthy lawyer of Commerce, Michi- gan. Gustavus Tibbles (father) was a farmer by occupation, a republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died at Yorktown, South Dakota, in 1864. He married Amanda Morehead, of New Haven, Connecticut. To their union were born three children, two sons and one daughter : George M., Anson M., now à merchant tailor of Janesville, New York, and Mary, who married a Mr. Curtis, a carriage manufacturer of Fa- bius, New York. Mrs. Amanda (Morehead) Tibbles was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and is now living at Lamar, Iowa.
George M. Tibbles was rearcd at Pompey, and attended the public schools of his native village and of Commerce. Leaving school, he dealt in oil for some time, and engaged then in the business of refining crude oil, which he fol- lowed until he secured his present position of oil gauger of Brady's Bend.
October 18, 1863, he married Idelle Wil- liams, daughter of E. B. Williams, a car- riage manufacturer of Groton, New York. She is a finely educated woman, and was grad- uated in 1859 from St. Vincent's convent, N. Y. To Mr. and Mrs. Tibbles has been born one child, a son, Edward D. who was born April 2, 1865. Edward D. attended a college at Grove City, Pa., from which he was gradu-
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
ated. He is now the purchasing agent, at But- ler, Pa., of the Standard Oil company, and married Gertrude Zigler, daughter of George Zigler, of Butler.
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