USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 82
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 82
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
Nesbit (she died 1866); William, born in 1825 (died 1856); Robert, born in 1826 (died 1844); John, born in 1828; David, born in 1830, married Mary Ackison, served in the civil war from 1861 to 1864, when he was honorably discharged (died 1884); and Susan, born in 1832, wife of William Lowman (she died in 1851). Mr. Hunter died in 1854, and is buried at Bethel. Mrs. Hunter died in 1860. John W. Chambers (father) was born near Markle, in Westmoreland county, May 9, 1820. In 1851 he moved to Armstrong county, where he bought a farm of one hundred and eleven acres of land.
He was a stanch republican and a mem- ber and trustee of the Presbyterian church at Boiling Springs, which he aided in every possible way. March 31, 1842, Mr. Chambers married Margaret Hunter, by whom he had nine children : Benjamin F., born October 29, 1843, died April 2, 1844 ; Mary E., born Jan- uary 27, 1845; Benjamin C., born February 6, 1847; an infant son, born January 13, 1849, died Jannary 17, 1849; Nancy J., born April 28, 1850; Martha, born September 5, 1852, married David H. McKalip, a mechanic at Verona, on December 25, 1877; William J. C., born December 2, 1854, died December 22, 1868 ; Margaret E. H., born June 3, 1858, and John S. Mr. Chambers died November 29, 1883.
John S. Chambers was reared on the farm until he was nincteen years of age, and received his education in the public schools of Kiski- minetas township. After leaving school, he taught cight terms. He is a well-informed and energetic young man, and has the esteem and confidence of his neighbors.
He is a republican in political matters, and has held most of his township's offices. He is an earnest Christian worker, and is a member of Boiling Springs Presbyterian church, in which he has been a trustee for ten years.
H ENRY DUNMIRE, one of the highly respected and industrious citizens of Kis- kiminetas township, was born on the farm on which he now resides in Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1826, and is a son of Solomon and Margaret (Hancock) Dunmire. George Dunmire (paternal grandfather), a native of Germany, came to Penn- sylvania and purchased and lived on a farm in Westmoreland county. He married and had six children, four sons and two daughters. Stophle Hancock (maternal grandfather) was of English descent and owned and lived on a farm in Westmoreland county nearly all of his life. He spent his last days in Armstrong county with his daughter, Mrs. Margaret Dunmire (mother). He married Magdalena Clair, by whom he had six children, five sons and one daughter. Solo- mon Dunmire (father) was born in Westmore- lend county in 1789. He worked on his father's farm until 1810, when he came with his father to Armstrong county, where hic bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres, one mile north of Maysville. This farm is now one of the most productive of the township. He after- wards purchased another farm adjoining of sixty acres. The country was all woods and abounded in deer, bcars, turkeys, ctc. He was a farmer, carpenter, stone-mason and cooper. For fifteen years he ran a distillery known as " Dunmire's Distillery." The farmers brought their rye to him to have it converted into whiskey. He was very fond of working with becs and had some- times as many as one hundred hives. He was hard-working, industrious and honest, and was the leading man in his community. He was a strict democrat, a member of the Presbyterian church and died May 16, 1845, at the age of fifty-seven years. In 1804 he married Mar- garet Hancock, who died February 17, 1866, aged eighty-five years. They had twelve chil- dren : George, a farmer of Kansas ; Mary M. (Mrs. White); Isaac (dead); Samuel (dead); John, Polly (Mrs. Steffy); Hannah (Mrs. Deamer) ;
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Sarah (Mrs. Steffy) ; Andrew, a farmer of Arm- strong county ; Henry (subject); Margaret (Mrs. Davis) ; and William, who died at the age of twenty-one.
Henry Dunmire received his education in the schools of Kiskiminetas township, and at his fath- er's death he bought the home farm from the heirs. He has been a farmer all his life and has dealt some in stock. He has been very successful in farming and has a good farm, a fine frame resi- dence and a large convenient barn. He is a strict democrat, but no office-seeker. As a business man he is honest, and as a citizen and neighbor is respected and esteemed. He is of German- English extraction and by years of honest toil has acquired a competency.
On December 9, 1852, he married for his first wife Margaret L., daughter of Michael An- derson, who is a blacksmith by trade and a farmer in Kiskiminetas township. Three chil- dren were born to this union; Elmira, wife of John Y. Sipes, now living in Dakota ; Ander- son (dead) ; and Marion, at home. Mrs. Dun- mire died iu October, 1859, and in 1864, Mr. Dunmire married Rachel Moore, a daughter of Jacob Moore, a cooper by trade and a farmer of Kiskiminetas township. To this second union were born three children ; Laura, wife of Luther Anderson, of Apollo: Inis, wife of Wm. Kun- kle, of Apollo ; and Smith, who is still at home.
JOHN S. FREE was a man whose life had been one of industry, integrity and econ- omy. For over half a century he had been a pillar of strength in the Methodist Episcopal church, where his services were very valuable and where they were highly appreciated. He was a son of Daniel and Annie (Stevenson) Free, and was born on the Youghiogheny river, two miles above Mckeesport, in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, May 4, 1810. His father, Daniel Free, was a native of Bucks county, and a miller by trade. He operated
the Crawford mill, in Westmoreland county, for some years, and then came to Leechburg, where he died, in 1848, at sixty-two years of age. He married Annie Stevenson and they reared a a family of seven sons and four daughters. These children are all dead except Jackson Free.
John S. Free was reared in Allegheny coun- ty, and attended the subscription schools of that period. For some time during his early life he was a steerer on the packet-boats on the old Pennsylvania canal. In 1838 he removed to Parks township, Armstrong county, and purchased the farm of ninety acres which he tilled until his death.
On June 5, 1834, he married Mary Dunlap, a daughter of William Dunlap, of Apollo, and who was born June, 1812, and passed away August 10, 1857. To their union were born nine children, of whom all are dead except Reuben L., who married Ella Nora Cogley, of Leechburg, and is now a bar-roller at that place. Of these children three were daughters: Laureta H., Grace I. and Ethel J., and three of the sons lost their lives in the late war. In April, 1858, John S. Free united in mar- riage with Mary Davis, a daughter of Samuel Davis, of Bethel township, and who died June 10, 1889. To this second union were born three sons: Horner D., a farmer of Parks town- ship; and Miles P., and Rev. Harry S., a min- ister of the Methodist Episcopal church and a resident of Boston, Mass.
In politics Mr. Free was a republican, and at one time served as overseer of the poor of Parks township. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for over fifty years, and Divine service was frequently held in his house before his denomination built their church at Leechburg. He was a steward and class-leader in his church and was highly es- teemed by all who knew him. Money-getting or keeping had not been the sole object in life with him, and he was satisfied with a comfort- able living honestly earned. His life was one
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
of usefulness and unselfishness in the different communities in which he resided. He passed from the scenes and trials of life on September 14, 1890, when in the eighty-first year of his age, and his remains were interred in Leechburg cemetery. Although, at his advanced age, his death was not entirely unexpected, yet it caused sincere regret among his numerous friends and acquaintances. His public life was character- ized by the same admirable qualities for which he was distinguished in private life. His chosen field of effort was in his church, where he won the esteem and love of his pastors and fellow-members by his zeal and devotion to the cause of Christianity. He made his life a suc- cess and left to his family the priceless inherit- ance of a good name and spotless reputation.
W ILLIAM G. GUTHRIE. Few persons have a just conception of the extent and importance of the natural gas territory of west- ern Pennsylvania, and among those who are en- gaged in the development of the gas-fields of Armstrong county is William G. Guthrie, of Kiskiminetas township. He is a son of Andrew D. and Margaret (Cummins) Guthrie, and was born on the farm on which he now resides in Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, December 16, 1848. His pater- nal grandfather, James Guthrie, was born on Beaver run, in Westmoreland county, between 1770 and 1775, and came to Armstrong county about 1796, where he bought a farm of threc hundred acres of laud. The subject of this sketch has the receipt which was given his grandfather by William Penn's heirs, for the purchase money for this farm. This farm was in the woods and Indians and wild animals were plenty. He built a log cabin and cleared out a large part of lis farm.
He was in active service in the war of 1812, and afterwards drew a pension. He was a whig, an old and influential member of Saltsburg
Presbyterian church, of which he was an elder for a number of years, and always did all he could to further the cause of Christianity. Mr. Guthrie died in December, 1848, and Mrs. Guthrie died in April, 1849. January 5, 1796, he married Margaret Dixon and had ten chil- dren : Jennie, Agnes, Samuel, John, Mary, James, who died in infancy ; William, Andrew D., Joseph R. and James S. They are all dead.
William Cummins (maternal grandfather) was born in the Shenandoah Valley, Va., moved to Indiana county, where he bought a farm near Two Lick, and in a short time sold it and moved to Crooked creek. He was a stock-dealer, was very successful, aud at his death owned nearly one thousand acres of land. He was a whig, but never took an active part in political matters, a presbyterian in religion, and married Margaret Todd. They had eleven children : David, Susan, Samuel, Jane, Ellen, Elizabeth, Mary, William, Joseph, Margaret and John. All these are dead except Margaret, mother of the subject of this sketch. Mr. Cummins died in 1833 and Mrs. Cummins some years later. A. D. Guthrie (father) was born on the farm now owned by the subject of this sketch, June 2, 1812. He was a farmer and a repub- lican in politics, but never held auy office. He was a hard-working, energetic man, continued to improve his farm until his death, which occurred September 24, 1860, at forty-eight years of age, and his remains are buried at Beaula church. He married Margaret Cum- mins, who was born May 12, 1813, by whom he had five children: Twins, born September 5, 1844 ; Margaret J., August 28, 1845; John C., born December 16, 1846, and William C.
William C. Guthrie was educated in the pub- lic schools of Kiskiminetas township and Eld- er's Ridge academy. After leaving school he was engaged in farming for seven years and then became a contractor in the charcoal busi- ness at Apollo. He is uow engaged in the gas business and has leased a large amount of terri-
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
tory for the Pine Run Gas company. He owns a farm of three hundred acres of well-improved and very productive land. He enlisted in July, 1864, in a regiment of militia (100 days' men) from Pennsylvania, was at the burning of Chambersburg, and was discharged in Novem- ber of the same year.
December 5, 1878, Mr. Guthrie united in marriage with Margaret, daughter of William McAdoo, of Kiskiminetas township, and their union has been blest with four children: John A., born August 25, 1879; Nancy T., born April 11, 1881 ; Margaret J., born January 15, 1884, and William J., born September 19, 1885.
William C. Guthrie is a republican, but takes 110 active part in politics. He has served as school director for seven years and is a member of Boiling Springs Presbyterian church. He is a member of Lodge, No. 437, Free and Accept- ed Masons, and is also a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity.
GIDEON HECKMAN, a respected citizen and prosperous farmer of Parks town- ship, is one of the self-made men of this county, He is a son of Abraham and Esther (Klingen- smith) Heckman, and was born in what is now Gilpin township, Armstrong county, Pa., Feb- ruary 26, 1834. The Heckman family of Arm- strong county is of German origin, but its an- cestors for several generations have been natives of the United States. Philip Heckman (grand- father) was born in 1770, in Lancaster county, from whence he removed to Armstrong county. where he engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in 1839, in Gilpin township, at sixty- nine years of age. One of his sons, Abraham Heckman (father), was born in 1813, in West- moreland county, but removed to Armstrong county in 1815, where he has since been en- gaged in agricultural pursuits. He is now in the seventy-eighth year of his age and is an active man for his years. He is a member of the
Evangelical Lutheran church, a strong demo- crat, and has filled various township offices. He married Esther Klingensmith, who was born in Gilpin township, in 1816, and is an esteemed member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. They reared a family of seven sons and three daughters.
Gideon Heckman was reared on his father's farm, in Gilpin township, and received a com- mon-school education. Leaving school, he engaged in farıning and stock-raising, which he has followed ever since. He now owns a pro- ductive farm of one hundred acres of land, which is well improved and well cultivated.
On October 19, 1859, he married Sarah Shoemaker, daughter of Daniel Shoemaker, of Burrell township. To their union have been born five children, three sons and two daughters: Essie, wife of Dr. U. O. Heilman, of Leech- burg; Harry Birt, who married Emma Smail and resides in Westmoreland county ; Miles, Ada and William.
In politics, Mr. Heckman is a democrat, has filled various township offices, and is now serv- ing his tenth year as school director. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and has been for more than two years a deacon in his church. Gideon Heckman commenced life for himself without capital and has secured his present competency by his own energy and enterprise.
H [TIRAM HILL, who was engaged in farming in Gilpin township until his death in 1891, was one of the most successful salt man- ufacturers of the Alleglieny and Conemaugh valleys. He was a son of John and Elizabeth (Waltz) Hill, and was born in Allegheny (now Gilpin) township, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- vania, December 17, 1812. The Hill family is of Scotch-Irish descent, and was one of the pioneer families of Westmoreland county, where it was founded by John Hill (grandfather),
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
who was a native of an eastern Pennsylvania county. He settled near Salem, in that county, where he was captured by a band of Indians. By oue account he was never heard of after- wards, and according to another account he was taken by his red captors to "Hickory Flats," above the site of Oil city, and tortured to death. His sou, John Hill, Jr. (father), was born in 1772, and was a wheelwright by trade. He ran one of the first saw and grist-mills erected in his neighborhood on the Kiskiminetas river, and the people came to it for thirty miles to get their grain ground. He removed, in 1811, to Allegheny (now Gilpin) township, where he made his home until his death, on January 9, 1848, when he was in the seventy-seventh year of his age. He was au active, energetic man, a democrat in politics and a member of the Evangelical Lutherau church. He was reared on the frontier, became accustomed to danger and fatigue, and was a fine type of the useful and hardy pioneer of western Pennsylvania. He was one of the commissioners appointed by the government to clear out the Kiskiminetas river, and after settling in Gilpin township (then a part of Allegheny), he planted one of the first orchards of southern Armstrong county. As a farmer he was very successful, and as a citizen he commanded the respect of all who knew him. He married Elizabeth Waltz, of German descent. She was a native of West- moreland county, and a member of the Luth- eran church. She died October 13, 1815, leav- ing ten children, of whom Daniel is still living. For his second wife, Mr. Hill married Susau Emmon, who lived to be near one hundred years of age. To this second union were born nine children.
Hiram Hill was reared on the farm and re- ceived a practical business education. At the age of twenty-oue years he embarked in the manufac- ture of salt, which he followed successfully for many years in the Allegheny and Conemaugh Valleys. In 1865 he moved from his salt
works and purchased the farm upon which he lived until his death. It contains one hundred aud twenty-seven acres of well improved land, on which is a large and conveniently arranged brick dwelling-house. This farm is about three miles from Leechburg, on the Leechburg and Kittanning road. Besides his home farm, Mr. Hill owned two other productive farms in Armstrong county.
In 1834 he married Margaret Shaffer, daughter of John Shaffer, of Gilpin township. She was born in 1809 and died May 20, 1887, when in the 79th year of her age. To Mr. and Mrs. Hill were born six children, two sons and four daughters : Elizabeth, Eliza, Frances S., Jefferson, Daniel M. and Harriet, who died in infancy.
Hiram Hill was a democrat in politics and had held the office of school director of Gilpin township for several years. He was a member of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and died on January 16, 1891, at the advanced age of nearly eighty years. His life was one of honesty and usefulness.
TAMES Y. JACKSON, a representative farmer of Armstrong county, is one of that class of men who win success and honorable standing in life through their own euergy and individual merit. He is the eldest son of John and Elizabeth (McCartney) Jackson, and was born on the old Jackson homestead in Kiski- minetas township, Armstrong county. Que of the oldest and most highly respected families of Kiskiminetas township is the Jackson family (see sketch of Gen. S. M. Jackson, of Apollo). It was founded by James Jackson, who came with his parents to Chester county prior to the Revolutionary war, and afterwards accompanied them to Hanuastown, Westmoreland county. Some time after the destruction of that place by the Indians, they came to Kiskiminetas township, where they were the first settlers in
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that part of the county which is north of the river. There Janies Jackson married and lived until his death, at eighty-four years of age. James and Jane Jackson (paternal grand- parents) reared a family of four sons and one daughter. The eldest son, John Jackson, was born October 12, 1797, and died January 8, 1853.
He was a man of integrity, and his ser- vices were in great demand among his neigh- bors as an arbitrator in disputes. On October 25, 1826, he married Elizabeth McCartney, all . estimable Christian woman, who was born at Indiana, Pa., October 10, 1805, and died August 9, 1880. They had ten children : Nancy J. (Coleman) ; Sarah T. (Martin); James Y., General Samuel M., John T., William T. (deceased) ; Mary E. (Owens); Martha M. (Cochran); Joseph B., and Winfield S. (de- ceased).
James Y. Jackson attended the public schools of his native township, and was one of the few farmers of the township who cared to continue their studies beyond their school-days. Always fond of books, he has indulged his taste for literature as far as his leisure time and financial ability will permit, and is one of the well-read men of Armstrong county. He has given his farm the benefit of his reading on agriculture and con- ducts his farming operations upon the latest and best scientific methods. His abundant crops amply repay him for his time and labor. He is widely known as a raiser of thorough- bred stock, especially horses, of which he owns some of the finest in the county. He owns a farm of two hundred and four acres of land, upon which he has erected a handsome brick house, a commodious, substantial barn, and all other necessary out-buildings. During the late civil war he enlisted in the Pennsylvania Mil- itia for the protection of the State, but as four of his brothers were from home, fighting in defence of their country, he deemed it his duty, as the eldest son, to look after his parents and
the families of his brothers, and on that account did not join his brothers at the front.
On November 8, 1856, he married Wilhel- mina Townsend, daughter of Henry and Cath- erine Townsend, of Kiskiminetas township. (See sketch of A. K. Townsend.) To Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have been born five sons and seven daughters : Laura V., the wife of W. W. Beatty, a farmer ; Catharine, married to J. P. Wilson, who is engaged in farming; Hannah M., who died November 5, 1865; Winnie Z., the wife of William Henderson ; Ada M., mar- ried to Edward Culp; Carrie A., married to Harry Walker, an iron-worker; Samuel H, who married Martha M. Van Tassel, and is an iron-worker ; Burton W., an iron-worker ; John S., James E., Florence W., and Arthur N.
James Y. Jackson is an active republican in politics, and has frequently been elected school- director of Kiskiminetas township. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church, and is a trustee of the church of that denomination at Apollo. He has always been identified with all the moral reforms of his township for the good of society, and is a man of liberal and progressive ideas.
NYEORGE H. JONES, a descendant of two G old substantial English families and one of Kiskiminetas township's public-spirited and in- fluential citizens, was born at Soho Hill, Pitts- burgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, Feb- ruary 22, 1833, and is a son of Peter and Rachael (Hulton) Jones. His paternal grand- father, Jones, was born in Manchester, Lanca- shire, England. He was a linen weaver by trade, a member of the church of England, married and had one child, Peter Jones (father). Mr. Hulton (maternal grandfather) was born near Manchester, England, and was the owner of " Hulton Hall," which was a large and imposing castle. He owned a large tract
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ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
of land, including a hunting park and pleasure grounds. He belonged to the nobility of England. He was a member of the "King's Guards," was considered the handsomest man in England, and was six feet six inches in height, with a perfect form and fine physique. A portrait of him now hangs in the gallery of Windsor castle. He was an episcopalian and married a lady, by whom he had two children : Rachel (mother of subject) and Jonathan, for whom Hulton's station, on the A. V. R. R., was named, and who, after the death of his father, came to America and settled near Minersville, Pa. There is a for- tune of 4,000,000 pounds sterling coming to the Hulton heirs, and their case is now in the English courts of Chancery, as the will of the grandfather was stolen at the time of his death. Peter Jones (father) was born in Lancashire, England. He learned the trade of weaver with his father, at which he worked for some time. He came to Amer- ica, settled in Lancaster county, where he re- mained but a short time and then removed to Soho, thien Pitt township, Allegheny county. He was considered one of the finest weavers in Pennsylvania. He served in the English army and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was a member of the church of England . and after becoming a citizen of the United States was a whig in politics. He married Rachel Hulton and had six children : Elizabeth, wife of Edward Winters and after his death married . Thomas Towers ; Jonathan H., married Mrs. Baldwin ; Rachel (dead); Sarah (dead) ; Wil- liam, who died young; and George H. The three eldest were born in England. Mrs. Jones died in 1872.
George H. Jones received his education in the public schools of Pittsburgh. After leaving school he was a boatman on the Ohio river and was next employed, for eighteen years, in the lumber yards of James McBrier. In 1872 he came to Armstrong county, where lie bought a
farm of one hundred and twenty acres of very fertile land, two miles east of Apollo. In 1876 he embarked in his present dairy business. He has thirty cows and sells forty gallons of milk per day at Apollo.
In September, 1858, Mr. Jones married Eliza A., daughter of Thomas Fletcher, a cabi- net-maker of Butler county. Seven children have blest their union, two sons and five daugh- ters: Nellie, born January 24, 1860, and died when young; Elizabeth T., born October 5, 1862; John F., born February 14, 1864, mar- ried Annie Pool, and is now dead; William E., born June 11, 1866 ; Annie, born January 17, 1869; Sadie, born July 22, 1871; and Catherine, born December 12, 1875.
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