USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 83
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 83
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Politically, Mr. Jones is a republican. He has been very successful in life and has one of the finest residences in the county.
W ILLIAM KEPPEL, a farmer of Arm- strong county, and a justice of the peace of Parks township, is a son of David and Mag- dalene (Hawke) Keppel, and was born in Parks township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, De- cember 23, 1848. The Keppel family is of German descent, and one of its members, Nich- olas Keppel (great-grandfather), emigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania early in tlie eighteenth century. His son, Daniel Keppel (grandfather), was born in this State in 1767, and died in 1824. He married Elizabeth Yearyan, a daughter of George Yearyan, of Westmoreland county. They had twelve chil- dren : Susan, Margaret, George, Mary, Eliza- beth, Daniel, Francis, Christina, Esther, Philip, Hannalı and David. George Yearyan (maternal grandfather) was a " redemptioner," and was brought to this country by David Kaufman, a farmer, for whom Ycaryan worked for three years to repay the amount of money his passage had cost. At the end of these three years' service he received from Kaufman a
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horse, a saddle and bridle, and two suits of clothes. His wife was a Miss Williams, of Welsh descent. David Keppel (father) was born February 6, 1818, on the old Keppel homestead, where he lived all his life. He was highly esteemed in the neighborhood and served as justice of the peace and school director, hav- ing been elected to office by the Democratic party. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church when he died, August 20, 1888. In January, 1844, he married Magdelene Hawke, daughter of Daniel and Mary Hawke, of Westmoreland county. To this union were born five children, three of whom are now liv- ing : William, Mary, wife of S. S. Marshall, of Beaver Falls, and Caroline, wife of D. N. So- ber, of Westmoreland county. Magdalene (Hawke) Keppel died May 17, 1855, and in 1858 Mr. Keppel married Elizabeth Whitesell.
William . Keppel attended the common schools of Armstrong county and the Academy at Leechburg. He has been a farmer and stock-dealer all his life, owning two hundred and fifty acres of land, which he has in a high state of cultivation, and on which he raises horses and cattle. He is an elder and trustee in the Presbyterian church, the church of his fore- fathers, and has served as a justice of the peace, township auditor and school director.
On March 13, 1873, he married Susan L. Keppel, daughter of Jacob Keppel, of Westmoreland county. They have had seven children, of whom six are now living : David James, born April 6, 1874; Albert Jacob, born August 18, 1876 ; Philip Frank, born October 16, 1878; Charles Hawke, born August 23, 1881; William McBryar, born January 25, 1885; Paul Whitesell, born June 4, 1887 ; and Magdalene, born November 18, 1889.
Squire Keppel is one of the substantial citi- zens of Armstrong county, and is respected for his integrity. Honorable in business transac- tions and exemplary in life, he is a worthy de- scendant of respected pioneer ancestors.
JOHN KIRKLAND, whose family traces its
ancestry back among the old and substantial families of county Down, Ireland, is one of the prosperous and respected farmers of Kiskimi- netas township. He was born in county Down, Ireland, August 1, 1816, and is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Cook) Kirkland. Robert Kirkland was born in county Derry in 1780, came to America and settled in Washing- ton county, Pennsylvania. In 1830 he came to Armstrong county, where he bought one hundred and fifty acres of land in Kiskiminetas township, which was in the woods and abound- ed with wild animals. This land he cleared and improved to some extent. He was a dem- ocrat, but never aspired to political honors. He was a member of the Church of England and a devout Christian. In 1798 he married Elizabeth Cook, by whom he had ten children, of whom only four lived to come with their father to America-two sons and two daugh- ters : Mary, married to John Ford, of Apollo ; Leah, wife of Daniel Deamer, of Apollo; Ebenezer, who married Elizabeth Hart, and resides at Apollo; and John. Mr. Kirkland died May 14, 1857, and his remains were buried in Spring Church cemetery ; while Mrs. Kirkland had died May 24, 1840, and was the first person whose remains were buried in that cemetery.
John Kirkland was reared in Kiskiminetas township and received his education in the sub- scription schools of that township. He has always been a farmer, and purchased his fa- ther's farm, which he has entirely cleared and greatly improved. He built a fine house and other necessary buildings. He owns two hun- dred and sixty acres of land.
On December 15, 1843, he united in mar- riage with Sarah, daughter of George Deamer, who died in Beaver county, Pa. This union was blest with eight children, three sons and five daughters : Robert, born January 22, 1844, married Elizabeth Miller, and died Jan-
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uary, 1888; George, born March 2, 1846, married to Elizabeth Beck, and now resides at Apollo; James, born July 8, 1848, married Elizabeth Galaher, and lives on a farm in Kis- kiminetas township; Elizabeth, born August 1, 1851, and at home; Isabella, born April 13, 1856, married David McMin, of Apollo; Mary I., born July 9, 1859, wife of Levi Hartman; Emma L., born December 14, 1867, and died in 1875. Mrs. Kirkland died of consumption on March 6, 1871.
John Kirkland, like his father before him, is a stanch democrat and has always voted for the nominees of his party. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and Grange No. 519, Patrous of Husbandry, iu which he has taken the fourth degree of that order.
TJENRY J. KLINGENSMITH. One full of years and possessed of the confidence of his fellow-citizens, who has passed away during the last decade, was the late Henry J. Klingensmitlı, of Gilpin township. He was a son of John and Catherine Klingensmith, and- was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylva- nia, in 1802. The Klingensmith family is of German origin, and Johu Klingensmith (fa- ther) was a resident of Westmoreland county until 1802, when he removed to Armstrong county, where he was eugaged in farming until his death.
Henry J. Klingensmith was brought by his parents to what is now Gilpin township when he was but three months old. He was reared on his father's farm and attended the subscrip- tiou schools. Leaving school, he eugaged in farming, which he followed as long as lie lived. At the time of his death he owned the home farm of one hundred and seventy acres and about sixty acres of land in another part of the towuship.
On July 15, 1822, he married Fannie Heck- man, daughter of Philip Heckman, of Armstrong
county. They reared a family of twelve children, whose names were : Mary, Esther, Levi, Cyrus, Elizabeth, Susan, Henry, Abraham, Catherine, John, Gideon, Shiloh, ten of whom are still living : Esther, wife of Henry Isensee; Susau, Abraham and Gideon, all residents of Arm- strong county ; Levi resides in Michigan, Cy- rus in Minnesota, Henry in Kansas, Catharine Dubois in Ohio, John in Texas. Of the seven sons, five of them enlisted and served in the Union armies during the late civil war. Mrs. Klingensmith resides on the old home- stead and has reached the advanced age of eighty-nine years. She is very active for a woman of her age, and has been a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church for over half a century.
In politics Heury J. Klingensmith was a republican and served several terms as road supervisor of Gilpin towuship. He was an esteemed member of the Zion's Forks Lutheran churchi, and, before he was incapacitated by old age from active service, served frequently as a trustee and as a deacon. He was noted for his benevolence and hospitality, and none were ever turned from his door who sought food or shelter. He contributed freely to lielp the church and aid the worthy poor, and his loss was sincerely mourned by many who had been recipients of his charities.
JOSIAH W. KLINGENSMITH, the post- master of Dime, an active republican leader of Parks township and one of the survivors of Gettysburg, is a son of Adam and Anna M. (Kirkland) Klingensmith, and was boru on the farm on which he now lives, in Parks township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1841. The Klingensmiths are of German descent, and George Klingensmith (grandfather) was born in 1779, in Westmoreland county. He removed in 1820 to Armstrong county and was engaged in farming, in what is now Parks township, until
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his death, which occurred in 1857. His son, Adam Klingensmith (father), was born in 1812, in Westmoreland county, but came to Armstrong county with his parents when he was eight years of age. He followed farming in Parks township, where he died in 1874, aged sixty- three years. He was an active member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and he was a deacon in the church of that denomination at Bethel. He was a strong democrat and married Anna M. Kirkland, a native of Mc- Kecsport, Allegheny county. She was a mem- ber of the Lutheran church, and passed away in 1881, when she was in the seventy-sixth year of her age. Her father, John Kirkland (mater- nal grandfather), was a native of Scotland and came to Pennsylvania, where he followed boating on the Monongahela river between Mckeesport and Pittsburgh. In 1812 he fell overboard from a flat-boat on which he was employed as a polesman and was drowned.
Josiah W. Klingensmith was reared on a farm and received his cducation in the common schools of his native township. During the summer of 1857 he engaged in boating on the old Pennsylvania canal, which he followed that season. The succeeding five years he worked on a farm as farm hand, receiving for his labor the magnificent sum of $10 and $12 per month. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Co. C, 139th regiment, Pa. Vols., for three years. He helped to bury the dead who had lain for eleven days on the battle-field of Second Bull Run. After burying the dead at Bull Run, liis regiment moved on to Sharpsburg, Md., where they joined the 6th Corps of the main army and marched to Antietam. Mr. Klingensmith was an active "wearer of the blue," enduring all the hardships of an active soldier, and never once missing an engagement in which his regi- ment participated. Among the most noted are the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg (two engagements, December, '62, and May, '63), Wilderness and Gettysburg. He participated
in the battle of Gettysburg after a forced march of thirty-six hours, during which time his com- pany had not been allowed to cook any food. He was under fire and in active service at Gettys- burg during the greater part of twenty-four hours. On May 5, 1864, he was wounded in the left hand by a musket-ball, at one of the Wilderness fights, and was sent to Lincoln Hos- pital, at Washington, where he remained until the following August. On December 24, 1864, he was discharged on account of disability, and has never recovered the use of his hand. After being discharged from the army, Mr. Klingen- smith was engaged in farming until 1874, when he opened his present store on the farm where he resides. In 1881 Dime post-office was estab- lished at Mr. Klingensmith's store and he was appointed postmaster. He served as such until - February, 1886, when a democrat was appoint- cd, but in 1889 he succeeded his democratic friend and has served as postmaster until the present time. Besides his home farm of fifty-six acres, he owns two other farms, one of ninety- cight acres lying in Parks township, and the other of one hundred and eighty acres in Kis- kiminetas township. Two hundred and seventy acres of his land is underlaid with a vein of coal four feet ten inches thick.
In 1866 he married Lucinda Knappenbarger, daughter of John Knappenbarger. They have eight children, three sons and five daughters : Mary A., John A., who married Lavina Brown and resides with his father; Wm. F., Nancy B., 'Susan M., Olive L., Josiah W., and S. Myrna.
Josiah W. Klingensmith is an active repub- lican and was elected assessor of Parks town- ship when it was formed. He is a member of the Boiling Springs Evangelical Lutheran church and for sixteen years was a member of the church council. Mr. Klingensmith com- menced life for himself with nothing in the shape of money or land, and has honestly ac- quired all of his means by his own hard work and good management.
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W ILLIAM K. KUHNS, who is a com- fortably situated farmer of Gilpin town- ship, served during the late war as a soldier in the 6th Pa. Heavy Artillery. He is a son of David and Hattie (Steck) Kuhns, and was born on the farm on which he now resides in Gilpin township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1839. The Kuhns family is of German descent, and David Kuhns (father) was a native of Westmoreland county and came to Gilpin township, where he purchased a farm. He was extensively engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in the fall of 1863. He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church and was one of the founders of the church of that denomination at Leechburg, in ·which he held the offices of deacon and elder at various times. In politics, he was a whig until 1856, when he became a republican. He married Hattie Steck, a lutheran and native of Westmoreland county.
William K. Kuhns was reared in his native township, where he received a good common- school education. Leaving school, he engaged in his present business of farming. He owns the homestead farm of one hundred and six acres, in the cultivation of whichi he takes great pride. In 1864 he enlisted in the 6th Pa. Heavy Artillery, and served until the close of the war when he was honorably discharged at Fort Etlian Allen.
In 1861 he married Susan Townsend, daugh- ter of Isaac Townsend, of Westmoreland county. They are the parents of four children : Mary E., Hattie H., Emma R. and Louis M.
William K. Kuhns is a member of the Evan- gelical Lutheran church of Leechburg, in which he has served for some years as a deacon.
In politics he is a republican. Mr. Kuhns spends most of his time in the cultivation and improvement of his farm. He also raises some stock and has made considerable improvements on his land. He is one of the reliable and trustworthy citizens of his township.
ZACHARIAH T. LESSIG, one of the steady and industrious tradesmen and farmers of Gilpin township, is a son of Squire Joseph and Christina (Klingensmith) Lessig, and was born in Gilpin township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1859. The Lessig family is of German descent. Squire Joseph Lessig (father) was born in 1814, in Westmoreland county, but removed to Arm- strong county, where he followed his trade of house carpenter until his death, which occurred in 1886, when he was in the seventy-third year of his age. He was a member of the Evan- gelical Lutheran church, an active supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, and for nearly fifteen years held the office of justice of the peace of Gilpin township. He owned a good farm, which he tilled for several years previous to his death. He married Christina Klingensmith, who was born in 1824 in what is now Gilpin township (then Allegheny). Mrs. Christina (Klingensmith) Lessig was a con- sistent member of the Evangelical Lutheran church and passed away in 1886, at sixty-two years of age.
Zachariah T. Lessig was reared in Gilpin township, where he received a common-school education, and under his father's instructions learned the trade of carpenter, which he has followed ever since. He owns the old home- stead, upon which he resides, and a portable saw- mill, which he runs during the winter season.
In 1876 he married Polly J. Smail, daugh- ter of Philip Smail, of Bethel township. Their union has been blessed with six children, two sons and four daugliters : Herman E., Alfred O., Ella C., Maggie, Hally A. and Emma J.
Zachariah T. Lessig is a pronounced demo- crat in political opinion and holds the offices of constable and auditor of Gilpin township. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, of which he is a trustee. He is a mem- ber of the Patrons of Husbandry, and takes an interest in every movement calculated to benefit
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TAMES MCADOO, who has been in the mer- cantile business continuously for twenty- one years, is the leading merchant of Maysville. He was born near the old steam mill, in Bell township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1839, and is the fifth child of William and Nancy (Gallaher) McAdoo. Sam- uel McAdoo (paternal grandfather) was a native of Ireland, in which country he died. William McAdoo (father) was born in county Donegal, Ireland, in 1800, and was engaged in farming until he was thirty years of age, when with his wife and one child, he came to America. He first stopped at Nealie's salt works, near Salina, Westmoreland county, where he was engaged in boiling salt for six years. He then moved to a farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Kiski- minetas township, Armstrong county, which was nearly all woods and which he cleared and improved. He afterwards bought forty acres of adjoining land and his success in life was due to his energy and good business tact. He was a democrat, but never took any active part in politics. He was one of the first members of Elder's Ridge Presbyterian church. He was a kind and indulgent father, a Christian gentle- man and died in August, 1875, aged seventy-five years. In 1826 he was married to Nancy Gallaher, in Ireland, where their eldest child is buried. They had nine children : Samuel, born in 1831; Mary, born October 11, 1833; Sarah, born April 24, 1836; John, born October 23, 1837; James, born December 31, 1839; Wil- liam, born February 20, 1841; Jane, born October 1, 1843; Nancy, born February 18, 1846; and Margaret, born July 17, 1848. Mrs. McAdoo (a daughter of Daniel Gallaher, who was a native of Ireland) died April 14, 1884, at the age of sixty-three years and nine months.
James McAdoo was reared on the farm and
received his education in the public schools of Kiskiminetas township and Elder's , Ridge academy. He then entered Duff's Commercial college, from which he was graduated in 1863. He worked on the farm in summer and for sev- eral years, during which he taught fourteen terms of winter school in Kiskiminetas town- ship, in all of which schools he was very suc- cessful. In 1870 he engaged in the mercantile business with J. G. Walker, with whom he continued until 1874, when he sold his interest to Mr. Walker and started in business at Mays- ville, where, in 1878, he formed a mercantile partnership with J. S. McAwley. They have a good trade, carry about five thousand dollars' worth of goods and their yearly sales amount to eight thousand dollars. When Pennsylvania was threatened by a Confederate invasion in 1863, he entered the Union army, in June of that year, as a private in Co. H, 54th regiment, Pa. Militia, under Col. Gallagher and was at the capture of Gen. Morgan.
April 14, 1870, Mr. McAdoo was married to Eliza J., daughter of Benjamin Howe, a farmer of Allegheny county, who rcsides three miles from Tarentum, Pa. This union has been blest with four children, one son and three daughters : Florence, born August 9, 1871, is attending school at Slippery Rock; William A., born February 5, 1873 (is at Elder's Ridge acad- emy); Nancy R., born August 6, 1876, and Har- riet M., born July 21, 1881.
James McAdoo is a member of the Presby- terian church at Elder's Ridge, in which he has been an elder for eight years. He has always been a democrat, is liberal in his political views and stands high as a man of integrity and cor- rect business methods.
TOHN S. MCAWLEY, a prosperous mer- chant of Maysville and who served on the southern border of this State during the Confed- erate invasion of 1864, is a son of James and
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Sarah (Ripple) McAwley, and was born at Gamble's salt works, in Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1846. Samuel McAwley (grandfather) was born in Huntingdon county, from which he removed, some time between the years 1825 and 1830, to Westmoreland county, on the opposite bank of the Conemaugh river from Saltsburg. One of his sons, James McAwley (father), was born in 1812, in Huntingdon county, removed with his father to Westmoreland county, and about 1830 came to Gamble's salt works, in Kiskiminetas township, where he was engaged in the manufacture of salt for twenty-eight years. In 1852 he purchased and removed to the farm, in Kiskiminetas township, comprising one hundred and eleven acres of land, where he still resides, and upon which he has raised some very fine stock. By energy and frugality he has acquired a competency, and now, in the even- ing of life, surrounded by his children, he is enjoying the fruits of his labors. He is a demo- crat in politics, but at elections votes for the local candidates whom he considers best quali- fied for office, regardless of party lines. He is a member of the Presbyterian church at Apollo, and in 1835 married Sarah Ripple, who was born in 1812, and is a daughter of Louis Rip- ple, who was a native of Greencastle, Pa., from whence he removed to Westmoreland county, in the neighborhood of Latrobe, and, about the year 1850, came to Armstrong county, where he en- gaged in farming. James and Saralı McAwley were the parents of eight children : David, born February 7, 1836, and died March 31, 1836 ; Mary M., born June 13, 1837, married to W. J. Elwood ; Catherine, born September 25, 1839 ; James, born January 9, 1841, and died Novem- ber 7, 1844 ; an infant, born March 29, 1843, and died March 19, 1845; Samuel, born May 25, 1845, and married Jane Clawson ; an infant which died, and J. S., born August 31, 1847.
John S. McAwley grew to manhood on the farm, and attended the public schools of Kiski-
minetas township and Elder's Ridge academy. In 1859, at thirteen years of age, he went into the oil region of Pennsylvania, where he worked for nine years, and then came to Maysville, where he has resided ever since. In August, 1864, he enlisted under Capt. Weaver, in Co. F, 1st Pa. Battalion, commanded by Colonel Stewart, and served four months, being present at the burning of Chambersburg. After he was discharged from the army he returned to Kis- kiminetas township, and in 1878 he entered into his present mercantile partnership at Maysville, with James McAdoo. He has been successful as a merchant, and his firm carries a heavy and well assorted stock of goods.
On October 16, 1877, he married Nancy Mc- Adoo, who was a daughter of William McAdoo, and died September 9, 1878, leaving one child, a son : William J., born July 17, 1878.
In politics, John S. McAwley is a democrat.
PHILIP R. McGRANN, postmaster of Logansport and a prosperous merchant of Betliel township, has been one of the most suc- cessful railroad foremen of Pennsylvania. He was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, December 27, 1845, and is a son of Philip and Catherine (Shelhammer) McGrann. Philip McGraun, Sr. (father), was born in 1811, in county Cavan, Ireland, and came, in 1828, to Pennsylvania, where he became a coal-miner in Columbia county. He was a democrat in poli- tics, a protestant in faitlı and died in 1873, at sixty-three years of age. He married Catherine Slielhammer, a member of the Lutheran church, who was born in Columbia county about 1810, and is now a resident of Rock Glenn, Luzerne county.
Philip R. McGrann was reared in his native township, where he received his education in the common schools. Since leaving school he has been principally employed in constructing and repairing canals and railroads. He was foreman
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on the Allegheny Valley R. R., the Wilming- ton & Birdsboro' R. R., and the Baltimore & Potomac R. R., when they were in process of construction. In 1873 he removed to Arm- strong county, and from 1873 to 1882 was fore- man on the Limestone quarry at Manorville. In 1883 he engaged in the lumber business at Manorville, and in 1885 opened his present general mercantile store at Rock Glenn, which is one mile from Logansport. He has a well selected stock of goods and commands a large and rapidly increasing trade. On October 14, 1890, he was appointed postmaster of Logans- port and keeps the post-office in his store.
On July 21, 1872, he married Mary Keiser, daughter of Henry Keiser, of Selin's Grove, Snyder county. They had one child, a daugh- ter: Utica Blanche. Mrs. McGrann died Nov. 7, 1874, and on January 18, 1877, Mr. Mc- Grann united in marriage with Mary C. Heil- man, daughter of Simon Heilman, of this county.
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