USA > Ohio > Representative citizens of Ohio : memorial-genealogical > Part 21
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Andrew Jackson AlcCartney
dealings, was the fact that his word was absolutely good, a verbal agreement on his part being as binding as any written instrument could have been. He was candid and straightforward in his dealings, never attempting to get the best of any one by any subterfuges or chicanery, and he despised pretense and hypocrisy. He was ever a straightforward, honorable man and that his ster- ling qualities were recognized by not only his immediate friends and associates, but by his neighbors and fellow citizens as well, is shown in the fact that he was twice elected to represent the first ward in the city council, and was chosen president of that body. When the present form of city government was introduced in 1891, Mr. McCartney was chosen one of the first commissioners. His record as a public official denoted fearlessness, honesty, and business ability, and his service was eminently creditable to him.
On May 26, 1864, Andrew J. McCartney was united in mar- riage to Jane Young, the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Nevison) Young. Mr. Young was a native of England, and a miner by vo- cation. He followed his sons to the United States, locating at Mineral Ridge, Trumbull County, Ohio, where the sons owned mines. Subsequently he located at Poland, Ohio, where his death occurred. To him and his wife were born the following children: John, Thomas, and William are deceased; Joseph, of Vienna, Ohio; Mary, deceased, who was the wife of Casine Cutler, of Warren, Ohio; Mary, deceased, who was the wife of Edward Powers; Jane, Mrs. McCartney; Ellen married James Cutler, of Ashtabula County, Ohio. Mrs. McCartney also was a native of England and the voyage to America required five weeks. She was living at Mineral Ridge, Ohio, at the time of her marriage. Andrew J. and Jane McCartney became the parents of two daughters, namely, Mary Elizabeth, who became the wife of Charles H. Krauter, a druggist in Youngstown, and they have a daughter, Clara Louise; Clara Belle, the wife of John Henry Long, of Youngstown, a traveling salesman for the Lloyd-Booth Machine Company.
The death of Andrew J. McCartney occurred on February 15, 1900, in Grafton, West Virginia, after a short illness of pneu- monia. He had gone to that place about two weeks prior to his death, on business, and while there was seized with an acute form of pneumonia. It was found impossible to stay the progress of the ailment and his wife and children were summoned to his bed- side. The news of Mr. McCartney's death came as a profound shock to his many friends, associates, and acquaintances in his home city, for he found a warm place in the hearts of the people
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with whom he had mingled for so many years. Mr. McCartney was easily the peer of any of his fellow citizens in all that con- stitutes right living and correct citizenship. He was a close and intelligent observer, read much, and took pains to keep himself well informed on current questions of the day. He was quiet in demeanor, a thinker, and a man of deeds rather than of words. He was essentially a man of the people because he had large faith in humanity and was optimistic in his views.
Politically, Mr. McCartney was a supporter of the Republican party, while his religious belief was embodied in the creed of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally, he was a member of the Masonic Order, in which he had attained to the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and in the work of which he took an appreciative interest.
Talilliam Talallace Mckeown
HE spirit of a pure, noble, and earnest life burned in the mortal tenement of the late William Wallace Mc- Keown, than whom no citizen of Youngstown, Ohio, wielded a wider or more beneficent influence during the nearly half century that he was identified with the city. His life was one of fullness and completeness, one of vigor and inflexible in- tegrity. He accomplished much for the general good, and was not denied a due individual reward in the matter of temporal bless- ings. A man of rugged strength of character, of finest moral fiber, and one who realized a magnificent and useful accomplish- ment, his name is deeply engraved on the pages of the history of the city so long honored by his residence, so that such a publica- tion as the one at hand must needs enter a tribute of honor and appreciation to his memory if any measure of consistency and symmetry is to be claimed for same. He was universally recog- nized as a splendid citizen, of lofty character, sturdy integrity, and unswerving honesty. He was one of the sturdy figures upon which the burdens of the community fell, particularly in the earlier years of his residence here, and he struggled devotedly with others in bringing about the resultant evolution of develop- ment which has characterized this community. Hand and heart and purse were always open to the necessities of his neighbors, and the record of those years is one of tireless and unselfish devo- tion. To write the history of Mr. Mckeown would be to write a book and in the limited space of a biographical memoir one can touch upon the more salient facts in the long, useful and some- what remarkable career of the subject, and briefly sum up his life by saying that he was a good man-such a man that the world was brighter and better for his having lived in it. He was a good husband and father, faithful and loving; a good citizen and friend, constant and reliable; a man in the fullest sense of the word, wide, comprehensive, and far-reaching in his views of life, and standing "four square to every wind that blew."
William Wallace Mckeown was born at Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, on May 17, 1836, and was a son of William and Ellen Ann (Burns) Mckeown, or "Mackeown," as the Scotch spelled it. The name, William Mckeown, was a common one in this family, it being found in six consecutive generations of the family. Wil-
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liam Mckeown, the father of the subject, was also a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but he came to Ohio, at about the time of the construction of the Erie Canal. He first located at Lisbon, Ohio, where he engaged in the dry-goods business, but his invest- ment was an unfortunate one, for he failed and was compelled to retire from mercantile life. Going to Lima, Ohio, he there worked at the vocation of cabinet-making, which, when a boy, he had learned under his father's directions. He was a good workman, making much furniture, for which he found ready buy- ers, and some of the spinning wheels made by him are still to be found in old homes about Lima. Eventually, William Mckeown moved to Liberty, Ohio, and engaged in the same line of work. While living in the latter place his wife died, and fifteen years later, in 1880, he followed her to the silent land, being at that time in the home of his son, the subject of this sketch. To William and Ellen Mckeown were born the following children: Joseph, William Wallace, Samuel Wilson, Josephine (the wife of Judge E. M. Wilson), and Charles. William Mckeown was a man of sturdy character and he reared his family to lives of usefulness and honor.
William Wallace Mckeown was a babe of but six months when the family came from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and was seven years old when they located in Liberty. His boyhood years were spent amid the scenes of farm life, where he cultivated a love for nature and gained from an out-door life that rugged physique which later characterized him. He secured his elementary edu- cation in the district school of the neighborhood and in 1854-5 he was a student in the academy at Poland, Ohio. In 1856, before he had attained his majority, he started out in life on his own account and, coming to Youngstown, found employment as a clerk in the drug store of M. T. Jewell. A year later he entered the store of Dr. John Manning in a similar capacity. In 1863, Mr. Mckeown formed a partnership with Henry Manning, Jr., and they bought out Dr. Manning. Their place of business was then in the Porter Block, on Federal Street, but they subse- quently erected a new store, adjoining the old First National Bank Building. They were eminently successful in business, and eventually they took in another partner, S. W. Mckeown, a brother of the subject, the firm being then known as Manning, Mckeown & Company. In his day, S. W. Mckeown was one of the most expert chemists in the State of Ohio, his abilities in that line being widely recognized, he being often called upon to make analyses for big concerns in various parts of the country.
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He remained unmarried, making his home with the subject up to the time of his death, which occurred in the spring of 1897. Dur- ing the active years of his business life, Mr. Mckeown was a conspicuous figure in the affairs of Youngstown.
The Manning-Mckeown drug store was locally famous while Mr. Mckeown, the subject, was one of the proprietors, as a place where artists, clubmen, and devotees of the professions congre- gated. It was a club in itself, and here were exhibited from time to time the productions of local and other artists, and here men of various callings met in the afternoons and evenings to while away a few pleasant hours. In these groups which congregated at his store there was none more bright, more witty or humorous, none whom his listeners liked more to hear, none more generally loved, than William Mckeown himself. In what are known as the old days whenever a picture was put out from the easel of a local artist, or a famous picture was sent here, the work was usually exhibited in the windows of Mckeown's, as the store was generally called. Mr. Mckeown was truly a "gentleman of the old school," with whom companionship was delightful and friend- ship something to be prized.
That Mr. McKeown was public spirited was attested to in many ways during his life. He was one of the original pro- moters and a stockholder in the opera house here, in the manage- ment of which he was interested for a number of years, and dur- ing the early period of which he did the "booking," and oft- times the ticket selling. At one time, while in New York City, he heard the famous old Theodore Thomas Orchestra, and immedi- ately arranged for the company to stop off at Youngstown on their way to Chicago and give a concert. The orchestra appeared in old Excelsior Hall and their concert is still remembered by the older residents of Youngstown as one of the biggest musical events of the early period. In every way in his power, Mr. Mc- Keown contributed to the welfare of his city and was generally recognized as one of her most public-spirited citizens. He was a member of the city board of education for over twenty years, and rendered the cause of education much efficient and appreciated service. During the Civil War Mr. Mckeown was an ardent and enthusiastic supporter of the Union cause and would have enlisted in the army had not the examining surgeons discovered that he had heart trouble. He was a business man of the highest ideals and none came in contact with him without imbibing, in some measure, his spirit of frankness and his optimism, for,
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honest himself, he preferred to believe others honest, until he had found them to be otherwise.
On August 16, 1904, after a long, brave, but useless struggle against disease, the spirit of Mr. Mckeown took its flight over the river into the silent land. Expressions of sorrow and regret were universal, for few men enjoyed so large a degree of popu- larity in the city at large, and to many there came a sincere feeling of personal loss. The funeral services were held at the home on the afternoon of August 19, the home being crowded with sorrow- ing and sympathizing friends, while many designs and bouquets of beautiful flowers testified to the respect and love in which the deceased was held in life. Dr. Daniel H. Evans, who delivered the funeral oration, took for his text the words, "In my Father's house there are many mansions." He spoke of the beauty, the joys and the eternity of heaven, where men and angels rejoice together forever in the presence of God. The introduction to the sermon was a message of consolation to the immediate relatives of the deceased, those who felt his loss most keenly. The speaker also reviewed the character of the deceased, which he said was genial, good and noble. Dr. Evans took occasion to mention the store formerly conducted by Mr. Mckeown and told how men were wont to gather there for social intercourse, exchange of opinion and mutual enjoyment. Dr. Evans said, however, that the ideal in the life of Mr. McKeown was his home, and that, after he had retired from active business life, it was there that he spent the greater part of his time.
On October 14, 1858, William Wallace Mckeown was mar- ried to Adeline Powers, a daughter of John Wesley and Miranda (Gee) Powers, and they became the parents of the following children: Ella Miranda, who is now deceased, became the wife of J. A. Wright, of Bellevue, Ohio, and they had two children, Adeline Ford and John Auberg, the latter making his home with his grandmother, Mrs. McKeown, since his mother's death; Myra is unmarried; William W., Jr., married Helen Hartzel, and they have one child, William W., third; Robert B .; Maud became the wife of B. L. Lee, of Chicago, and they have one child, Elea- nore M .; Theodora, who is at home with her mother.
John Wesley Powers, father of Mrs. McKeown, was born in 1811, in a little old log house, where the United States steel plant is now located, the land now being very valuable. The first member of the family in Ohio was Mrs. McKeown's grandfather, Jacob Powers, who came with his parents to Ohio from Westmore- land County, Pennsylvania, and here he became the owner of
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the tract of land just referred to. The old log house was re- placed with a substantial brick residence, occupied by the family for years, but which is now used as an office by the steel company. The Powers family is of French origin, the name having been originally "LePoers"; but, one of its members having gone to England and becoming prominent there, having been knighted, the French prefix was dropped, the name becoming Powers.
John Wesley Powers became a farmer and on his land was discovered the first "Mecca oil" in Ohio. He had a very useful and eventful career and he and his wife are both now deceased. The Gee family came from York, Pennsylvania, Rev. Nicholas Gee, the grandfather of Mrs. McKeown, coming to Ohio in an early day and locating at Ellsworth. It is said that he was somewhat of a "Beau Brummel" in his day, having brought his silk stocks, fine clothes and manners from the East. He also had one of the first carriages in this part of the country, and, with his hair neatly parted in the middle and a foot warmer at his feet, he went in this carriage from place to place, preaching the gospel. He was a Methodist in religious faith and accomplished much good wherever he went. Beneath his fine clothes and ele- gant manners he possessed a true Christian heart and the world was better for his life. His death occurred at Ellsworth, he hav -- ing been preceded in death by his wife, whose maiden name was Nancy Firman. They were the parents of twelve children, some of whom made the brick from which their large brick home was constructed. There were also two adopted children in the family. The names of the children born to John W. and Miranda Powers were as follows: Elmira, the wife of R. L. Walker, of Poland, Ohio; Albert, of Jefferson, Ohio; Adeline, Mrs. McKeown; Homer, deceased; Sehon, deceased; Rhoda Ann, Mrs. Benjamin Coudery, of Omaha, Nebraska; Augusta J., who is the widow of John Dar- bey, of South Dakota. Mrs. McKeown and the members of her family are identified with the Presbyterian Church, to which they are liberal contributors of their means and take a live interest in its various activities.
Reverting to the Powers family, which has been spoken of as of French origin, it is noted that Joseph Powers the first American ancestor of the family, came here from Amsterdam, Holland, in 1660, locating at New Amsterdam, in the territory of New Netherland, residing there until the surrender of that prov- ince to the English in 1664, when the family moved to Long Island. This ancestor, at his death, left sixteen children and seventy grandchildren. He had become very wealthy and be-
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longed to the aristocratic element in the colony. At his death each of the grandchildren received seventeen pounds sterling.
Among Joseph Powers sons was Jacob, who was born in New Amsterdam in 1662, and who became a successful merchant and trader. He reared a large family of children, one of whom, Isaac, was born in New Amsterdam in 1705. Upon attaining manhood he moved to the state line between New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He was a carpenter by vocation, and reared a large family, among whom were John, Jacob, and Abra- ham. The family remained at the state line until 1754, when the conflict between the French and English drove them south to Trenton, near the line between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 1758, they moved to Upland, now Chester, Pennsylvania, and four years later to Westmoreland County, the same State. There they resided until the time of the Revolutionary War. John, Jacob, and Abraham served against both the Indians and the English. John, who was born in 1740, never returned from the
war.
Jacob, who was born in 1742, moved, with his wife and
three sons, to Tinesville, now Maysville, Kentucky. Abraham,
the youngest of the three sons, was born in 1745. In 1797, he came from Beaver County, Pennsylvania, to Youngstown, and in a short time joined a party of surveyors employed by John Young, the founder of Youngstown. Mr. Powers' son, Isaac, was also one of the party and is supposed to have been the first white person to see Tanterman's Falls. The father and son took the contract to build the first mill to grind corn, the struc- ture to be completed in eighteen months, for which work they were to receive fifty dollars. The father, who was an expert millwright, procured and dressed the millstones from rock found in the vicinity of what is now Lincoln Avenue, near Holmes Street, and the mill was constructed on the present site of Lan- terman's mills.
Abram Powers had ten children, among whom were Abra- ham, Isaac, and Jacob, and after he came to Mahoning County, Ohio, in 1797, he bought each of his sons a farm on the Mahoning River, and it is a noteworthy fact that their descendants are still to be found on this land. In 1822, one of the sons, Isaac, discov- ered a deposit of coal on his land and he was the first man in this section of the country to burn coal in a grate as a fuel. The mem- bers of the Powers family have had a large part in the develop- ment and upbuilding of the sections of country in which they have located and they have honored the name they bear.
James Manley Sealts
IN holding up for consideration to the readers of this work those facts which have shown the distinction of a true, useful and honorable life, a life characterized by perseverance, energy, and well defined purpose, such as was lived by the late James Manley Sealts, long a well- known business man of Lima, Ohio, will be but to reiterate the dictum pronounced upon the man by the people who knew him so long and well, for the subject of this memoir presented in his career an interesting study of the manner in which adherence to principle and sturdy endeavor may win worthy distinction in any laudable pursuit. Throughout an interesting and active career, duty was ever his motive of action, and usefulness to his fellow men not by any means a secondary consideration. He achieved much in an individual way not dependent upon heredi- tary prestige, but also proved himself worthy as an enterprising citizen and business man of the utmost loyalty and progressive- ness. Thus as a representative of a family whose history has been an honorable one even from colonial days, he is well worthy of consideration in this volume, the province of which is to touch upon the memorial history of the State which was honored by his residence all his life. He is remembered by those who knew him well as a man of strong personality, but he never forced his convictions upon any one, and he was notably reserved and un- demonstrative. His energy, perseverance, and application en- abled him to accomplish much. His high sense of honor re- strained him from directing his activities towards any but worthy objects. He had a fine presence and pleasant address, and his appearance denoted the intellectual, forceful, manly man. He
was a splendid type of the self-made man. He had in him the elements that make men successful in the highest degree. Pre- eminent among his qualities was that sound judgment, ordinarily called common sense. He had the ability to grasp facts and infer their practical significance with almost unerring certainty. His good judgment extended to men as well as to measures, for he had a keen insight into human nature. For these reasons, Mr. Sealts was a thoroughly practical man, self-reliant, firm, resolute. To this was added the one thing necessary for the ideal business man, a scrupulous honesty in his dealings with his fellow men.
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James Manley Sealts was descended from a long line of ster- ling ancestry, the paternal line being traced back to Benjamin Sealts, the subject's great-grandfather, who was an American by birth, though of German descent, the same facts being true of his wife, Nancy. He was a minister of the gospel, connected with the Methodist Church, and spent the greater portion of his life in Canada.
James Sealts, son of Benjamin and Nancy Sealts, was born in Peekskill, New York, on December 11, 1789, and on the 25th of December, 1817, at Shoreham, Vermont, he was married to Delia Cooper, daughter of Israel and Rebecca Cooper. In the following January, they left Vermont to seek a home in what was then considered the far West, the long journey to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, being made in a sleigh. In his New England home, Mr. Sealts had learned the trade of cooper, which occupation he followed in his new home for a time, then purchased a farm in Miller township, about six miles from Mt. Vernon. There he de- voted his remaining active years to the pursuit of agriculture, dy- ing in the respect and esteem of the entire community.
Manley James Sealts, son of James and Delia Sealts, was born in Miller Township, Knox County, Ohio, on October 17, 1818, and was reared under the parental roof. For many years he was associated with his father in the pursuit of general farming, eventually removing to the city of Mt. Vernon, where his death occurred on August 1, 1904. On January 22, 1839, he was mar- ried to Maria Rouse, daughter of Erastus S. S. and Polly (Mills) Rouse, and there survived him two sons, James Manley and Merton Erastus. In politics both James Sealts and his son, Man- ley James Sealts, were originally stanch Whigs, and subsequently strong supporters of the Republican party from its birth. Of the two sons mentioned above, James M. is the immediate subject of this sketch. The other, Merton E., was born at Brandon, Knox County, Ohio, on December 27, 1885. He received a good common school education and afterwards became associated with his brother, James M., in the wholesale grocery business at Lima. He died in a hospital at Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 24, 1904. He was a Republican in his political faith. On March 19, 1885, at Steubenville, Ohio, he was married to Matilda McElvaney.
In the maternal line, the subject's ancestry is traced back to his great-great-grandfather, John Rouse, who was born in Dutchess County, New York, in 1737. He married Hannah Smith in 1763, and his death occurred at Lansing, New York, in 1834.
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During the war of the Revolution, he took an active part, serving with the rank of captain.
John Rouse, Jr., son of John and Hannah Rouse, was born in Dutchess County, New York, in 1766, married Lydia McConnell in 1792, and his death occurred on July 14, 1845.
Erastus S. S. Rouse, son of John, Jr., and Lydia Rouse, was born in Rensselaer County, New York, in the village of Pitts- town, on February 23, 1795; was married on March 1, 1820, to Polly Mills, and his death occurred in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, on April 23, 1883. During the War of 1812, he served for six months in Colonel Kerr's regiment of New York militia. In his early days he was a school teacher, subsequently followed farming for some years, and at one time was editor of the "Western Home Visitor," a newspaper published at Mt. Vernon in the early fifties. He was first a Whig, and later a Republican in his political faith, and filled several minor offices in Knox County.
Among the children of Erastus S. S. and Polly (Mills) Rouse was Maria, who was born in Canandaigua, New York, on March 7, 1821, and whose death occurred in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, on May 3, 1891, at the age of seventy years. As stated in a preceding para- graph, she became the wife of Manley James Sealts and the mother of the subject of this sketch. They were among the early pioneer settlers of Knox County, where he farmed successfully for awhile, later moving to Mt. Vernon, where he conducted a livery stable and feed store for some years. There his death occurred at the age of ninety years. His wife was a member of the Congregational Church. They were the parents of seven children, two sons and five daughters, all of whom grew to ma- turity and were married.
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