USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 56
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Ray S., the only son and child of Mr. and Mrs. Kitts, was born on the 5th of May. 1881, and on April 4, 1908, he was united in marriage
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTON LEWOX TIDEN FONDATIONS
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to Miss Carrie Volkman, of McKean township. He is engaged in the restaurant business in the town of Mckean. He is a Modern Wood- man and also a member of the I. O. O. F. in Mckean.
Mr. Kitts is a Democrat and he has been township treasurer, road commissioner and school director. Mrs. Kitts is a member of the Universalist church.
WILLARD C. JOHNSON, late of Venango township, was one of the most intelligent and prosperous agriculturists of this part of the Western Reserve, and during his active career, which was passed in this vicinity, he won for himself an enviable reputation as an honest man and a good citizen, and as one who contributed his full share toward the ad- vancement of one of the finest counties in the state of Pennsylvania. A son of Giles Johnson, he was born, in 1852, in Venango township, and died on his farm in 1908, his death being a cause of general regret. He was of pioneer descent, his grandfather. James Johnson, having been an early settler of Erie county. James Johnson married a Miss Robbins, and they became the parents of five children, Wilton, John, Giles, Betsey, and James. Giles Johnson married Melvina Willard, a native of Venan- go township, Erie county, and they reared three children, namely: Wil- lard C., Clinton, the first-born child, and Byron.
Having received a good common school education, Willard C. John- son began farming, and finding the occupation both congenial and profitable made it his life work. He first purchased land in Greenfield township, where he was successfully employed as a tiller of the soil until 1897. Coming then to Venango township, the place of his nativity, he bought the farm now operated by his widow and sons, and was there successfully employed in his chosen pursuit until his death. The farm contains one hundred acres of rich and fertile land, capable of support- ing thirty cows, the dairy at the present writing, in 1909, consisting of twenty-seven cows. Mr. Johnson diligently improved his property dur- ing his active life, his farm, with its substantial buildings, being one of the most valuable and attractive in the neighborhood, giving ample evi- dence to the passer-by of his skill and good taste as a practical farmer and a rural householder. He was always interested in local affairs, and served as township treasurer, and as school director. He belonged to the Grange, and was a member of the Protected Home Circle.
Mr. Johnson was twice married. He married first, May 7, 1877, Addie Oakley. She died March 31, 1891, leaving six children, namley : Jesse H., who married Alice Siegle and has one little son, Howard C .; June W. married Maude Cowley; Lois Melvina, wife of S. Cardott, of Greenfield township; G. D .; Don C., who married May English ; and L. James. Mr. Johnson married second, December 16, 1891, Mildred Hayward, a native of Cattaraugus county, New York, and of their union - four children were born, namely: Jerrold, Ethel, Otis and Addie. Mr. Johnson was a Democrat politically. The Johnson homestead of which a view is presented is named "The Orchard Farm."
JOIIN J. PAINTER. During many years Mr. John J. Painter has been identified with the business interests of Erie county, and he is now engaged in farming in Mckean township. He was born in Clarion county. Pennsylvania, June 12, 1851, and his parents, James and Mary (Irvin) Painter, also had their nativity in that county, and there the mother died. The husband and father passed away in Texas. To
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James and Mary ( Irvin) Painter were born three sons and one daughter : John I., the eldest : Joseph, resident of Elk county ; Arvilla, wife of Edward Hartman, resident of Forest county ; and William, a resident of Elk county.
John J. Painter spent the first six years of his life in his native county of Clarion, and then moving with the family to Forest county, he was educated there. Later on he went to Elk county, where he taught school, and from there came to Mckean township and engaged in the oil business. Some time later he moved to the city of Erie, where for three years he followed the butchering business, and then worked in the Market House until he came to Mckean township and purchased thirty acres of land and has since been identified with agricultural pur- suits.
On the 9th of August, 1876, Mr. Painter married Miss Mary Gard- ner, whose early home was near Niagara Falls, New York. He is an honored and valued member of Irwin Lodge, No. 1100, I. O. O. F., of Erie; a member of Heneosis Adelphon Encampment No. 42 at Erie ; also a member of the Canton at Erie and has been delegate to the grand lodge several times. At present time he holds the office of financial sec- retary of his lodge and has been in charge of this office for twenty-two years. Both he and his good wife are active members of the Rebekahs.
HENRY E. VEITH, who was born in Mckean township on the farm where he still resides with his widowed mother, is of a good and sub- stantial German family which became connected with the agricultural interests of Erie county, sixty-six years ago. His grandparents, John Christian and Rachael (Noadell) Veith, were both natives of the father- land, and settled in the township in 1843. There John C. purchased, cleared and improved about fifty acres of land; afterward located in Fairview township and in the latter section of the county became the owner of two hundred acres of fine farming property and otherwise at- tained substantial standing as a citizen. To him and his good wife were born the following: Jacob, in November, 1835, who was a well known millwright: Christian, a farmer, who was born in 1836 and served in the Civil war ; Gottlieb, father of Henry, in 1842; George, who was born in 1844 and died in infancy ; William (youngest of the sons). who was born in 1845; Wilhelmina, the first child, was born in Ger- many in 1833 ; Mary, the second daughter, born in June, 1838; Caroline Jane, in January, 1840, and Louisa, in July, 1848. The maternal grand- parents were John P. and Christina Lininger, and at an early day they settled in Summit township, Erie county, where they established a family homestead through the usual pioneer methods of clearing the land of the forest, grubbing the stumps, plowing up the stubborn sod and tree roots, and erecting, year by year, the needful buildings and other im- provements.
Gottlieb Veith, the son, inherited some of the advantages of this hard and faithful work of his sturdy parents, and by added years of labor on his own part finally purchased the ninety-five acre farm to which he gave his constant and skilful care until his death in 1905. In his early manhood he had married Miss Matilda Lininger, a native of Summit township, and the seven children born to them were Clark, Albert, John, Henry, Manning, Emma and Cassius Veith.
As stated, Henry E. Veith was born on the old farm in Mckean township, the date of his birth being December 8, 1868, and since the
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death of his father has been managing the estate and caring for his mother. He is actively identified with the fraternal and secret work of the I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 937, in McKean, and is highly honored both for his own stable traits of character and as the representative of a substantial pioncer family of Erie county. Both Mr. Veith and his mother are members of the Lutheran church at Mckean.
HENRY S. CUTLER. Throughout nearly his entire life Mr. Cutler has been identified with the life and interests of Erie county, and since attaining to years of maturity he has been one of its leading business men, well and prominently known as a hotel proprietor, farmer and stockman. He was born in Rutland. Vermont, in 1832, but only six years after his birth, in 1838, the family came to Girard in Erie county, and from here after a time moved to Crawford county of this state. There his parents. Gilbert and Sarah (McConnell) Cutler, spent the remainder of their lives and died. They had been hotel proprietors there for many years.
In 1865 Henry S. Cutler came to Edinboro and entered the hotel business, and this city has ever since remained his home. He is variously interested in a business way, owning various farming prop- erties near the city, and making a specialty of the breeding of fast horses, of which he has raised many fine specimens, and he has proved a decided success in this line.
Mr. Cutler married in 1824 Miss T. T. Spencer. and they have a son and a daughter, Allie and Frank, both of whom are graduates of the Edinboro State Normal. The daughter is the wife of Harry Cooper, and they have one child, Dorothy Ruth. Mr. Cutler is a Re- publican and a Mason.
STEPHEN K. TALLMADGE is a member of one of the first families to seek a home within the borders of Erie county, and its founder here was his paternal grandfather, Elisha Tallmadge. for many years one of the county's prominent agriculturists and business men. He was born in Connecticut. and it was about the year of 1795 that he came to Erie county. Here he shortly afterward purchased two hundred acres of land in what is now Summit township, but later he traded that prop- erty for two hundred acres in McKean township, which he cleared and improved.
Among his children was a son James, who became the grand- father of Stephen K. He was born in Dutchess county, New York, December 22, 1723, and coming with his parents to Erie county he remained one of its faithful and honored citizens until his death. He had the distinction of bringing the first seed wheat into the county, it having been brought from Buffalo, and he served his country well and faithfully as a soldier of the war of 1812. and he had the honor of help- ing to erect the block house in Erie. He married on the 12th of Sep- tember, 1197, Rachael Kinsey, a native daughter of Bucks county, New York, and she survived her husband and died on the 24th of January, 1866. Mr. Tallmadge passed away in death on March 24, 1855.
Stephen K. Tallmadge was born at the old family homestead in McKean township on June 15, 1814, and on the 12th of December, 1843, he was married to Sallie Gulliford, who was born in Pennsylvania Feb-
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ruary 26, 1826, and their union was blessed by the birth of five children. Thomas W., the second child, was born in Mckean township on the 3d of November, 184%, received his education in its public schools, and since leaving the school room has been identified with the work of the fields. His estate contains four hundred and eight acres of well cultivated and fertile land, and he follows a general line of farming. He married on the 26th of January, 1871, Miss Nettie C. Morey, a member of another of the prominent old families of Erie county, and one son was born to them, Myron J. Tallmadge, whose natal day was the 2d of April, 1812.
Myron J. Tallmadge received his educational training in the district schools near his early home and in the Edinboro State Normal, and for four years after the completion of this training he taught school. Pre- ferring an agricultural to a professional life, he then turned his attention to farming, and has since been engaged along this line, at the present time owning and operating a valuable estate of one hundred and forty acres in Mckean township. On the 22d of February, 1897, he was united in marriage to Miss Helen Peffer, and their children are Alta May and Harry Woods. Mr. Tallmadge is a stanch Republican.
WILLIAM COBURN, who is living on his valuable farm near Mckean, in retirement and ease, is a son of the Empire state, born on the 5th of January, 1835. He is a son of Hezekiah and Dorcas (Frances) Coburn, also of New York, and when a young boy was brought by his parents to the family farm in McKean township. The father cleared the mod- est tract of land which was thenceforth to be his homestead, and spent the remaining years of his life in its cultivation and improve- ment. William Coburn, the son, has followed in the paternal foot- steps, and has prospered both as a farmer and an honored citizen.
Mr. Coburn's wife was, before her marriage, Miss Katherine Ann Caldwell, and the children born to them have been as follows: Ida, who married Harvey Johnson and died as the mother of Clare, Carl and Charles; Marilla, who is the wife of De Forest Johnson and has borne him Mamie. Ralph. Holden, Ruth, Florence, Perry, Margaret, Paul and Choice ; and Reed Coburn. The last named is engaged in the retail meat trade and in farming at Mckean. He was married November 9, 1902. to Miss Rethie Johnson, of Union City, Penn- sylvania, who is a daughter of Mark and Rose (Hill) Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. Reed Coburn are the parents of Dorothea and Lloyd.
WILLARD F. PIFER was born on the farm in Washington township on which he now resides, and he is a member of two of the oldest families of Erie county. On the paternal side his grandparents came to this country from Germany, and locating in Massachusetts they later drove from there with ox teams to Pennsylvania and established their home in the then wilderness of Washington township, Erie county, while on his mother's side he also represents a family which in an early day made the journey with ox teams from the cast to Erie county. and arriving here after a long and adventurous trip they located just south of where the city of Erie now stands. There they built the stone house which is yet standing, but after a time they left that place and moved to a farm in LeBoeuf township.
These families were united by the marriage of Davis Pifer and Elizabeth Cline, both of whom were born in Massachusetts and lived
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long and useful lives, dying respectively at the ages of eighty-six and eighty-two years. Davis Pifer bought the farm of one hundred acres in Washington township, near Edinboro, which is now the home and property of his son Willard, but at the time of the purchase this land was in its virgin wildness and he was obliged to clear away its dense growth of timber ere he could cultivate and improve his fields. He lived and labored there for many years, and from there was finally called to his last resting place. He was first married to Elizabeth Culberson, who bore him the following children who reached mature years : John, William, Mary, Ellen and James. For his second wife he chose Mrs. Elizabeth (Cline) Lawyer, the widow of Solomon Lawyer, who was drowned in French creek in 1846 while crossing in a skiff. Three of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Lawyer. Henry. Mary and Anna, grew to adult age, and two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Pifer, Willard and Alma.
Willard F. Pifer, born June 5, 1831, has spent his entire life at his present home. His valuable estate now contains two hundred and fifty acres, all of which are fertile and well improved. He married on the 25th of October, 1873, Miss Katherine Rockwell, and they have had three children, Dora, Elvey and Emmet, and they also have an adopted son, Thomas. The elder daughter, Dora, married Burnett Mitchell, of Cambridge township, Crawford county, and they have a son, Kenneth. Elvey married Joe Maxon, a railroad employe in Con- neaut, Ohio. and they also have a son, Charles Leslie. Emmet mar- ried June Kline, and Thomas is yet at his parents' home. Mr. Pifer is a Democrat. He is a member of I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 510, of Edinboro, and he has passed all the chairs and was a delegate to the grand lodge. Mrs. Pifer is a member of the Presbyterian church at Edinboro.
PHILIP KINTER. . Both by direct descent and maternal connections, as well as through his wife's family, Philip Kinter, a farmer of sub- stantial income and high character in Washington township, is identi- fied with the pioneer agriculture and institutions of Erie county. His grandparents, Philip and Susan Kinter, came hither from Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. at a very early day, and first located on a farm in Franklin township. At a somewhat later date the paternal grand- father took up twelve hundred acres of land in Washington township, then mostly covered with forest. but since cleared, cultivated to the modern limit, and divided into several productive and beautiful farms. Philip Kinter, the grandfather, made away with many acres of the huge forest trees himself, working and dying with contentment on his original purchase; his grandson, the Philip Kinter, of this sketch, is the owner and occupant of a portion of the old homestead. The father. John Kinter, owned one hundred and seventy-five acres of the old estate, dying on the farm where he was born. By his marriage to Miss Alvira Crow he became the father of seven children, all of whom were also born and reared on the dear old place.
This is the birthplace of Philip Kinter and he was educated in a district school of the neighborhood, having, since his youth, either farmed on the paternal place or on his own property of fifty acres. On January 7. 1882, he was united in marriage with Miss Emma McGahen, daughter of Theron and Hannah (McGahen) McGahen,
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both early settlers of Erie county. Her paternal grandparents, George and Elizabeth McGahen, were natives respectively of Canada and Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and located in Washington township as early pioneers. Her maternal grandfather was also a Canadian and the grandmother a native of Westmoreland county, and likewise became settlers of the township at a very early day. These children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Philip Kinter, as follows: Tunis and Blanche, died when about a year old; Bertha be- came Mrs. Roy Simpkins, of Edinboro, and is the mother of Ward Philip Simpkins; Nellie, a school teacher, educated in Edinboro Nor- mal school and three years a teacher ; and Muriel, graduated in class of 1908, and at home. Mr. Kinter is a true blue Republican.
GARDNER EDWARD PECK. A retired farmer of Harbor Creek town- ship now residing at Wesleyville, Gardner E. Peck comes of unusually patriotic ancestry. His mother's grandfather, Zebelon Bidwell, of East Hartford, was a brave captain in the Revolutionary war and was so severely wounded at Saratoga Springs, New York, that shortly after that engagement he died of his injuries. Among the heirlooms most treasured by Mr. Peck is a silver band worn by this patriot at the time he received his mortal wound. Mr. Peck's parents were Zal- mon E. and Mary (Bellows) Peck, both natives of Fairfield, Connecti- cut, and the grandfathers on both sides of the family were Edmund Peck and Isaac Bellows. The father, Zalmon E. Peck, was a farmer and school teacher of Harbor Creek township and was thus engaged when he responded to the first call for troops in the Civil war and enlisted in McLane's regiment for the three months' service. He only reached Pittsburg on his way to the front before his short term ex- pired, then returned to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he joined the One Hundred and Eleventh Regiment for the two years' service. At the conclusion of this period he was honorably discharged and after re- maining at home for a year, again entered military life by joining the Seventh United States Infantry then stationed at Fort Schuyler. New York. After a year he was transferred with that command to St. Augustine, Florida, where he remained until his final discharge in 1867. The elder Mr. Peck became a resident of Harbor Creck town- ship in 1834 and with the exception of the few years of his military services continued to farm in that locality until his death in 188 at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife passed away in 1893, aged eighty-seven years.
Gardner E. Peck, of this sketch, was one in a family of two boys and three girls : was educated in the district schools of Harbor Creek township; reared on the old homestead and remained with his parents until his marriage in 18:2. Soon afterward he removed to Butler county, where for two years he was employed in various oil develop- ing enterprises and then returned home and engaged in farming. To the original sixty acres which he received from his father he has added eighty acres and devoted the entire tract to dairy farming until his retirement in comfortable circumstances in 1905. In that year he rented his farm and removed to Wesleyville, where he erected one of the finest and most modern residences. Although he is retired from active work, he still takes a deep interest in public affairs and especially in the improvement of the public highways of the locality,
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having served as road commissioner since 1902. In politics he is a Re- publican and has always thrown his influence toward the best prog- ress of the public school system, having served as school director for nine years.
On February 6, 1862, Mr. Peck married Miss Sarah Adelaide Shadduck, also a native of Harbor Creek township, born May 1, 1847, daughter of George and Sarah Amanda (Bellows) Shadduck. Her father was a native of Greenfield township, this county, but her mother was born in Cortland county, New York, where her family has been long established. The paternal grandparents were Joseph and Betsy (Willard) Shadduck, the former being a native of Connecticut, and the maternal grandparents, Isaac and Mary (Crowfoot) Bellows, na- tives of New York. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Gardner E. Peck were as follows: Zalmon, who died in 1878 before his sixth year : Leslie G., a practicing attorney of Erie, Pennsylvania, wedded Miss Edith J. Bole and has two children, Leslie E. Jr. and Donald B. ; Luella, who became Mrs. Clio King and died in March, 1906, at the age of twenty-seven years; and Almina, who married Rev. Arthur Sangston, a Baptist clergyman of New Bethlehem. She was educated in instrumental music, especially as a violinist, at Buffalo, Hill's Music School in Jamestown, New York, and Dana's Music School, at Warren, Ohio.
WILLIAM J. STAFFORD, a well known citizen of Mckean township engaged in general farming and dairying, was born in that section of Erie county, September 12, 1858. He is a son of Pliny A. and Polly ( Hird) Stafford, the former (deceased) having been born in McKean township and the latter in Chautauqua county, New York. The pa- ternal grandfather, Job Stafford, married Phoebe Arthur, both being New Hampshire people who settled in Mckean township about 1800. Before coming to that locality they spent a short time in Mill Grove, but finally purchased two hundred acres of land in the wilderness of what is now Mckean township, immediately north of the farm now owned and occupied by William J. Stafford. The grandfather spent his active life on the farm, and then retired to McKean, where he became one of the early postmasters and a most respected pioneer citizen. The father was born on the old Mckean township farm, but in his manhood purchased one hundred acres near Branchville, dying on that homestead during 1865. At the time of his death he had cleared part of his farm and made other improvements which had already made it quite a valuable property. The maternal grandpar- ents of Mr. Stafford were David and Betsie (Quigley) Hird, who, at an early date, came from Chautauqua county, New York, and bought the land at Branchville, Erie county, which became the homestead on which they spent the remaining years of their lives.
William J. Stafford, of this sketch, received his education in the district schools of McKean township, and has always been engaged in general agricultural pursuits or dairy farming. He now devotes a fine ten-acre tract to these purposes. He is a Republican, and among the local offices which he has held is that of township clerk for sev- eral years. His fraternal affiliations are as a member of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, Commodore Perry Lodge No. 937 at Mc- Kean, and both he and his wife are Rebekahs. Mr. and Mrs. Stafford
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are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mckean. October 3, 1881, Mr. Stafford married Miss Ida C. Bayle, daughter of Niram and Phoebe (Tuckey) Bayle. Her father bought the farm. which is now the Stafford homestead, and there followed farming and butchering until he retired to McKean, where he still lives. A daugh- ter, Flora, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Stafford, and she died in 1901, her decease just at the time when she was developing into the fair promise of young womanhood being a severe blow to them. We ap- pend herewith a short biography.
Miss Flora Stafford, the only child of William J. and Ida C. Stafford, and the only grandchild of Mr. and Mrs. N. N. Bayle and Mr. and Mrs. P. A. Stafford, deceased, was born near McKean, Erie county, August 28, 1882, and died April 9, 1901, after a protracted ill- ness of nearly four months, borne by her without murmuring. Flora was a dutiful, modest and beloved daughter, bringing nothing but comfort to father, mother and grandparents. She was a young lady much beloved in the community by young and old, her Sunday School class especially lamented her death most deeply. To the bereaved family and friends there is the blessed comfort of her sweet, true life which shall go on influencing for good, and the precious hope of meet- ing her again when this life's short day is past. The funeral was held in the Methodist Episcopal church at Mckean, Friday, April 12, 1901, and her mortal remains were laid to rest in Mckean cemetery.
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