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 59
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ALBERT PERRY HOWARD, who is an able member of the Erie bar with offices at 702 State street, is a native of Erie county, and represents. in his private capacity, a well known pioneer family which was established in Franklin township by his grandfather, Henry Levi Howard. The family was transplanted from Vermont, the paternal great-grandfather having been a native of that state and quite prominent in its military annals. During the War of 1812 he was a member of the Vermont
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Regulars, and it was near Plattsburg, at the combined naval and land battle in which the Americans gained such a decisive victory, September 11, 1811, that this patriotic and brave ancestor lost his life in the thick of the infantry engagement. His son, Levi Howard, married Miss Han- nah Taylor, and in 1830 the couple settled in Franklin township, Erie county. The husband died in 1890 and his wife in 1887, parents of the following children : Henry ; Clara; George T., father of Albert P. ; Ann, Albert E., Nora and Rush Howard. The father mentioned was born in Franklin township, and for many years owned and operated the old Howard quarry in that section of the county, besides engaging in farm- ing. He made both of these avocations profitable and died as a suc- cessful man who had earned his position through honorable means. He married Miss Ellen Louisa Perry, descended on the paternal side from the old Ohio family by that name, and, maternally, from the Crains, pioneers of Mentor and Painsville, Ohio.
Albert P. Howard was born on the old farm near the Howard stone quarries, on the 18th of August, 1866, and after pursuing various pre- liminary courses in the district schools became a student in the more advanced school at Miles Grove (now North Girard) and at the State Normal, Edinboro. For the succeeding eight years he farmed in the seasonable months and taught in winter, his ultimate aim to enter the legal profession having been fixed quite early in his youth. In 1893 Mr. Howard located in Erie for the more systematic study of the law, but after a time returned to his farming and teaching, in order to provide himself with the means to realize his final ambition. Mr. Howard re- sumed his legal studies at Erie in 1895 ; was admitted to the bar March 1, 189% ; and has since earned substantial success as a general practi- tioner.
Mr. Howard is a lawyer of quick perception, logical mind and forcible diction, and the many years which he has spent in the educa- tional field have taught him the necessity of precision and of basing the conduct of his cases on solid facts skilfully marshalled. The result .is that he is never caught unprepared by the opposition, and never con- ducts his cases in the flurry caused by surprises by the enemy. He is cool, sagacious, methodical and aggressive, having both facts and prin- ciples firmly in hand : he has therefore made a decided success of his profession and is, further, highly honored for his straightforward man- hood, and his broad and even life. In politics, he is a Republican, while his fraternal and social relations are indicated by membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellow's and the Press Club. His domestic life is centered in his wife, son and daughter. Mrs. Howard was form- erly Miss Lizzie L. Pieper, a native of Franklin township and a daughter of Christopher and Hannah Pieper, and she is the mother of George Carlisle and Nellie Grace Howard.
DAYTON L. MCDONALD, who has been engaged in farming near Platea, Girard township, since 190%, was for a number of years identi- fied with the car repairing shops of the Bessemer Railway at Albion, and both his father and his grandfather were prominent in the saw mill and lumbering industries of Crawford county. He is a native of that county himself, born June 19, 1826, to William B. and Elizabeth ( Mor- ris) McDonald. The father was born May 20. 1832. at Jamestown. New York; came with his parents at the age of eleven to Crawford
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county, and when fourteen was working in the Pennsylvania oil fields; later, was engaged in the lumber camps and rafting lumber down the river to Pittsburg. For many years he was engaged in farming in Craw- ford county ; located at West Springfield, this county, in 1898, but, on account of a severe case of blood poisoning retired to Conneaut, Ohio, where he died in March, 1907. The deceased was an active member of the Methodist church and a Republican. William McDonald, the grand- father already mentioned, was engaged in milling, lumbering or the saw mill business all his life. Mr. and Mrs. William B. McDonald be- came the parents of three sons: Dayton L., of this sketch ; David W., a farmer of Conneaut, Ohio; and Wilson, an oil-well superintendent of Casey, Illinois.
Mr. McDonald, of this sketch, completed his schooling at the age of eighteen, and soon afterward entered the lumber camps of Pennsyl- vania, but after being thus employed for a year became a saw mill oper- ator at West Springfield. After a year of this work he became con- nected with the oil fields, and in 1898 with the car-repairing shops of the Bessemer Railroad at Albion. Eventually he reached the foreman- ship of the air brake department and a car inspectorship, but in 1907 abandoned his fair prospects in the railroad line for the more indepen- dent career of a farmer, purchasing his present homestead near Platea, in 1907. Mr. McDonald wields a good and a strong influence in his home community, through his stalwart character and his earnest so- cial, charitable and religious work. He is a faithful member of the Methodist church, being steward of the Platea organization: is presi- dent of the Epworth League; has been noble grand of Lodge 1141, I. O. O. F., and a useful and conscientious member of the city council.
In 1899 Mr. McDonald married Miss Grace Lenora Connolly, daugh- ter of John C. and Amanda (Kinney) Connolly, born at Ripley, New York, June 14, 1876. After she left school and until her marriage, she was engaged in teaching at Ripley. While a resident of Platea she has become much interested in the work of the Order of Rebekahs, having served as grand commander of Platea Lodge, No. 330. The family is of Irish origin, Martin Connolly, the grandfather, being a native of that country, who settled in New York at an early day. After being a boatman on North river for many years the father, John C., engaged in farming at Ripley, and continued thus until his death in 1891, at the age of eighty-seven. His wife died in 1882, aged sixty-nine years.
D. M. Connolly, one of the sons, engaged in farming until his father's death and for several years thereafter, until 1898, was a mer- chant at West Springfield. In that year he moved to Albion, where he also opened a store, but after two years disposed of it and became con- nected with the Barnes Mercantile Stores, at Albion. In 1874 he married Miss Emma J. Rice, of Ripley, New York, born November 3, 1851.
JOHN F. BIGLER, A. B., A. M. During many years the name of John F. Bigler has been inseparably interwoven with the history of the educational interests of Edinboro. In all that tends to the intellectual and moral advancement of the race he takes a deep and abiding interest, and as an educator he stands in the front ranks. He was born in Barkey- ville, Venango county, Pennsylvania, November 16, 1862, a son of S. S and Mary A. Bigler, and he was reared in the county of his nativity and received his elementary educational training in its district schools. He later graduated from the Barkeyville Academy, and then taught school
HIRTEN YOUR PABAL LIBRARY
LENOX DI CONS
SAMUEL BLAIR
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for a few terms, but wishing to more thoroughly identify himself with the principles of the profession which he had chosen as a life work he became a student in the ancient classical course at Grove City College and in four years was graduated from that college with the degree of A. B. He later studied for four terms at Harvard and one term in the Pennsylvania University, doing special work in psychology and sociology.
After returning home from the Grove City College, Mr. Bigler became a teacher in the Barkeyville Academy, and later was its prin- cipal for two years. At the close of that period he was made the super- intendent of public instruction for Venango county, but after serving six months of his third term in that office he resigned to become the principal of the Edinboro State Normal. He is numbered among the ablest educators who have promoted the interests of this institution, and he is now serving it for his tenth year.
Mr. Bigler married on December 31, 1890, Miss Emma Irene John- son, and they have three children, Victor L., Helen R., and John Emer- son. The family are members of the Presbyterian church.
SAMUEL BLAIR, for many years identified with the agricultural in- terests of Erie county, was born in what is now Girard township May 6. 1821, his life's span thus covering eighty-eight years, and during all that time he has resided in Erie county. He is a son of James and Mary ( Wallace) Blair. born respectively in York and Chester counties, Pennsylvania, and both crossed the mountains to Pennsylvania when they were young, and they were there married. Coming to Girard township in Erie county in 1803, James Blair secured a piece of land, and in the following year brought his family here. This farm was located about three miles south of Girard, and the initial purchase con- sisted of one hundred and one acres, heavily covered with timber, but in time he succeeded in clearing and placing it under cultivation, and he lived and died in the little log house which he erected thereon. Both he and his wife now lie buried in the Girard cemetery, he having died in 1855, aged eighty-two years, and she in 1873, at the age of ninety- three. James Blair during his life time was a Whig, active in politics and he served as an assessor and as a township collector. Both he and his wife were earnest members of the Presbyterian church. and he helped to organize the church of that denomination in Girard and was one of its first elders.
Samuel Blair, the youngest born of his eight children, obtained his educational training in the pioneer schools of Girard township, and he continued to live on the old Blair homestead until moving in 1878 to a farm he had purchased, and there he lived until he was eighty years of age, improving his land and erecting its buildings. About eight years ago he bought the beautiful home on Main street in Girard in which he is spending the evening of his long and useful life, retired from the active cares of a business life. He yet owns his old homestead farm. He is a Republican politically, and the local offices are all that he has desired to fill.
Mr. Blair married on the 22d of June, 1865, Miss Harriet Wells, a daughter of Samuel H. and Hannah (Culbertson) Wells. Samuel Wells was born in Connelsville, Pennsylvania, in 1281, on the 15th of March, a son of Benjamin Wells, who took an active part in the sup- pression of the whiskey insurrection under Washington. He came to Vol. II-27
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Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1794, and was a store keeper there for many years. Samuel Wells served as an orderly under General Harri- son in the war of 1812, and he was one of the old-time school teachers. Mrs. Wells was born January 22, 1800, and died on the 6th of May. 1848. Three children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Blair, all yet living: Frederick W., whose home is in Girard township; Mary Ellen. born May 24, 1843, and living with her father; and James Dana, born June 15, 1818, a graduate of the Jefferson Medical College of Phila- delphia and a successful practicing physician at Franklin, Pennsylvania. Frederick W. Blair was born on the 21st of December, 1869, and by his marriage to Helen Sayre he had five children, Elizabeth F., James Sayre, Caroline L., Frederick Samuel and Marion. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Blair are honored and revered wherever known, and are earnest and valued members of the Presbyterian church in Girard, in which Mr. Blair has long served as an elder.
On the maternal side, the Wallaces, Mrs. Blair's mother's broth- ers, were engaged in conflict at the battle of Brandywine and this entitles Mr. and Mrs. Blair and their children to become members of the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution. Mrs. Blair's brother, Samuel H., was a soldier in Company A, 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry and served over four years, being killed in battle near the end of the Civil war.
ALDEN STANCLIFF is the representative of a family which has left its impress for good upon the history of Erie county from the days of its founding to the present time. Lemuel, Comfort and Samuel Stan- cliff, great-uncles of Alden, served in the Revolutionary war, and in 1799 located at McKean, this county. John Stancliff, the grandfather, also established his homestead within the borders of Erie county in the early days, and there he lived the balance of the ninety-two years al- lotted to him. Thomas Stancliff, the father, moved with other members of the family from Connecticut to Erie county, New York, and thence to Sharp's Corners, Erie county, Pennsylvania. They arrived at the latter point February 28, 1835, but finally located four and a half miles west of Waterford. At that time the locality was considered on the very frontier of civilization and the nearest neighbor to the Stancliffs was more than a mile distant. Thomas Stancliff, with his brother Timo- thy, secured one hundred acres of land near Sharp's Corners and there founded the Stancliff settlement, the road which passed the place being named in his honor. The brothers cleared and improved their land. Thomas dying there at the age of fifty-one years, honored as one of the earliest pioneers of Erie county. He became the father of eight chil- dren, of whom two died in infancy, and six reached maturity, viz. : Lavinia. Alden ( of this sketch), Ellsworth. Thomas. Lorinda and Joseph
Alden Stancliff was born in 1823. in Collins, New York, but was educated in the school at Sharp's Corners, his first teacher being David Stancliff, a son of Lemuel mentioned above and one of his paternal uncles. Alden Stancliff has been engaged in agriculture from his early boyhood. His wife (nee Amelia Brooks) was born April 30, 1846. a daughter of Enoch and Hannah (Smith) Brooks, and died August 26. 1901. the mother of the following : Mrs. Emma Van Sise ; George, who died at the age of two years and three months; A. J., and Mrs. Minnie Stackhouse.
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A. J. Stancliff obtained a public school education, and throughout his business career has been chiefly engaged in the oil business. In May, 1874, he married Miss Jane Williams, and their son Clayton was educated in Cornell University, after graduating from the Titusville High School. Since leaving college he has been a civil engineer con- nected with a Pittsburg company.
ALVAH WILLIAM COVELL. A son of the late Clarence Lewis Covell, for many years one of the leading citizens of Corry, Alvah William Covell is an excellent representative of the native born residents of this city, his birth having occurred, June 14, 1814, in Corry. He comes from honored colonial ancestry, his great-great-grandfather on the pa- ternal side, a Baptist minister, having emigrated from New England. his place of nativity, to New York state, becoming a pioneer farmer and preacher of Onondaga county, where he spent the last years of his life.
Jonathan Covell, the next in line of descent, was the youngest of a family of fourteen stalwart sons, his birth occurring in Marcellus, Onondaga county, New York, in the latter part of the eighteenth cen- tury. As a young man he learned the trade of a carpenter, and after his marriage he moved to Chautauqua county, which was at that time a heavily timbered country, with but few settlers. Looking for beech and maple timber, he found what he desired on the ridge lying just east of Chautaqua Lake in what is now Ellery township, and there he bought a large tract of land from the Holland Land Com- pany. In the midst of the dense wilderness, through which deer, bears, antelopes and other animals native to that section of the country roamed at will. he cleared a space in which to erect a log cabin, and began the improvement of a homestead. Several years later, he sold that property, and having purchased a farm in Concord township, Erie county, Penn- sylvania, resided there for awhile, and then settled in Westfield, New York, where he lived until his death, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. He married Ann Copp, who was born in Marcellus township, a daughter of Esquire Copp. Her father was born in Ireland, and at the age of nineteen years, having accepted a challenge, fought a duel in the city of Dublin. Emigrating then to America, he lived for awhile in Nova Scotia, remaining there until after his marriage. Coming then by one of the steamship lines to New York City, he subsequently sailed up the Hudson river to Albany, and from there he and his young wife walked to Syracuse, Onondaga county, having with them all of their earthly effects. Esquire Copp invested his money in land, buying from the Holland Purchase Company a tract of wild land in Marcellus town- ship. Laboring with characteristic energy and courage, he cleared and improved a fine farm, upon which he spent his remaining days. Well educated for his time, he became prominent and influential in public affairs, and for forty consecutive years served as justice of the peace. His wife survived him, residing during her last years in Westfield, New York.
William W. Covell, grandfather of Alvah W., was born, October 8, 1818, on the home farm, in Marcellus, New York. Serving an ap- prenticeship at the carpenter's trade, he subsequently built many of the first frame houses in Chautauqua county. In 1855, accompanied by his father, he started westward in search of a good location, driving through Erie county, Pennsylvania, to Ashtabula county, Ohio. thence
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through Trumbull county, Ohio, and back by way of Mercer and Craw- ford counties, Pennsylvania, to Erie county, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a farm, a few acres of which had been cleared, and a log house had been built, these constituting the improvements on the place. Locating on that farm the following year, he continued its improvement, and at the same time worked at his trade, erecting the first building on the present site of Corry, it being a school house built before the time of railroads in this vicinity. After Corry was platted, he built, for Dr. Burroughs, the first frame house of any size in the city, and continued his occupation of farmer and carpenter until late in life, when he re- tired from active pursuits, afterwards making his home with his son, Clarence L .. in Corry, his death occurring at the venerable age of eighty- seven years. He married Ellen E. Barber, who was born in Marcellus, Onondaga county, New York, and died in 1893, in Erie county, Penn- sylvania, on the home farm. They reared seven children, as follows: Alphonso W., Clarence L., Amorette, Alton G., Francis M., Maude E., and Edith L.
Born in Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, May 3, 1849, Clarence Lewis Covell was a boy not yet in his teens when the family removed to Erie county, Pennsylvania, where, in the schools of Corry, he completed his early education. Beginning the study of law in 1871, with C. O. Bowman, he was admitted to the bar in 1873, and in the practice of his profession met with eminent success, practicing not only in the lower courts, but in the superior and federal courts, being one of the foremost lawyers' of Corry. He died while yet in the prime of life, his death occurring in Corry, December 20, 1904. He married Sarah Louisa Rathbun. She was born in Eden, Erie county, New York, where her father. Charles S. Rathbun, settled when a young man, re- moving there from Chemung county, his native place. Mr. Rathbun worked as a carpenter in younger life, and afterwards was for five years superintendent of the Erie county, New York, County Home. Upon resigning from that position, he bought a farm in Eden, New York, and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1886. Mr. Rathbun was twice married. He married first Harriet Newell, who was born in Eden, New York. a daughter of Myron and Nancy ( Beards- ley) Newell. She died in 1851, leaving three children, namely : Flora ; Sarah Louisa, now Mrs. Covell : and Charles N. Mr. Rathbun married second, Ann Dean, by whom he had two children : Everett S. and Jessie B. Mr. and Mrs. Clarence L. Covell became the parents of two chil- dren, namely : Alvah W., the subject of this sketch, and Flora E., both of whom reside with their widowed mother, in Corry.
After completing his studies in the Corry High School, Alvah W. Covell took the United States Civil Service examination, and at the age of twenty-one years was appointed railway mail clerk, a position which he has since filled ably and acceptably to all concerned. He is a man of sterling integrity and worth, and a prominent member of various fra- ternal organizations, belonging to the following named societies: to Corry Lodge, No. 365, F. & A. M .: to Columbus Chapter, No. 200. R. A. M. : to Hiram Council, No. 45. R. & S. M. ; to Clarence Commandery, No. 51, K. T .: to Zem Zem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .: and to Corry Lodge, No. : 69, B. P. O. E.
CAPTAIN W. W. WILKINS. The world-wide saying that poets are born, not made, applies with equal force to mariners; for not all men
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who follow the sea are great sailors. Yet greatness is as much an achieve- ment as an inheritance. Capt. W. W. Wilkins has won distinction in nautical realms both through his own special efforts, and as a birthright sailor. His father, Capt. Benjamin Wilkins, and his grandfather, Capt. Thomas Wilkins, were mariners of high rank, and to their descendants imparted some of their love for seafaring pursuits. Capt. W. W. Wil- kins was born, September 22, 1859, in Erie City, Pennsylvania, where he acquired his knowledge of books, taking the courses of the grammar and high schools.
Capt. Thomas Wilkins was born in Wales, in March, 1294, and when but eleven years old began his seafaring life, shipping first in a small sloop, and later in a larger vessel. Gaining experience as a sailor and greatly desirous of seeing more of the world, he made a voyage to the West Indies. At the age of eighteen years he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fourth Regiment of Infantry, known as the Brunswickers, receiving as a bounty the sum of twelve guineas. Continuing with his regiment during the War of 1812, he was made captain of a schooner plying between Saint Johns and Fredericktown. When, a little later, his regiment was ordered to Quebec, the captain was forced to leave his schooner and march with his comrades to that city. He remained with his regiment six years, during which time he was promoted to the rank of corporal of his company. After his discharge from the army, he settled in Canada, where he bought one hundred acres of land. Migrat- ing to the United States in 1816, he shipped on the schooner "Niagara," later becoming mate of the "Superior," and afterwards sailed on the "Diligence," and "Decatur." Subsequently, after serving for a time as mate on the "General Wayne," he shipped on the "Porcupine," a revenue cutter, that had previously belonged to Commodore Perry's fleet. For six years thereafter, he was master of the schooner "Green Bay," sub- sequently sailing the "Pontiac," "William Penn," "Prudence," "Colum- bus," "William Peacock," and the "S. B. Peacock." From 1835 until 1840, Capt. Thomas Wilkins was master of the steamboat "Thomas Jefferson," and the ensuing seven years had command of the "Missouri." About that time, he became financially interested in the "Troy," which he commanded unti! 1852. For thirty years he sailed the Lakes, and with the time he was engaged in service on the ocean, spent forty-seven years of his long life on the water. He was appointed collector of the port of Erie, July 22, 1861, and served until 1869. The farm which he had previously purchased in Erie county, is now included within the limits of the city of Erie.
Capt. Thomas Wilkins married, May 4, 1821, Anna Henton, who died October 30, 1833, aged thirty years, leaving two children, Benjamin ยท and Jane. The Captain married second, December 5, 1834, Mary Backus, by whom he had two children, George and Anna.
Captain Benjamin Wilkins was born at Gospel Hill, near Erie, Oc- tober 7, 1821. Finding his greatest pleasure on the water, he engaged in seafaring pursuits from his boyhood, in course of time becoming one of the most successful and popular ship masters on the Great Lakes. Be- ginning his career with his father, he subsequently entered the employ of General Reed as master of the steamer "Missouri." He next com- manded the steamer "Illinois" and "Sandusky." and the first propeller which he commanded as master was the "Ontonego." Associating himself at a later period with the Spencer line, whose headquarters were in
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