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 81
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moved to Pittsburg and to Butler county, Pennsylvania, where he continued in the same trade and business. His parents accompanied him to Butler county and both died in that section of the state.
Daniel Steen, of this sketch, received his early education in But- ler county and in 1870, when twenty-eight years of age, located in Waterford township where he purchased a portion of the farm which he now operates and owns. He has not only been successful as a farmer and dairy man during all these years but has profitably oper- ated a saw mill, it being located on his homestead. He also enjoys a record of faithful and valiant service in the Civil war, his enlistment in 1864, being as a member of Company D, Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. He served in that command until the end of the war, being engaged in the battles of Cedar Creek, Winchester, Fisher's Hill and various minor engagements to the total number of twenty-three. He has the additional honor of being one of Sheridan's historical band on its famous ride to save the day at Winchester and during his entire mil- itary career saw much action and exciting service as a scout. At the conclusion of the war he returned to his farm in Waterford township and has since been engaged in operating and developing it in various ways. He has also been honored with most of the township offices and his life has been broadly useful both in his civic and private re- lations.
On January 7, 1869, Mr. Steen married Miss Elizabeth M. King, daughter of John G. and Jane (Stewart) King, her parents coming from Ireland about 1844 and settling near Buffalo, New York. There the husband worked on a farm for a number of years and later came to Waterford township where he was engaged in similar pursuits until his death. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Steen were Wil- liam K., now a miller of Erie county, who married Miss May Reynolds and is the father of James D., Francis and Ernest ; Iona Leverne, who married Vernal G. Fritz, and resides in Erie, and Reed W., who mar- ried Jeanette Lenkner, (deceased), and is the father of one child also named Jeanette, Mr. Steen is a Republican and also a member of the John F. Rice Post, G. A. R. at Waterford. Mr. and Mrs. Steen are members of the United Presbyterian church at Waterford.
ALFRED J. CROSS, proprietor of a good farm of one hundred and ten acres in Waterford township, is a native of that section of Erie county, born May 14, 1858. His parents, John R. and Ann (Hayes) Cross, were both natives of county Tyrone, Ireland, coming to Water- ford township in 1843, in that year purchasing one hundred acres of land which was then in the wilderness. The husband was a stone mason by trade which he followed to some extent in connection with the clearing of his land and its cultivation. He died in 1900, his wife having passed away in 1895.
Alfred Cross, of this sketch, was educated in the Waterford town- ship schools and has always been a farmer in that township. In 1884 Mr. Cross married Miss Sarah Blackmer, daughter of Hiram and Mary (Smith) Blackmer, the father being a native of Montreal, Canada, and the mother of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The following are the chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Cross: Shirley Anna, born Decem- ber 17, 1884, now deceased; Steen Richard, born April 27, 1889, and Mary Elizabeth, September 4, 1895. The family are earnest members
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of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Cross is identified with the Protected Home Circle and until the last election he consistently voted the Democratic ticket but at that time changed his allegiance to the Republican party.
JOHN LOCK WAY has for many years been numbered among the agriculturists of Waterford. He was born in Summit township of Erie county in 1849, a son of Esquire John and Celia (Phelps) Way. The paternal grandfather was also named Esquire John, and he came from the cast and was one of the first to locate in Erie county, Penn- sylvania, Celia (Phelps) Way, born June 13, 1811, in Connecticut, was a daughter of Jason and Submit Phelps, from the New England states. Jason Phelps made the journey to Waterford township, Erie county, in 1815, with his wife and two children, and they journeyed in true pioneer style with oxen and wagon, and he led a horse the entire dis- tance. He reared a family of three children, and he died in the year of 1858. To Esquire John L. and Celia Way were born eight children, but only five of the number lived to manhood and womanhood, namely : Mariette, Jason P., Annette C., John Lock and True D. The father, who served his community many years as a justice of the peace, died here on the 22d of June. 1880, and on February 6, 1895, his wife joined him in the home beyond.
In his native township of Summit John Lock Way received the initial part of his educational training, and coming with his parents to the borough of Waterford when seventeen he completed his education in the Waterford Academy under the able instructions of Professor Walters. His home was in the borough for fifteen years, but farming has been his life occupation, and he now owns and operates fifty acres of rich and fertile land near the town. He married on the 10th of Sep- tember, 1818, Miss Emma Colvin, a daughter of John and Mary (Hayes) Colvin, natives of Erie county. Her paternal grandfather was from Rutland, Vermont, and her maternal grandfather from Newv York, but both were numbered among the pioneers of Erie county. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Way is a daughter, Carrie, the wife of Samuel Middleton, a farmer of Amity township, and they have three children, Marjorie, Emma and Paul.
ADAM B. BITTLES, who conducts a profitable and valuable farm of two hundred and twenty acres in Waterford township, represents a substantial Irish family whose members for generations have been en- gaged in agriculture. He was born in Waterford township, February 20, 1820. and is a son of John and Mary J. (Edmonds) Bittles, his father being a native of Ireland and his mother's birthplace being in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The paternal grandparents, Adam and Mary Bittles, and the maternal grandparents, John Edmond and Isabelle (Nesbit) Edmonds, were also natives of the Emerald Isle and first lo- cated in the Empire state. Some years afterward the maternal grand- parents migrated to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1842 located in Crawford county, that state, which remained their permanent home. The paternal grandparents located in Waterford township on a one hundred acre farm which became the nucleus of the old family home- stead. Adam Bittles, the grandfather, cleared the timbered portions of the land and with the assistance of his son in after years made many
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valuable improvements. The father also followed farming until his death in 1905.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. John Bittles were as follows: Ed- mond E., who married Belle Himrod, daughter of Aaron Himrod, and is now a veterinary surgeon at New Castle, Pennsylvania; Lizzie, a school teacher who resides at home; Lina, who married Frank Him- rod, a son of Aaron Himrod ; Adam B., of this sketch ; and Mary Mabel and Anna Maud (twins). The former became the wife of John Mer- ritt, and their child is Lyle B., the mother being now deceased. Anna Maud who became the wife of W. L. Gourley is the mother of James Paul Gourley. Mr. Bittles has never married but lives with his sister Lizzie and mother on the old farm now consisting of two hundred and twenty acres applying themselves to its conduct and improvement and to the filial duty of making pleasant the last days of their wid . owed mother.
NOAH W. PORTER, who has been a life-long resident of Erie county and one of its prominent agriculturists, was born in its township of Waterford October 8, 1832, a son of Joel and Hannah Porter, front Vermont. Joel Porter was a farmer throughout his entire business ca- reer, and he died at the age of sixty-four years.
After completing his education in the district schools of Water- ford township Noah W. Porter became a brick maker and followed that occupation for nine years, after which he was a drover for two years, and then during a similar period worked on the Allegheny river. In 1861 he organized the first three months' men to go into service in the army, but he did not go at that time. He beat the drum at the Presbyterian church door to rally the men. On the 26th of Decem- ber, 1863, when thirty years of age, he enlisted in Company G, Sixty- third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and took part in many of the hard-fought battles of the Civil war. His first engagement was at Devil's Gorge, which lasted for fifteen days, while his next prominent battle was that of the Wilderness, where with thirty-three of his
company he was captured and incarcerated in Libby prison from the "th of May, 1864, until the 11th of August, following, and he was the only one of the thirty-three who lived through the terrible ordeal of imprisonment. After his release Mr. Porter returned home to his wife and son, who was a babe of eight months at the time of his en- listment, but it was six months before he was able to do any work, so great had been his suffering while in prison. When able he took up farming, first on a small tract of twenty-five acres, but in time he accu- mulated an estate of one hundred and fourteen acres, although he aft- erwards disposed of his farm and invested the proceeds chiefly in Waterford property, now living retired in the pleasant home which he has erected on an eight acre lot.
Mr. Porter married in 1861 Miss Tentann Smith, a daughter of John and Sallie Smith, of Waterford township, whither they had moved from New York. Nelson Porter, the eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Porter, lives in Erie and is in the employ of the Skinner Iron Works Company. He married Emma Holbrook, and their children are Blanche and Ruth. Hattie, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Por- ter, married Ally Owens, and their children are Eva, Iva, Hazel and Anna Bell. The family reside in Waterford. Della, the third child,
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married Bruce Owens, and they reside with Mr. Porter. Their only child is a daughter Incz. Mr. Porter is a stanch Republican and a member of John F. Rice Post 345, and he has been an officer of the day for thirty-five years, and attended the Grand Encampment at Buffalo, N. Y. Mr. Porter is a member of the M. E. church.
HARRISON GRAY OTIS GILLETT, during many years one of the business men of Waterford, was born in Massachusetts April 12, 1830, a son of Sardis and Ursula (Wright) Gillett, natives respectively of Massa- chusetts and of Connecticut. Sardis Gillett was a prominent man in his home community in Massachusetts, and he gave to his son Harri- son a good academic education. The latter became a traveling sales- man for the American Whip Company, and later coming to Waterford he engaged in the furniture and undertaking business here. He mar- ried on the 15th of October, 1867, Miss Estelle Phelps, a daughter of Lucius and Roxanna (Webster) Phelps.
Lucius Phelps was born in Massachusetts, although the family came originally from Connecticut, and he was a son of Jason and Sub- mit (Thrall) Phelps. Jason Phelps came to Waterford township, Erie county, Pennsylvania, when his son Lucius was two years old, and se- curing a farm a mile and a half from Waterford, he cleared the land and farmed there until his death. His wife died at the age of ninety- four years.
The life labors of Harrison G. O. Gillett were ended in death on the 23d of June, 1891. Unto him and his wife were born the following children: Harrison Phelps Gillett; Wright Clark Gillett, deceased ; and Cornelia Estelle, the wife of William E. Briggs, a miller in Water- ford, and they have two children, Edward Gillett and Virginia Estelle.
William E. Briggs was born in Waterford township July 22, 1876, a son of Edward and Melinda Briggs, who were born in Erie county, Pennsylvania. The maternal family was established in this county by the great-grandfather of William E. Briggs, he having come from Ireland, and his son was John Patterson, who was born in Erie county. The paternal grandfather of William E. Briggs was Benjamin, who was born in Cattaraugus county. New York, and came to Erie county, Pennsylvania, at the age of fifteen years, in 1823. He took up one hundred and sixty acres of land near Waterford, and he cleared the tract and made it his home. His wife came to this county from Ver- mont in her early girlhood, making the journey with her parents in an ox cart.
Harrison Phelps Gillett, the eldest son of Harrison G. O. Gillett, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1868, but was educated in the Water- ford Academy. He married on June 18, 1892, Miss Flora G. Phelps, a daughter of John and Sarah (Moore) Phelps, and she was a nurse before her marriage, a graduate of the Shenandoah Valley Hospital at New Castle. Mr. Gillett is one of the prominent business men of Waterford, and has held many of the public offices of his borough. On the 4th of January, 1909. he became the incumbent of the office of clerk of the court of Erie county.
JOSEPH REID. A representative of a prominent Irish family, Joseph Reid. of Waterford, has progressed to a substantial position in this country chiefly as a farmer and dairy man. With the exception of
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about eleven years profitably spent in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, he has faithfully and wisely confined himself to these callings. He is a native of Ireland, born in 1839 and a son of Andrew and Mary (Pat- terson) Reid. The parents came to Waterford township in its pioneer period after the husband had spent some time prospecting in Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and New York. He was well qualified to make a wise selection in the choice of a new home since in Ireland he had been thoroughly educated as a surveyor and was in every way a re- markably intelligent man. He had also been a school teacher for a number of years before locating in Erie county, but after purchasing his fifty acres of land in Waterford township he steadfastly applied himself to its improvement both as a farm and homestead. In this lo- cality he reared his six children, those now living being Mr. Reid, of this sketch, and his sister, Katherine, who now resides in Massachu- setts.
Joseph Reid was educated in the district schools of Waterford township and with the exception of the decade which he passed in the Pennsylvania oil fields he has remained in this locality as a hard work- ing and progressive farmer and an honored citizen. At the present time he owns a fine homestead of two hundred and forty acres upon which he conducts general farming and dairying. In 1812 Mr. Reid married Miss Mattie McWilliams, daughter of William and Mary Anna (Lytle) McWilliams, both of Waterford township. (Mrs. Mc- Williams is aunt of Henry Lytle whose biography appears elsewhere in this work.) The children born to Mrs. and Mrs. Joseph Reid are as follows: Mary, who married Burton Morrison, and is the mother of Blanche and Clarence ; Maggie, who married Royal Briggs, and is the mother of Carl, Mary and Reid ; Charles, who married Eva Don- nell, and has a daughter, Katherine; Katherine, who is a school teacher in Waterford township: and Mattie, deceased. Mr. Reid is a stanch Republican. Both Mr. and Mrs. Reid are members of the United Presbyterian church at Waterford.
HENRY E. WILSON. A man who is an ardent lover of beautiful paintings and beautiful horses is not going to be crushed by business reverses. He has means of recreation and re-invigoration at his com- mand which makes him rebound from such temporary backsets, like a rubber ball which comes up against a stone wall. Mr. Wilson, the re- markable oil operator and general promoter of Albion, and now propri- etor of one of the leading hotels of Erie county, has lost and regained several fortunes, largely through his generosity to associated friends, but is now not only on the top wave of his old-time business, but pro- prietor of the "Albion Hotel." the famous French Creek Valley Stock Farm for horses (at Venango) and the largest and the most select private gallery of paintings in northern Pennsylvania. Admirer of beautiful landscapes and artistic representations of the "human form divine," he is an equally ardent lover of the horse which to him, in common with thousands, stands for the "animal form divine." But while a deep pleasure to him, the Valley Stock Farm is conducted on such business principles that it is also a financial satisfaction and one of the chief sources of his large income.
French Creek Valley Stock Farm has been retained by its able and enthusiastic proprietor throughout all the exigencies of his career, and although he commenced the breeding of standard horses more than Vol. II-37
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twenty-three years ago, it is the Venango enterprise which has always been the apple of his eye. It was while busy in this line on the other side of the mountains that he obtained a half interest in the noted stal- lion Baron Bell, for which he paid $7,500. It was placed at the head of his Pennsylvania farm and was not only a remarkably fine animal on all general points, but was especially noted from the fact that, up to that time, it was the only 2:10 trotter which had ever been produced or owned in West Virginia. Oakland Baron, Jr., now at the head, is also remarkable for breeding, individuality and speed, having been pur- chased at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1907, and valued at five thousand dollars. His registered number is 36,941. The already famous black beauty is a son of Oakland Baron (2:09 1-4), who, in turn, was sired by the great Baron Wilkes (sire of eleven in 2:10). Oakland Baron is himself founding a high-class family, having sired such grand cir- cuit stars as Lady Gail Hamilton 2:06 1-4, Rhythmis ?: 06 3-4 and Baron de Shay 2:08 1-2. With Oakland Baron, Jr., Mr. Wilson has the noted Percheron, Zulu ( No. 29, 338-44, 905), weighing 1,950 pounds and import- ed by the Dunhams of Wayne, Illinois; also Brilliant H., by Brilliant. of Black Percheron stock and weighing 1,900 pounds. He is the owner of other sires who are fine specimens of horse flesh, but these are the most famous and are giving his French Creek Valley Stock Farm a special and an extended reputation.
Mr. Wilson has all the characteristic sociability, elasticity and versa- tility of his race : for, although born in Hamilton, Canada (June 2, 1856), his parents were natives of Armagh, Ireland, who settled in the Domin- ion in 1842. Samuel and Nancy (McDonald) Wilson, as they were known, had several children, two of their sons and three of their daugh- ters being still alive. Mr. Wilson's brother Hugh is a lumber merchant of Detroit, Michigan; one of his sisters, Elizabeth, has charge of his hotel at Albion ; another. Mary Ann, is the wife of L. Mills, a retired farmer of Hamilton, Canada; and the third, Maggie, is Mrs. John An- derson, whose husband is both a farmer and a hotel proprietor of that city.
Henry E. Wilson left home when he was eleven years of age and came to Oil City, Pennsylvania, where he started as a messenger boy and soon graduated to a clerkship in one of the plants there. During the two years of his latter employment he partially completed his educa- tion in a local night school, finishing his schooling in Toronto where he remained a student for one year. Then returning to Oil City, he was employed in the National Hotel for a year, and was subsequently identified with the Colt House, of Meadville, for two years. With the savings of many years he next purchased the St. Cloud Hotel of that place, which he successfully conducted for nine years. In connection with it he also opened a ticket office, and between the two ventures accumulat- ed quite a fortune. In 1882 he bought the old Piper and Richard dis- tillery, its successor being the Meadville Distillery Company, and oper- ated a large wholesale liquor business with it. This was a period of great activity and remarkable money-making for a young man who inau- gurated it before he was twenty-one, with a capital of one hundred and fifty dollars, and concluded it in 1889, then only twenty-three, with a capital of ninety-three thousand dollars. This rapid success and his nat- ural generosity, which took the form of endorsing the notes of em- barrassed business friends, culminated in his failure in that year ; but he re-opened his ticket office, engaged in the real estate business and in 1898
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moved to Sistersville, West Virginia, where he became owner of the Hotel Wells. In 1900 he also re-entered the oil fields, and within two years had accumulated nearly a million dollars ; he had also continued to back up his friends' uncertain paper with his signature and, as he was a man who always "made good," he was caught and his obligations as an endorser lost him another fortune in two days. In 1905 Mr. Wilson concentrated his energies on his French Creek Valley Stock Farm, which he had jealously guarded amid the ruins of two fortunes, and in 1907 again became an operator in the oil fields of West Virginia and Ohio; also purchasing the Albion Hotel at Albion, which has since been his home. The merits and successes of his famous stock farm have been mentioned. In his oil investments he has been equally fortunate, ac- cumulating a big fortune. He is now the heaviest stockholder in the following concerns: Log Cabin Oil Company, St. Mary's Home Oil Company and Cunningham Oil Company, all of Pleasant county, West Virginia ; Lone Indian Oil Company, Columbiana county, Ohio; and St. Mary's Home Oil Company, of West Virginia.
With all his popularity and influence, Mr. Wilson might have reached high official station in the Republican party, in which he was always helpful and active for others and the general good of the organiz- ation. He was a warm personal friend of the late Senator Quay and other strong leaders who have come into general notice, but he himself appears to have had no desire to get into the public eye. He is a Mason, and at the height of his earlier business prosperity was con- nected with all the prominent orders. At present, he is only a member of the Masonic fraternity, of Meadville, No. 408.
CYRUS SHERWOOD, proprietor of a substantial farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Waterford township, is one of the honored pioneers in this part of Erie county. He is a native of Washington township, born on the site of the present town of Italy, on the 12th of February, 1839, and is a son of Cyrus and Harriet (Atwater) Sherwood. At the age of fourteen, Cyrus, Sr., came with his father, John, to Erie, from a locality near Buffalo, New York. This was in the year 1816 and at that time this part of Pennsylvania was virtually a wilderness. John Sherwood, the head of this family, bought a farm of about one hundred acres in Washington township, cleared it and made it the family home- stead, following his life long occupation of farming in that locality and there rearing nine sons and one daughter. This tract of land which Cyrus, Sr., bought and cleared in his early manhood is now the prop- erty of Cyrus, Jr., of this sketch. The elder Mr. Sherwood also fol- lowed farming in that locality until his death and of his family of nine children three are still living.
Cyrus Sherwood, of this biography, was educated in the district schools of that portion of Washington township which has since been incorporated into Waterford township and like his father and grand- father before him has always been a farmer, his present estate consist- ing of one hundred and fifty acres. On June 2, 1861. Mr. Sherwood married Miss Matilda Hagerty, daughter of Samuel and Barbara Ha- gerty, both natives of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Her paternal grand- father was Thomas Hagerty who became a settler of Erie county at a very early day. The maternal grandparents were David and Barbara Giers. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Sherwood are as fol- lows: William A., who married Agnes Thompson and is the father of
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Lula, Lyle and Harold ; and J. L., who married Lillian Phelps and is the father of Paul. Mr. Sherwood is a true blue Republican and he and his wife are members of the Christian church near Italy in Wash- ington township. Some of Mr. Sherwood's early progenitors were heroes in the Revolutionary war. entitling him and his children to be- come members of the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution.
GEORGE W. BISHOP is a substantial farmer and dairyman of Water- ford township, Erie county, who is now occupying the homestead to which he came with his parents in 1848, when a boy eleven years of age. Ile is a native of Delaware county, New York, born near Bloom- ville, on the 15th day of February, 1837, a son of John and Emilia (Munger) Bishop. In 1848 they brought their family with them from their New York home, and resided on their farm in Waterford town- ship until their death.
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