USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Armstrong County, Pennsylvania her people past and present, embracing a history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I > Part 62
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Jackson Boggs was brought up in Plum
The Boggs family is Scotch-Irish. The township, where his father was an old resi- dent, and he continued to own his father's farm there until his death. In 1839, when twenty-one years old, he came to Kittanning, and engaged in school teaching in East Frank- lin township. In 1840 he commenced to teach school in Kittanning, and there in 1841 took up the study of law under Darwin Phelps, Esq., later a member of Congress. He also read with Judge Joseph Buffington, then of the Armstrong district, being admitted to the bar in 1843. Soon afterward he formed a profes- sional partnership with the late J. R. Calhoun, then a member of the Legislature, and he continued to be actively engaged in general practice until elected judge, attaining in time a position among the foremost attorneys of western Pennsylvania. Upon the adoption of the new constitution Armstrong county was made a separate judicial district, having been detached from the jurisdiction of Judge More- land, who lived in Westmoreland county, and in the contest following the formation of the new district Mr. Boggs became the Demo- cratic candidate for the judgeship. Up to this time he had always taken an active in- terest in politics, but had never been a candi- date for any office. He was elected by a large majority after one of the most hotly contested campaigns ever carried on in the county, and in January, 1875, entered upon the duties of the office. As president judge he endeavored to discharge his responsibilities conscien- tiously, regardless of consequences, and his success may be best judged by the statement that in more than four years of his adminis- tration he had but two decisions reversed by the Supreme court. In fact, it was almost a hobby of his to be so cautious in his deci- sions as to insure himself against reversal by that court, and he was exceedingly careful, painstaking and industrious in following the workings of every case which came before him, his exertions sometimes seeming almost superhuman. In the administration of crim- inal cases he was always lenient and merciful, often surprising the accused and convicted victim with an unexpectedly light sentence. His errors, if any, were in this direction- always on the side of mercy. As may be inferred, he was remarkably kind and tender- hearted, easily moved by appeals of distress, and the miseries of want and affliction deeply affected his sympathetic nature. Thus he gained so strong a hold upon popular feeling
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that he came to be regarded as the poor man's G. C. Orr and J. A. Mccullough were ap- friend, a fact which accounted for his fre- pointed as pall bearers. quent successes with juries, with whom his power as an advocate was conceded.
Judge Boggs was compared to both Jack- son and Abraham Lincoln. One writer said of him: "The lately elected Democratic Judge Jackson Boggs was on the bench, and every seat in the room outside the lawyers' railing was filled. Judge Boggs looks like the pic- tures of old Jackson; a great high forehead, pointy at each side, hair standing straight up like bristles. He has unmistakably a fine face, or rather a strong face, one well calcu- lated to impress you as that of a self-reliant man, yet unbending when spoken to and as affable as ever Lincoln was. He was without doubt a man of great intellectual power and who loved good principle."
As a citizen Judge Boggs was esteemed and respected by all who knew him. His death, which occurred April 19, 1879, was regretted by the entire community. A distinguished member of the Armstrong county bar and of the legal profession in western Pennsylvania, his name was highly honored at a meeting of the bar called for the purpose of making arrangements to attend his funeral, Edward S. Golden, who presided, addressing the mem- bers of the bar thus: "I have known Judge Boggs long and well. He was my school teacher in early life, and for many years my fellow member of the bar, and of late the presiding judge of the county. No man ever possessed more energy, industry and courage. He was true to duty in every relation in life. True as a lawyer, as a judge and citizen, and more true and affectionate as a husband and father. What a lesson is found to us in his death! Especially to me it comes with many sad memories. My contemporaries, Calhoon, Cantwell, Donnelly, Finney, Crawford, and many others, are all gone and I am alone as their representative with you, many of you my students and professional children; and upon you I must lean, as the sun of my pro- fessional life 'casts its shadows far in the east.' Our lessons of this kind are many. May they show us the importance of forgetting animosi- ties and troubles, and of living better and higher lives."
Judge Boggs was prominently mentioned as the Democratic candidate for governor at the Pittsburgh convention. A number of the delegates to that convention were, in fact, instructed for him, among them being the delegates of his own and adjoining counties. He did not make an active canvass for the nomination, however, preferring for the time, at least, to attend to the duties of the office he then filled.
The Judge's taste for agricultural pursuits, acquired in his early life, never left him, and after residing in Kittanning until 1871 he moved onto his farm in East Franklin town- ship, this county, residing there until his death. It was a matter of pride that he could refer to it as the best conditioned and best cultivated farm in the county.
In 1845 Mr. Boggs married Phoebe J. Mos- grove, daughter of John Mosgrove, Esq., and sister of the Hon. James Mosgrove. Two daughters are living: Anna Jane, married Nov. 4, 1867, to Norwood G. Pinney, and Isabel, now Mrs. Withington Reynolds, re- siding in Kittanning.
HARRY P. BOARTS, attorney at law of Kittanning, which borough he served as mayor from March 1, 1909, to Jan. 1, 1914, was born on a farm in Kittanning township, son of Frederick and Sarah J. (Marsh) Boarts.
Mr. Boarts attended public school in Kit- tanning township and Greensburg Academy, following which he taught school in both Armstrong and Westmoreland counties, be- coming principal of the Leechburg high school in 1901. From 1901 to 1903 he was principal of Vandergrift Heights public schools, in Westmoreland county. Having earned the money by teaching to pay for a college course, he entered Grove City College, from which he was graduated in 1900. He studied law in his spare moments, with the late Judge Calvin Rayburn, of Kittanning, and was admitted to the bar of Armstrong county Dec. 23, 1903. Immediately thereafter Mr. Boarts began the practice of his profession in Kittanning, and has risen to eminence in it. In 1909, the peo- ple of the borough showed their appreciation of him as a man by electing him mayor, by a majority of 276 votes. As he was a candi- date of the Democratic party, and Kittanning is one of the Republican strongholds, his elec- tion was a flattering tribute to his personal
Agreeable to a request from the members of the family it was resolved that the mem- bers of the bar would attend the funeral in a body with suitable badges of mourning. Hon. J. V. Painter, E. S. Golden, J. E. Brown, F. Mechling, H. N. Lee, J. B. Neale, popularity. During his incumbency of the
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high office Mr. Boarts proved conclusively that his constituents judged wisely when they decided that he would give the city an honest, progressive and business-like administration.
HON. WILLIS DALZELL PATTON was for many years one of the conspicuously prom- iment citizens of Armstrong county. At the time of his death he was President Judge of the Thirty-third Judicial district of Pennsyl- vania and president of the Armstrong County Trust Company of Kittanning, which positions are indicators of a versatile ability of the man in whom great legal talent and business ca- pacity were united in an uncommon degree. He was the son of Mathew D. Patton and Margaret (Mechling) Patton, and was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., Jan. 13, 1853.
Upon the death of his father, in 1859, his mother removed with her family to Kittan- ning, where they made their home with his maternal grandfather, the late Philip Mech- ling, Esq., a prominent merchant at that time. After graduating from the schools at Kittan- ning, in his seventeenth year, Willis D. Patton entered the office of the Free Press, the leading Republican newspaper of Armstrong county, as an apprentice. At the expiration of his first year of apprenticeship his health failed, and he abandoned the idea of becoming a news- paper man. His next employment was in the office of Alexander J. Montgomery, sheriff of Armstrong county, as a deputy, where he served until the end of the term, when he entered the office of the late Edward S. Golden, Esq., first as clerk and then as student at law.
After his admission to the bar, in 1876, his preceptor and he formed a law partnership under the firm name of Golden and Patton, which firm enjoyed a prosperous career. The association was dissolved in 1879.
In 1899 Mr. Patton was nominated by the Republicans of Armstrong county as a candi- date for the office of judge and was elected, defeating Hon. Calvin Rayburn, who had just finished serving a ten-year term. Again in 1909 Judge Patton was elected, for a second term. Shortly after his second election his health failed, but he continued to attend to the duties of his office and of his large business
interests until about the middle of January, 1913, when he went to a sanitarium for the purpose of recuperation. In this he was un- successful, and on the 29th day of January, 1913, he died, when just past his sixtieth year. His remains were brought to Kittanning and interred in the family lot in the beautiful ceme- tery overlooking the town.
Judge Patton possessed in a marked degree the ideals of our race. He was patriotic, cour- ageous and just, and had high regard for the rights of others. His patriotism was not bounded by State lines. He loved his whole country and was ardently attached to her institutions and her laws. He loved his coun- try, his native State and his native county, but above all, he loved to gather around his own hearthstone with his books, surrounded by his family, in that quiet domesticity which so hallows the American home.
Although a man of delicate physique, he possessed natural courage in a high degree; and in that moral courage which springs from principle or a sense of duty, and which always acts in a uniform manner and according to the dictates of right reason, he had no supe- rior. He never yielded to popular clamor, as weak men are prone to do and exercise arbitrary power under the forms of justice. Hle maintained a scrupulous regard for the rights of others in all his dealings and pre- served them on all occasions sacred and in- violate. Although a strong party man, the oc- casion for revenge which the domination of a faction always presents was never taken ad- vantage of by him, but after the contest was decided friend and foe were treated with the same just consideration.
All of these noble qualities were mantled by a natural modesty, and reserve that few but his most intimate friends ever drew aside.
One who is able to judge of his legal and
On July 8. 1884, Mr. Patton was married, financial abilities and who was for many years at Washington, Pa., to Eleanor M. Haft, a associated with him in business paid the fol- lowing tribute to his memory, in an address de- livered before the Bar Association of Arm- strong County : daughter of John Haft and Frances ( McGill) Haft, of Pittsburgh, Pa. To Mr. and Mrs. Patton were born four children, only one of whom, Miss Margaret McGill Patton, sur- vives.
"I have seen somewhat of life and have mingled much with my fellow men, but in all my experience I have never met a truer or kindlier man than he.
"As a jurist, Judge Patton had more than a local reputation. He was sought by most every judicial district in the State and prob- ably held court in more counties in the State than any other judge in it.
"There was some reason for this : his public life was stamped with rectitude, fidelity and
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7 PRIOT LO GARY
CHIONS
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
courage, and when once he saw the right his them McKee took the southern part, most duty became plain and he never faltered. His of which is now in East Franklin township. great capacity for work, coupled with accuracy and speed, seemed to be his greatest recrea- tion and pleasure, and he did it without show or ostentation.
"If there was anything in this world that he disliked it was to see someone doing some- thing for' effect or display. He was at all times natural. His strict integrity, his gentle- ness of heart, his simplicity of manner, made him admired and esteemed everywhere. No man ever lived in the county that was more respected than he. In Judge Patton's death, his loss is more than local. It is felt through- out the entire State and it can be truly said that a good citizen as well as a faithful public servant has passed out of this life."
THOMAS NEWTON McKEE, M. D., an eminent physician and surgeon of Kittanning. belongs to old pioneer stock of Sugar Creek township, Armstrong county, where he was born Nov. 18, 1867, on his father's farm- the old homestead place of his grandfather. His parents were Thomas Vincent and Mary (Craig) McKee, and on both sides he be- longs to the hardy Scotch-Irish race which has done so much for Pennsylvania.
The Doctor is a great-grandson of Andrew McKee, who was born in 1747, in Ireland, and coming to America prior to the Revolution settled in Cumberland county, Pa., near Car- lisle. He served in the Revolutionary war from the beginning to the close, in two regi- ments, in March, 1776, becoming a private in the company of Captain Adams, Colonel Ir- win's regiment, Pennsylvania troops, with which he served sixteen months. In June, 1780, he again enlisted, this time in Captain Ziegler's company, Colonel Stewart's regi- ment, and served to the end of the war. Afterward he came to Allegheny county, Pa., settling at what is now Mckeesport, named after another branch of this family. After several years' residence there he moved to Armstrong county, first living in what is now East Franklin township, near where Mont- gomeryville now stands, and there building what was originally known as McKee's mill. later 'the Christman mills. He settled on a heptagonal tract of 403 acres, 136 perches, probably about 1797, and in 1805 and 1806 was assessed at $131, with 400 acres, one horse and one cow. By virtue of his im- provement, settlement and residence on that tract he had a joint interest in it with Fran- cis Johnston, and in the partition between 21
In the latter part of 1814, or early in 1815, McKee and John Christman agreed to sell and purchase the former's interest, and the latter built his gristmill on Limestone run, with which, 400 acres, one horse and one cow he was first assessed in the last mentioned year, at $307. He built his sawmill five years later. McKee obtained the patent April 19, 1820, and conveyed to Christman 201 acres, 148 perches, June 27, for $1,100. Charles Campbell conveyed to Robert Orr, Sr., and John Patton 100 acres, 36 perches, which he had agreed to sell to James Fulton, in trust for the persons claiming under Fulton, which they conveyed to Andrew McKee, Sr., Dec. 25, 1820, who had agreed to purchase, and had paid the purchase money for the same. It appears 140 acres of this tract was vested in Jolin Brown, for he conveyed that quantity to Andrew and Thomas McKee, Oct. 25, 1819, for $775, which became vested in the latter, who conveyed 115 acres to his son, Thomas V. McKee, July 17, 1855, for $800. Andrew McKee conveyed 100 acres, 36 perches, to Andrew Rodgers Dec. 27, 1830, for $800, which, with another parcel, his heirs conveyed to Joseph and Samuel Rodgers, Nov. 17, 1849, for $1 "as well as other good considerations." By his will, dated Dec. II, 1860, and registered March 13, 1862, he de- vised his real estate equally to his daughters. The Johnston purpart is chiefly in what is now Washington township. McKee's name appears in several land transactions in Sugar Creek township. From East Franklin town- ship Andrew McKee removed to West Franklin, settling where his grandson, James B. McKee, now lives (and which place is .now owned by his great-grandson, James H. McKee) and where he died in 1835, when eighty-eight years of age. He held several local offices of trust. He had a large funeral, all who attended riding horseback or walk- ing ; the roads to the cemetery at Cowansville, four miles distant, were so bad that the re- mains were hauled on a half wagon, the front wheels, on which was a bed on which the coffin was placed. His grave is decorated by the Sons of the American Revolution of the State of Pennsylvania ; he was a gallant pa- triot. McKee married Mary Blanford, who is buried beside him, and she was by act of Pennsylvania Assembly, December, 1838, granted a pension as the widow of a soldier of the Revolutionary and Indian wars. They had children : (1) William, his eldest son, was the
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA .
first man buried in the Union cemetery at Cowansville. His father, Andrew McKee, lies beside him; the former was accidentally killed at a barn raising. (2) John. (3) James made an improvement and settlement in East Frank- lin township on a tract of 434 acres, 134 perches, about 1797. In 1805 he was assessed
by J. E. Meredith, Feb. 2, 1867, at $8,740, which was not taken by any of the heirs at the appraisement, but all of them except one having conveyed their interests to Thomas V. McKee, the court decreed June 3, 1867, that this land be awarded to him.
Mrs. Margaret (Blaine) McKee was born with 400 acres as a single man, at $100, and Aug. 5, 1793, and died Sept. 17, 1859.
the next year, as married, and with one horse Thomas and Margaret (Blaine) McKee raised fourteen children, seven sons and seven, daughters, namely : (1) Deborah Jane married Robert Hays, and they became the parents of Hon. Thomas Hays, of Butler county, Pa. (2) Harvey followed farming and later became a merchant in what is now Cowansville, in East Franklin township, where he died. He married Phebe Foster, daughter of Alexander Foster. They left no children. (3) James B., now (1913) ninety-three years of age, is a farmer, resid- ing on the place where his grandfather, An- drew McKee, lived and died. He rode one of the two horses that drew the two-wheeled hearse on which his grandfather was carried to his grave. He married Catherine Patton. (4) William, a farmer, married Miss Martha Pence, and he and his wife died in Lath- rop, Mo. (5) Mary Ann is the wife of David Reed, a farmer, of East Franklin township; his nephew, Hon. Thomas Hays, owns his old farm. (6) Ellen married James Herron, a farmer of East Franklin town- ship (near Worthington), and they moved to a farm at Joplin, Mo., where they died. (7) Nancy became the wife of James Tem- pleton, and they moved to near Altoona, Ill., where they engaged in farming and died. (8) John B. went to California in 1849, and in 1874 had four thousand acres in wheat and barley near Salinas, Cal., where his fam- ily reside. He had children late in his life. (9) Thomas Vincent is mentioned below. (10) Margaret married John Patton and re- sided in Sugar Creek township. She and her husband are both deceased. They left a fan- ily. (II) Eliza is the widow of William Cowan, a farmer, and is now living with her children at Coal Town, Ill. (12) Joseph married Mary Munson and moved to Cali- fornia, where she died; his death occurred in Oregon. Their son, Munson McKee, lives in Pittsburgh. (13) Rachel, twin of Joseph, married Samuel J. Gibson, and they were engaged in farming near Galva, Ill., where their family now reside. (14) Cyrus K. en- listed in the 103d Regiment, Pennsylvania and one cow, at $121. Philip Anthony con- veyed 108 acres to McKee for $400, which he conveyed to Anthony Montgomery, Oct. 17, 1812, for $600, who reconveyed to him 108 acres of the southwestern part, May 20, 1813, for five shillings and his bonds for $500. (4) Joseph settled on a tract of over 400 acres lying principally in Washington town- ship, partly in East Franklin township, and was assessed with 400 acres of it in 1804 at $80. He was later assessed with a smaller quantity, the last time in 1810, with 200 acres. In Will Book II, page 15, of Armstrong county, may be found the will of Joseph McKee, dated Aug. 1, 1851: "First I give and bequeath to my son Thomas McKee all the farm we now live on, to my beloved wife Jane, should she survive me, all the household furniture, etc. and the house in which I live during her natural life, cows, brass clock etc., to dispose of as she thinks fit. I direct that my son Thomas McKee pay unto my daughter Sarah Davis one dollar, to Ann Rasher one dollar, to Joseph McKee one dollar, to Margaret Kelly one dollar, and to Martha Hart one dollar." (5) Rev. Andrew. (6) Thomas. (7) Polly married a Stewart. (8) Jane mar- ried a Mr. Henry of Armstrong county. (9) Nancy married a Mr. Hanna, a river captain. Thomas McKee settled in Sugar Creek township. He was born March 1, 1790, in Cumberland county, Pa., and died Aug. 8, 1865. He became a farmer when a young man, and after his marriage to Margaret Blaine, daughter of James and Deborah (Baird) Blaine, he purchased the farm now owned by William Foster, near Adams post office. About 1828 he moved from there to Sugar Creek township, and purchased a farm adjoining Robert Hays, afterward his son- in-law. On Sept. 15, 1831, Thomas Foster conveyed to Thomas McKee 265 acres. 135 acres for $450, five acres, two perches, of which he conveyed to Thomas Templeton, April 28, 1832, for $14. Mr. McKee resided there until his decease, opening his store there prior to 1860. He died intestate, and in pro- ceedings in partition the inquest valued the Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil war, residue of this parcel, 264 acres, as surveyed became sergeant, and died soon afterward in
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North Carolina, in 1864, while a prisoner of V. (10) Raymond L., D. D. S., at present war. He married Elvira Fulton, who resides engaged in farming on his place near Worth- in Worthington, Armstrong Co., Pa., with ington, married Margaret Henry, and they her daughter, Mrs. Stella ( McKee) Mc- have five children, Gertrude, Mildred, Wilbur, Margaret and Thomas C. Culley.
Thomas Vincent McKee, born May II, 1829, in Armstrong county, followed farming in both Washington and West Franklin town- ships. His father died intestate, as previously related, and he became possessed of the home- stead in Sugar Creek township, which is still owned by the McKee family. The 115 acres which Thomas McKee conveyed to his son Thomas V. McKee July 17, 1855, for $800, was conveyed by the latter Oct. 2, 1866, to McKee served two terms as county commis- sioner. On March 9 (29), 1854, he was mar- ried, at the Craig homestead, to Mary Craig, who was born Sept. 26, 1835, at the old Craig homestead, daughter of John and Eliza (Hus- ton) Craig, and died April 17, 1907. Mr. Mc- Kee died Jan. 3, 1899. They were members of the Worthington Presbyterian Church, and both are buried in the cemetery adjoining that church. Ten children were born to this union, as follows :
(I) Eva E. married George Ross of Kittanning, and had: May Van Antwerp, deceased Nov. 13, 1906, who married Marcus D. Wayman; Capt. James G., United States engineer at Memphis, Tenn .; Elisabeth M .; Thomas V. McKee; Wash- ington M., and Helen Josephine. (2) Harvey C. died at the age of forty-two years, in South Dakota. He married Mary Leard, and they had three children, Nora, Agatha and Her- bert, who live, as does their mother, at Bonesteel, S. Dak. (3) Margaret I. mar- ried James J. Titley, of Chicora, Pa., where he is engaged in the oil business. They have six children, Blanch, Arthur, Ralph, Walter, Helen and LeRoy. (4) Ella M. married James L. Garroway, a manufac- turer, of Butler, Pa., and they have six chil- dren, Jessie, Grace, Blanch, Lucille, James and Ruth. (5) Nannie L. married Preston Smith, who is now deceased, and she resides at Leechburg, Pa. She has one son, Paul P. (6) Dr. Thomas Newton is mentioned below. (7) Jean M. is the wife of Dr. H. R. Kenne- ston, of Bonesteel, S. Dak., and they have
Thomas Newton McKee began his educa- tion in the public schools of the home district, and later attended Deanville Academy, to prepare himself for teaching. For the fol- lowing four years he taught public school, and then began the study of medicine with Dr. C. J. Jessop, of Kittanning. While under Dr. Jessop's instruction, he was favored with exceptional opportunities for acquiring experi- enced knowledge, especially along anatomical
William H. Leard, for $3,300. Thomas V. lines, and in the dissecting room. Entering
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