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 63
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the University of Pittsburgh, he was gradu- ated from the medical department of that in- stitution March 27, 1890, and then served a year as resident physician at the West Penn- sylvania hospital. The following year he located at Ford City, Pa., remaining there a few years, not only engaging in active pri- vate practice but also as physician and sur- geon for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. In the spring of 1894 he removed to DuBois, Pa., where he remained about eighteen months, on Feb. 4, 1896, making another change-coming to Kittanning, where he has since been located, building up a large and constantly increasing practice. He has served as county medical inspector, under the State board of health of Pennsylvania, and was sub- sequently appointed county medical inspector, when the Pennsylvania department of health was created in 1905, which office he still holds. He is physician-in-charge of the Penn- sylvania State Tuberculosis Dispensary, No. 24, and has been a member of the medical staff of the Kittanning general hospital since its organization. A prominent member of the Armstrong County Medical Society, he has served as its president, and in 1910 was elected vice president of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society. He was one of the vice presidents of the International Tubercu- losis Congress which met in September, 1908, and delivered a lecture on Tuberculosis before the assembly.
On Nov. 17, 1892, Dr. McKee was married by Rev. J. H. Southerland, now chaplain in the one son, Hampton Ray, Jr. (8) John Wil- United States army, to Mary Blanche Way- bert, D. D. S., is the leading dentist of But- ler, Pa. He married Mary B. Clark, and they have three children, Genevieve, Clark and Edgar. (9) Arthur Vincent, attorney at law, of Butler, married Lila Grubbs and they have two children, Arthur V. and Mary man, of Ford City, who was born in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 15, 1873, and five children have been born of this union: Marcus Vincent, born Sept. 18, 1893, was accidentally drowned in the Mississippi river, near Caruthersville, Mo., Aug. 18, 1910, when within a month of being
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seventeen years old; he was a high school boy child of English descent born in the Province of great promise, and was preparing to take of Pennsylvania. From Hazard's Annals, up engineering. Earl W., born Aug. 24, 1895, page 468, as well as from the Pennsylvania is just completing his high school course. Gasette, June 28 to July 5, 1739, we learn Margaret M., born Nov. 4, 1897, is in high that "on the 30th of May past" the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Richard Buffington, Sr., to the number of 115 met at his home in Chester county, as also his nine sons and daughters-in-law, and twelve great-grandchildren-in-law. The old man was then said to be aged about eighty-five. school. Thomas Craig was born July 16, 1901. Kenneth N. was born July 14, 1903. Dr. and Mrs. McKee and their family are members of the First Presbyterian Church. The Doctor's ancestors have long been stanch supporters of that denomination, and all his uncles on both sides, McKee and Craig, served as Presbyter- Thomas Buffington, second son of Richard ian elders. Mrs. McKee is a daughter of M. Buffington mentioned above, was born about 1680, and died in December, 1739. He mar- ried Ruth Cope, and left among other chil- dren a son William, who according to Rupp's history of Lancaster county, Pa. (page 112), was first married to Lena Ferree. By his second wife, Alice (whose maiden name is unknown), he had a son Jonathan.
D. and Margaret (Mongavin) Wayman, now living at Tarentum, Allegheny Co., Pa .; Mr. Wayman, now retired, was a glass manufact- urer of Pittsburgh during his active career. He and his wife are Methodists in religious connection. Mrs. McKee received her higher education at the Pennsylvania College for Women, Pittsburgh, at the time Helen Pelle- treau was principal of that institution.
Fraternally Dr. McKee is a high Mason, being a member of Kittanning Lodge, No. 244 at North Brook, near the site of the battle of (of which he was master in 1901) ; Mount Moriah Council, No. 2, R. & S. M .; Orient Chapter, No. 247, R. A. M. (high priest, possession of the mill and compelled the non-
Jonathan Buffington, son of William and Alice, was born in 1736, and died Oct. 18, 1801. He owned and operated a flour mill Brandywine, and at the time of that battle (September, 1777) the British troops took combatant Friend to furnish food for them. He married Ann Clayton, who was born in 1739, daughter of Edward and Ann Clayton,
1903) ; Pittsburgh Commandery, No. I, K. T. (held all the offices in that body and was installed as eminent commander April 8, 1913) ; Pennsylvania Consistory, A. A. S. R. and died June 16, 1811.
(thirty-second degree, which he joined in Ephraim Buffington, third child of Jona- 1902) ; and Syria Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. than and Ann (Clayton), was born March Dr. McKee's ancestry in the Blaine and 23, 1767, and died Dec. 30, 1832. He kept a Craig lines is given fully elsewhere in this work. (See Blaine and Craig family sketches.) hotel at Westchester, Pa., well known in its day as the "White Hall" tavern. Leaving Chester county about 1813 he moved west over the mountains, settling at Pine Creek, on the Allegheny river, about five miles above Pittsburgh. On March 4, 1790, he had mar- ried Rebecca Francis, at the old Swedes Church at Wilmington, Del. Among their sons were Joseph and John.
ORR BUFFINGTON, attorney at law, of Kittanning, Armstrong county, senior member of the firm of Buffington and Gilpin, belongs to an old family which dates its coming to Pennsylvania back to Provincial days, and three generations have been represented John Buffington, son of Ephraim and Re- among the most creditable members of the becca ( Francis), was born about 1799, and Armstrong county bar. Mr. Buffington was died March 31, 1832. He married Hannah Allison. born April 29, 1858, at Kittanning, son of Ephraim and Margaret C. (Orr) Buffington.
The early members of the Buffington fam- ily in this country were members of the So- ciety of Friends. They left England several years before Penn's arrival in America, and in 1677, five years before that event, we find a Richard Buffington listed among the tax- ables at Upland, Chester Co., Pa. This Rich- ard Buffington was born at Great Marle, upon the Thames, in Buckinghamshire, England, about 1654. He was the father of the first
Ephraim Buffington, son of John and Han- nah (Allison), was born Aug. 8, 1821, at Pine Creek, near Pittsburgh. He received an excellent education, attending Allegheny Col- lege, at Meadville, Pa., and Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, and read law with his uncle, Judge Joseph Buffington. He was admitted to the bar in Armstrong county and practiced the profession for several years, being located at Kittanning. He then retired from profes- sional work to devote his time to land inter-
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JUDGE JOSEPH BUFFINGTON, for many years
ests which required his undivided attention, having coal and oil property ; he was quite a judge of the Tenth district of Pennsylvania, extensively engaged in the oil business for one whose life work had an intimate connec- some time. During the Civil war he served tion with the history of Armstrong county, as a provost marshal and he was afterward connected with the internal revenue service for several years, being deputy collector for Armstrong county. In politics he was a stanch Republican from the organization of the party. He attended the Protestant Epis- copal Church.
On Jan. 21, 1845, Mr. Buffington married Margaret C. Orr, daughter of Chambers Orr, of South Bend, Armstrong Co., Pa., former sheriff of Armstrong county. Six children were born to this union: Catherine, wife of D. W. Martin; Warren; Hannah; Frances, who graduated from Vassar College and was a successful teacher, one of the most compe- tent in the Kittanning schools, a young woman whose many accomplishments and ad- inirable traits made her untimely death widely mourned in the community ; Joseph, who is a judge of the United States Circuit court at Pittsburgh; and Orr. The father of this family died in 1892.
Orr Buffington, son of Ephraim and Mar- garet C. (Orr), received his preparatory edu- cation in private schools in his native town and later attended Trinity College, at Hart- ford, Conn., from which he was graduated in 1879. He carried on his law studies under the direction of Hon. James B. Neale and his elder brother, Joseph Buffington, and after his admission to the bar of Armstrong county, in the year 1881, entered into partnership with that brother for practice. His brother moved to Pittsburgh in 1892, and since 1903 he has been associated in professional work with Oliver W. Gilpin. His legal carcer has been one of hard work and continued success and he has maintained the high standing attaching to the Buffington name in legal circles. He has, however, found time for active participa- tion in the borough government, having given able service as burgess and as member of the school board; his interest in the question of public education has always been strong, and he has done his share in forwarding the cause in his home community.
In 1882 Mr. Buffington married Charlotte M. Hyde (now deceased), daughter of S. T. Hyde, a prominent lawyer of New York City, and they had a family of four children : Mor- gan, who resides in Pittsburgh ; Margaret, wife of Jefferson R. Leason, an attorney of Kittanning; Sydney (deceased) ; and Ken- neth, now attending Amherst College.
was born Nov. 27, 1803, at the famous "White Hall" tavern at Westchester, Pa., then con- ducted by his father, Ephraim Buffington. There he lived until his tenth year, when his father settled at Pine Creek, a few miles from Pittsburgh. At the age of eighteen he entered the Western University at Pittsburgh, then under the charge of Dr. Bruce and the vener- able Dr. Joseph Stockton. After finishing his classical studies he went to Butler, Pa., and for some time before he took up the study of law edited a weekly paper called the Butler Repository and also, in company with Samuel A. Purviance (later attorney general of the Commonwealth), carried on a .small grocery store. He soon entered as a student at law the office of Gen. William Ayers, a celebrated lawyer of Pennsylvania, under whose train- ing he laid a thorough foundation for his professional work. In July, 1826, he was ad- mitted to the bar in Butler county, and to practice in the Supreme court Sept. 10, 1828. He remained at Butler for about one year thereafter, thence removing to Kittanning, Armstrong Co., Pa., where he passed the re- mainder of his life, dying in that borough Feb. 3. 1872. During the early part of his professional career he had to contend with many hardships, but his ability and applica- tion brought him to the front, and within a few years he found himself in possession of a large practice, which afforded him a com- fortable income. He was constantly in at- tendance upon the courts of Clarion, Jeffer- son, Indiana and Armstrong counties, and was connected with all the important land trials of the region. When the array of legal talent in those days in the section indicated is recalled, it will be seen that to practice successfully in that territory required more than ordinary ability, Mr. Buffington's fellow practitioners including such eminent lawyers as Thomas Blair, William F. Johnston (later governor), H. U. Lee, Darwin Phelps, of Armstrong county, Hon. Samuel A. Gilmore, Hon. Charles C. Sullivan, Samuel A. Pur- viance, Gen. J. N. Purviance, Hon. Thomas White, Daniel Stanard, William Banks, of Indiana county, Hon. Henry D. Foster, Edgar A. Cowan, of Westmoreland county, and Thomas Sutton, of Clarion county.
From early manhood Judge Buffington took a strong interest in politics. At the inception of the Antimasonic party, in 1831, he became
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one of its members, and served as a delegate to the National convention held in Baltimore in 1832, when William Wirt was nominated for the presidency. During this period he was several times nominated for State senator or member of the House, but was defeated, his party being largely in the minority. In 1840 he became a Whig, taking an active part in the election of General Harrison and serv- ing as one of the presidential electors on the Whig ticket. In the fall of 1843, as the Whig candidate in the district composed of Arm- strong, Butler, Clearfield and Indiana coun- ties, he was elected a member of Congress, and in 1844 he was again nominated, in the same district. During his service in the House he voted with the Whigs on all im- portant issues, voting against the admission of Texas on the ground of opposition to the extension of slavery. His friend, Hon. W. F. Johnston, having been elected governor, appointed Mr. Buffington in 1849 to the posi- tion of president judge of the Eighteenth Judi- cial district, composed of Clarion, Elk, Jef- ferson and Venango counties. He served in this incumbency until 1851, when he was de- feated in the judicial election by Hon. John C. Knox, the district being largely Demo- cratic. In 1852, at the Whig State convention, he was nominated for a judgeship in the Su- preme court, but defeated in the ensuing election by Chief Justice Woodward, of Lu- zerne county. The same year he was ap- pointed by President Fillmore chief justice of the Territory of Utah, then just organized. However, he declined this honor. In 1855 he was appointed by Governor Pollock judge of the Tenth district of Pennsylvania, and in the fall of 1856 he was elected to fill that position; to which he had been appointed for a term of ten years. He continued to serve until 1866, when he was elected for another term of ten years. In 1871 his failing health admonished him that his judicial labors, too great for any one man to perform, were much too severe for one who had passed the meridian of life, and he retired to private life after forty-six years of public service, principally in connec- tion with the bench and bar. As a lawyer and judge he will long be remembered as revered by the Armstrong county bar. As a citizen he was public-spirited, and gave liberally to- ward every undertaking calculated to benefit the community. He was for many years an active member of the Episcopal Church.
Judge Buffington married Catherine Mech- ling, daughter of Hon. Jacob Mechling, of
Butler county. Their only child, Mary, died in infancy.
According to Arthur's Etymological Dic- tionary of Family Names, Orr is derived from a river and town in Scotland. Or in Welsh and Gaelic signifies a border, a boundary.
WILLIAM POLLOCK, of the National Kittanning Bank, has a record as a bank cashier not often equalled, for he has served fifty-four years continuously in that capacity, beginning in 1859 with the old Kittanning Bank, and associated since in turn with the First National, Kittanning National and National Kittanning. As a financial adviser and authority on the commercial situation, there is no man in the borough whose opinions are more thoroughly respected, for his con- scientious devotion to high principles and com- prehensive knowledge of business conditions. He is of Scotch-Irish stock, and his branch of the Pollock family has been settled in Penn- sylvania since established here by his great- grandfather, Charles Pollock.
Over two hundred years ago Mr. Pollock's ancestors settled in the vicinity of London- derry, in the North of Ireland, emigrating from Glasgow, Scotland. Charles Pollock came to America from Coleraine, Ireland, in the same county, from which fact it is in- ferred that this is the same branch of the fam- ily to which President Polk belonged, his fam- ily name being originally Pollock. In the "Genealogies of the Presidents" we find : "James K. Polk, born in Mecklenburg county, N. C., Nov. 2, 1795, son of Samuel (1771- 1827) and Jane Knox ( 1773-1848) Polk, grandson of Ezekiel (born about 1737) and Mary Wilson (daughter of Samuel Wilson) Polk; and great-grandson of William ( 1701- 1769) and Mary Knox Pollock. William Pol- lock (the original form of the name 'Polk') was the son of Robert (died in 1727) and Magdalena Tasker Pollock, who emigrated with their family from County Londonderry, Ireland, to Somerset county, Md., about 1694. William Pollock removed from Dorchester county, Md., to Hopewell township, Cumber- land Co., Pa., about 1738, and thence, a few years later, to Mecklenburg county, North Carolina."
Charles Pollock came alone to this country, settling in Dauphin county, Pa., where he be- gan farming. A year later he was joined by three brothers, one, a doctor, returning to Ireland soon afterward, not finding the prac- tice he liked here. Another went South, to North Carolina, and the third settled near his
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brother Charles in the vicinity of Lewistown, Denver, Colo.). William is mentioned below. in what was called Buffalo valley ; he married and had a family. After coming to America Charles Pollock married Agnes Steele, who was from the neighborhood of Lewistown, a member of the old Steele family of Lancaster and Dauphin counties. Five children were born to them: James became a farmer of Erie county, Pa .; Thomas, also a farmer, who lived and died in Clarion county, Pa., attain- ing an advanced age, was married twice, his first wife being a Fruit, his second a Knox (his grandson, W. W. Pollock, is a business man of Kittanning, Armstrong county, where the latter's son, Roy W., also resides, engaged in the insurance line) ; Adam and Robert went to Erie county ; William was the grandfather of William Pollock, cashier of the National Kittanning Bank.
William Pollock, possibly the third son of Charles Pollock, went to Clarion county, Pa., settling east of Parker, where he engaged in farming. He was a Presbyterian like his an- cestors. His wife, whose maiden name was Fruit, was the daughter of Robert Fruit, a Revolutionary soldier, and sister of his brother Thomas' wife. Robert Fruit married a daugh- ter of Richard McClure, a Revolutionary sol- dier, of McClure's Fort, in the Cumberland valley, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Pollock's family consisted of seven children, three sons and four daughters, the sons being Charles, Robert and Adam. Robert, who lived in Phil- adelphia, married and had a family ; Adam, whose home was in Erie, Pa., married but had no children.
Charles Pollock, of the above family, was born in Clarion (then Armstrong) county in ISOS, and died in 1874. Farming was always his occupation. His wife, Ann (Stewart), whom he married in Venango county, Pa., was a native of Huntingdon county, this State, daughter of Samuel Stewart, and be- longed to a substantial old family. Her father settled in Venango county, where he owned a large farm and remained until his death. He followed agricultural pursuits. His wife's maiden name was Moore. Mr. and Mrs. Pol- lock were members of the Concord Presby- terian Church in Clarion county, which he served as elder, and they were highly respected among their neighbors. Their family con- sisted of nine children, viz .: Eliza J. married William Livingston, who is now deceased, and they had a family of four children, Annie (unmarried), Ella (wife of Frank S. Heis- ley), Willa Bell (wife of Matthew Garret) and Fremont P. (who is married and lives in
Eddie S., who resides in Washington, D. C., married a Miss DuBois and they have two children, Clarence and Gura. Sarah died in 1907, unmarried. Oliver, a farmer on the old homestead in Clarion county, married a Miss Miller, and they have three children, Mateer (who is married and living in Wilmerding, Allegheny county), Mary (unmarried, who lives with her brother at Wilmerding) and Ora (who lives at home in Clarion county ). Robert, a retired oil producer living at Clarion, Pa., is married and has four children. Rosanna, who is unmarried, lives with her brother Oliver on the old farm in Clarion county. Narcissa, widow of J. N. Best, lives at Perryville, Pa .; she has three children, Charles, Rudolph and another son. Mary died when a young woman.
William Pollock was born on the old home- stead in Clarion county, where he was rcared. He attended school winters, the rest of the year finding ample employment in the work of the home farm. When only a boy he came to visit his sister in Kittanning, where he ob- tained a position clerking for Brown, Phillips & Co., with whom and Brown, Floyd & Co. he was engaged for a period of five years. Then, in 1858, he entered upon what proved to be his life work, becoming bookkeeper for the State bank known as the Kittanning Bank, of which James E. Brown was president. After filling that position one year he was elected cashier, in 1859, and was connected with the bank as such until it wound up its affairs, in 1867. This was followed by the First National Bank (organized in 1863, but which did no business until 1867), of which James E. Brown became president, William Pollock cashier, and James E. Brown, James Mosgrove, Charles T. Neale, John B. Finlay, and William Pollock, directors. Again he continued with the institution until the or- ganization of the Kittanning National Bank, in the year 1881, when James Mosgrove be- came president and Mr. Pollock cashier, an association he maintained until the charter expired in 1902. That year the National Kit- tanning Bank was established, with the follow- ing officials: H. A. Colwell, president ; Wil- liam Pollock, cashier; directors, H. A. Col- well, William Pollock, John A. Colwell, James Mccullough, Jr., and John D. Galbraith. John A. Colwell retiring a year later, Mr. H. G. Luker was elected in his stead. Mr. Pol- lock is still acting as cashier, and his long and intimate cooperation with the leading business men and interests of Kittanning and vicinity
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has given him an insight into the necessary elements of profitable operations here which renders his judgment invaluable. His keen- ness of perception, sharpened by years of ex- perience, is regarded by many as infallible.
On Sept. 19, 1861, Mr. Pollock married Arabella Robinson, in Kittanning. She was born at Rural Valley, Armstrong county, daughter of Robert A. and Matilda (Cogley) Robinson, the former a pioneer merchant of Rural Valley; her grandfather, Robert Rob- inson, was one of the prominent early settlers in Kittanning. Mrs. Pollock died June 2, 1907, a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Kittanning, of which Mr. Pol- lock has also been a faithful member and worker for years; he has given long serv- ice as trustee, holding the office until he resigned it. He has not been much associ- ated with public affairs, business occupying practically his undivided attention, but usually supports the Republican party in politics. Socially he holds membership in the Sons of the American Revolution.
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Pollock: Alice is the wife of F. J. Rouk, a merchant on Washington street, Boston. Mass .; they have no children. Helen Mar is the wife of C. A. Bray, of Glendale, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the employ of the General Electric Company at that city, and they have children, Alice Pollock and Myra Norwood.
PETER GRAFF 3D, of Worthington, Arm- strong Co., Pa., proprietor of the Peter Graff Milling Company, is one of the younger mem- bers of a family whose activities in business and social circles have made the name one of the most prominent in this section.
The Graff family is of German origin. In the sixteenth century the Graff family had be- come resident at Grafenauer, near Mann- heim. John Graff, the founder of this branch of the family in America, was born April 15. 1763, in Neuwied, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in the year 1783. For a time he lived in Lancaster county, Pa., and then moved to Westmoreland county, where the remainder of his life was passed. He died Dec. 31. 1818. He owned a farm and also a distillery and became a man of some conse- quence in his community. He married Bar- bara Baum, who was born in Path Valley, Huntingdon county, in 1775, and died in 1841. When eight years old she was captured by Indians, but she was soon restored to her peo- ple through the friendliness of an old Indian
who had been kindly treated by her family when threatened with starvation. Eight sons and four daughters were born to John and Barbara (Baum) Graff, namely: Henry ; Mary, wife of Jacob Lose; Sarah, who mar- ried Daniel Barnes; Margaret, who married John Colleasure; William; John; Joseph; Elizabeth, who married John Armstrong ; Peter ; Jacob; Matthew, and Paul.
Peter Graff, one of the leading citizens of Armstrong county in his day, was born May 27, 1808, near Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland Co., Pa., son of John and Barbara (Baum) Graff. His earliest recollections were of sol- diers marching home from the war of 1812 and of their tales of prowess. He had but limited educational advantages. One of his teachers was the father of Governor Geary of Pennsylvania. He began work as clerk in the store of his brother Henry, at Pleasant Unity, when but sixteen years of age, and he was afterward similarly employed at Derry, Pa. In 1830 he removed to Blairsville, Indiana Co., Pa., he and his brother Henry forming a partnership in the general mercantile busi- ness under the firm name of H. & P. Graff, establishing a large and profitable trade. Later they formed a connection with the firm of E. G. Dutilh & Co., commission merchants of Philadelphia, for the purpose of transport- ing merchandise from that city west, via the Pennsylvania canal and State railroad, over what was called the Union Transportation Line. Moving to Pittsburgh in 1836, Mr. Graff took charge of the work of receiving and forwarding the merchandise, and several years later became a partner in the firm of Painter & Co., wholesale grocers, of Pitts- burgh, being associated with Jacob Painter and Reuben Bughman. This firm did not con- fine its operations to the grocery trade, how- ever. and became extensively interested in the manufacture of iron in Armstrong, Ven- ango and Clarion counties. incidentally obtain- ing control of the Buffalo furnace, near Worthington. Thus it came about that in 1844 Mr. Graff became a resident of Buffalo Mills. Armstrong county, to assume the man- agement of the extensive iron interests, and although he continued a member of the firm mentioned until 1864 he had in the meantime become sole owner of the Buffalo furnace. which he operated until 1865. In addi- tion to its operations in the counties men- tioned the firm carried on the manufacture of axes in Pittsburgh.
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