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 72

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 618

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 72

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Simon Truby read law with James Douglas. While thus engaged he was elected prothon- otary of Armstrong county, serving for two successive terms. At the expiration of his 24

with Robert L. Brown and others at Parker's Landing, Armstrong county, and this con- tinued to be his principal interest to the end of his days. These men were pioneers in the oil business at that point and were very suc- cessful. At the time of his death, which oc- curred April 28, 1894, Mr. Truby was living at the old homestead in Kittanning. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, of which he was senior warden for a number of years prior to his death. Fraternally he was a Ma- son from early manhood. His wife, Anna ( Mosgrove), was born in Kittanning Oct. 28, 1831, and died Oct. 11, 1893. She was a lifelong member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Kittanning, with which six genera- tions of her family have been associated. Her parents, John and Mary (Gillespie) Mos- grove, came to Kittanning in 1801. They had four children, Margaret, James, Phebe and Anna Mosgrove.

Simon and Anna (Mosgrove) Truby had the following children : Joseph Mosgrove, who died at Trinity College in his junior year ; Anna, wife of Hon. James B. Neale; Mary Lavinia, wife of Alexander Graff; Juanita, wife of George W. Reese, all of Kittanning ; and Rebecca Mosgrove, who first became the wife of Woodward R. Patterson, and after his death, in 1906, married Dr. Francis H. Bermingham, of Brooklyn, N. Y., where she now resides.

Other descendants of Simon Truby are Anna Mosgrove, daughter of Alexander Graff, intermarried with Alan S. Evans, Pitts- burgh, Pa .; Charles Henry Graff, student at Andover ; Isabel, daughter of Rebecca and Woodward R. Patterson, intermarried with Wylie W. Carhartt, son of Hamilton Car- hartt, of Detroit, Mich., and Simon T. Pat- terson, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

JACKSON BOGGS REYNOLDS, of Kit- tanning, where he has been ticket agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for al- most a quarter of a century, is a son of With- ington and Isabel (Boggs) Reynolds, be- longing in both paternal and maternal lines to leading pioneer families of Armstrong county.

George Reynolds, the first ancestor of this Reynolds family to come to this country, was born about 1730 in Glasgow, Scotland, and came to America in 1754. He had learned the trade of tanner, and went to London, Eng- land, in 1753, about the time the king was raising troops to send to America, to fight

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

the French and Indians. He crossed over tunately the dog did not bark and the baby with General Braddock, landed in Philadel- did not cry. When Mr. Reynolds returned phia in 1754, and marched with the army he took them to the blockhouse, where they and under Braddock and Washington to Pitts- the neighbors who had suffered like misfor- tune lived together until conditions made it reasonably safe for them to build on their own land again. One boy who had been in the cornfield lost both of his parents as well as his home, and Mr. Reynolds received him into his family, taking care of him until he was able to look after himself. George Reynolds, so says Mrs. Judith Dull, his granddaughter (only living child of his son David), was a man of education and ability. He was of the Eng- lish type, having light hair and blue eyes, while his wife Margaretta had black hair and eyes, burgh. They were met by the French and In- dians fourteen miles up the Monongahela river, at a place known as Braddock's Fields. There a battle was fought and General Brad- dock was killed, his army routed, and the said George Reynolds badly wounded ; he was shot through the neck, the bullet going through between the big leader and his neck bone. He dropped his gun and stuck his two forefingers in the wound, ran to the river and hid in a lau- rel thicket. There he remained overnight, and was found the next day. He was taken to Fort Necessity, and through the skill of the her son David favoring her in appearance and surgeon got well, but was excused from duty, coloring. With the exception of George (the stiffness in his neck exempting him. But he eldest son and second child) all of the chil-

received his land warrant for military serv- ices just the same, and coming out on the fron- tier located a tract at the head of Woodcock valley, or the foot of Warrior's Mark Ridge, in Huntingdon county, Pa., seven miles from the county seat. Part of the town of Hunting- don, according to family tradition, is now on his holding. There he married a girl by the name of Davis, and by her had two daughters and one son: John, who died at the age of twenty ; Esther, Mrs. Mann; and Elsie, Mrs. Ross. In 1777 George Reynolds married (sec- ond) a German girl, Margaretta Stopp (Stop), daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Fleming) Stopp, of French and Dutch Flan- ders (now west and east Flanders). She was a native of Maryland. By this marriage there were eight children, five sons and three daughters. George Reynolds resided on a farm until the fall of 1795, when he dropped dead off his feet in the yard before his own door, aged sixty-five years. His widow, Mar- garetta, married a widower by the name of Alexander Moore, and by him had one child, Jane, born Feb. 22, 1803, in Huntingdon, who was married to John Williams, in Kittanning, where she died Feb. 25, 1883. Mrs. Mar- garetta S. (Reynolds) Moore died in Kittan- ning in December, 1823, and is buried in the "Old Graveyard." It is related that one day when her eldest child, Mary (afterward Mrs. Henry Roush), was a young babe and George Reynolds had "gone to mill the grain," she saw a file of Indians coming, and snatching up her baby fled to the creek. hiding under a foot- bridge. Her little dog that followed her she

dren of George and Margaretta Reynolds came to Kittanning, Pa. George lived and died at New Alexandria, Westmoreland county, Pa .; he was the father of Mrs. Na- thanael Henry (in the Kittanning Gasette of Wednesday, Oct. 23, 1833, is found, "married on Thursday last by the Rev. John Dickey, to Mr. Nathaniel Henry, Miss Eliza Reynolds, daughter of Mr. George Reynolds, late of New Alexandria, Westmoreland county, Pa." Same day and date, by same, Mr. John Wat- son, of Brookville, Jefferson county, to Miss Mary, daughter of David Reynolds, of this borough). Thomas, the seventh child, lived and died at Columbus, Ohio. Richard, the eighth child (grandfather of Mrs. Maud Whitworth, and great-grandfather of Jack- son Boggs Reynolds), lived and died at Red Bank, Armstrong county. William, born in 1783, a tanner, settled at Kittanning in the first decade of the nineteenth century. In an account of "The town in 1820" we find he had a leather store then on lot No. 93, on Water street between Arch and Market streets, later occupied by the widow of George Reynolds, his son. William Reynolds acquired con- siderable property, married and had several children ; he was the grandfather of Dr. Francis M. Reynolds, of Kittanning. Ann, the sixth child in the family of George and Margaretta Reynolds, married James Pinks ; she lived on the present site of St. Paul's Epis- copal Church. David Reynolds, fifth son of George and Margaretta Reynolds, was one of the most prominent citizens of Kittanning and Armstrong county in his time, and is fully

wrapped in her skirts, and sat there in terror mentioned elsewhere.

while the Indians ransacked the house, set it Richard Reynolds, great-grandfather of on fire and passed over the bridge. For- Jackson Boggs Reynolds, was born in Decem-

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

ber, 1792, in Huntingdon county, and was but lin and hired with Lord McCann, a very three years old when his father died. He wealthy man who owned a line of ships. He was a sportsman, owning a large stable of blooded horses and a large kennel of fox- hounds, and was a great gentleman. He had two sons and one daughter, Elsie. When he hired Hosey he gave him charge of his stable. Hosey was well educated, a small handsome man. He fell in love with the old lord's daugh- ter and persuaded her to run off with him. They took ship and landed in Philadelphia lived with his mother on the farm until the spring of 1800, when she moved to Kittanning, Armstrong county. He was about ten years old when his mother married Alexander Moore, and he then left his mother and went to his brother David, who sent him to school and gave him a liberal education. He taught school in Kittanning about two years. There he fell in with Sheriff McConnell, who had lately purchased a large tract due north of and were married in 1750, at which time he Kittanning, about thirty miles distant. in the was twenty-one and she eighteen years old. Licking settlement (now known as Sligo, She wrote to her father, and received an an- Clarion county). The old sheriff set him up there with a small store, more to hold posses- sion of the land than to sell goods. There in 1816 he married Elizabeth Hosey, by whom he had five sons and four daughters. He re- sided there for five years and then moved to Kittanning, entering into partnership with Sheriff McConnell in a large store, where he did business for six years. Selling his inter- est in the store he then bought a farm near Sligo, moved on it in the spring of 1826, and lived there until the fall of 1837, when he sold that place and moved to the Allegheny river, at the mouth of Red Bank creek, where he had bought a large tract of land. He opened up quite a large farm and lived at that place until the winter of 1850, when he was taken ill and died, at the age of fifty-eight years. His wife lived some twelve years longer, dying in Kit- tanning.

We have the following account of the chil- dren born to Richard and Elizabeth ( Hosey) Reynolds: (1) Withington, born at Red Bank, was killed by a falling tree when quite a young man. (2) Evelyn became the wife of Sam- uel Frampton, a well-to-do farmer of Clarion county, Pa. (3) George, of Red Bank, is de- ceased. (4) Elsie married John Wilkins (de- ceased) and (second) George Steen. (5) Minerva became the wife of Uriah Matteson, of Brookville, Pa. (6) Annie married Robert E. Brown, who had a furnace at Cowanshan- nock and one later at St. Louis, Mo. (7) Mc- Connell married Aggie Blair, of Pittsburgh, now deceased, and for his second wife married Ellen Butler, of Brookville, Pa. (8) Thomas Hamilton was the grandfather of Jackson Boggs Reynolds.

The following concerning the Hoseys was written by George Reynolds, the eldest son of Richard Reynolds, at the age of eighty-six :

Andrew Hosey was born in Tipperary, Ire- land, in the year 1729. He was a linen draper by trade. Leaving that place he went to Dub-

swer saying he had disowned her and would not suffer her name to be mentioned in his presence. As the young couple were without a dollar she worked as chambermaid and he as hostler at the tavern where they were stop- ping. They stayed there some two years, and saved money enough to pay for twelve acres of land in Lancaster county, Pa., onto which they moved, and there raised their family of three sons and two daughters. In the course of time one of their sons was drafted into the army and marched with Harrison up into the lake country, with which he was so pleased that he came home and persuaded his father to sell his small farm and move out there, and take up government land. They settled close to Waterford, Erie county, Pa., cleared a lot of land and planted it in corn-and when the corn was in the milk frost killed it. This left them, three miles from the nearest neigh- bor, twelve miles from Waterford and the - nearest grocery, in a dense wilderness with starvation staring them in the face. They loaded up their belongings and moved back to what is called the Licking settlement, about two miles from where Richard Reynolds had a small grocery store. There Richard Rey- nolds fell in love with Elizabeth Hosey, the youngest daughter, and married her in 1816. Mrs. Hosey died in 1818, Mr. Hosey in 1821. The old stock of Reynolds were a short-lived race of people, averaging about sixty years.

Thomas Hamilton Reynolds was born at Red Bank, and was exceptionally well edu- cated. After his marriage he settled at Red Bank, where he had a steamboat warehouse, and he afterward became captain of the steam- boat "Venango," which plied on the Allegheny river. Moving from Red Bank he lived at Pittsburgh for a time, and later at Kittan- ning. When the Civil war came on he en- tered the Union army, was a sutler of the 78th Pennsylvania Volunteer- Infantry, and was killed while in the service, when only forty-

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

five years of age. He was buried in the fam- nolds had a large circle of friends, being one of the best known men along the Allegheny river. He was a high Mason, and the Masons at- tended his funeral in a body and conducted ily cemetery at Red Bank, but his remains were later removed to the Kittanning ceme- tery. He married Esther Ann Butler, of Brookville, Pa., who was born at Lake George, the services at the grave, in Kittanning ceme- N. Y., daughter of Cyrus and Mary (Sart-

tery. His death, which occurred at his home well) Butler. Mrs. Reynolds survived her on North Grant avenue, Kittanning, July 9. husband many years, living to the age of sev- IgII, was widely mourned. He was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in political sentiment was a Democrat. enty-three, and is also buried in the cemetery at Kittanning. She was a member of the MI. E. Church and a most devoted worker of that organization.

On Feb. 12, 1873, Mr. Reynolds married · Isabel Boggs, daughter of Judge Jackson

To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Reynolds were and Phoebe J. (Mosgrove) Boggs, of Arm- born children as follows: (1) Withington is strong county, and to them were born two chil- mentioned below. (2) Kate, born at Red dren, Jackson Boggs and Richard Withington. Bank, married Scott Goldrick, of Delaware, Ohio, and had one child, Esther, wife of E. R. Chamberlain, of Yonkers, N. Y. (3) Mi- nerva, born at Red Bank, died July 4, 1899. and is buried in Kittanning cemetery. (4)

Richard, who was superintendent of the north- ern division of the Baltimore & Ohio rail- road, died in August, 1903, at the age of fifty- four years, and is buried at Kittanning. He was a Knight Templar Mason. He married Lillian Hamilton, daughter of Newton Hamil- ton, of Mifflin county, Pa. (5) Thomas died in infancy. (6) Rhoda L., born at Allegheny, Pa., is unmarried. (7) Maud is the wife of John F. Whitworth, corporation law secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, whose home is at Kittanning. (8) Minnie died in infancy and is buried at Kittanning.

Jackson Boggs Reynolds was born Jan. 30, 1874, at Kittanning, where he was reared, re- ceiving his education in the common schools, which he attended until fourteen years of age. On June 1, 1889, he became telegraph oper- ator and ticket agent at Kittanning for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in which position he has since been retained, keeping pace with the growing interests of the com- pany at this point, where he has made himself invaluable by his efficient discharge of the duties and his obliging attention to patrons. Mr. Reynolds is well known in fraternal cir- cles, belonging to the B. P. O. Elks and Ma- sons at Kittanning, in the latter connection holding membership in the blue lodge, chapter and commandery. He attends St. Paul's Epis- copal Church, and politically is a Democrat and a zealous worker for the party. Mr. Reynolds makes his home with his mother at No. 342 North Grant avenue, Kittanning.

WITHINGTON REYNOLDS was born March 10, 1844, at Greenville, Pa., and was a mere boy when he came with his parents to Kittan- ning. where he ever afterward had his home. Richard Withington Reynolds was born Jan. 5, 1876, in the house at Kittanning where he resides with his mother and brother, and was educated in that borough and at Ann- apolis, Md., being a student for two years at St. John's College. Returning home, he was chief clerk in the Kittanning post office for four years, at the end of that time becoming clerk and superintendent at the plant of the Wick Pottery Company, Wick City, which position he held until the works shut down. Since then he has been president of the Boggs Coal Company. on the Boggs farm, a tract of 132 acres owned by his mother. This land is underlaid with valuable deposits of coal, limestone and fire clay, and the Shawmut rail- road runs through the property. Mr. Rey- nolds owns 130 acres of land adjoining his mother's property, with similar deposits, and he is making arrangements to exploit both He received his education in the public schools at Pittsburgh, and all his life was a great reader, acquiring a fund of practical informa- tion which made him one of the most intelli- gent men of his community. He was endowed with a wonderful memory, was a pleasing con- versationalist, and when in a reminiscent mood was most entertaining. He was familiar with the early history of Kittanning and steamboat- ing on the Allegheny. For some time Mr. Rey- nolds had charge of the Kittanning office of the Piper & Lightcap stagecoach line, running between Kittanning and Brookville, and later was connected with a packet line plying be- tween Mahoning and East Brady. At that time the Valley road ran only as far as Mahon- ing, and when it was extended to Oil City he was made freight and passenger agent at Kit- tanning. This position he filled efficiently until his retirement seven years before his death, tracts thoroughly, being ready to put forty after which he received a pension. Mr. Rey- miners at work on the coal, which is of excel-

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

lent quality, and finds a ready market at Buf- Annie Kate, born May 22, 1860, died in Octo- falo, N. Y. Fraternally he is a member of ber, 1864; Maggie, born Sept. 9, 1862, died the same month.

the Elks and the Eagles, attends the Protest- ant Episcopal Church, and in politics is a Democrat.

In April, 1903. Mr. Reynolds married Caro- lyn Meredith, of Kittanning, who died the fol- lowing December, of typhoid fever ; she was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a woman of exceptional character. She was a daughter of Philander and Annie ( Henry) Meredith, and a niece of United States Sen- ator William B. Meredith, of Kittanning.

EVAN M. QUEEN, of Queenstown, Arm- strong county, belongs to a family which has been prominent in the development of business interests in that locality for over half a cen- tury. The family was founded in this county by his grandfather, James Queen, who came from Ireland and settled in Sugar Creek town- ship.

Evan Evans, father of Mrs. John Queen, was a native of Wales, where he lived until after his marriage. He settled with his fam- ily in this section of Armstrong county, where he was a well-known iron builder, having con- structed the Brady's Bend furnace. He mar- ried Elizabeth Morgan, and the following children were born to them in Wales: Daniel, born Feb. 5, 1825, who died April 23, 1891, was engaged in the oil and gas fields and at the furnace. Evan, born May 3, 1827, who died June 18, 1873, at Queenstown, was en- gaged as a merchant there. Annie, born May 4, 1829, became the wife of Richard Jennings, of Brady's Bend, and died Sept. 17, 1849. Mary E. married John Queen. Catherine, born May 19, 1832, was married April 9, 1851, to Richard Jennings (who first married her sister Annie), and died May 15, 1907.

Evan M. Queen was born Dec. 7, 1850, at Queenstown, where he passed the greater part of his life. He received his education here, in the public schools, and when a young man engaged in the mercantile business, con- tinuing same until 1877, when in company with his brothers Daniel and Emmet, under the firm name of Queen Brothers, he engaged in the gas and oil business, drilling and testing wells, and producing both commodities. Since the death of Daniel Queen Evan M. and Em- met have continued the business in partner- ship, having extensive oil, gas, iron and other interests. They have not confined their en- ergies to local operations, having acquired in- terests in large organizations, which have proved very successful. They organized the Great Lakes Coal Company, of Brady's Bend township, and the Western Allegheny Rail- road Company, Emmet Queen being president of both companies and Evan M. Queen land agent. Their operations have been of much importance in the development of this sec- tion, and the substantial basis upon which their. affairs have been placed is sufficient evi- dence of their conservative policy and far-see- ing business ability.

John Queen, father of Evan M. Queen. was born July 29. 1815, in Sugar Creek township, where he lived until a youth of fifteen or eight- een years. He then went to the State of Mis- sissippi, and remained there a few years, re- turning to Armstrong county, Pa., where he married and passed the remainder of his life. It was about 1849 that he located at what is now known as Queenstown and built a large flour mill there, known as the Queenstown Flour Mill, which he conducted until 1867, at which time he sold out to Jacob Mildren & Company. Ile was also extensively interested in real estate, laying out and selling town lots, and taking much interest in the develop- ment of the town. He was always prominent in its affairs, serving as mayor and in several minor offices, and was one of the leading men of the locality for a number of years. After selling his mill he withdrew to some extent from active business connections, but he con- tinued to look after his oil interests. By trade he was a carpenter. On March 24. 1846, he was married at Brady's Bend to Mary E. Evans, who was born May 21, 1822, at Mer- thyr Tydvill, Wales, and died March 11, 1910. Mr. Queen's death occurred Nov. 11, 1897. and they are both buried in the Brady's Bend In May, 1910, Evan M. Queen married La Villa R. McCready, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa., daughter of James Alexander and Jose- phine (Rawlins) McCready, of Sharon, Pa. ( they have a home at Youngstown, Ohio). Mr. and Mrs. Queen have no children. Ever since their marriage they have lived at Queenstown, occupying the old Queen place, formerly cemetery. They attended the Presbyterian Church, and he was a Democrat on political questions. Seven children were born to this union : Mollie E., born Jan. 15, 1849, died in June, 1912; Evan M. is mentioned below; Daniel, born Oct. 18, 1852, died in Novem- ber, 1911; Emmet was born July 17, 1854; John J., born Aug. 22, 1856, died in 1864; owned by his father. At present Mr. Queen

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is not actively interested in politics or public affairs, though he is always willing to give his . influence and support to worthy movements. He is a Democrat on political issues.

JAMES RAYBURN has a large farm in and Darius.

North Buffalo township, where he engages

Boyd Rayburn, father of Squire James Ray- in general farming and stock raising. He is burn, was born in 1846, on the farm on which at present serving as justice of the peace, and is one of the well-known citizens of his part of Armstrong county. Mr. Rayburn was born Sept. 29, 1879, on his present farm, son of Boyd Rayburn, and belongs to one of the old settled families of this section of Pennsylva- nia.

Mr. Rayburn's first ancestor in this country was his great-great-grandfather, who came from Scotland a few years after the French and Indian war. He settled in the Ligonier valley in western Pennsylvania. We have record of two of his sons, Matthew and James, the former of whom served in the Colonial army during the Revolutionary war. James, the youngest, was the great-grandfather of Squire James Rayburn.

James Rayburn was born in the Ligonier valley, and removed to Armstrong county, set- tling in what is now North Buffalo township, upon land which has remained in the posses- sion of his direct descendants ever since. He died in 1837 at an advanced age, a stanch mem- ber of the Seceder (now the U. P.) Church. He married Nellie Callen, daughter of Pat- rick Callen, who removed to Armstrong county from Westmoreland county at the same time as James Rayburn. Seven children were born to this union, six of whom reached maturity.

To this union were born six children: Boyd, father of Squire James Rayburn ; Robert, who settled .in Iowa; Jane, wife of Samuel R. Steele; Calvin, who served as president judge of Armstrong county ; Cyrus, twin of Calvin ;

his son James now lives, and received his schooling in the neighborhood. He married Mary E. Kepple, of South Buffalo township, daughter of George and Elizabeth Kepple, and they became the parents of four children. The father died on his farm in 1888, and is buried in the U. P. cemetery, in South Buffalo town- ship. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

James Rayburn, second child of Boyd and Mary E. (Kepple) Rayburn, was reared in North Buffalo township, and obtained his edu- cation in the common schools. He was but nine years old when his father died, and he commenced assisting with the farm work at an early age, being only a youth when he took control of the place, of which he had had full charge for a number of years. The property consists of 195 acres, of which twenty-five acres are woodland. He does general farming and feeds considerable stock, and raises some horses, sheep and hogs. Four gas wells have been sunk upon this place, only two of which, however, are now producing; they are held under lease by a corporation. No coal banks have been opened on the farm, though it is coal land. Mr. Rayburn has taken some part in local affairs, serving one year as road super- visor, and has been justice of the peace for the last four years, his services being highly satisfactory. His home is on Free Delivery route No. 2, from Worthington.

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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 72

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 618

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 618