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 73
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James Rayburn, son of James and Nellie (Callen) Rayburn, was born Oct. 26, 1801, and died Nov. 6, 1886. He was a lifelong farmer, and though a modest and unassuming In October, 1906, Mr. Rayburn was mar- ried to Margaret Frances Claypoole, daughter of James E. Claypoole, of Worthington, this county, and they have one child, James Boyd. Mr. Rayburn is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Slate Lick, and he is a Democrat in political connection. citizen, with no ambition for public honors, he served his community faithfully when called upon, and was frequently elected to the office of justice of the peace, in which he made a most honorable record. He was a Jeffer- sonian Democrat, active in the work of the party, and frequently represented his district in the county conventions. He was a faithful MARTIN L. BOWSER, shoe merchant at Kittanning, Pa., and interested to a consid- erable extent in the oil business in West Vir- ginia, was born June 26, 1859, at Woodsfield, Monroe Co., Ohio, a son of Martin L. and Nancy (McGinnis) Bowser, and a grandson of Mathias Bowser. member of the Buffalo U. P. Church, whose house of worship stood on his farm, and his sincere and upright life made him respected and beloved by his neighbors. In 1827 he mar- ried Jane Galbraith, by whom he had five chil- dren. After her death he married (second) Margaret Boyd, whose father, Robert Boyd, Mathias Bowser was born in Bedford coun- ty, Pa., and in 1798 came to Kittanning, where was an early settler in Sugar Creek township, this county, where he lived for many years. he was one of the earliest settlers, and he was
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probably the first brick manufacturer in this owned by Hon. Calvin Rayburn and is con- place. The brick residence standing on Mar- sidered a very valuable property. ket street, Kittanning, just across the street from the "Alexander Hotel," is a city land- mark, built by Mathias Bowser in 1826, and is one of the oldest brick houses in the place. He died in 1832.
Martin L. Bowser, son of Mathias and father of Martin L., was born in 1814, and died in 1888. He was given a medical educa- tion but never practiced, his inclinations lead- ing him to learn the cabinetmaking trade, which he followed for several years in Ohio. Later he moved to West Virginia and there bought large tracts of land, and the remainder of his life was devoted to agricultural pursuits and lumbering. He married Nancy McGin- nis, who died in. 1892. They were parents of twelve children: Flora T., wife of Aaron Klipstein ; Christianna, wife of Samuel Fluh- arty ; William W., deceased; Cleora C., wife of L. Fluharty ; Virgil M .; Homer L .; Belle I., wife of J. W. Morgan; Adda L., wife of John M. Watkins; H. O., of Los Angeles, Cal. ; G. H., of Little Rock, Ark. ; Minnie M., wife of J. M. Feist ; and Martin L.
Martin L. Bowser attended the schools of Tyler county, W. Va., and afterward, for sev- en years, taught school in Tyler and Wetzel counties. In 1886 he went to Pittsburgh, Pa., and shortly afterward accepted a position as clerk in a store at Fairview, Butler Co., Pa., where he remained two years, and for two years more was clerk at Duke Center, Pa. In 1890 he located at Butler, Pa., where he was engaged in the grocery and bakery business for two and a half years, in 1893 returning to Pittsburgh, where he became one of the sales- men in the large shoe house of W. M. Laird and remained for two years. By this time he had learned many business details neces- sary for successful merchandising, particu- larly in the shoe business, and in 1895 he came to Kittanning and opened a shoe store of his own at his present stand on Market street, where he has continued ever since. He has commodious quarters, occupying two floors of a building 32 by 70 feet in dimensions, carry- ing high-grade, reliable goods, catering to the best trade. His business has continued to ex- pand so that he has now the largest shoe trade in the county, and in the near future he ex- pects to carry out plans for a larger new store- room. He has additional business interests, including oil developments in West Virginia and property ownership at other points. His beautiful residence at Applewold, just across the river from Kittanning, was formerly and they lived in Beaver county.
Mr. Bowser was married May 21, 1890, to Edith Krotzer, who died June 24, 1897, daugh- ter of David Krotzer. They had two children : Winnifred L. and Cecil E. Mr. Bowser was married (second) Aug. 1, 1899, to Mary M. Krotzer, and they have three children: Eliza- beth C., Jeane R. and Martin K. Mr. Bowser is a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder. He is a man of civic pride and public spirit, and for twelve years has consented to serve on the school board. He has never been particularly active in poli- tics, but is always ready to perform the recog- nized duties of citizenship.
CLARENCE O. MORRIS, present district attorney at Kittanning, was born near Punx- sutawney, Jefferson Co., Pa., June 15, 1873, son of Joseph B. Morris, grandson of Obed Morris and great-grandson of Thomas Morris. The interesting family record follows.
Thomas Morris was born in Wales Nov. 8, 1745, and his wife, Ann Butler, in the same country, July 5, 1750. They came to the American Colonies prior to the Revolutionary war and settled first in Bucks county, Pa. Some years afterward they moved to Martins Creek, in Lower Mt. Bethel township, Northumber- land Co., Pa., and their farm was land upon which the present busy city of Easton stands. Here they lived out their worthy and useful lives. Many of their descendants still live in Pennsylvania and others may be found in almost every other section of the Union. Thomas Morris was married in 1766 and died April 14, 1814, survived for many years by his wife, whose death occurred June 26, 1834. The following is a record of their seventeen children : Benjamin, born Feb. 18, 1767; Eliz- abeth, Dec. 24, 1767; John, Sept. 3, 1769; Phebe, March 31, 1771 ; Isaac, March 13, 1773; Rachel, March 30, 1776; Mary, March 6, 1778; Margaret, Feb. 7, 1780; Ann, Dec. 3, 1781 ; Susanna, Oct. 19, 1783; Thomas, March 30, 1785; Morris, April 9, 1787; Benjamin (2), Feb. 18, 1789; Butler, April 19, 1791 ; Obed, Dec. 8, 1792; Lacy, May 1, 1795; and Moses, Aug. 7, 1799, the first and last named dying in infancy. Of the above family, Thom- as married and removed to Beaver county, Pa. Morris married and lived in Northampton county. Benjamin (2) married and lived in Beaver county. Butler settled in Northamp- ton county after marriage, and Obed in Jeffer- son county. Lacy married a Mr. Benward
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Obed Morris, son of Thomas and Ann Mor- 1897 and continued his association with Mr. Gillispie for four years. In 1901 he was ad- mitted to the bar of Armstrong county and subsequently was admitted to practice in the ris, was born in Northampton county, Pa., and from there moved to Indiana county, Pa., but only for a short time, settling permanently in Jefferson county, where he was a pioneer." Supreme and Superior courts and in the U. S. He engaged in farming and was a substantial District courts. In 1901 he moved to Leech- and respected citizen. On Feb. 11, 1814, he burg and established his office in the Farmers' married Mary Bowman, who was born Sept. 25, 1791, and died Feb. 2, 1859, survived many
National Bank building. While there he acted as solicitor for the boroughs of Leechburg, years by her husband, who died Sept. 14, 1882. Apollo and Vandergrift, and continues in such They had seven children born to them, as position for Leechburg borough. He was ap- follows: James Madison, born Feb. 14, 1815, pointed district attorney April 17. 1913, to fill married Phebe Jane Williams ; Elizabeth, born' a vacancy, and was elected for the full term Jan. 16, 1817, married Hiram P. Williams, of four years at the November ( 1913) elec- and died Oct. 19, 1841 ; Theodore, born March tions. He moved to Kittanning Jan. 20, 1914. 30, 1819, married Matilda Gibson; Charles
Mr. Morris married Deborah Gump, daugh- R. B., born Aug. 9, 1821, died April 15, 1898, ter of Abraham Gump, of Waynesburg. Pa., married Nancy Gibson and (second) Nancy and they have one son, Edward Eugene. They attend the Presbyterian Church. He is asso- ciated with the Elks and is Past Exalted Ruler Reed; Mary B., born June 2, 1824, died in infancy ; Joseph B. is mentioned below ; Moses A., born Jan. 28, 1830, married Jane Means. of Leechburg Lodge, No. 377.
Joseph B. Morris, sixth child of Obed and Mary Morris, and father of Clarence O. Mor- ris, born Aug. 11, 1827, died at Punxsu- tawney, Jefferson Co., Pa., July 17, 1909. He followed farming and also lumbering and was a well-known business man and much re- spected citizen. For thirty-five years continu- ously he served in the office of justice of the peace, and many other local offices were ten- dered him by the Republican party, with which he was associated. He was thrice married. His first wife, Julia L. Murray, left no issue. His second marriage was to Catherine Criss- man, daughter of Enoch Crissman, and nine children were born to them, five of whom reached maturity, namely : Malvern H., Ida L. (now deceased), Joseph L., Clarence O. and Lucy. To the third marriage, with Mar- garet Brewer, no children were born. The old Morris farm in Jefferson county was richly underlaid with coal and the Walston Coal Company operated there when there had, as yet, been little coal development in that dis- trict.
Clarence O. Morris attended the local schools throughi boyhood and gave his father assistance on the farm, after which he entered Waynesburg College, where he was graduated in 1892. For some four years afterward he taught school, for two years in the country and two more at Punxsutawney, and during this time devoted as much attention as possi- ble to his law studies, first under the super-
ROBERT BOYD McKEE is of pure Scotch-Irish stock, his father, Robert McKee, having been born in Ballyclare, Antrim, Ire- land, in 1800, and his mother being of an old Irish family. His father came to America about 1833. He was a cooper by trade, and after working for some time in Virginia and Maryland finally settled in Freeport about 1838.
John Jackson, Mr. McKee's great-grand- father on the maternal side, came from Ire- land in 1770, settling first in Lancaster county, then moving to near Hannastown, Westmore- land county, and finally locating permanently in what is now called Kiskiminetas township. Armstrong county. Here he cleared the land and established the well-known Jackson farm. near Apollo, which is still held in the family. Here a daughter was born July 1, 1776, which tradition says was the first child born to the white settlers in the territory then known as the "Backwoods," north of the Kiskiminetas river. This daughter married William Hill, a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, April 5, 1798, and to them nine children were born. The youngest daughter, Eliza, born in the bounds of the famous "Appleby Manor" Sept. 17, 1815, was married to Robert McKee Aug. 12, 1841, at her home in South Buffalo town- ship. Three children came to them, the young- est, Robert Boyd, on Aug. 14, 1846. In the September following the father died. leaving
vision of the firm of Wylie, Buchanan & Wal- the mother with two children to battle with the ton, of Waynesburg, Pa., and later with W. world. M. Gillispie, of Punxsutawney, Pa. He was Robert B. McKee spent his childhood in admitted to the bar of Jefferson county in Freeport, attending school for four months
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of the year, and assisting his uncles on their H .; Jesse C., employed on the Journal; and Robin B., purchasing agent for the West Penn Steel Works at Brackenridge, Pennsylvania.
farms until his sixteenth year, when he hired with a farmer for six dollars a month. After six months' service he began working on the old Pennsylvania canal, helping run the ferry over the Allegheny at Freeport, working on the West Pennsylvania railroad, and doing general chores until August, 1864, when he en- listed, becoming a private in Company I, 5th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. He was pro- moted to corporal Oct. 5, 1864, and at the close of the war was honorably discharged, June 30, 1865. Returning home he attended a select school and the Freeport Academy dur- ing the balance of the summer and the fol- lowing winter, was then granted a certificate, and began to teach in the Wilson school in North Buffalo township in November, 1866. Here he taught the four months' term and an additional month, for which the citizens raised the money, the following winter took a school in Laneville, and thereafter was a teacher for three years in the public schools of Freeport. This was a highly creditable record in view of the limited work he had been able to do in the matter of preparation-four months in the common schools before he was sixteen and but two sessions in a select school and the academy after his return from the army. His record for discipline and keeping the pupils interested was unexcelled.
Mr. McKee was married Dec. 22, 1870, to Mary Cecelia Bole, a member of an old and respected family of the county, and in the spring of 1871 went to housekeeping in Pitts- burgh, where he was employed. as foreman in an oil refinery for four years. In the spring of 1875 he returned to Freeport and bought an interest in the dry goods and groc- ery business with Levi Bush, the firm being Bush & McKee. In 1879 he sold out and as- sumed charge of the Freeport Journal, organ- ized by him as a stock company, and purchased from the original owners, who had started it in 1876. He gradually acquired all the stock, running it alone until July, 1902, when his son Charles H. was taken into partnership. The paper under the editorial charge of Mr. McKee has been a power for good in the community and has a large and steadfast list of subscrib- ers. It is conclusively proved to be the paper for the people, for although others have at times been started in Freeport none has been able to attain a foothold.
Mr. McKee has four sons, all living : Burtt F., living in Oakmont, and assistant manager of the American Typefounders Company (he is married and has seven children) ; Charles attractions. He gained many recruits for his.
Mr. McKee is a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he and his wife were the leaders of the choir for over thirty years ; he is also a member of the I. O. O. F. and the G. A. R. He was an employee of the State Legislature in 1879, clerk of the State Senate in 1881, and secretary for Hon. Joseph G. Beale in the 1908 session of Congress. From 1883 to 1884 he was in the revenue service under Colonel Jackson, was a member and secretary of the school board for six years, borough treasurer twenty years, helped organ- ize and was for over twenty years a director of the Freeport Building & Loan Association, member and secretary of the Freeport Ceme- tery Association for twenty-five years, justice of the peace for two terms, and a notary pub- lic for twenty-five years.
In 1902 he went to visit the birthplace of his father in Ireland and included England and Scotland in the tour. He has been a Re- publican all of his life until late years, and expects to return to his first love when the party is reorganized. He thinks his native land is the best place this side of Ireland and the people as good as gold. He has earned a modest competence, prides himself on meeting all obligations promptly, loves his neighbors and friends, does not worry about his enemies, is always ready to help a fellow who is down and out, and would rather go fishing than at- tend grand opera, although a great lover of music. He has spent very busy life and now has no higher ambition than to keep busy and helpful while he is permitted to remain on earth.
CHRISTIAN Y. BOWSER is an extensive farmer in the western part of Armstrong coun- ty, having 310 acres located in the south- eastern part of Sugar Creek township and the adjoining part of East Franklin township. He was born at that place in the latter town- ship Jan. 31, 1853, a son of Benjamin S. Bow- ser, and belongs to one of the old Palatine families, who have been in Pennsylvania from the days of William Penn.
When Penn was opening up the region now known as Pennsylvania, he not only lectured in England on what he called his "holy experi- ment," but also crossed over into Germany and visited many cities on the same mission, telling the people of the joys of the new country, where self-government was to be one of the
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colony in the Rhine Palatinate and the ad- joining country of Switzerland, in the Canton of Berne, whose people spoke the same lan- guage. These "Dutch" from the Palatinate were the ancestors of that considerable part of the population of this State known as Penn- sylvania Dutch, and whose language is three- fold. These people on the Rhine were said to be the best farmers in the world, but dur- ing the progress of the thirty years' war their homes had been destroyed by the armies, and many took refuge in Holland and Switzerland, returning when it was thought peace had been restored. War had broken out again, how- ever, and the strife between the Protestants and Catholics being very bitter these people welcomed Penn's accounts of the wonderful advantages of the new land. Some of them built a boat, in which they journeyed down the Rhine, sailing for America from Rotter- dam. A colony of Germans had come to Phil- adelphia in 1682, and settled in the woods at what is now known as Germantown, and the Germans who followed naturally settled among people of their own nationality. The first com- pany of Palatines in Pennsylvania arrived in 1710, landing at Philadelphia, and being deter- mined to set up an independent home, away from all other settlements, went to Lancaster, in Lancaster county. In 1727 a law was passed requiring all emigrants to register at the court- house their names and the names of the vessels in which they came. Previous to that time no such records had been kept. Among these records we find many familiar Pennsylvania family names. The first Bowsers on record, 1737, were Mathias (family name in the branch of which we are writing), Mathias, Jr., and Christian. The name was then spelled Bousser. Some of the name had also moved west into York county, where a Widow Bow- ser was found registered in the tax books. A Bedford county history mentions John, Jacob and Valentine Bowser.
Valentine Bowser, great-grandfather of Christian Y. Bowser, lived in Bedford county, where he married Elizabeth Fluke, of Hope- well, that county, whose people came from Switzerland and spoke the same language as the Palatine Germans. Some of their family were born in Bedford county, and in 1808 they moved to the vicinity of what is now Worthington, Armstrong county. They set- tled on a farm, now known as the Daugherty place, up the creek, one mile north of Walk- chalk. Valentine Bowser and his wife had a family of twelve children, several of whom were born in Armstrong county.
Abram Bowser, son of Valentine, was a stonemason and farmer by occupation. He was industrious and a good business man, ac- quiring the ownership of several farms, and he was a highly respected man in his neigh- borhood. He married Mary Stevens, a cousin of Alexander Stevens, and their large family was born and raised near Walkchalk, on the farm now owned by William P. Bowser. We have the following record of these children : Benjamin S. is mentioned below; Elizabeth married Fred Bowser and had a family of four sons and two daughters (she is de- ceased) ; Sophia, wife of Adam Wyant, had a family of eight children; Sarah Ann mar- ried Jacob Booker, and has had three sons and four daughters ; Lillian, deceased, married Abe Frick, by whom she had five children, and (second) John Wolfe, by whom she had four children; Rosa, deceased, was the wife of Archibald Bowser, and they had three sons and three daughters ; Mathias Stevens married Elizabeth Booker, and had four sons and three daughters; Josiah Crawford married Keziah Bowser, and they had three children; James Hindman married Maud Bowser, and had six children ; one child died in infancy ; Jane, de- ceased, married Adam Grantz, and had two sons and three daughters.
Benjamin S. Bowser, son of Abram; and father of Christian Y. Bowser, was born Dec. 20, 1823, in East Franklin township. He lived in East Franklin and Washington townships, engaged in farming. and is now living in re- tirement in the old home in Washington town- ship. He married Katherine Yearty, and they had six sons and five daughters.
Christian Y. Bowser was reared in East Franklin and Washington townships, and re- ceived a common school education. He passed his early life principally on' his father's home place, a tract of ninety-seven acres, in Wash- ington township, and after his school days was engaged at work in the oil fields in Pennsyl- vania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia. Returning to Pennsylvania he began farm work in Sugar Creek township, this county, on what is now known as the Charles Read farm, which was in the Read family for 110 years. After his marriage he settled in New York State for a time, and then returning to Arm- strong county lived in Washington township until he moved to his father's old farm in East Franklin township. From there Mr. Bow- ser moved to the farm where he now lives, and which he has owned for the last six years, a tract of 150 acres of woodland and pasture, where he has put up all the buildings except
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the residence, which the former owner built. For the last several months his congregation He has three barns, including one 50 by 80 feet has been engaged in building what will be one of the most attractive churches in the city. in dimensions, and has been engaged in general farming, though he expects to give special at- tention to thoroughbred cattle and hogs. Mr. Mr. Bowser has been a successful composer of music, and has published several song books through such well-known men as E. O. Excell, Dr. George F. Root and Prof. E. Avergnet of Bucknell University. While in college Mr. Bowser wrote many songs for his own and other classes. Bowser has also opened a coal bank on his farm, having a four-foot vein, which is oper- ated very successfully, and there are four gas wells on the place, three of which are operated by the Phillips Gas Company, and the other by himself. Of the 310 acres he owns, the northern part is in Sugar Creek and the south-
On June 10, 1891, Mr. Bowser married Ella ern in East Franklin township; it includes part Z. Stebbins, who was born at Watsontown, of the Read farm.
On Jan. 31, 1881, Mr. Bowser married Sadie J. Helm, a native of Washington township, this county, daughter of Samuel and Eliza- beth Helm, of that township, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bowser have had a family of eight children, namely : Ralph D. is deceased ; one daughter died in infancy ; Vioma is married to C. E. Toy, and has had six children, Sidney, Hazel, Ralph, Christian, Stanley and -; Mabel is the wife of Blair Gumbert, and resides in Butler, Pa. (they have no children) ; Watson, Arminta, Polly and Spurgeon are unmarried.
Mr. Bowser is a member of the Baptist Church, which he serves as deacon. He is a prominent member of the Washington Grange, P. O. H., of which he is master, and also be- longs to the Knights of Malta and to the I. O. O. F., being a prominent member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Cowansville, where he has passed all the chairs. In political senti- ment he is a Republican, but takes no active part in such matters.
REV. A. B. BOWSER, a well-known minister of the Baptist Church in West Pittsburgh, was born May 22, 1858, in Washington town- ship, Armstrong Co., Pa. He attended public school in Armstrong county, graduated from Reed Institute, in the class of 1884, and took his college course at Bucknell University, from which he was graduated in 1888. He then took a theological course at Crozer Seminary, Up- land, Pa., graduating in the class of 1890, after which he was located in Pittsburgh as minister of the Third Baptist Church of that city, where he remained for three years. His next charge was the First Baptist Church at Dan- ville, Pa., where he was located for nine years, after which he went to Millville, N. J., where he was pastor of the First Baptist Church for three years. On July 4, 1903, he came to his present church at Crafton, near Pittsburgh, where he is pastor of the First Baptist Church.
Pa., daughter of Akilias R. and Mary ( Baker) Stebbins, the former a native of Corning, N. Y., the latter of Painted Post, that State. They moved to Watsontown, N. Y., where they are buried. Mrs. Bowser received her education in the public schools and at Bucknell University. Her musical talent and training make her assistance very valuable to her hus- band. Mr. and Mrs. Bowser have had four children : Frank Excell graduated from Craf- ton high school in 1912, and is now attending medical college; Wayland Stanley graduated from the same school in 1912, preparatory to taking a college course; Isabel is in the same school, member of the class of June, 1914; Arda Crawford entered that high school in 1913.
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