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 74
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Mr. Bowser and his family spend the sum- mers upon his farm in Washington township, Armstrong county, where he oversees the work of cultivation, which is being carried on along practical and scientific lines. His property consists of seventy-three acres in the central part of the township, part of the Sam- uel Woods and Raderbush farms. There are about eight acres of woodland. Coal has been sold from this place, though there are no banks in operation, and no gas or oil wells. Mr. Bowser is independent in political matters.
WILLIAM F. BUTLER, oil producer and farmer, of Brady's Bend township, Armstrong county, lives upon the place which the Butler family has occupied continuously since 1875. It came into his father's possession some time before that. Mr. Butler was born in Brady's Bend township Aug. 29, 1851, son of Thomas Butler, and is of English extraction, his father having been born near Birmingham, England. Joseph and Fanny (Garrington) Butler, his grandparents, had a family of fourteen chil- dren, of whom Thomas was the thirteenth in order of birth. They were in good circum- stances, and gave their children school ad- vantages and thorough practical training for
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the work of life. The father dying, some of such measures as were designed to benefit the family came to America, landing at Bos- ton June 29. 1844.
the masses, and he was one of the most highly esteemed citizens of his community, where his Thomas Butler was born Feb. 1. 1825, and was one of those who arrived at Boston on the date mentioned. He soon came to Penn- sylvania, expecting to meet his elder brother, William, at Chester. The brother had pre- ceded him to this country, and Thomas sup- practical benevolence and useful life made him beloved and respected by all who knew him. He well deserved the prosperity which came to him, for he commenced life with no special advantages, but his industrious nature and high principles proved sufficient for success. posed he was working in a rolling mill there, He died on his farm May 19, 1886. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, a Re- publican in political matters, and fraternally he was a Mason, belonging to Kittanning Lodge, No. 244.
so was much disappointed to find he had left the place. However, he went to work in the mill himself, receiving a bonus of $100, and remaining there for a period of three months. Then he went to Troy, N. Y., where he worked at puddling for the famous iron company of Henry Burden & Company. While there, in 1846, he sent to England for a young woman, Elizabeth Darby, a neighbor, whom he had known all his life and to whom he was affi- anced. He met her in New York, and was married to her in Troy. July 18, 1846, the ceremony being performed at St. Paul's Epis- copal Church, by Rev. Dr. Van Kleeck. After his marriage he moved to Boston, and while at work there was hired with others by the had been left in the pipe of a torpedo case Brady's Bend Iron Company, on March 18,
Mr. Butler's first wife died Sept. 12, 1847, and her infant child a week later. On April 22, 1849, Mr. Butler married (second) Mar- tha Wassell, a native of England, who came to America about the same time he did, but on another ship. She still resides on the farm in Brady's Bend township. There were two children by this marriage, William F. and Horace Mann. The latter, a most estimable young man, was killed Sept. 20, 1875, by an explosion of glycerine which by some accident which had been sent as junk to the iron mill 1847, arriving at their works, which were the where he was working at Pittsburgh.
third in the United States to turn out T rails. Mr. Butler was a thoroughly skilled workman, as good as the best in the country, and he very soon quit puddling and took a contract for running four heating furnaces. This was a responsible and a remunerative position, and although a very young man he filled it to the entire satisfaction of the mill owners, and held it continuously from 1847 to 1872. A short time before his second marriage (which oc- curred in 1849) he bought the farm in Brady's Bend township where his widow and son still live, having accumulated a little money by economy and saving. Then he improved the property as he was able, building a substantial house and otherwise adding to its value, and in 1875 he went to reside there permanently. In 1877 the first third-sand oil well was struck on this place, and it is still producing, his son owning it. When it was found that this land was rich in petroleum Mr. Butler leased it in parcels to H. L. Taylor & Co., and other operators, receiving a certain proportion of the production as royalty, and it was sufficient to make him independent, so that he was able to spend his closing years in enjoyable retire- ment. Mr. Butler was a man of keen intelli- gence, fond of good reading, and by applying himself became unusually well informed. He took great interest in public affairs, especially
William F. Butler obtained his education in public school in Brady's Bend township, leav- ing school when fourteen years old to begin work in a rolling mill. There he remained until the mill shut down during the panic of 1873. At that time he was a roller. On Oct. 9. 1873. he was married, and for a year or so afterward resided at Brady's Bend, in 1875 moving to his father's farm in the township, where he has ever since had his home. He farms the 87 acres comprised in the property, which lies north of Kaylor, and has valuable oil holdings. He now owns the first well drilled on the place, by Banks & Graham, in 1877, as owners at the time, which is still producing, and has two others there, and has a lease on ten acres of the Wassell farm, man- aging the gas and oil rights on that property, which he still retains, though he has sold the land to the Great Lakes Coal Company. Be- sides, as member of the firm of Butler & Gillmore, he has an interest in seven wells on a 140-acre tract, his son Clifford managing this. Mr. Butler is a stockholder in the High Grade Oil Company of Bruin. Pa., and in both the First National and the Farmers' Na- tional Banks of Leechburg, Armstrong coun- ty. His home property in Brady's Bend town- ship has been greatly improved under his man- agement, practically all the farm buildings
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
having been put up by him, and its value as centuries. Some of them spelled the name a farm has been greatly increased by his in- Cochrane.
telligent care and up-to-date methods.
Mr. Butler takes part in various local activ- liam Cochran settled in what is now Arm- ities, being a member of the Grange, a promi- nent worker in the Baptist Church, of which he has been deacon thirty-five years, and a well-known Republican in his township. He has served in a number of public offices, having been a school director for twenty-three years (consecutive except for one year), poor over- seer for five years continuously, supervisor for the last four years, and tax collector for thir- strong county, where his son James L., father of Levi G. Cochran, was born in 1787. He settled on a farm, acquiring the ownership of a large tract, 800 acres, then all in its prim- itive condition, put up log buildings, and passed the remainder of his life there. When he first came there he lived among the In- dians, and they often hunted together. Be- sides farming James L. Cochran engaged in teen consecutive years. At present he is super- the manufacture of iron, being the leading vising overseer of the poor and dependent, and State fire marshal. Few men of the township are more closely connected with the affairs which affect most of its residents, and none is more trusted as an official. member of the company which projected Ore Hill Furnace, in 1845, and gave a fifty-acre tract of land upon which that furnace was erected. He built the original furnace and operated it on his own account for some time In 1873 Mr. Butler married Mary E. Ander- son, a native of Brookville, Jefferson Co., Pa., daughter of Thomas W. and Eliza Anderson, and they have had a family of seven children : Thomas Frederick, who married Aliene Shef- field, is located at Leechburg, this county, where he has a drug store; William C., a den- tist, formerly at Kaylor, now in New Kensing- ton, Pa., married Mae Higgins (he was for- merly secretary of the board of supervisors of Brady's Bend township) ; Albert J., who is an oil producer in Fairview, Butler Co., Pa., before selling to the company. He was one of the prominent men of his day in that and various other connections. In religion he was a strong Presbyterian, in politics a Dem- ocrat, and he filled a number of township offices. His wife, Esther Gibson, of near Kit- tanning, was a member of the family of that name so numerously represented in Arm- strong and Indiana counties, and the follow- ing children were born to their union: Wil- liam (born Dec. 10, 1813, died Feb. 6, 1876, married Mary S. Quigley), John G., Samuel, married Gertrude Stoughton, who died Oct. Lowry, James Sloan, Levi G., Jane and Washington.
10, 1913; Bessie is the wife of Prof. D. L. Rich, member of the faculty at Ann Arbor (Michigan) University; Florence is the wife of Carl I. Humphreys, a farmer, and lives at Portersville, Butler Co., Pa .; Clifford, who married Catherine McAleer, lives at Glen- shaw, Allegheny Co., Pa., and is engaged as an oil producer; Howard, a machinist in the Pennsylvania Railroad shops, residing at Ve- rona, Allegheny county, married Mae Cart- wright.
LEVI G. COCHRAN, late of Boggs town- ship, Armstrong county, was born there, in what was then Pine township, on the farm of Dick Cochran, Sept. 1, 1827. A son of James L. and Esther (Gibson) Cochran, he was a descendant of one of the most notable fami- lies of the early days of the nineteenth cen- tury in Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Wil- liam, was born in eastern Pennsylvania, and was the son of Sir John Cochran. The fam- ily home was originally in the North of Ire- land, and this branch of the Cochrans has been settled in Pennsylvania for about two 1869, is at home; Samuel L., born Nov. 21,
Shortly after the Revolutionary war Wil-
Levi G. Cochran came into possession of eighty-four acres of his father's land all un- cleared, which he improved, erecting all the buildings thereon and making many changes which greatly increased its value. He was an unassuming citizen, attending strictly to his private affairs and caring nothing for pub- lic offices or honors, was a Democrat in poli- tics, and in religion a member of the United Presbyterian Church. He died Aug. 15, 1895.
Mr. Cochran's first marriage was to Eliza- beth Whited, of Boggs township, who died Jan. 16, 1860, the mother of four children : Mary Jane, born April 5, 1852; James M., born May 7, 1854; Robert H., born Nov. 27, 1857, and John W., born July 16, 1859. On Nov. 19, 1863, he married Elsie M. Meanor, who was born May 20, 1838, in Boggs town- ship, Armstrong county, daughter of William and Rachel (Peart) Meanor, and they had five children : Harry M., born Jan. 15, 1865, died Dec. 8, 1865 : Laura B., born April 10, 1866, married Gust. Leinweber; William M. was born Dec. 9, 1867; Rachel E., born Nov. 29,
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
1877, is now engaged in cultivating the home- State of Delaware, was of this line, as also Dr. Henry van Dyke, of Princeton Univer-
stead.
William Meanor, father of Mrs. Levi G. sity. Up to the present time the preachers in the family have reached the number of about fifty, and Rev. E. H. Van Dyke, him- self a missionary to Japan, knew of five for- eign missionaries by this name. The Van- dykes were formerly Dutch Reformed and Presbyterian, but are now found in almost all the denominations.
Cochran, was born in Cowanshannock town- ship, Armstrong county, son of William and Ellen (Hamilton) Meanor, whose children were: Harry, William, Jane, Molly, Nancy, John and Samuel.
William Meanor spent most of his life as · a farmer in Indiana county, Pa. He married Rachel N. Peart, daughter of William Lee and Elsie (Mateer) Peart, whose children were born as follows: Rachel, March 10, 1818; one that died in infancy, July 26, 1819; Rosanna, June 18, 1821; Samuel, April 6, 1823; Susan, Sept. 24, 1825; William, Aug. 20, 1827; Eliza, Oct. 19, 1829; Margaret, Jan. 12, 183 -; Elsie, Nov. 11, 1834; Nancy, April 6, 1837; Mary, Aug. 15, 1839; Esther, Sept. 28, 1841. William L. Peart, the father of this family, was a son of William Peart, who came from England and for a time lived in Phila- delphia, Pa., eventually coming to Armstrong county, where he was one of the early set- tlers in what is now Rayburn township; he obtained a large tract of land.
Mrs. Rachel N. (Peart) Meanor died June 25, 1905. She was the mother of thirteen children, viz .: Ellen H. (Mrs. Van Horn), born June 4, 1837; Elsie M. ( Mrs. Cochran), born May 20, 1838; Jane Mary, born Oct. 7, 1839; one that died in infancy; Susan R., born April 2, 1842; Martha D., born May 5, 1844; William P., born May 17, 1846; Ros- anna Q. (Mrs. Emerick), born June 28, 1848; Annis L. (Mrs. Morris), born June 26, 1850; John M., born April 20, 1853; Thomas J., born June 18, 1856; Wesley J., born May 23, 1858; and Samuel H., born March 10, 1862. Of this family, Ellen, Elsie (Mrs. Cochran), Susan, William, Annis, and J. M. survive.
HIRAM VANDYKE is one of the largest landowners of South Buffalo township, Arın- strong county, where he lives on the old home- stead on which he was born March 20, 1836. Ile has passed all but a few years of his life there.
George Vandyke, grandfather of, Hiram Vandyke. was possibly a son of the William Vandyke who according to family tradition moved West with his family from Delaware over one hundred years ago, the great-grand- father's name being William, from the best information Hiram Vandyke has. George Vandyke was the first of the name to locate in Armstrong county, Pa., coming hither from Westmoreland county in the early part of the last century. He was then unmarried. Set- tling at McVill, he obtained land from the government and became a farmer, being en- gaged as such until his death, in 1830, in his forty-eighth year. He married Elizabeth Sipes, of Armstrong county, daughter of Charles Sipes. a pioneer here, and they had the following children: William, Mary, Francis, George, Margaret, Elizabeth, Susanna and John. Most of this family lived in South Buffalo township.
An old Allegheny river captain, James Murphy, told Mr. Hiram Vandyke some thirty years ago or more (and he was one of the oldest men in South Buffalo township), in speaking of the Vandykes, that they had set- tled in Virginia and then came north to West- moreland county. Hiram Vandyke remem- bers hearing the older members of the family speak of two uncles, Jacob and Michael, that remained there, and their descendants are there yet. He looked one of them up four or five years ago in Irwin, Pa., a member of the third generation, but found out nothing more concerning the family. R. L. Vandyke, of Pittsburgh, nephew of Hiram Vandyke, has been attempting for several years to compile a genealogy of the family.
Mr. Vandyke is descended from Thomas William Vandyke, son of George, was born Vandyke, of Amsterdam, Holland, who came in 1810 at McVill, in South Buffalo township, and was educated in the common schools. He lived with his parents until they died, on the place where his son Hiram now resides. In 1835 he married Elizabeth Wolf, of Logans- port, Pa., both of her parents being of Arm- strong county and of German stock; they
to Long Island, New York, in 1652, with his three sons, Hendrick Friscal, Jan Thomassen and Franz Claessen. It is not stated that they settled there, and Hiram Vandyke has been informed that his ancestors settled in Virginia, thence coming North. He traces his descent through Jan Thomassen, and died at Logansport. Her father, George Wolf, Nicholas Van Dyke, the first governor of the a farmer, was married three times, the maid-
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
en name of his first wife being Willard. They had children: Jacob, George, Lydia, Eliza- falo township. beth, Christina, Mrs. Jack, Mrs. Karns, Mary and Eveline. By his second wife, whose maiden name was Williams, he had: Harriet, Rachel, Diana and Townsend. His third mar- riage was to a Mrs. Wagley.
After his marriage William Vandyke con- tinued to make his home on the farm where his son Hiram now lives, in South Buffalo township, putting up a one and a half story log cabin and a log barn. The land was all wild, but he cleared a good farm, owning over one hundred acres. He was a prominent man in his day, holding many township offices, was a Democrat in his political views and a member of the Lutheran Church. He died in 1847, his wife in 1853. They had the fol- lowing children : Hiram; William H., a farmer of South Buffalo township; Emily A., who died unmarried in 1863; Peninnah Jane, who married Henry Gardner, now liv- ing in Butler, Pa .; and Nathan Lee, deceased in 1902, who married Elizabeth Hill (also deceased), and lived at Freeport.
of valuable land, having one of the best farms in South Buffalo township, all under a fine state of cultivation. He has been somewhat active in public affairs, holding several town- ship offices, is a Republican in politics, and in religious connection is a Lutheran.
Emily married W. H. Vandyke, of South Buf-
Mrs. Vandyke died Jan. 11, 1897. She was the mother of seven children: Edith E., who lives at home; Luella M .; L. G., a farmer, in South Buffalo township; George, a farmer in South Buffalo township; Fred and Roy, on the home farm in South Buffalo town- ship; and Vida V., who married H. M. Arm- strong, of Grand Junction, Colorado.
WILLIAM E. PAINE, at present serving as justice of the peace of Madison township, Armstrong county, has held a number of pub- lic positions, and has been a prominent worker in that locality for the last twenty years and more. He is a member of a family which has been settled in this part of Pennsylvania from the time of his grandfather, Job P. Paine, who came West from New York State, set- tling in Clarion county. He died there when his son J. W. Paine, father of William E. Paine, was a small boy.
J. W. Paine received his education in the public schools at Rimersburg, Clarion Co., Hiram Vandyke attended the home schools and later high school under Professor Mur- phy. For several years he taught school. He remained at home with his parents until they died, and shortly afterward, in 1855, entered as clerk, the employ of a Mr. Weaver, who owned a general store where the "Cen- tral Hotel" now is in Freeport, remaining with him until 1857. In 1858 he was at Cam- eron, Ill., where he was employed in a store, but with these exceptions he has remained Pa. He was a Union soldier during the Civil war, enlisting in Company E, 62d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, for three years, and gave faithful service to the cause. At Gettys- burg he was taken prisoner, being paroled after three months' confinement at Belle Isle. In 1868 he settled on a farm of sixty acres which he still owns, and continued to reside there until his retirement in 1901. He and his wife have since made their home at Kittan- ning. He married Sarah M. Craig, daughter on the old homestead, following farming. He of Samuel H. Craig, of Madison township, a has met with unusual success in agriculture, veteran of the Civil war, and ten children have and has been able to add to his holdings until been born to them, namely: William E .; they now comprise about five hundred acres George W .; Harry E., deceased; J. B .; J. L.,
of Elmira, N. Y .; Hannah, wife of David Holly; Elizabeth, Mrs. Walker, deceased ; Emma, wife of C. M. Cochran, of Oil City, Pa .; Lillian, wife of E. H. Kunsenman, of Oregon ; and Carrie, wife of Walter Richard, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
William E. Paine was born Oct. 11, 1868, at Tidal, in Madison township, and was there reared. He was given good common school advantages, attending the Rimersburg acad- emy one term, and after his school days were over engaged in coal mining for some time, also working at the Ford City Pottery. He then began farming in Madison township, on a tract of eight acres, and at present operates a tract of eighty-five acres, which is owned by his mother-in-law. He is one of the stock-
In June, 1863, Mr. Vandyke married Priscilla Sloan, a native of South Buffalo township, daughter of James and Margaret (Rea) Sloan, of Armstrong county ; he was a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Sloan had these children : Isabelle married John M. Hill and lives in South Buffalo township; Nancy Ann died unmarried; William (deceased) lived in South Buffalo township; Priscilla was the wife of Hiram Vandyke; John E. (deceased), was a farmer in South Buffalo township; holders and directors of the Madison Tele-
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
phone Company, whose exchange is located in his home.
Ever since he attained his majority Mr. Paine has been an active political worker in his locality. He has been a member of the Republican county committee, and has held various public offices, having served as mer- cantile appraiser, six years as assessor, and five years as health officer, his work in that office covering three townships, Madison, Boggs and Pine. In January, 1913, he became an employee at the Senate house, Harrisburg, as chief custodian, to serve two years. He had previously served as doorkeeper of the House of Representatives. Mr. Paine is also a jus- of land in Huntingdon county, Pa., part of tice of the peace of Madison township, in which capacity he has been serving since March, 1911, having been appointed at that time, and elected in 1912.
Mr. Paine was married Aug. 8, 1894, to Annie Hines, daughter of G. W. and Mar- garet Hines, of Madison township, and four children have been born to them: Russell, Margaret, Howard and Helen M., the last named deceased. Mr. Paine is very well known among local associations, organizations and fraternities, belonging to the Jr. O. U. A. M. (of which he is a charter member ), to the Improved Order of Red Men (at Tidal), the Daughters of Liberty, the Sons of Veter- ans (at New Bethlehem), the Grange (at Tidal), and the Knights of Pythias (at Tem- pleton, Pa.). His church connection is with the Methodist Episcopal denomination, at Widnoon.
ROSS REYNOLDS, late of Kittanning, was a brilliant representative of a family which has been foremost among the leading residents of the place from its earliest days. His grandfather, David Reynolds, was one of the first hotelkeepers in that place, and the family has been in that line there continu- ously to the present, Harry Reynolds, pres- ent proprietor of the "Reynolds House." be- ing also a grandson of David Reynolds.
ermine, between three crosses, crosslet, fitched argent. Crest: An eagle, argent, ducally gorged and lined.
George Reynolds, the first ancestor of Ross Reynolds to come to this country, his great- grandfather, was born in 1730 in England, and came to America in 1753. He was a soldier in the French and Indian war, serving in 1755-57, and was with Braddock at the lat- ter's defeat, at which time he was wounded, being shot in the neck. He held his finger in the wound to stanch it while he lay concealed from the Indians all night in the underbrush. For his military services he received a tract the town of Huntingdon, according to family tradition, being now on his holding. By trade he was a tanner. His first marriage was to a Miss Davis, but whether he married her be- fore or after coming to America is not known. She left three children, namely: John, who died at the age of twenty ; Esther, Mrs. Mann ; and Elsie, Mrs. Ross. In 1777 George Rey- nolds married (second) Margaretta Stopp, daughter of Peter and Elizabeth ( Fleming ) Stopp, of French and Dutch Flanders, Bel- gium (now west and cast Flanders). She was a native of Maryland. George Reynolds died suddenly in Huntingdon county, at a neighbor's where he had eaten noon-day din- ner, in April, 1796. His widow, Margaretta, married a widower by the name of Alexander Moore, and by him had one child, Jane, born Feb. 22, 1803, in Huntingdon, who was mar- ried to John Williams, in Kittanning, where she died Feb. 25, 1883. Mrs. Margaretta S. ( Reynolds) Moore died in Kittanning in De- cember, 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 Rey- nolds 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 wrapped in her skirts, and sat there in terror while the Indians ransacked the house, set it on fire and passed over the bridge. For- tunately the dog did not bark and the baby did not cry. When Mr. Reynolds returned he took them to the blockhouse, where they and the neighbors who had suffered like mis- fortune lived together until conditions made it reasonably safe for them to build on their own land again. One boy who had been in a cornfield lost both his parents as well as
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