Armstrong County, Pennsylvania her people past and present, embracing a history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume II, Part 8

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 II > Part 8

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MARLIN E. THOMPSON, a well known educator of Cowansville, Armstrong county, was born at that place April 17, 1863, son of Robert A. and Caroline ( Prugh) Thomp- son. His paternal grandfather, a native of Ireland, came to the United States in 1829, settling in Indiana county, Pa., where he fol- lowed his business, that of jeweler, until his death, which occurred some time in the forties.

Robert Thompson was born in Ireland in

In 1855 Mr. Helderle married, in Pitts- 1828, and was only one year old at the time burgh, Margaretha Fichter, who was born the family settled in this country. He remained with his parents until he was twenty years old, meantime securing a good common school education. He then began teaching school, and followed that calling for forty years, at the time of his death, in 1903, being one of the oldest and most highly respected educa- tors in Pennsylvania. His wife was of Ger- man parentage. These parents had eleven children, six of whom are living, namely .: James A., Hugh A., Marlin E., Robert A., Mrs. Louisa Groves and Mrs. B. W. Clay- pool.

Marlin E. Thompson was the sixth child in his parents' family. He attended the com- mon schools up to his seventeeth year, when he took an academic course in Cowansville, attending there two terms. He then began teaching school, and for thirty-two years has been one of the popular educators of Arm- strong county, his work in educational lines being recognized as of permanent value. He has proved his civic worth as an enthusiastic Republican. Fraternally he is a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M.

JOHN HELDERLE (deceased) was a res- ident of Kittanning borough for many years before his death, and did a prosperous coop- ering business there. He was a native of Baden, Germany, born Sept. 17, 1819, and on coming to America lived for a time at Pitts- burgh, Pa. He was married there, and sub- sequently removed to Kittanning, Armstrong Co., Pa., where he followed the cooper's trade, making the kind of oil tanks then in use. He had his shop on part of the property still first wife had two sons, John and Jacob. By occupied by his widow and daughter, who live at No. 151 South Mckean street, and his busi- ness thrived so well that before his death he 1

had built three houses upon that tract. He was in partnership with Barton Hastings in the grocery business, and they carried on an extensive trade until his death, after which his son John S. had an interest therein, being connected with the business for over twenty years altogether. Mr. Helderle died Dec. 10, 1885. By his honorable and industrious life, his business ability and excellent management, Mr. Helderle won the confidence and respect of all who knew him, and he was regarded as one of the substantial citizens of the borough in which he had settled. For many years he held the office of borough auditor. Politically he was a Democrat, and in religion a Cath- olic, being a member of St. Mary's Church.

Dec. 10, 1830, at Rheinberg, Germany, daugh- ter of Valentine and Catherine (Slick) Fich- ter. Her parents never left Germany. Mrs. Helderle came to this country with her sister Mary (now Mrs. Engle, of Butler county) and her brother Michel, now deceased, who spent the rest of his life at Manorville, Arm- strong county, Pa. ; later a half-brother, Valen- tine, came to America, and lived in Pittsburgh, working in the oil refineries; he is now de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Helderle had three children : Mary A., born Feb. 14, 1856, who lives with her mother; Margaret V., born March 17, 1859, who died Aug. 25, 1904; and John S., born Oct. 24, 1860, who married Mary J. Jessop, he dying Feb. 18, 1892, and she Dec. 25, 1910. All the deceased members of this family are buried in St. Joseph's cemetery.

Mrs. Helderle and her daughter have a com- fortable home at No. 151 South Mckean street.

LIAS. Peter Lias, born in 1783, died Sept. 17, 1853, aged seventy years, and his remains. were interred in the Dayton Methodist cem- etery. He was one of the pioneers in what is now Wayne township, Armstrong Co., Pa., coming here from Huntingdon county, this State, and settling midway between Dayton and Echo. He bought 228 acres of land, on which he built a log house, and cleared off the timber. This continued to be his home the rest of his life. The name at one time was spelled Elias, but was changed, probably in the lifetime of Peter, to Lias. Peter Lias was married twice, and by his. his second marriage he had three children,. Martha, Martin and Jane.

Jacob Lias, son of Peter Lias, was born

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

May 27, 18II, in Huntingdon county, Pa., ant factor in the Methodist Church, and and came with his father to Wayne town- on the school board, and always voted and supported the Republican ticket from the time he attained his majority. His death occurred Sept. 28, 1876, when he was aged twenty-four years, eight months. On Oct. 8, 1872, he married Catherine Maria Thomas, daughter of Jacob and Lucy Thomas, and two children were born of this marriage: John F. C., September 28, 1873; and George W., Jan. 3, 1877. ship in 1831. In October, 1832, he married Susannah Schrecongost, who was born June 22, 1814, in Wayne township. Soon after their marriage they settled on the homestead of Peter Lias, and lived there for fifteen years. Then they moved to a farm in the northern part of Cowanshan- nock township, where Jacob farmed and kept a general store. His wife died May I, 1887, in her seventy-third year. Their JOHN F. C. LIAS, elder son of Wilbur Lias, attended the township schools, and has always followed farming, now owning fifty-three acres of the old homestead in Wayne township. He put up all the new buildings on his property, and has trans- formed it into a valuable farm. children were: McKindra C., who died in the army; Curtis E., deceased; Sarah Jane, deceased; James W .; Eliza A .; Asbury M .; Elzada C .; Leander E .; Cyrus B .; Mary C., and Laura C. Jacob Lias re- turned to the old homestead, and married (second) Mrs. Catherine Maria Lias, widow of Wilbur Lias; they had one son, Arthur L. The death of Jacob Lias occurred Dec. 21, 1894, when he was eighty-three years old.

Martin Lias, another son of Peter Lias, followed farming and threshing, and lived upon the old homestead now owned by J. W. honored supporters.

McIntire. He married Jennie B. Heasley, and they had four children, Cora, Ida, Des- sie and Campbell.

John Lias, eldest son of Peter Lias, was born in Huntingdon county, Pa., Sept. 7, 1806, and came to Armstrong county with his father. He was a blacksmith by trade, and found ready employment in the new home, and also farmed, operating the prop- erty now owned by his grandsons, J. F. C. and G. W. Lias. A useful man in his dis- trict, he served as justice of the peace, and was well known and most highly respected. After the formation of the Republican party he espoused its principles, and voted its ticket until his death, which occurred in August, 1887. For many years he was a consistent member of the Methodist Church. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Martha Coleman, was a daughter of Rev. Elijah Coleman. Her birth occurred July 5, 1812, and she died Feb. 1, 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Lias were married March II, 1851. They are interred in the Dayton Methodist cemetery. Their children were: Wilbur, born Jan. 2, 1852, and Elsie, born Sept. 3, 1854, who died March 6, 1857.

Wilbur Lias, son of John Lias, was born on the old homestead which sheltered so many of the Lias family, in Wayne town- ship, and followed farming all of his active life. For many years he was an import-

In 1895 he married Mary J. Kline, daughter of George Kline, and five children have been born of this union: Martha Blanche, Mary Hazel, Elizabeth Grace, Wilfred F. and Laird Preston. Mr. Lias is a Republican. Religiously he belongs to the Methodist Church and is one of its

GEORGE W. LIAS, posthumous son of Wilbur Lias, also was educated in the township schools, and attended the Dayton Acad- emy. In addition to farming, he does teaming in the gas fields of his district. His property comprises sixty-two acres of the old homestead; after coming into pos- session of it he put up a commodious barn. When only fourteen years old Mr. Lias had the misfortune to lose his left arm in a threshing machine. Unmarried, he re- sides on his property with his twice widowed mother. Like his brother he is a Republican, and a member of the Meth- odist Church, and the two are numbered among the reliable, responsible and repre- sentive men of their locality. They can be counted upon to give hearty support to all measures tending toward the bet- terment of Wayne township.

JAMES C. GIBSON, farmer and oil producer, residing near Parkers Landing, was born in Perry township, Armstrong Co., Pa., March 22, 1864, son of Houston and Mary Jane (Logan) Gibson, of old pioneer families in this part of the State.

Levi Gibson, the great-grandfather of James C. Gibson, was one of the first perm- anent settlers in Allegheny township, But- ler Co., Pa., where he cleared and culti- vated land.

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

James Gibson, son of Levi Gibson, was and Mrs. W. R. Dally, of Parkers Land- born in Parker township, Butler county. ing, Pa. In his political views Mr. Gibson He purchased 320 acres of land, which is a Republican, and for three years he ship and was secretary of the board. he cleared, improving a part of it. Dis- served as a school director in Perry town- posing of the tract of land, he lived the remainder of his life with his daughter Ethel Hutchison, of Parker township, But-

WILLIAM THAW. It is appropriate that ler Co., Pa. His children were: George, in this history of Armstrong county men- John, Levi, Houston, Samuel, James, Re- tion should be made of William Thaw, of becca, Ellen and Esther, the last named Pittsburgh, son-in-law by his second marriage becoming the wife of William Hutchison.

Houston Gibson, son of James Gibson, cause of this alliance, but also because of sin- was born and reared on his father's large gular circumstances connecting him with a estate in Parker township, Butler county. bank in Pittsburgh, established before this second wife was born, by Emmet and John Sibbet, half-uncles of Mary Sibbet Copley, and cousins of Josiah Copley. In 1852 he purchased of his father, James Gibson, 130 acres of land situated in Perry township, Armstrong county, this being a part of a large tract of land granted by Mr. Thaw was born Oct. 12, 1818, in Pitts- burgh, Pa. The family has been in this coun- try over two centuries. John Thaw, his great- grandfather, was born in 1710, in Philadel- phia, and lived there all his long life, dying in 1795. He is buried in Abington Churchyard, near that city. Benjamin Thaw, son of John, was born in Philadelphia in 1753, and died in 18II. His wife was Hannah, daughter of Joseph Engle and granddaughter of Benja- min and Deborah Engle, English Friends who settled in Philadelphia toward the close of the seventeenth century. the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to James Gibson by patent dated Aug. II, 1848. There Houston Gibson spent the rest of his life, engaged in agricultural pur- suits, his death occurring June 22, 1875, in his fifty-fourth year. He was twice mar- ried, his first wife being Elizabeth Gibson, daughter of George Gibson, of Parker township, Butler county, and they had four children: Hannah J., wife of Wash- ington Campbell, of Butler, Pa .; Isaiah, re- siding in Missouri; Remina Cormick, of Butler ; and George, now deceased. Hous- ton Gibson was married the second time to Mary Jane Logan, a daughter of John and Susan (Rogers) Logan, of Clarion county, Pa., and to this union nine children were born. Six of these grew to maturity, namely : Margaret, wife of Charles Haas, of Texas; Elizabeth, wife of Henry Pitt- man; Lucinda B .; James C .; Robert P .; and Della Cora, wife of Reuben Barges.

James C. Gibson was reared on the old homestead, of which he owns and occupies seventy-nine acres. After his school at- tendance was over he engaged in farming, which has claimed much of his attention ever since. In 1908 he became interested also in oil production in a district not far from his home. He is one of the town- ship's most enterprising men and is widely known.

On Sept. 30, 1885, Mr. Gibson married Jennie Emerick, a daughter of John and Sophia (Hilliard) Emerick, of Bruin, Pa., and they have children as follows: Edith Gertrude, Willis E., Arthur Jay, Beulah May, Myrtle Irene, Elva Agnes and Helen Susan. Willis E. Gibson was married May 6, 1913, to Helen P. Dally, daughter of Mr.

of Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Copley ; not alone be-

John Thaw, second son of Benjamin and Hannah Engle Thaw, was born in Philadel- phia March II, 1779, and died Sept. 3, 1866, in Pittsburgh. Early in life he was appren- ticed to Paul Beck, a Philadelphia shipping merchant, and his association with seafaring men so excited his youthful love of adventure that he took the first opportunity which pre- sented of going to sea, sailing as supercargo of a vessel. On its first voyage to the West Indies it was seized (under Napoleon's Milan decree) and taken in Guadeloupe, W. I. Upon his release young Thaw returned home from that port, and on the trip yellow fever broke out among the crew, he being about the only one on board who escaped. Later he engaged as a trader on his own account, sending a ship laden with merchandise to Senegal, Africa. The captain disposed of the cargo after reaching his destination, bought slaves on his own account and on his return sold them in the West Indies and decamped with the proceeds. A curious memorial of this affair was the policy of insurance issued to John Thaw in 1801 for the African voyage, which was preserved in the office of Mr. W. L. Jones, agent of the Insurance Company of North America in Pittsburgh. It was pre-

very True you A. Shaw-

Mary Copley Than

From Portrait by Madame Bonguerran

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

sented to Mr. Jones over sixty years after- ciate in the Irish uprising, displayed qualities ward and valued by him as an interesting of keen discernment when, prior to coming to evidence of the venerable standing of his company. The loss ruined Mr. Thaw finan- cially, and he took a position in the Bank of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, which shortly afterward sent him and another man out to establish a branch at Pittsburgh, opened Jan. I, 1804, the first bank in the city.

It is a singular coincidence or remarkable fact that William Thaw, son of John Thaw, the pioneer banker in that city, was con- nected with what is now the Union National Bank, from the time of its foundation, through the families of his two wives. In 1839 Emmet and John Sibbet, cousins of Josiah Copley (father-in-law of William Thaw by his second marriage), came from Philadelphia and es- tablished a banking house in Pittsburgh, un- der the name of Cook & Sibbet, the two younger men conducting the actual business. On the death, in 1845, of Emmet Sibbet, his brother took as partner Mr. John B. Jones, their brother-in-law. After some twenty years this bank changed hands again, and became the firm of Semple & Jones, Mr. Semple being a brother-in-law of William Thaw's first wife. Last of all it was Semple & Thompson, both related to Mr. Thaw, as nephew and son-in- law, respectively, and so remained until after his death, in 1889, when it was united with the banking house of Nathaniel Holmes' Sons, and so formed the Union National Bank, still occupying the same old business site.

John Sibbet, senior partner, retired in 1849, and builded for his mother and sister, with whom he resided, a Southern Colonial resi- dence, adjacent to the country home of Mr. Copley, both overlooking the beautiful valley of the Allegheny, with its rich farms in full view for five miles up and down the river, be- tween Kittanning and Rosston, and with high wooded hills rising abruptly on the other side. This beautiful region, known as Appleby Manor, was one of the Penn reserves. In re- cent years two or three manufacturing towns have wrought great changes in that section.

After Mr. John Sibbet retired, the brother- in-law of Mr. Thaw's first wife, John B. Sem- ple, became partner with John B. Jones, uncle by marriage of his second wife. These curious combinations of kinship are less intricate than they seem on the surface; and might be still less so were it not for the additional fact that Mr. Copley had married the step-daughter of his own uncle, John Sibbet, the compatriot of Robert Emmet.

Emmet Sibbet, named for his father's asso- 34

Pittsburgh, he took an active interest in and largely financed The New Yorker, forerunner of the later party organ of the Whig party, The Log Cabin. Both these papers were edited by Horace Greeley, some years before that great editor became famous through founding and editing the New York Tribune. The quaint name Log Cabin was chosen by him because of the silly charge of unfitness for the presidency of William Henry Harrison, be- cause, forsooth, his childhood home was like unto that of the immortal Lincoln !

It was through the efforts of Mr. Thaw that the handling of freight was first conducted under a systematic arrangement convenient alike for the railroads and their patrons. Step by step he solved the problem. It was a great step forward when the point was reached where a car was unloaded and its contents kept together, to be sent forward as a desig- nated carload on the next line. The Pennsyl- vania was the first road to devise a method for supplying through cars to avoid transfer and furnish equipment to the roads west of Pittsburgh. This was accomplished by 1864, through the formation of the Star Union Line, of which Mr. Thaw was the originator, re- taining its supervision until 1873. At that time he was relieved of most of his duties in the transportation department, subsequently giving his attention to the internal and finan- cial affairs of the company. He modestly dis- claimed any special credit for working up the transportation system, but it was due to him. though he averred it worked itself out of the demands of the situation and was as much the result of his assistants' ingenuity as of his own. To the end of his life he was active in directing the policy of the Pennsylvania sys- tem, three presidents, Thompson, Scott and Roberts, relying upon his advice and assistance in all matters of projected enlargement and other important features.

On April 7, 1870, the Pennsylvania Com- pany was chartered. for the purpose of manag- ing, in the interest of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company, the roads conducted by the latter west of Pittsburgh, including the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago, the Erie & Pittsburgh, the Cleveland & Pittsburgh, and its branches, the Pan Handle ( Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis). the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh, the Cincinnati & Muskin- gum Valley, the Little Miami, the St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute, and the Grand Rapids & Indiana. Before the organization

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

of the Pennsylvania Company, Mr. Thaw had been one of the promoters of the Union and National Lines, the first freight organizations to furnish through service to shippers, and facilitate and render effective the movement by rail of interstate commerce. On June I, 1870, at the first meeting of the directors of the Pennsylvania Company, Mr. Thaw was elected as the first president of that board.

The American Steamship Company is an- other great corporation with which Mr. Thaw was associated from the beginning. When the Red Star Line of ocean steamships was formed he was among the chief promoters, being associated with Mr. H: H. Houston, of Philadelphia, for the American end, with Messrs. Von der Becke and Marsilly, of Ant- werp, for the European. This was the first international steamship line established be- tween the United States and Europe. Later the American line was added, the new organ- ization being known as the American Steam- ship Company. Its two great steamers, "City of New York" and "City of Paris," were com- pleted but a short time before his death. He was connected with the International Naviga- tion Company from the time of its organiza- tion in May, 1871, was a charter member of its board of directors, and was still serving at the time of his death.

out doubt, if he had become a man of letters instead of a man of affairs, he would have risen to distinguished literary eminence. Tie now this intensity and comprehensiveness of purpose to a strong will that made him resolute and of fixed purpose, grip that will with a conscience enlightened by the Word of God, and you have the combination that made Mr. Thaw one of the most remarkable men that I have ever known.

"Perhaps Mr. Thaw is most widely known for his benevolence; but this general reputa- tion is inadequate to the quantity or the qual- ity of his giving. He grew rich, but he was not enslaved by his riches. He held them as from his Lord in trust and therefore for service. When he began his business career he scrupulously set aside one tenth of his then slender income for God's service. Just what figures it mounted up to in after years no one can tell, but there is not the shadow of doubt that his gifts more than kept pace with the income. He gave widely, quietly, multi- pliedly, and it may well be believed a hundred thousand hearts thank God this day for the direct proofs of his generous liberality, while institutions by the score have been the recipi- ents of his bounty. But the spirit with which he gave transcended by all odds the amount. It was so genial, so tender of sensitive need, so royal natured, so heartily cordial, so set about with pleasantness, that one often felt in going from his presence, after successful ap- peal to his liberality, that he had been confer -. ring instead of receiving a favor."

Mr. Thaw's intellectual gifts placed him among the foremost men in the State and nation. Though he had business cares which would have required the engrossing attention of almost any other man, he never lost his in- terest in the other important things of life, and From the first part of this quotation it will be gathered that Mr. Thaw was not interested in the arts and sciences merely as a patron. He followed their advances in his reading and studies, to such an extent that scientific men were amazed at the actual knowledge he ac- quired in their field. He kept abreast of their work with the zeal and enthusiasm of a spe- cialist. To quote again : "His life was a testi- mony to the fact that it is not necessary that a man who accumulates wealth should forget to cultivate himself. Of keen intellectual per- ceptions, excellent judgment, of rare facility and also felicity in speech, to hear him talk, when he was free from ordinary cares, and allowed himself to speak of the thoughts that lay deepest in his mind, and nearer to his heart, was a great privilege. His sentences came out with the precision that be- longed to a master workman in the use of his principal pleasure in financial success was the privilege it allowed him of contributing to the support of educational and charitable in- stitutions and purposes. A former pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church, one who knew him most intimately, said: "No commercial transactions, however vast, could confine him. He went out into literature, into science, into mechanics, and fine arts, into philosophy and history, and enriched his mind with much spoil from these varied fields. Of course they were the asides of his busy life. But he traversed these paths so often, and with so ready and so keen eye, that he could talk with a rare engagedness and interest on any one of them. What a scientist he would have made if he had given himself to science! And those who were admitted to the inner chamber of his friendship, when he conversed upon the deeper topics of his heart, will recall the chaste human speech. His letters are fit to preserve precision and felicity of his speech, and the as literary productions. A man of originality and vigor of his thought. With- marked individuality, commanding intellect

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

and rare versatility, a man who would hear the tale of distress any one brought him, and, turn- ing from the act of supplying the needy, would begin to talk about the latest theory of the origin of matter, the last discussion in regard to some profound philosophical or theolog- ical question; whose taste never was ob- literated by all his contact with this busy world, or by all his success."

To his alma mater, the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pitts- burgh), of which he was a trustee for the twenty-eight years preceding his death, he be- queathed in his will four hundred thousand dollars, and its reorganization in the early eighties was largely along lines suggested by him, or to which he gave his sanction and influence.

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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 II, Part 8

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