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 94
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On Oct. 13, 1874, Mr. Heilman married Emma L. Anderson, daughter of Robert And- erson, and eight children were born to this union : Harry A .; Frank W .; Mary A .; Blanche L .; Helen E., who was graduated from Washington Seminary in 1911 and is now in Vassar College, class of 1915. All these are living, three having died in in- fancy. Mr.
Heilman is a member of Blue Lodge No. 244, F. & A. M., and Orient Chapter, No. 247, R. A. M., both of Kittanning, and of Pittsburgh Command- ery, No. I, K. T., and Syria Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. During a European trip a few years ago Mr. Heilman enjoyed being a visitor to various lodges in the different coun- tries he visited. Probably few men have had the opportunity to meet so many fellow Masons as he.
While at Madeira, Rome, various German cities, in Egypt even, he was the guest of the Masonic lodges in those places. One spot of interest to which he made a special trip was the stone quarry from which King Solomon secured the stone for the building of the temple, so intimately associated with Masonic rites. During this trip Mr. Heilman was accompanied by his eldest daughter. He was a Republican in politics. Mr. Heilman died on the 16th day of June, 1914.
FRANK W. HEILMAN, M. D., a physician and surgeon of Kittanning, was born in that city Oct. 27, 1877, son of William M. Heil-
The Heilman family is one of the oldest and best known in Armstrong county, and its representatives have been and are men con- siderably above the average. They are to be found in all the learned professions, occupy- ing offices of great responsibility, and active in commercial life. All of them have been ready and willing to give time and attention toward the betterment of existing conditions, and labored to bring about a moral uplift. It is such men as these, and those whom they in- fluence, who work out reforms, and maintain good standards wherever they are found.
REV. G. A. REICHERT .- Pioneer Work in Western Pennsylvania ("Lutheran Ob- server," Feb. 8, 1877).
"The fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?" What the strength of the foundation is to a building, the character of pioneer missionary work is to the future of the church. Among the pio- neers of the Lutheran Church in western Pennsylvania, Rev. Gabriel A. Reichert occu- pies a conspicuous place.
Father Reichert was born in Durlach, Baden, , Germany, Feb. 25, 1796. His parents died when he was eleven years of age. He grad- uated at the seminary at fourteen, studied at the law school in Carlsruhe two and a half years, when he received a license as a govern- ment clerk, and on removing to Mannheim he held the office of notary public while he re- mained in Europe. He departed for America May 3, 1817, and arrived at Philadelphia July 28, after a voyage of seventy-six days.
After visiting several places in the vicinity, he heard of the arrival of a clerical friend at New York, where he joined him, and both proceeded to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, where
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his companion took charge of a Lutheran con- gregation.
From this point he made two voyages to the West Indies, during the last of which he encountered a heavy storm, and came near being shipwrecked. In referring to this he made the following record in his diary: "I was so near death's door that I expected every moment would be my last, and our mate, a rough, hardened sinner, told me, as the waves broke over the vessel, 'Mr. Reichert, to-mor- row we'll all be in hell.' Shortly after this the mate was washed overboard, and was the only one lost." This made such an impres- sion on him that he resolved that if God spared him, he would devote the remainder of his life to His service.
This became the turning point in young Reichert's life. On arriving at Lunenburg, he commenced the study of theology, and began to teach school. But as the facilities for the prosecution of his studies were limited in Nova Scotia, he returned to Philadelphia Oct. 3, 1820, considerably straitened in his means. Finding no door of employment open, he traveled on foot through Chester, Berks and Lancaster counties, in search of a school; after many disappointments, he at last found one on the Columbia turnpike, three miles from Lancaster, where he taught five months, and continued his theological studies with Dr. Endress, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, in that city. In this church he preached his first sermon Oct. 15, and on June 21, 1821, he was licensed to preach the gospel by the Min- isterium of Pennsylvania. During the suc- ceeding year, he traveled through eastern Pennsylvania, teaching school, and preaching as opportunity offered.
In 1822 he was appointed a traveling mis- sionary, and entered upon pioneer work in the State. The extent of his field, and the char- acter of his labors, may be learned from his own account. "With God," says he, "I left Lancaster, July 14, 1822, visiting the counties of Lancaster, Perry, Huntingdon, Indiana, Venango and Erie, western part of New York, northern part of Pennsylvania, Tioga, Centre, Columbia and Luzerne, having preached fifty- one times, baptized sixty-one, administered the sacrament to fifty-nine, and traveling 1,320 miles, and occupying three months." His salary was $10 a month, out of which his own expenses and those of his horse had to be deducted.
time, and it required a month to make the round of his district, where there are now from thirty to forty Lutheran congregations. In 1828 he moved to Kittanning, where he served a number of congregations until 1838, when he was called as assistant to Dr. C. R. Demme, pastor of St. Michael's and Zion's German Lutheran congregations of Philadel- phia, where he labored seventeen years. He then removed to his farm near Kittanning, where he ministered to the Lutheran congre- gation and a few others in the vicinity, con- fining his labors during the last two years of his life to Kittanning, where he preached his last sermon three weeks before his death, Sept. 18, 1877, at the age of more than four- score years.
Father Reichert was married Sept. 16, 1823, to Miss Lydia Tyson, then sixteen years old, one of his first catechumens. (She was of English Quaker descent, tall, slender and fair, with blue eyes and very heavy golden brown hair, said to have been a yard and a quarter long. Her ancestor, Renier Tyson, settled at Abington, Pa., in the year 1682. He was a Friend. His eldest son was born there in 1686. Mrs. Reichert's father was a miller in Indiana county, Pa.) Mr. and Mrs. Reichert made their wedding trip on horseback, riding forty miles to the nearest preacher.
We became acquainted with Father Reich- ert, as a member of the Synod of Pennsyl- vania, at our licensure in 1839, and met him for several years after at its annual meetings. We saw him for the last time at the dedica- tion of Zion's new church on Franklin square in this city (Philadelphia) about twelve years ago. As we bade him a final adieu, as he stood in the chancel, he said to us with deep earnestness, "Bruder Conrad, lasset uns Gott bitten das wir alle wieder eins werden" ("Brother Conrad, let us beseech God that we may all become united again"), and to which we responded, Amen.
It afforded us special gratification to meet the widow and two of the daughters of the departed pioneer missionary and from whom we obtained the data for the sketch of his life and labors given above. They are so in- structive that we present them to our readers, with the assurance that they will be read with interest, not only by his relatives and parishioners, but also by the pastor and mem- bers of the Lutheran Churches in northwest- ern Pennsylvania, occupying the territory over which he traveled, and where he broke the ground of the fields which they have since
He selected as his missionary field the counties of Blair, Indiana, Crawford and Venango. He served six congregations at a cultivated. "Remember the days of old."
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
"Other men labored, and ye have entered into sixth year. His wife, Susanna (Waltin- their labors." bough), who died April 27, 1878, in her The children of Rev. G. A. Reichert were : Gabriel Adam, Louisa Caroline, Rosena, John Earnest, Theresa (died in infancy), Magda- lena, Jacob Philip Blarrer and Alexandrina. Two still survive (Dec. 26, 1913) : Philip, re- siding on the old homestead near Manorville, and Alexandrina. eighty-sixth year, was a daughter of John Adam and Rosina (Hoover) Waltinbough, the former a mechanic, by trade a blacksmith. He served as a soldier in the Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Waltinbough were pioneers in Kittanning township. He died Aug. 1, 1833, aged eighty-two years, his wife Sept. 12, 1822, in her sixty-fourth year. The list of their children will be found in the Heilman family sketch previously referred to.
Rev. G. A. Reichert was one of a family of four, three brothers and one sister: Fred- erica, who married Baron Philip Von Blarrer and lived on their estate on Lake Constance James Heilman had limited educational op- portunities, only such as the schools of the neighborhood afforded. A born farmer, he took the greatest pride in his fine orchards and live stock, and in improving his property. (they had no children) ; Gabriel Adam; Adam Gabriel, an official in Germany, whose wife's name was Anna Theresa (they had two daughters, Frederica and Christina) ; and Ernest, who also remained in Germany, a He also engaged in merchandising, and was
wholesale dry goods merchant, who had two children, Louisa and Alexandrina. From the time of his parents' death Gabriel Adam Reichert and his sister were reared by their grandmother Friedricha.
The Tyson family, to which Mrs. G. A. Reichert belonged, has an interesting history. grandfather who were the founders of his
Henry Tyson was so large a man-seven feet, three inches in height-that in order to make him comfortable during his last illness the footboard had to be removed from the bed and a bench placed for his feet to rest upon.
JAMES HEILMAN has never moved from the old Heilman homestead in Kittanning township, Armstrong county, where he was born Feb. 15, 1829, in the old log house where he still lives and which dates back to the year before his birth, being now more than eighty- six years old. The youngest child in the fam- ily of Jacob and Susanna (Waltinbough) Heilman, he is a grandson of Peter and Eliza- beth (Harter) Heilman, of whom a consid- erable account appears elsewhere in this work.
His great-grandfather, Christian, was the dren. Four sons and six daughters were born emigrant ancestor of the family, and settled in Northampton county, Pa. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution from that county, as shown on page 308, General Muster, 4th Battalion, Northampton county, May 14, 1778, Col. John Siegfried, Captain Edleman.
Jacob Heilman, the youngest of the family of twelve children born to Peter and Elizabeth (Harter) Heilman, said to have been born in Northampton county in April, 1791, lived on the Peter Heilman tract in Kittanning township where his parents settled in 1795-96. of John L. Lerner.
appointed postmaster, serving four years in that position. An intelligent, honorable man, and a deep thinker, he has always been a pro- moter of business enterprises which were for the good of the community. He has spent all his life among the scenes of the father and home for him.
On Oct. 9, 1856, Mr. Heilman married Mag- dalena Reichert, who was born Jan. 9, 1837, at the Reichert residence, on the corner of Water and Mulberry streets, Kittanning, daughter of Rev. G. A. and Lydia (Tyson) Reichert. Her father moving to Philadelphia she spent her childhood there and received her education in that city. When she was sev- enteen years of age her father removed to his farm near Kittanning, and two years later Magdalena, at the age of nineteen, married James Heilman, residing on the old Heilman homestead during the remainder of her life. Her death occurred April 2, 1904. She was a woman of fine mind and noble character, and is held in loving memory by all her chil- to Mr. and Mrs. James Heilman : James Ty- son resides in Kittanning; Ella Louise died unmarried; Emanuel Schmauck died in child- hood; Rosina Caroline died aged twenty-four years, unmarried; Jacob Philip died in in- fancy ; Ulysses G. is next in the family ; Grace Reichert, who taught school, died unmarried ; Maggie Grant married Dr. David L. Ever- hart, of Melbern, Ohio, and has three children, Ward A., Bernice and Claire; Emma Rebecca, Mrs. Ellis, is deceased; Ethelina is the wife
He was a distiller, and it was he who made the Ethelina Heilman, youngest child of James celebrated Heilman whiskey. He died Dec. 27, and Magdalena (Reichert) Heilman, attended 1876 (tombstone says 1877), in his eighty- the State normal school at Slippery Rock
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
several terms, and taught school for two town, and in 1814 set out for what was then terms. She was married Jan. 30, 1912, to John L. Lerner, and they have one child, James Richard. They reside on the old home- stead of her father in Kittanning township. Mrs. Lerner is a member of the Lutheran Church.
ROBINSON. The Robinsons of Hovey township are descendants of Elisha Robinson, Sr., who came to this section of Armstrong county in 1814. He and his posterity, in turn, have been associated with the development and history of the region continuously since.
The Robinson family is of old and honored standing in this country, where it has been settled from early Colonial days. The emi- grant ancestor, Isaac Robinson, the son of Rev. John Robinson, of Leyden, and Bridget White, his wife, was born about 1610 and came to New England in 1631, first settling at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Lieut. Peter Robinson, son of Isaac by his second wife, Mary, was born between 1653 and 1666-67, probably at Falmouth. He mar- ried Experience Manton, daughter of John leather, working to acquire his land. "A Rev- Manton, of Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard. He afterward removed to Windham, Conn., where he resided until his death, which was some time between Feb. 6, 1739, and April 15, 1740.
Peter Robinson (2), son of Lieut. Peter and his wife Experience Manton, was born about 1697 at Windham, Conn. He married Ruth Fuller, daughter of Samuel Fuller, of Mansfield, June 30, 1725, and died March 22, 1785.
Experience Robinson, son of Peter (2), was born April 22, 1728, and married Zerviah Palmer, daughter of Eliezer Palmer, Feb. 14, 1748-49. He died Sept. 10, 1807.
Andrew Robinson, son of Experience and his wife Zerviah Palmer, was born Aug. I, 1762. He was married three times, first on March 10, 1785, to Olive Hovey, daughter of Ebenezer and Dorcas (Corbin) Hovey, and sister of Dr. Simeon Hovey. He died June 10, 1849.
the West, his uncle, Dr. Hovey, having prom- ised to build a tannery for him and make him his heir. In 1814 he located in that part of old Perry township now known as Hovey, in Armstrong county, Pa., upon the land where his son Elisha afterward resided. Here he engaged in shoemaking and had a tannery, undoubtedly the first in the northern part of Armstrong county, and carried on both lines, in which he met with steady success. This industry was continued there for over fifty years, Mr. Robinson following same for over thirty years, until about 1846, when he turned it over to his son Samuel. For the next quarter of a century he devoted himself to farming, which he always followed, having a gristmill also. The log school which he built for his children is still standing. When he arrived in this region he began improving part of the tract belonging to his uncle, Dr. Simeon Hovey (in whose honor Hovey town- ship was named), and his first purchase of land was the "Thom's run" property, a tract of `100 acres which he paid for in shoes and
olutionary soldier named Joseph Thom was a pioneer settler on the stream which is still known as Thom's run. He built the first sawmill in this part of the county, and operated it for several years. He sold his tract of land to Elisha Robinson (Sr.) and moved away." With his wife Mr. Robinson inherited the property of his uncle, Dr. Hovey, who was married but left no children, dying in 1837, in his seventy-eighth year.
As Mr. Robinson's receipts after the open- ing of the oil industry were so large as to place him among those who became very wealthy as a result of that activity, it is only just to him to say that his well-directed in- dustry and good management as a business man and farmer had brought him independ- ence before then. He prospered by dint of enterprise and energy, becoming the owner of 1,100 acres in his home farm, besides acquiring other interests. This farm became one of the most noted properties in the entire oil region, for there were made the first dis- coveries of oil leading to the development
Elisha Robinson, son of Andrew and Olive (Hovey) Robinson, was the owner of the land in Armstrong county, Pa., where oil was first of the Parker and Butler county fields. (The discovered leading to the development of the Grant farm in Butler county, which became famous as oil territory and produced from $200,000 to $300,000 worth of petroleum, was sold by Mr. Robinson for $100, and never paid for until its value as oil property was discovered.) In 1865 a portion of the Robin- Parker and Butler county fields. He was one of the best known of the early settlers in his section, where he lived from 1814. Mr. Rob- inson was a native of Connecticut, born Dec. 4, 1791, in Windham. He learned the trade of tanner with a Mr. Bingham, of his native son farm a quarter of a mile north of Parker
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
City was purchased by the Philadelphia Com- Frederick Augustus, May 22, 1826; Andrew pany, and a well was sunk under the super- Jackson, April 17, 1828; Samuel M., March 10, 1830; Elisha, Dec. 4, 1832 (both settled in Hovey township) ; and Frederick Rohrer, May 29, 1835-all deceased. intendency of W. D. Robinson, son of Elisha Robinson. Oil was struck Oct. Ioth of that year. This well (the first oil discovered in the county) proved to have a production of SAMUEL MARSHALL ROBINSON, son of Elisha, was born March 10, 1830, on the old homestead farm in Hovey township, near Parker's Landing, was reared at that place and had his home there throughout his life, his family still occupying the farm. He re- ceived a good common school education and practical training for life with his father, who not only taught him his trade but business principles. Though only a youth when the tanning business was turned over to him, he made a success of conducting it, which he did for twenty years, until he embarked in the oil business, which he followed in Armstrong and adjoining counties. He was one of the op- erators who produced largely, and he also continued to follow farming, besides dealing to a considerable extent in stock, frequently shipping fat cattle to the Eastern markets. His home place contained 165 to 170 acres, over which he kept personal supervision, and there in 1874 he built the substantial brick dwelling ever since occupied by his family. He also owned a 208-acre tract in Butler county, highly improved and profitable prop- about twenty-five barrels a day, which was an important yield at the price of oil which then prevailed-$8.50 per barrel. This well was controlled by the Clarion and Allegheny River Oil Company, and was known as Clarion No. I. No important results immediately followed the discovery, though within the next few years the pioneer operators had demonstrated beyond doubt that the territory around Parker's Landing was rich in petroleum. Mr. Robinson began to lease his land to the op- erators for one-eighth to one-fourth royalties, and as a large number of good wells were soon struck he found himself in receipt of a sub- stantial income. It was not until the latter half of the year 1869 that a genuine oil excite- ment revealed the importance of the oil fields surrounding Parker. About a dozen wells had been put down on the hill near Parker prior to the time mentioned. But these test wells had proclaimed the value of the Butler county oil territory in addition to that of Armstrong, and such an impetus was given to the business that it speedily became known that Parker was to become an important point as a base erty, now owned by his son and daughter. of operations for producers and operators.
In the fall of 1871 Mr. Robinson placed the oil business under the control of his son Elisha, who succeeded him upon his death, which occurred Oct. 17, 1874, after a short illness. His sons Elisha and Samuel succeeded to the ownership of the homestead farm. He was a man of sterling character and high moral standards, scrupulously honorable in all his dealings, benevolent in disposition and highly esteemed by all. Politically he was a lifelong Democrat.
On Jan. 7, 1816, soon after settling in Arm- strong county, Mr. Robinson married Eliza- beth Rohrer, of Greensburg, a niece of Dr. Simeon Hovey's wife. She survived him, passing away Sept. 21, 1881. Ten children were born to this marriage, namely: Simeon Hovey, born March 20, 1817; Mary Ann, Jan. 14, 1819 (married George Bovard, of Manorville) ; William D., Oct. 20, 1820 (ran a store at Parker's Landing from 1843 to
In his active years Mr. Robinson was asso- 'ciated with many projects of leading import- ance in the advancement of his section, and he gave his encouragement to many others which enlisted his interest and in whose value he had faith. As a citizen he was public- spirited, and not only took an interest in the affairs of his community but himself assisted in the administration of local government, holding all the offices in Hovey township. In politics he was a Democrat .. He was a prom- inent member of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Foxburg, and served many years as senior warden. His ability and well-di- rected energy made him a valuable associate in any cause he chose to support. His death, which occurred April 1, 1908, was regarded as a public loss.
On Sept. 13, 1860, Mr. Robinson married Emma Louisa Prosser, who was born in Butler, Pa., Dec. 21, 1838, daughter of Charles and Eliza (Brinker) Prosser, of Butler county, 1869, not conducting the business personally Pa. Seven children were born to Mr. and all the time, however ; he subsequently moved Mrs. Samuel Marshall Robinson : (I) Samuel, to Kittanning) ; Olive, June 28, 1822 (married born June 18, 1861, died when fourteen years Thomas McConnell) ; Simeon Hovey (2), old. (2) Charles, born Oct. 1I, 1863, took the May 2, 1824 (settled in Hovey township) ; collegiate and law courses at Harvard Uni-
MR. AND MRS. JOHN HEILMAN
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
versity and is now engaged in legal practice originally a Presbyterian. In politics he was at Pittsburgh, Pa. He married Alma Lord, formerly a Democrat, but later a stanch Pro- of that city, and they have two children. (3) hibitionist. He held the township offices of Emma C., born Jan. II, 1866, died unmarried overseer of the poor, school director and at the age of twenty-four years. (4) Eliza- justice of the peace, having been elected to the beth R., born Nov. 4, 1869, who lives at home, latter in 1868 and served three years, resign- received her higher education in the Pennsyl- ing when he took charge of his father's oil business.
vania College for Women, at Pittsburgh. (5) Paul D., born May 3, 1872, died at the age of twenty-nine years, unmarried. erick A., born Sept. 20, 1878, is engaged in farming at the old Robinson homestead near Parker's Landing. He received his education in the schools of Armstrong county. (7) Bertha May, born June 4, 1876, died when two years old.
ELISHA ROBINSON, son of Elisha and Eliza- beth (Rohrer) Robinson, was born Dec. 4, 1832, on the home farm in Hovey township. He was one of the foremost residents of that section throughout his active years. Reared on the farm where he continued to reside, he received his early education in the common schools and later attended the academy at Kittanning. In 1861 he engaged in the general merchandise business at the mouth of the Thom's run, and for about five years carried on this store, which was located between his residence and Parker City, in 1866 settling on the home where he resided until his death, April 2, 1912. In 1871 he took charge of his father's oil business and continued to have in- terests in that line, succeeding his father upon the latter's death. He operated but little him- self, however, leasing his land on royalty. Mr. Robinson owned about seven hundred acres of valuable land in Armstrong and Butler counties, all improved, and with up-to- date buildings, and he was always considered one of the most progressive agriculturists in Armstrong county, advocating modern ideas and putting the most approved modern meth- ods into practice on his estate, which is highly improved. He was also a successful stock breeder, making a specialty of blooded stock, and purchasing in Kentucky and Ohio. When the Petroleum Agricultural Association was organized, in 1881, he became one of the first directors, and was considered one of the most valuable members of that organization.
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