Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Part 17

Author: Gresham, John M. cn; Wiley, Samuel T. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia [Dunlap & Clarke]
Number of Pages: 1422

USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania > Part 17

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nine years of age ; Margaret, who lived cleven months; Elizabeth and Minnie, who reside at home with their parents. Mrs. MeFarland is a member of the Presbyterian church.

In politics Mr. MeFarland is a democrat of the old school. He is always deeply interested in the weal and welfare of his party, but he has never sought any office within the gift of his fellow citizens. Ile and his family are mem- bers of the Presbyterian church and have always encouraged all Christian enterprises. By economy and industry he has accumulated considerable means and stands high as an hon- orable and industrious man with all who know him. His success in life has been largely due to his own energy and good judgment.

OIIN B. McQUAID, of Greensburg, one of the well and favorably known men of the county, was born December 15, 1850, in Loyalhanna township, Westmoreland county, Pa., at what was then McQuaid's mill, on the Loyalhanna creek, two miles from Saltsburg. Ile is a son of Major William and Margaret (Borland) McQuaid. His grandfather was Col. Thomas McQuaid, a native of Westmoreland county, who served as a soldier in the war of 1812 and held the rank of colonel. Capt. William McQuaid (father) was born in Salem township, about three miles north of Delmont, January 11, 1804, and died September 25, 1885. He was originally a farmer, then em- barked in the mill business, and from 1859 till 1872 he kept the " Westmoreland House " in Greensburg, which he owned. He succeeded in acquiring considerable wealth, but was unfor- tunate in the oil business, and like thousands of others lost a great deal of money. Mr. McQuaid was a very courteous and obliging man, a member of the Presbyterian church and in politics a republican until the nomination of Horace Greely for president, when he became a democrat. He married Margaret Borland, a

daughter of John Borland, and they had nine children, of whom but two are living-the eldest and youngest : Cyrus and John B. Mrs. Mar- garet (Borland) McQuaid was born October 28, 1807, and died in 1866. John Borland (ma- ternal grandfather) was a native of Ireland who emigrated to America, and his wife was Margaret Cairns, whom he married at the age of sixteen years.

John B. McQuaid received his education in the public schools of Greensburg, the military school at Chester, Pa., and Col. Leland's mili- tary school near Sharpsburg, this State. After assisting his father for a short time in the hotel he began buying stock, which he has continued for thirteen years, operating chiefly in this county, whence he ships to Philadelphia. Mr. McQuaid is an excellent business man, sober, honest and reliable. Politically he adheres to the principles of the Democratic party.

Ile was united in marriage November 6, 1888, with Harriet L. Winsheimer, a daughter of Law- rence and a sister of Thomas M. Winsheimer, of the Democrat.

R. MEANOR, a soldier of the late war, an old teacher, a prosperous merchant of Greensburg. and a grandson of Michael Rugh, was born at Haymaker's Mill, on what was once a part of the Rugh farm in Frank- lin township, Westmoreland county, Pa., Sep- tember 25, 1839, and is a son of William and Catharine (Rugh) Meanor. His paternal grand- father, John Meanor, was born in Westmoreland county. He was an old line whig, and died in Franklin township, where he had spent the larger part of his life. His maternal grand- father, Hon. Michael Rugh, was one of the pioneer settlers of the county. He and his first wife and their two children were taken prisoners by the Indians. One child, a son, was killed, but the other, Mary, was ransomed twelve years afterwards and married Jacob Haymaker. She

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was the mother of six children : John, George, Michael, Sarah MeKeowan, Phebe Johnson and Ellen Cray. Michael Rugh escaped from the Indians, and after the death of his first wife married Catharine Smith, by whom he had one child : Catharine, the mother of the subject of this sketch. Michael Rugh took an active part in the Indian wars of the frontier, and helped many families into the forts and block-houses during the Indian troubles. Ile was a presby- terian, and served for many years as a justice of the peace. He was one of the five commiss- ioners who laid out Greensburg, and served one terin as State senator. He owned three farms, embracing 908 acres in all, and $1,400 in bank after paying for the farms. William Meanor (father) was born in Franklin township, in March, 1808, and died December 22, 1872. He was a successful and wealthy farmer, and was an elder in the Murrysville Presbyterian church from 1856 until his death. He was a democrat until 1860, when he became a republican. He was a large man physically and very firm and decided in whatever he undertook. He was a liberal patron of the church, served as school di- rector of his township for several years, and was successful in the management of his business af- fairs. Ile married Catherine Rugh, who bore him three sons and three daughters.

M. R. Meanor received his education in the subscription and common schools of his native township and Turtle Creek Valley academy, now Laird Institute. In 1863 he taught a term of school in Penn township, and in the following year enlisted in Co. D, fifteenth reg. Pa. cavalry, served in six different States, and was honorably discharged June 29, 1865. From 1865 to 1868 he taught in Franklin township, and then was in charge of his father's farm until 1872, when he was severely injured by a sunstroke, which compelled him to abandon farming. He removed to Ludwick borough, and after recover- ing his health he taught six terms of school in North Huntingdon, Penn and Hempfield town-

ships. In 1884 he moved to Greensburg, where he opened, on January 15, 1889, a grocery and provision store on West Pittsburg street-firm known as Townsend & Meanor.

On April 14, 1869, he united in marriage with Martha E., daughter of John Clingan (see his sketch). They have had three children : William C., born June 1, 1872, and attending school ; Jennie R., January 24, 1878, and John M., March 26, 1880, and died January 24, 1885.

M. R. Meanor has been a member of the Presbyterian church since 1859, and was sup- erintendent of the Murrysville Sunday school for six years. He is secretary of the National Union and past councillor in the order of Chosen Friends. He has been successful in his mer- cantile business and enjoys a good trade.

NDREW MECHESNEY, a resident of Greensburg, an old citizen of the county, and an honored member of the Presby- terian church for over half a century, was born one-half mile south of Latrobe, in Unity town- ship Westmoreland county, Pa., May 18, 1813, and is a son of Andrew, Sr., and Mary (Hen- derson) Mechesney. His paternal grandfather, William Mcchesney, with his brother James emigrated from the north of Ireland and settled in this county, where they engaged in farming. William Mechesney married Mary Buchanan, who bore him six children. Andrew Mechesney, Sr. (father) was born in the north of Ireland and was brought to this country by his father at two years of age. He was a very successful business man and owned over eight hundred acres of valuable land at the time of his death. He was a strict member and a liberal patron of the Presbyterian church. IIe was a well in- formed man, an earnest advocate of education, and was highly respected by his neighbors and acquaintances. IIe died in 1864, aged eighty years. ITis wife was Mary Henderson, a daugh- ter of William Henderson, of Unity township.

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They reared to man and womanhood a family of thirteen children, of whom eleven are yet living.

Andrew Mechesney was reared on his father's farm in Unity township and attended the sub- scription schools of his neighborhood. Upon attaining his majority he engaged in farming, and pursued that business with good success until four years ago, when he removed to Greens- burg, where he now resides. When he left home to do for himself he had but two dollars in money, but his ambition to succeed and his willingness to work overcame many obstacles in his way. In a few years he acquired means sufficient to engage in farming and stock-raising upon a scale large enough to yield him very remunerative returns from his invested capital.

He united in marriage on March 9, 1848, with Eliza Steele, daughter of John Steele (see sketch of John B. Steele). To them have been born five children, of whom three are living : Mary Martha, wife of Henry Murdock, of Greensburg; Andrew 'Steele, who married Nellie B. Nicol and lives on the old homestead farm, and Eliza.

Andrew Mechesney has always been a repub- lican from principle, and served as assessor and school director in Unity township. He has been a member of and a liberal contributor to the Presbyterian church since 1836, and is a man of sterling worth who commands the respect of all who know him.

OIIN MENSCH, a reliable business man and the leading real estate and insurance agent of Ludwick, was born in Hempfield township, Westmoreland county, Pa., March 2, 1828. He is a son of Alexander and Susannah (Rosensteel) Mensch, the latter a daughter of Andrew Rosensteel, whose wife was a Miss Berry. Alexander Mensch was born in eastern Pennsylvania and died at Middletown, West- moreland county, Pa., March 30, 1874, aged

seventy-six years. A cut with an axe when a young man unfitted him in after-life for manual labor. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812 and was for many years engaged in mercantile business and hotel keeping. From 1861 until his death he affiliated with the Republican party. Ile was a member of the United Breth- ern church and raised a family of eight children, of whom seven are living.

John Mensch received his education in the public schools of his native township. His first employment was clerking in his father's store ; which he quit at eighteen years to engage in teaching. For eighteen consecutive years he taught in the common schools of Pennsylvania, commencing in 1846 and retiring in 1864. From 1865 to 1887 he was engaged in the general mer- cantile business at Ludwick. In 1887 he sold his mercantile establishment and with his son em- barked in their present real estate and insurance business. The firm name is J. Mensch & Son. They represent reliable and well established in- surance companies and have secured a large and flattering patronage.

John Mensch was married March 22, 1853, to Susan C. Steiner, daughter of Joseph and Susan (Miller) Steiner. Mr. and Mrs. Mensch have been blessed with four children, of whom three are living : Clara Jane, wife of W. F. Weaver, of Huff station, who has five children ; Ellen Maria married P. P. Baughman, lives near Grapeville and has three children living, and James A., in business with his father.

In politics he is a republican-prohibitionist and has served as justice of the peace and in all the other minor offices of the borough of Lud- wick, and is at the present a member and secre- tary of the school board of Ludwick district. While serving as justice of the peace he was quite popular on account of discountenancing litigation instead of encouraging it to secure fees. Mr. Mensch is a member of the First Baptist church of Greensburg, of which he is the founder, and is a prudent and successful business man.

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BIOGRAPHIES OF

.OHN DAVIDSON MILLIGAN, M. D., of Greensburg, is of an old Scottish family which has produced a number of eminent professional men as well as many brave sol- diers and highly honored citizens. Dr. Milli- gan has won for himself the prominent position as physician which he now holds through his own persistent efforts. He is the eldest son of James M. and Elizabeth (Davidson) Milligan, and was born near Madison, Westmoreland county, Pa., July 31, 1851. His paternal great-grandfather, John Milligan, was born near the home of Robert Burns, in Ayrshire, Scot- land, and emigrated to Chester county, Pa., prior to 1774. Ile was a miller by occupation and owned a mill in Chester county, which was destroyed by a detachment of British troops during the Revolutionary war on account of his having supplied the Continental troops with flour. He then joined the army under Wash- ington and served until the close of the war. His brother, Alexander, was whipped to death by a company of British and tories for assisting the cause of the colonies. After the war John Milligan removed to Westmoreland county and took up, in South Huntingdon township, the farm now known as the " Willow Tree Farm." Ile served as justice of the peace for several years before his death. Ile married Mary Adams, who was a native of Carlisle, and a descendant of the New England Adams family. They had three children : John, Alexander and James C., the latter of whom was the grand- father of Dr. Milligan, and who was born on June 12, 1791. He was a successful farmer and cabinet-maker and manufactured all the coffins then used in Sewickley township. IIe was six feet two inches in height, an old school Covenanter in religious belief, and died in Sewickley township in 1886 at ninety-five years of age. He married Deborah Eckels, a daughter of Charles Eckels, who was born near Carlisle, Pa. Ilis father was a native of the north of Ireland. Their children were: John, Mary,

Charles, James M., Margaret, Joseph, David, Ellen, Stephen, George and Mungo. James M. Milligan (father) was born in Sewickley town- ship January 1, 1×19, and resides on a farm which was patented by his grandfather, John Milligan. Ile is a successful farmer, an efli- cient officer of the United Brethren church and an active republican, and has heldl various offices of his township. His first wife was Mary Murtland. She died and left him one son, Daniel Murtland Milligan, who enlisted in Co. A, fifteenth Pa. cavalry August, 1862; was pro- moted to first sergeant for the gallant defense of an outpost near Murfreesboro, Tenn., and died April 19, 1869, from wounds received in North Carolina on the day succeeding Lee's surrender. Sergeant D. M. Milligan G. A. R. Post at Madison, Pa., is named in his honor. Mr. Milli- gan united in marriage June 10, 1850, with Elizabeth Davidson, daughter of Samuel David- son. They have four children : Dr. John D., Hannah Rosetta, wife of John S. Cope; Sarah E., and Harry E., who is a farmer in Sewickley township.

Dr. John D. Milligan received his education in the common schools and Madison academy, and taught three terms in the schools of his native township. He then read medicine with the well-known Dr. Lewis Sutton, of West Newton, and attended lectures in 1873 at the Western Reserve Medical College, of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1874 he entered the celebrated Belle- vue Hospital College of New York city, and was graduated from that famous institution March 1, 1876. During the spring of the succeeding year he took the full post-graduate course of Bellevue and commenced the practice of medi- cine at Madison. IIe soon became one of the foremost and most successful physicians of the county. After a residence of thirteen years at Madison he selected Greensburg as a wider field for the practice of his chosen profession, and accordingly removed to that place in Janu- ary, 1890. He is rapidly building up a large

J. H. More.

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and enviable practice in Greensburg, besides re- taining many of his former patrons and secur- ing patronage from various other sections of the county. Hle is a republican in politics and was a member of Madison school board for ten years.

On October 2, 1876, he was united in mar- riage with Mrs. Martha J. Pinkerton, daughter of the late Col. Joseph Guffey, of Sewickley township. The marriage ceremony was per- formed in the Pennsylvania room at Mt. Ver- non amid a throng of travelers by Rev. Inger- soll, ot Washington city. They have two child- ren : Mary M., born July 12, 1882, and Joe. J., born December 30, 1884.

Dr. Milligan is a member of the United Brethren church and Three Graces lodge, No. 934, I. O. O. F. He is a Free Mason, holding membership in Westmoreland Lodge, No. 518, Urania Chapter No. 192, and Kedron Com- mandery, No. 18, Knight Templars, at Greens- burg, and Syria Temple and Pennsylvania Con- sistory, No. 320, of Pittsburg. Dr. Milligan is a close and devoted student of his profession. He is a member of the Westmoreland County Medical Society and the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and ex-president of Westmore- land County Medical Society. Ile is an affable gentleman, a public-spirited citizen and an excellent physician.

J OIIN WILLIAM MOORE. Upon the solid and enduring basis of honesty and industry, J. W. Moore has built the super- structure of his fame and fortune and secured the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. Unostentatious and always avoiding undue pub- licity, yet he is one of the prominent characters that will ever remain in the foreground of Ameri- can coke history, and will never be forgotten as a potent factor of the unexampled material devel- opment of western Pennsylvania, which has made that section the ". Workshop of the New World" and the wonder of two hemispheres. John Wil-

liam Moore was born April 16, 1837, in Ros- traver township, Westmoreland county, Pa., and is a son of Ebenezer and Nancy B. (Hurst) Moore. His trans-atlantic paternal ancestry is traced back to his grandfather, Robert Moore, who in early life (1780) removed from Cecil county, Md., and settled in Rostraver township, Westmoreland county, Pa. He was married in 1780, before leaving Maryland, to Miss Jane Power, a sister of Rev. James Power, D.D., who was the first Presbyterian to settle and preach in the " Western Wilds." Dr. Power came from eastern Pennsylvania and preached in Fayette and Westmoreland counties in 1774. Robert : Moore erected a large two-story log house into which he moved and lived during his life. Ile was one of that sturdy class of men who settled in the region of Dunlap's Creek, Rehoboth and Round Hill churches. They were decidedly Presbyterian and formed the nucleus for those churches which have stood so long and whose old members have left the impress of their lives upon the generations to follow them. Ebenezer Moore, the youngest of Robert Moore's . six children, was born August 3, 1793, and was the last of the family to marry, on account of remaining at home to care for his aged and fee- ble mother. In 1846 he removed to the old Blackstone farm in Tyrone township, Fayette county, Pa. His wife had an inherited interest in the farm, and he bought the interests of the other heirs and added to the farm by purchase one hundred and fifty acres of adjoining land. These two farms were heavily underlaid with coal, and it was here that the coke interests were started which has since been developed by his two younger sons, J. W. and P. H. Moore. Ebenezer Moore was six feet in height and weighed one hundred and ninety pounds. He had a strong frame and a large, well-shaped head. Ile kept his face smoothly shaved, was always genteel and respectable in appearance and was a fine-looking man. Better than this, he was a man of sterling integrity, was strictly

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honest, fair in his transactions, and was a man of great kindness of heart, while his tenderness of feeling was one of his distinguished character- isties. His attachments to his home and family were very strong and he loved them with the greatest devotion. As a business man, he at times appeared rigid, though always just, and seldom made mistakes. He was modest, unas- suming, possessed a high regard for men, and was a member of the Presbyterian church in which he was twice chosen elder. IIe did not accept, however, on account of his lack of self- confidence, yet he had mental power that with more self-assurance, would have given him a high position in the church. Withal he loved to converse on Christian topics, and at his home ministers of the gospel were often found, who were always welcome, and he loved their society. In politics he was a democrat and was positive in his faith. He was an intelligent reader and took a deep interest in the passing events of his time. He conversed with great earnestness upon the political as well as upon religious issues of his day. In 1844 he represented Westmoreland county in the Legislature, and it is an interest- ing fact that he received all the votes except five that were cast in his own township. In May, 1833, Ebenezer Moore married Miss Nancy Blackstone Hurst, daughter of James and Sarah Hurst, of Mt. Pleasant township, Westmoreland county, Pa. They reared a family of six children in the house in which Mr. Moore was born. The old house is still standing. The farm is now owned by the eld- est son, James H., and for one hundred and nine years has been in the possession of the family. Mrs. Moore was a granddaughter of James and Priscilla Blackstone, of Fayette county. They had six children : one died in infancy, Sarah Jane died February 23, 1858, at thirteen years of age ; the eldest son, James H., married Miss Amanda Thirkield, of Fayette city, and resides at Monongahela city ; the second son, Rev. R. B. Moore, D.D., of the Presbyterian church, mar-

ried Miss Louisa J., youngest daughter of James Paul, of Fayette county, but now of Tiffin, Ohio ; the third son is John W., the subject of this sketch. J. W. Moore received his educational training in the common schools of his native township and Elder's Ridge academy. He afterward took a full business course at the Iron City Commercial college, from which he was graduated in 1856. IIe was reared in the simplicity of rural life, yet he manifested an ambition for business at an early age and was successfully engaged in stock- dealing before he had reached his eighteenth birthday. For over twenty years he was a well- known and extensive stock-dealer throughout the counties of Westmoreland, Fayette and Green, and met with that remarkable success which has ever since so abundantly crowned all his business ventures and undertakings. In 1873 Mr. Moore practically retired from stock- dealing and engaged in the greatest enterprise of his business life, by an investment in the Con- nellsville coke industry, at that time just attract- ing public notice. He entered into a partnership with James Cochran, Solomon Kiester and James Hurst, for the manufacture of coke at the Sum- mit coke works, situated near Broad Ford, Fay- ette connty, Pa. After six years he withdrew from this firm, purchased the Redstone coke- plant, three miles south of Uniontown, Pa., and engaged in the coke business with his brother, P. H. Moore. In 1881 Col. J. S. Schoonmaker was admitted as a partner, and four years later J. W. Moore withdrew. At that time the com- pany was running four hundred ovens and em- ploying five hundred men. In 1879 he bought two thousand acres of coal land in Mt. Pleasant township, this county, where, with his accus- tomed energy he soon erected what is known as the " Mammoth coke works," and put into operation nearly six hundred ovens. In the spring of 1889 he increased his coke business by the purchase of the " Wynn coke works," above Uniontown, Pa., and successfully operated these plants until the latter part of the summer.

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On August 23, 1889, he disposed of his entire coke interests to the II. C. Frick Coke Company for considerably over one million dollars. This is by far the largest deal ever yet made in the coke business, and at its consummation Mr. Moore practically withdrew from active business and is now living a retired life at his beautiful home in Greensburg.

On November 22, 1860, J. W. Moore was married to Elizabeth Stauffer, eldest daughter of M. B. and Charlotta Stauffer, of Connellsville, Fayette county, Pa. To their Union have been born six children : Elmer E., dead; Albert Braden, superintendent of the Wynn coke works for II. C. Frick ; Mary Joe, wife of G. Bowley Richardson, a merchant of Baltimore, (married January 17, 1889), who is a member of one of the oldest families of that city ; Luella Stauffer, James Pressley, attending Pottstown town academy, this State, and Irene Elizabeth.

Ilis investments in real estate have been both extensive and profitable. Ile owns two fine properties in Greensburg besides fifteen valuable farms in Westmoreland, Fayette and Indiana counties. In 1889 Mr. Moore was engaged in coke manufacturing on a scale far exceeding anything hitherto attempted by individual enter- prise in the Connellsville coke region. Ile is unassuming and honorable in his intercourse with his fellow-men, charitable in his judgment of others and firm in his convictions of what is right. In all his business enterprises J. W. Moore has been sagacious, prudent, honorable and successful. Beneath the shadows of the everlasting mountains, in the beautiful valleys of southern Pennsylvania, Mr. Moore planned and planted and has reaped a golden harvest in the rich field of his great and chosen industry.

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Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Part 17

Author: Gresham, John M. cn; Wiley, Samuel T. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia [Dunlap & Clarke] Number of Pages: 1422

Author: Gresham, John M. cn; Wiley, Samuel T. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia [Dunlap & Clarke]
Number of Pages: 1422