Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Part 18

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 18

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ANIEL C. MORRIS was born in Greens- burg, Westmoreland county, Pa., April 22, 1834, on the site where the Masonic Hall now stands. He was educated in the com-

mon schools and Greensburg academy. In 1855 he engaged in the mercantile business in Greensburg ; in 1857 went to California, re- turned in 1859 and located in Johnstown, Pa., where he engaged in the mercantile and planing- mill business ; in 1872 he returned to Greens- burg and followed surveying for a number of years. He was appointed county surveyor for the unexpired term of C. T. Long, who removed to Ohio.

On May 8, 1860, he was united in marriage to Annie Eliza Miller, daughter of Thomas But- ler Miller, late of Bedford, Pa., by Rev. Daniel Garver, at Canton, Ohio. To their union have been born ten children : Samuel Lease Carpen- ter, Emma Cecelia, Annie Sybilla, Charles Clement, James Edward, Bessie Virginia, Jose- phine Miller, and three who died in infancy.

D. C. Morris is now acting justice of the peace and notary public, having first been elected justice in 1878 and again in 1886. He is a son of Daniel Carpenter and Sybilla (Kern) Morris. His paternal grandfather, Captain William Morris, was of Scotch-Irish descent and among one of the earliest settlers in the Juniata valley, now Huntingdon county, and was born January 9, 1782, in Huntingdon county, Pa., where on May 13, 1800, he married Eliza- beth, daughter of Daniel and Mary Carpenter. Capt. Morris served at Lake Erie in 1812; he afterwards removed to Murrysville, Westmore- land county, where he died November 7, 1828. The Carpenters, who were Germans, came to Pennsylvania with William Penn, who Angli- cised the name of Zimmerman to Carpenter, when he made out their land warrants, which change was confirmed by Act of Assembly in order to avoid any difficulty which might arise. The father of Mr. Morris was born in Hunting- don county, Pa., June 6, 1804, and died in Greensburg, Pa., December 8, 1834. He was a man over six feet in height, of fine presence and a member of Christ's Episcopal church, Greensburg, Pa. He read law with Major

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John B. Alexander and was admitted to prac- tice at November term, 1827; he had secured quite an extensive practice at the time of his death. He was a strong and active democrat und was a political leader of force and influence. There were born to this union three children : Keziah C., Margaret Cecelia and Daniel C. Three years after the death of his father his mother was married to Alexander Craig, of Hill- side, Westmoreland county. To this union were born three children : Dr. Alex. Craig, of Columbia, Pa .; Louisa Sybilla Moore (nee Craig), of Wheeling, West Virginia, and Dr. George G. Craig, of Rock Island, Illinois. Mr. Morris' mother was a daughter of Joseph and Margaret Kern and was born in Greensburg, Pa., December 30, 1808, and died at the resi- dence of her son, Dr. Alex. Craig, June 21, 1888, and was buried by the side of her first husband in St. Clair cemetery, Greensburg, Pa.

Mr. Morris is a member of Philanthropy Lodge, No. 225, F. & A. M., Urania HI. R. A. M., Chapter, No. 192, and Kedron Command- ery, No. 18, located at Greensburg, Pa .; he is also a member of several beneficial organizations, and is an active and life-long democrat, always voting the straight ticket ; he is also a member of Christ's Episcopal church, Greensburg, Pa.

D ARWIN MUSICK, the brilliant editor of the Greensburg Daily and Weekly Record, was born in Hempfield town- ship, Westmoreland county, Pa., March 11, 1847, and is a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Seanor) Musick. His paternal grandfather, David Musick, was a native of Northumberland county, Pa., and came to Westmoreland county in 1786, when he was but thirteen years of age. He was a farmer by occupation and a strict mem- ber of the Evangelical Lutheran church. Ilis maternal grandfather, Philip Seanor, who set- tled in Hempfield township at an early day, was

of German descent. He followed farming, was a consistent member of the Lutheran church, and was of that thrifty and honest pioncer class of people who gave character to the central part of the county. His father, Peter Musick, was born near Adamsburg, August 1, 1807. lle was a cooper by trade, and in 1854 purchased a farm in Unity township, upon which he resided until his death, which occurred December 20, 1889. He had reached and passed his eighty- second mile stone along the rugged path of life, and of him was affectionately said : "Ile was one of those on whom time had left the mark of his snowy fingers. But we have only learned to venerate age all the more by the sorrows we have felt, and to us all, silvered locks are doubly sanctified." Ile was an exemplary member of the Lutheran church. He married Elizabeth Seanor, who survived him but one short fort- night, and passed away in the eighty-first year of her age.

Darwin Musick was reared on his father's farm until he was nineteen years of age. Ile then (1866) entered Capital University, of Col- umbus, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated in June, 1871. After graduation he was engaged in normal school teaching for two years at Madison. In 1873 he took charge of the public school at Adamsburg, which position he held until January, 1879, when he was appointed chief clerk to the board of county commissioners. After serving in this capacity for three years he was elected clerk of the county courts by eight hundred majority. At the expiration of his term of office in January, 1886, he entered the field of journalism, and on April 1, 1886, issued the initial number of the present paper, the Greensburg Record.

Ile was married twice. His first wife, Sadie A. Hays, daughter of Samuel Hays, of Mt. Pleasant township, died, leaving four children : Herbert Manton, Ada Mabel, Samuel Hays and Susan, all of whom are living. His second marriage was with Hattie Stahl, daughter of

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Nathan Stahl, late of Adamsburg. There are three children to this union : Emma Stahl, Dar- win, Jr., and Daniel Patterson.

Darwin Musick is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry. He is a so-called free-trade demo- crat, was chairman of the democratic county committee in 1884, served as a member of the democratic State central committee in 1887, and during three State campaigns he did effective service by stumping western Pennsylvania. He is a classical scholar, an excellent mathematician, a pleasing and entertaining conversationalist and a courteous and genial gentleman. He is one with whom the ties of home are very strong. On March 1, 1886, Mr. Musick and D. P. Stahl formed a partnership and started the Greens- burg Daily and Weekly Record, of which the former became editor and the latter assumed the position of business manager. From the saluta- tory published April 1, 1886, we extract ; "The Record, emerging from a state of embryo, has sprung ' like Minerva, from the brow of Jove, full-armed into existence' upon the bright and auspicious morn of its eventful and perfectly legitimate birth. The Record is not the crea- ture of any clique, faction or individual. It will never become the mouth-piece of any one to air his personal grievances or further his private or selfish ends. As we are not the child of fac- tion nor the offspring of any locality or clique, we will always be free to defend the right and condemn the wrong. Being throughly demo- cratic, it will admit of no coalition in the dark." The Record, to day, is aggressively democratic. It has a wide and constantly increasing circulation in this and adjoining counties, and numbered among its patrons are citizens of nearly every State in the Union. It is a live and progressive journal, and has always been fearless in advocating what it deemed to be right.

As an editorial writer, Darwin Musick is fair and honorable in his treatment of men and measures; but in attacking popular follies or

demanding needed reforms, he writes in a keen and withering vein of sarcasm peculiarly his own. In a controversy his pen bristles like the " fretful porcupine " and his pointed quills are shot at the intended mark regardless of who may stand in the way. Ilis style is simple but not severe ; eloquent but not profuse or florid, and he always interests but never tires his readers.

POIIN M. NEUBAUER, one of Greens- burg's well-known citizens and proprietor of the "Fisher House," was born on French street, Erie, Erie county, Pa., April 27, 1853, and is a son of Henry and Elizabeth K. (Lederer) Neubauer. Mr. Neubauer is of Ger- man extraction. The Neubauers of Germany were a substantial and well-to-do family. One of its members, Henry Neubauer, was born April 22, 1828, at the village of Alzei, near the Rhine, in Ilesse Darmstadt. Hle was a shoe- maker by trade, came to the United States in 1848, and eventually settled in Erie, Pa., where from 1861 to 1873 he was engaged in the grocery business. In 1873 he built the Arcade Hotel, which he successfully conducted for many years. It is now owned by his son, Frank Neubauer. In 1850 Henry Neubauer married Elizabeth K. Lederer, daughter of Michael Lederer, of Frankfurt, on the Rhine, Province of Brandenburg. Mr. Neubauer is a son of John Neubauer, who was a native of Alzei and came to Erie, where he engaged in farming.

John M. Neubauer was reared at Erie city and educated in its public schools. Leaving school, he engaged in the grocery business for five years. Ile was a traveling salesman for a time with a Mr. Warner, of Pittsburg, in the boot and shoe business, after which he resumed charge of his grocery and successfully conducted it until December, 1885. In 1886 he came to Greensburg and purchased his present hotel, the Fisher House. The Fisher House is centrally located, opposite the court-house, on the corner

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of South Main and West Pittsburg streets. The Fisher House is one of the largest and finest hotels in the county. The building is a fine four-story brick structure. It contains many rooms, besides a large dining hall, neat, tasteful parlors and a fine sample-room for commercial travelers. The entire house is heated by natural gas, illuminated by incandescent light and com- plete in all its interior arrangements for the accommodation and comfort of its many guests. Mr. Neubauer thoroughly understands the hotel business in which he is engaged. Under his superior management the Fisher House has attained its present high standing and enviable reputation.

October 22, 1877, Mr. Neubauer married Alice Amanda Foster, daughter of Henry and Christiana (Schultz) Foster.

John M. Neubauer is a pleasant gentleman of fine business ability and experience, and has successfully commended himself to public favor and generous patronage. He is prominent in Masonic circles and has taken the Knight Templar and Scottish Rite degrees.

ACOB F. NICEWONGER, a soldier of the late war and proprietor of a large livery, feed and sales stable at Greensburg, was born at Ligonier, Westmoreland county, Pa., July 13, 1838, and is the fourth child of Col. Joseph and Margaret E. (Hull) Nicewonger. The Nice- wongers are of German descent. Col. Joseph Nicewonger was born in Bedford county, Pa., but after arriving at man's estate emigrated to Ligonier, where he died in 1873. His occupa- tion was farming, with the exception of a few years, when he ran a hotel at Ligonier. He was a warm friend of popular education, an active worker in the ranks of the Republican party, and was for many years a devoted member of the Pres- byterian church. He was colonel for a long time of a militia regiment at Ligonier. He married Margaret Elizabeth Hull, whose father was a

teamster on the old " National road." They had sixteen children, of whom twelve are living. Mrs. Nicewonger, now aged seventy-six years, resides in California.

Jacob F. Nicewonger's educational privileges were limited to the common schools for a brief period of time. For several years prior to 1877 he was engaged at Ligonier in business, excep- ting the time he served in the Federal army. On April 1, 1887, he removed to Greensburg, where he soon purchased his present livery stable from Edward Keenan. At the opening of the late war Mr. Nicewonger enlisted under Capt. Donnelly in Co. K, of the eleventh Pa. Vols., commanded by Col. Richard Coulter. Ile en- listed for three months, and at the expiration of that time re-enlisted for another month, in order to participate in the battle of Bull Run, then imminent and hourly expected. After that dis- astrous battle he again enlisted for nine months, but getting his feet badly scalded, he was honor- ably discharged and sent home.

Ile was married to Elizabeth, daughter of William Smith, of Pleasant Unity, Pa. To their union have been born six children, of whom five are living : Louis Donnelly, who is in business at Scottdale ; Willliam J., Ellis Clinton, Maude and Edna.

J. F. Nicewonger is a republican and a mem- ber of the Evangelical Lutheran church, of which his wife and two eldest children are mem- bers. Ilis stable livery is one of the largest at Greensburg; his stock of horses, buggies and carriages is large, well-selected and adapted to the wants of his extensive and substantial patron- age. He is a good citizen and a thorough-going business man.

EMUEL OFFUTT, M. D., a successful practitioner of Westmoreland county, is a native of Seneca, Montgomery county, Maryland, and was born on May 8, 1851. His father, James Offutt, a farmer by occupation,

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was born near Great Falls, Maryland, on October 3, 1801. He married Mary White (born March 3, 1827), on March 17, 1849, a daughter of Samuel White, who was a native of England : he came to America when a mero boy and with his parents settled in Maryland. James Offutt (paternal grandfather) came from Scotland to the United States with his two brothers, George and Andrew, located in Maryland, and nearly the whole of Montgomery county was ceded to them by Benedict Charles Calvert. They were likely forced to leave their native country on ac- count of their being dissenters. James Offutt was a stanch democrat and was noted for his abstemious and temperate habits, which seem to be hereditary among the entire family of Offutts.

Dr. Lemuel Offutt was principally educated in the Andrew Small academy in Montgomery county ; on leaving the academy he taught school for three terms in his native county. Having been at an early age thrown upon his own re- sources, on account of a defaulting county treas- urer, on whose bond was Dr. Offutt's father, and which completely wrecked him financially. he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. II. C. Nurse of Darnestown, in 1871 ; subsequently attended lectures at the University of Maryland, where he entered in 1874 and was graduated in the class of 1876. Eighteen months of the time he spent at the University was in the Mary- land University hospital. He came to Penn station in 1876 and began the general practice of medicine, where he continued to reside until 1883, when he left there on account of his ex- tensive practice requiring too much riding, and came to Greensburg in December, 1883, where he is at present engaged in successful practice. Ile is a close student and keeps abreast of the times. Hle keeps himself posted in the new works of note that are constantly being gotten out and of the various medical journals of the day. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and of several other similar organizations. Ile ad- heres to the time-honored principles of the Dem-

ocratie party and is a member of the Presbyterian church. On January 25, 1877, he was married to Miss Sarah E. Dukes, of Baltimore, a daughter of Levan Dukes, of Washington, D. C., who was a sea captain and died when Mrs. Offutt was quite young. To their marriage have been born five children : James H., born December 27, 1877; Mary Ella, March 30, 1879; Lemuel, January 8, 1881; Sarah, February 23, 1887, and William Griffith, April 17, 1889. William Griffith died July 11, 1889, and Lemuel died October 26, 1889.

D ENNA C. OGDEN, ex-district attorney of Westmoreland county and one of its most promising young lawyers; was born in Fairfield township, Westmoreland county, Pa., March 16, 1860, and is the second son of Lieut. John B. and Bella J. (McDowell) Ogden. He is one of the descendants of that celebrated Scotch-Irish Ogden family of New Jersey, which has produced so many eminent and distinguished men. Denna C. Ogden is fifth in lineal descent from Joseph Ogden, who was a brother of David Ogden, the eminent jurist, who was born in 1707, graduated from Yale college in 1728, was appointed a judge of the supreme court of New Jersey in 1772 and died in 1800. Judge Og- den's son, IIon. Abraham Ogden, was the founder of Ogdensburg, New York, ranked as one of the great jury lawyers of his day and was the father of Thomas Ludlow Ogden, who was the law partner of Alexander Hamilton and the legal adviser of the great " Holland Land Company." Among the many other Ogdens of New Jersey, who were distinguished divines, in- ventors and statesmen, was Aaron Ogden, LL.D., who graduated at Princeton, served under Wash- ington, was elected United States senator and died in 1839. Joseph Ogden (great-great- grandfather) was born in New Jersey about 1710, where he died about 1772. Ilis son, Joseph, was born in 1735, and in 1755 came to

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Fairfield township, where he died about 1815. He was one of the early pioneers of Westmore- land county, and his son, James Ogden, was born in 1785 and died in 1858. A son of the latter was Lieut. John B. Ogden, who was born June 16, 1825, and died December 16, 1889. In the late war he aided largely to raise the fourth Pa. cavalry, and was commissioned first lieut. of Co. D in that regiment, of which George H. Covode was colonel. He was wounded twice and disabled once while serving in the Army of the Potomac. In 1854 he mar- ried Bella J. McDowell. They were the parents of three children. Mrs. Ogden was a daughter of Jacob McDowell, who was the youngest of a family of sixteen children, and whose father, Robert McDowell, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and located on eighteen hundred acres of land in Ligonier township. He was married in Fort Ligonier, which he and his wife helped to de- fend against an Indian attack in 1763.

Denna C. Ogden was educated in the common schools at Blairsville academy. He read law with Stewart & Marlin, of Jefferson county, Pa., where he was admitted to the bar in 1882. The next year he was admitted to the bar of Westmoreland county, where he engaged in the practice of law at Greensburg. In 1886 he was nominated by the democrats for district attorney, having seven majority over the combined vote of his three competitors for the nomination, and won considerable renown for the manner in which he conducted his canvass. At the elec- tion he polled the heaviest vote of the sixteen candidates on the democratic county ticket, and was the youngest man ever elected to the posi- tion in the county, being only twenty-six years of age. During his term he was distinguished for his courtesy to all, and at the end of three years refused to allow his name to be used for a second term, believing that each one should have his turn. As a lawyer Mr. Ogden studies his cases thoroughly, presents them well, is true to his client and just to his opponent.

April 5, 1888, he united in marriage with Anna W. McCullough, a daughter of John Mccullough and sister to the late Hon. Welty McCullough.

ISAAC OPPENHEIM. One of the most important branches of the mercantile trade, 1 and one that is well represented in every town and city of any importance is that of clothier and furnisher. One of the most popu- lar and largely patronized clothing and furnish- ing houses of the progressive borough of Greens- burg is that of Isaac Oppenheim, at No. 133 North Main street. Mr. Oppenheim, like many of our prosperous and useful business men, is originally from the "Old World," but he has resided in Greensburg for more than seven years, and during this time has thoroughly identified himself with the interests and welfare of its citizens. Isaac Oppenheim is a son of Thomas and Celia M. (Aremberg) Oppenheim, and was born at Kalvarey, in Russian Poland, December 2, 1859. Ile is descended from a family of merchants. His grandfather, Lewis Oppenheim, and his father, Thomas Oppenheim, were both natives and successful business men as well as prosperous merchants of Kalvarey.

Isaac Oppenheim was reared at Kalvarey and received his education in the schools of that town. At sixteen years of age he came to the United States and engaged in peddling, which business, however, he only followed for eighteen months. He next turned his attention to the traveling auctioneer business, which he pursued with good success for six years. In 1883 he came to Greensburg, and being favorably im- pressed with that place opened a dry goods and notion store on Pittsburg street. He conducted this store with very profitable results until 1889, when he concluded to embark in the clothing and furnishing business. On April 1, 1889, he opened his present large and commodious mer- cantile establishment, which is now fitted up

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with special reference to the demands of his ex- tensive and rapidly augmenting trade. He has a full and complete stock of the finest and most fashionable ready-made clothing and furnishing goods. Mr. Oppenheim is affable and obliging. He is a one-price clothier who never misrepre- sents the quality of his goods. Ile is an expe- rienced and capable business man who conducts his extensive trade on honorable and liberal principles, and is highly esteemed in mercantile circles.

On March 27, 1887, he married Ray Silver- man, a daughter of Myer Silverman, a promi- nent merchant of Hudson, New York. They have one child, who is named May Queen Op- penheim.

Isaac Oppenheim is independent in politics, and votes for the man whom he thinks is best fitted for the office. He is a member of Mt. Sinai Lodge, No. 480, Knights of Pythias and Westmoreland Lodge, No. 840, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is young in years, has achieved business success and is imbued with the true spirit of enterprise and energy.

D R. A. J. ORNDORF, a fine workman and a leading dentist of Greensburg, is a son of Jacob and Sarah (Clark) Orndorf, and was born at Woodward, Centre county, Pa., October 12, 1843. John Orndorf (paternal grandfather) was born November 10, 1764, died July 10, 1846, aged 71 years and eight months, was a mason by trade but followed farming. Ilis wife was Elizabeth Hess, daughter of Mod- est Iless, and was born at Selins Grove, Snyder county, Pa .; died of palsy aged seventy-one years, three months and eight days. They reared a family of five sons and two daughters. Jacob Orndorf (father) was born at Woodward, July 13, 1813, and died February 6, 1890, aged seventy-six years, six months and twenty- two days. Farming had been the occupation of his life. He was a large, powerful man but

quiet and unassuming and was one of those who cleared and improved that section of country, redeeming it to the plow from its immense forests of pine. A democrat of the old school, he never aspired to any office and was an honest and conservative man who was highly re- spected by his neighbors. He was a member of the German Reformed church, later a member of the Evangelical church and was married to Sarah Clark, daughter of James Clark ; grand- mother's maiden name was Keister. Great- grandfather's name was Henry Orndorf, and have been unable to ascertain, but think he came from Germany. To their union have been born two sons and three daughters.

A. J. Orndorf was educated in the common schools of Woodward and Egg Hill academy. Leaving school, he learned the trade of cabinet- maker and engaged for two years in that line of business. But having a taste for work in a line of business requiring finer mechanical skill and workmanship than that required in cabinet- making he turned his attention to dentistry and entered the dental office of Dr. W. S. Harter, of Millheim, Centre county, Pa., where he served the required student's term of two years. In 1867 he opened an office at Pine Grove Mills, of his native county, where he practiced den- tistry successfully until 1888, and during his residence at that place he served three terms as justice of the peace. In July, 1888, he removed to Greensburg, where he occupies a fine suite of rooms in the Mytinger building on Main street. Ilis location is one of the best in the town while his rooms are fitted up in fine style with all the latest and improved appliances of his profession. His practice is large and rapidly increasing. He is assisted by his son, C. Eugene Orndorf, who has taken one course of lectures at the Baltimore Dental college and from which he will graduate in 1890.

On December 10, 1865, Dr. Orndorf was married by Rev. W. H. Purr, to Lydia Amanda, daughter of Andrew Bell, of Centre county, Pa ..

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Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Part 18

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