USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania > Part 26
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On October 1, 1876, he married Anilia Oet- tinger of Baltimore, Maryland. She died in June, 1881, and left one child, Harry Lewy,
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born October 4, 1879. Mr. Lewy was re-mar- ried June, 1883, to Nannie Landecker, of New York city.
Julius Lewy is a member of the Royal Arcanum, Ancient Order of United Workmen and Knights of Honor. He manufactures foun- dry facings of first-class quality and fine finish, and ships them in large quantities both east and west. He is active and energetic and is well qualified to manage large and important business enterprises.
D R. J. A. LOAR, a skillful dentist and one of Westmoreland county's best known public-spirited men, was born January 11, 1842, in Waynesburg, Green county, Pa. He was educated at Waynesburg college, and at the age of seventeen years began the reading of medicine with his father, the well-known Dr. Apollos Loar, of Waynesburg, Pa. In 1860 he joined his father, who had moved to Cin- cinnati, Ohio, and entered the Medical college at that city, but after three months abandoned his studies and engaged in carpentry, at which he worked two and one-half years. J. A. Loar was a member of the National Guard of Ohio from 1861 until 1864, when, upon President Lincoln's call for volunteers to serve one hundred days he enlisted in the 138th reg., Ohio infantry, and served four months in the Army of the Potomac, being discharged at the end of that time. He then went to the State of Indiana where he studied dentistry for two years, and in the fall of 1866 moved to Westmoreland county, Pa.
In March, 1866, he was married at Greens- burg to Miss Hattie Gross, who was a daughter of Joseph Gross, of Greensburg, at that time clerk of the courts of Westmoreland county.
Dr. Loar located at Mt. Pleasant, where he has successfully practiced his chosen profession for twenty-two years and built up a reputation for skill and reliability second to none in the county. Dr. J. A. Loar is a prominent member
and Past Commander of Robert Warden Post, No. 163, G. A. R., and also of the N. G. of Pa., in which he served six years as first sergeant Co. B., Mt. Pleasant, three years as adjutant and the same length of time as quartermaster of the tenth reg .; he is now in the service as captain of Co. E, tenth reg., discharging his various duties with credit to himself and entire satisfac- tion to his company and superior officers. Such is his worth that when with electric speed the news of the "Johnstown horror " spread over the land and men of action and judgment were needed, Dr. J. A. Loar was selected and ap- pointed by J. L. Spangler, assistant commissary general of N. G. of Pa., to take charge of Post Commissary No. 1, and for six long weeks he so faithfully discharged the duties assigned him that he afterwards received the thanks and commenda- tions of his superior officers through Lieut. Col. and Asst. Commissary Gen. Spangler. Dr. Loar is a charter member and secretary of Mt. Pleasant Council, No. 592, Royal Arcanum, and belongs to Mt. Pleasant Lodge, No. 198, A. O. U. W. and Past Grand of Moss Rose Lodge, No. 350, I. O. O. F. Ile has served as burgess of the borough of Mt. Pleasant, as councilman for three years and is now the borough treasurer. Dr. and Mrs. J, A. Loar have had four chil- dren : Byron Melville, Apollos Gross, Emma and Myrtle. Of these, the two last mentioned have been removed from earth by the " grim reaper," and are now happy in the bright " Beulah land " beyond the skies and the corus- cating stars. .
ACHARY TAYLOR LONG, a pros- perous merchant and well-known citizen of Mt. Pleasant, is a son of Jesse and Eliza (Landis) Long and was born near Berlin, Somerset county, Pa., September 23, 1848. His paternal grandfather owned nine hundred acres of land in Somerset county, Pa., where he also was proprietor and operator of a large distillery.
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Ilis maternal grandfather was a native of the above mentioned county and owned a large farm and a flouring-mill. Jesse Long (father) was a well-to-do Somerset county farmer and a leading teacher in his section of both English and German. Hle was frequently entrusted with county and township offices by his fellow citizens and served as county commissioner, poor-house director, school director and justice of the peace.
Zachary Taylor Long attended the common schools until twenty years of age and then took a full year's course at Normal school. Leaving school, he engaged in farming with his father for five years and then became manager of a steam saw-mill in Somerset county, Pa. In 1878 he removed to Westmoreland county, where he was employed at the coke works of II. C. Frick & Co. for four years. In 1882 he was elected and served for one year as high constable and chief of police and tax collector of Mt. Pleasant. One year later he embarked in the dry goods and grocery business at Mt. Pleasant. From a small beginning he has built up a good trade and is daily increasing the number of his customers.
On January 4, 1870, Mr. Long was united in marriage with Carrie E. Dorner, of Cumberland, Md. They have one child: Albert B., born ! July 6, 1872.
Zachary T. Long is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a good business man and an intelligent citizen. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church and the present superintendent of its Sunday ! school.
LORENCE L. MARSH, M. D., of Mt. Pleasant, was born May 6, 1848, in Mc_ Keesport, Allegheny county, Pa., and is a son of Alfred G. and Mary (Gross) Marsh. His grandfather Marsh was born near West Newton, Westmoreland county, and was by occupation a farmer. He was one of the old citizens of the county, having served as a soldier
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in the second war with Great Britain, known as the war of 1812. Joseph Gross (maternal grandfather), was for some time a merchant at New Stanton, and while there was elected pro- thonotary of Westmoreland county on the demo- cratic ticket. He then removed to Greensburg, and was afterward elected clerk of the courts of the same county ; he died several years ago. Alfred G. Marsh (father) was born in Sewickley township, this county, and in the earlier part of his life was employed on steam boats plying on the Monongahela, Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Later he settled at Mckeesport, Allegheny county, after which he located at Mt. Pleasant, where he taught school for a short time, then moved to Greensburg, where he served as justice of the peace, and also has been engaged as clerk in the various offices of this county for a long time, and at present is residing at Greensburg, being about sixty-five years of age; his wife was Mary, a daughter of Joseph Gross, and she, too, is living at the age of about sixty-two.
Florence L. Marsh was reared at Greensburg, where he received his education in the public and academic schools. On September 14, 1864, when only sixteen years of age, he enlisted in Co. K, 211th regt., Pa. Vols, as sergeant and remained in the service until the close of the war, participating in the fight at Ft. Steadman and in the last battle in front of Petersburg before Lee's surrender : he served in the division commanded by Major-General John F. Hartranft. In 1865, at the age of seventeen, he began to read medicine with Dr. Robert Brown, of Greensburg, remaining with him till 1866, when he entered Jefferson Medical college at Philadelphia, from which well-known institution he graduated March 11, 1868. Returning to Westmoreland county Dr. F. L. Marsh began the practice of his profession at Madison, but after six months removed to Bethany, same county, and remained there one year. In 1870 he went to Mt. Pleasant, where he has been ever since, and is now among the leading physicians
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in that part of the county. He keeps abreast of the times and is recognized by his medical breth- ren as a leader in the profession. Dr. Marsh has been remarkably successful in his practice, which is both large and lucrative; he has a fine medi- cal library and is a diligent student of everything pertaining to greater efficiency and usefulness in his practice. Ile is a member of the Westmore- land County Medical Society, the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, at whose meetings he is a regular attendant. In these societies and in medical discussions Dr. Marsh takes great interest and from them re- ceives many useful hints and ideas and much beneficial information. Born with grit and brains he has labored with diligence and perse- verance, pausing not in his upward march but pressing on and on, with implicit confidence in the ancient adage, " Labor omnia vincit."
Dr. F. L. Marsh, on October 5, 1869, was united in marriage with Margaret Spiegel, of East Huntingdon township, a daughter of Will- iam Spiegel and a sister of Jacob R. Spiegel, who is a well-known attorney and who was formerly for two terms superintendent of the Westmoreland county schools. Dr. and Mrs. Marsh are the parents of five children : Edward Brown, born June 23, 1870: William Alfred, born March 23, 1872; Rabe Ferguson, born December 18, 1875; Mary Leona, born Febru- ary 24, 1885; and John McMillan (deceased), born January 9, 1878; died January 2, 1881. Dr. Marsh is a member of the Royal Arcanum, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Presbyterian church, and the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has been surgeon of Post No. 163 ever since its organization.
FOHN DICKEY McCALEB was born Au- gust 4, 1824, in Salem township, Westmore- land county, Pa., and is a son of John and Sarah (Hosack) McCaleb. James McCaleb, his grandfather, was a native of Scotland but came
to America and settled in Salem township near the present town of Delmont. John McCaleb, one of his sons, was born August 4, 1824, in Salem township, and devoted thirty years of his life to the profession of teaching. Hedied in 1850.
John D. McCaleb received his education in the subscription schools of his day. When only ten years of age he left the parental roof to work on the farm of Maj. Kean, where he re- mained three years. After two years on other farms he went to Mt. Pleasant and was there employed for ten years as clerk in stores, seven years of this time being with Sherrick & Braden. In 1851 he engaged in mercantile business on his own account and successfully carried it on until 1866. He was postmaster during 1867 and 1868, and again from 1876 to 1887. In the latter year he was elected justice of the peace for the borough of Mt. Pleasant, which office he now holds, doing in connection therewith a real estate business. Ile was for some time also interested in the foundry business and other mercantile pursuits outside of his store. Ile is a member of the Presbyterian church and is an upright, conscientious man.
John Dickey McCaleb was married in August, 1851, to Sarah, a daughter of Joseph Sherrick, of East Huntingdon township, and they have four children : J. Sherrick, a banker at Con- nellsville, Pa. ; William B., supervisor of the eastern division P. R. R. ; Ella and Effie.
MER JUDSON MCELWEE, a leading druggist of Mt. Pleasant, was born in Franklin Square, Columbiana county, Ohio, April 9, 1845, and is a son of Thomas and Susan (Robertson) McElwee. His grandfather McElwee was of Scotch-Irish extraction and a native of Scotland, who came to the United States in the early part of the present century and settled in New Jersey, where his son Thomas McElwee was born October 9, 1806. When quite young the latter left New Jersey, crossed the Alleghe-
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nies and settled in Ohio, where he was one of the pioneers of Columbiana county, and where he died July 19, 1870. His wife, Susan Me- Elwee, whose maiden name was Robertson, was born near New Castle, Lawrence county, Pa.
Emer J. MeElwee attended the country schools of his native place, and after losing his mother by death, at the age of eight years went to the village of Columbiana, where he lived with his uncle and attended the public schools. In the fall of 1861 he entered Mt. Union col- lege, but left in the following January to enter the service of the Federal government, then making gigantic efforts to crush the Rebellion. On January 6, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Co. B, forty-third reg., Ohio Vols. He served with his regiment for three years and six months, participating in the battles of New Madrid, Mo., Corinth, Iuka Springs, Miss., and all the engagements in which the sixteenth and seventeenth Corps took part, being along with Sherman on his famous march to the sea. At the battle of Atlanta, Ga., he was slightly wounded ; he served six months of the time he was in the army as hospital steward. His first enlistment was for three years, and on January 1, 1864, he re-enlisted as a veteran and was finally discharged honorably in July, 1865. Several appointments as a non-colli- missioned officer were offered him but he refused them all. After the close of the war he en- tered the college of Pharmacy at Saint Louis, Mo., where he prepared himself for his chosen profession, and from 1867 to 1877 filled many positions as drug clerk in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1877 he came to : Westmoreland county and located at Mt. Pleas- ant, where he engaged in the drug business. Ile has a fine store there, carries five or six thousand dollars worth of stock and has a large and excellent patronage. He is a man of good business and social qualities, and in politics is a believer in the principles and measures of the Democratic party.
Emer Judson MeElwee, on the twenty-third of January, 1877, was united in marriage with Mrs. Mary (Carrol) Murphy, of Brinton, Al- legheny county, Pa., and the fruits of their union are four children : Annie May, born March 8, 1878; John McMillan, August 5, 18''1; James Carrol, November 20, 1882, and Mabel Jenkins, January 23, 1885.
E. J. McElwee is a member of the Odd Fellows, Royal Arcanum, A. O. U. W., Hep- tasophs, and for more than twelve years has been identified with the Presbyterian church at Mt. Pleasant.
E. J. McElwee is one of the most popular druggists of the county. His thorough knowledge of his profession, his careful and conscientious handling of all prescriptions intrusted to him, his strict integrity in all his business transactions, has gained for him an excellent reputation both with the physicians and public.
@ MBROSE H. MYERS, M. D., of Mt. Pleasant, is entitled to the honor of having presided at the first flag presenta- tion ever made by a secret society to a common school, when Logan Council, No. 145, Junior Order of United AAmerican Mechanics, presented a very beautiful and costly United States flag to the public schools at Mt. Pleasant. Dr. Myers was born in Burnside township, Clearfield county, Pa., April 24, 1855. His parents, Luther and Margaret (Lovelece) Myers, were natives of Pennsylvania and the former was a well known farmer and lumberman of Clearfield county. The doctor's paternal and maternal grandfathers were both born in the ". Keystone State," where they lived and died.
Dr. A. H. Myers received his education in common and select schools and Purchase Line academy of Indiana county, Pa. At seventeen. years of age he commenced the study of medi- cine with Dr. A. II. Allison, of Indiana county, this State, but only read with him for one year.
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He then went to Clarion county, where he com- pleted with Dr. T. E. Lewis the required course of reading necessary then to practice medicine in Pennsylvania. In 1878 he went to MeKean county, Pa., where he practiced for two years and then attended lectures at the Medical Uni- versity of Baltimore, Md., from which he grad- uated in the class of 1880. From 1880 to 1885 he practiced his profession with good success at Mechanicsburg, Indiana county, Pa. In Octo- ber, 1885, he removed to Mt. Pleasant and has secured a very good practice.
Dr. Myers was married on June 6, 1878, to Annie L. Moore, daughter of James Moore, of near Brookville, Jefferson county, Pa. They have one child, who is named Ambrose II., Jr., and was born on Washington's birthday, 1881.
Dr. Myers is an carnest advocate of placing the " Stars and Stripes " in every school-room in the United States. Ile is a member of the Reformed church, Moss Rose Lodge, No. 350, I. O. O. F., Arcana Lodge, No. 413, Knights of Pythias, Mt. Pleasant Conclave, No. 173, Improved Order of Heptasophs, and Logan Council, No. 145, Jr. O. U. A. M., and repre- sented his council in 1888, also in 1889 at the State Council of the last named prominent Or- der, and if living will represent it in Williams- port in 1890. He is a member of the joint committee from Jr. O. U. A. M. and O. U. A. , M., whose object it is to bring about a union of the two organizations.
ILLIAM BORLAND NEEL, of Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland county, Pa., was born near there on the 4th of January, 1826, and is the only son of Samuel and Rachel (Borland) Neel. He is of pure Irish origin, his ancestors on both sides having been natives of north Ireland, whence they immigrated to America, settling in Penn- sylvania prior to the Revolutionary war. On the paternal side John Necl, Sr., came from
Erin and located in Cumberland (now Dauphin) county, where he died October 7, 1792. His children were : John, William, Robert, James, Margaret Cochran, Jane Clark, Eleanor Simp- son and Agnes Fleming. Two of his sons, John and William, crossed the Allegheny mountains about 1770 and settled near the site of Mt. Pleasant, where they married two sisters of Sam- uel Warden, who was living on the Warden farm one mile west of the present borough of Mt. Pleasant. John Neel, the grandfather of Wil- liam B. Neel, married Margaret Warden, the elder of these sisters, on the 23d of May, 1775, and they reared a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters : Robert, John, Samuel, Eleanor Vance, Margaret, Andrew, Mar- tha Tittle and Mary Thompson. Their first home was a small round log cabin. In church history he is spoken of as one of the first Presbyterian elders west of the mountains, and he was one of the six that held the first meeting of Redstone Presbytery at Pigeon creek, Pa., September 10, 1781. One of his sons, Samuel Neel, inherited part of the home farm upon which he was born and lived until his death. His birth occurred in 1785 and he died October 28, 1862, leaving him the record of a peaceful, quiet and well- spent life. He was a well-to-do farmer, owning a tract of one hundred and seventy acres near Mt. Pleasant, and in politics was a whig from Gen. Jackson's second election to the formation of the Republican party, when he became a mem- ber of that organization.
Like his father he was an elder in the Pres- byterian church. He was first married April 1, 1812, to Ruth Jack, by whom he had two children : Lucinda Lytle and Rev. J. J. Neel, who died February 10, 1852, aged thirty-three years. Ruth Neel died in 1819, and on the 25th of June, 1822, Samuel Neel was again united in marriage with Rachel Borland, whose father, Samuel Borland, came from Ireland to America and settled in "The Manor," Westmoreland county, Pa., where he followed the c upation of
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farming. He, too, was a presbyterian ; his wife was Lydia Gregg, who was born in Winchester, Va., whence she removed to Bedford, Pa. There, in her youth she used to hunt the cows in the vicinity of the springs which have since become the famous " watering place." To this union with Rachel Borland were born four children : W. B. Neel, Lydia G. Neel, Ruth Shields and Margaret A. Neel, the latter of whom died No- vember 28, 1884. After an earnest and cheer- ful life Rachel Neel died November 9, 1872, in the eighty-fifth year of her age.
William B. Neel as a farmer's son was reared to agricultural pursuits and received a fair edu- cation, considering the character of the subscrip- tion schools of those days. Having left school he at once engaged in farming, which he has followed ever since, and now holds title to four hundred acres of fertile and valuable land ad- joining Mt. Pleasant, including the old home- stead farm of his grandfather, John Neel, Jr. He has engaged in the coke business and has always been identified with every leading enter- prise of his locality. He was one of the organi- zers, in 1865, of the First National bank of Mt. Pleasant. Besides real estate in Mt. Pleasant Mr. Neel owns shares in valuable coal lands in West Virginia, and is one of the successful and progressive business men of the county. In politics he is a republican and in religious mat- ters adheres to the doctrines of the Presbyterian church, the denomination of his ancestors for generations back. He has served his township as school director over ten years, and has been a director of the First National bank of Mt. Pleasant, for a quarter of a century. Honora- ble in business, prompt in action, intelligent in his views and exemplary in life, he is a citizen of whom his native county may be justly proud.
On Christmas day, 1855, William B. Neel was united in marriage with Nancy J., a daugh- ter of the late Nathaniel Hurst, a prominent citizen of Fayette county, Pa. Nine children were the fruits of this union : John Jack, who
married Amy L. Hunter, October 3, 1889; Mary, who died February 6, 1860; an infant son, who died November 13, 1860; Nathaniel II., died April 6, 1862; Samuel, Rachel, Ella, May, Sarah 11., and Frank IL., who died April 1, 1877.
ILLIAM STANSBURY PLOTNER, M. D., of German-English descent and a leading and popular physician of Mt. Pleasant, was born at Galitzin, Cambria county, Pa., October 21, 1861. He is a son of Henry W. and Rebecca (Bateman) Plotner, the former a native of Centre county, Pa., now engaged in the drug business at Wilmore, Cambria county, Pa., and whose parents emigrated from Germany to the United States and located in Centre county.
W. S. Plotner attended the public schools at Wilmore until he was fourteen years of age when he commenced the study of telegraphy. After becoming a telegraph operator he was employed in that line of work for seven and one-half years by the Pennsylvania railroad company. While serving as an operator he still continued to prose- cute his literary studies and received instruction for one year from Rev. W. H. Settlemire and two years from Rev. J. J. Kerr, both Lutheran ministers. In Latin he was instructed by Rev. Father HI. II. Mellugh. At eighteen years of age he chose the profession of medicine and com- menced a course of study under the tutelage of Dr. Irving Blaisdell, of Wilmore, Pa. He at- tended lectures at the Western Pennsylvania Medical college where he was graduated March 22, 1888, first in his class and was valedictorian.
On October 22, 1884, Dr. Plotner was united in marriage to Margerie Beswick, of Manor station. They have two children : Lois Vera, born September 17, 1885, and Frank W., May 22, 1888.
After graduation Dr. Plotner opened his present office in Mt. Pleasant April 1, 1888, and by devotion to his profession has won a large
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and constantly increasing practice. He is a member of the Chosen Friends and K. of P. Ile is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is highly esteemed in the wide circle of his acquaintanceship.
OBERT RAMSAY. Many there are who, after scores of years in this land of privileges and opportunities, join the silent majority and upon their graves are erected costly monuments of marble, bronze or granite to preserve their remembrance unto future gen- erations, but not a few there are who need no sculptured marble, " no storied urn or animated bust " to preserve their memory from oblivion ; they build their own monuments of ability and worth-monuments more sacred and more en- during than brazen columns or colossal statues of adamantine rock.
An example of this class of men is Robert Ramsay, a skillful engineer and superintendent of the Standard coke works. He was born six- teen miles northwest of Edinburgh, near Dun- fermline, county of Fife, Scotland, October 23, 1840, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Sharp) Ramsay, both natives of Scotland. Ilis parents first came to the United States in 1852, and after a residence here of four years they re- turned to the land of their birth. In 1863, how- ever, they immigrated a second time to this coun- try and settled at Larrimer, Westmoreland county, Pa. The father died on April 16, 1885, and the mother August 13, 1889, and both were buried in Shafton cemetery, same county.
Robert Ramsay is a miner as was his father, but at an early age he gave promise of engineer- ing ability and embraced every opportunity to improve himself with a view of adopting that profession. Shortly after immigrating with his parents to this country the second time he worked at the machinist trade, then worked in the mines on the Monongahela river, and in 1865 went to Shafton, Westmoreland county, where
he became winding engineer for the Shafton Coal Company. His services were so satisfactory that he was given charge of the mine and machinery, and in 1870 was advanced to the position of superintendent of the company, which he held for eleven years. He then served as su- perintendent and engineer at the Monastery coke works of the Carnegie brothers until he removed to Mt. Pleasant in 1883 to take charge of the Standard mines, where he has remained up to the present time, 1890.
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