USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania > Part 42
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William L. Mellon was reared on the old homestead farm and attended the common schools until he was twenty years of age. He then left the scenes of rural life and accepted a position in the bank of T. Mellon & Sons at Pittsburg, where he remained until 1886. In the fall of that year he was appointed superintendent of , the Westmoreland and Cambria Natural Gas Company at Latrobe and has held that position ever since.
On December 24, 1885, he married Ella Mclaughlin, whose father, J. T. McLaughlin, resides at Beatty's station, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Mellon have two children, both daugh- ters, whose names are Mary and Mabel.
The introduction of natural gas into the towns of western Pennsylvania as a fuel marks an important epoch in the history of our manu- factures as well as working a revolution in the tion in life and was very highly respected by , present methods of household heating. One of his friends and acquaintances. He was a great . the companies engaged in supplying the de-
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mand for natural gas is the Westmoreland and Cambria Company, whose superintendent is Mr. Mellon. Ile is an energetic, clear-headed busi- ness man who has managed so successfully the affairs of his company as to gain the confidence of his employers and the respect of the public. W. L. Mellon is a conservative republican and a consistent member of the Presbyterian church.
REDERICK METZGER (deceased). The late Lieut. Frederick Metzger, one of the leading paper manufacturers in the west- ern part of the State, a brave soldier of the late civil war and a public-spirited citizen of La- trobe, was born in the city of Pittsburg, Pa., February 17, 1843, and was a son of Adam and Magdalene (Keller) Metzger, both natives of Germany and residents of Pittsburg, where they were married after coming to the United States.
In the public schools of Pittsburg Frederick Metzger received a very fair education which he afterwards turned to good account in life. His introduction to business life was through a clerkship in the publishing house of W. S. Ilagen of his native city. He applied himself so diligently and intelligently to the discharge of his different duties that his services soon be- came invaluable to his employers and he was given a permanent position, which he held from 1854 to 1869, excepting four years spent as a soldier in the Union armies. In 1869 he re- signed his position at Pittsburg to accept an interest and become a partner in the Brighton Paper Mill Company at Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pa. Here his business ability and ex- perience and good judgment in no little con- tributed to the success of the company. After two years passed pleasantly and profitably at Beaver Falls, he withdrew from the firm in order to embark in a company then organizing to purchase the Loyalhanna Paper Mills at La- trobe, this county. He became a partner with
his brother, Edgar Metzger, of Pittsburg, and James Peters, and they operated the Loyal- hanna Paper Mills from 1871 to October, 1879, when it caught fire and burned. Upon the ruins of the mill, as soon as the ashes were cold, Mr. Metzger and his partners began their preparations for rebuilding and in January fol- lowing the present Loyalhanna Paper Mills had arisen on the site of its unfortunate predecessor. The former was a frame and the latter is a brick structure. The building proper is 1163x30 feet, with a pulp room 55x30 and a finishing room 65x32 under the roof of a second build- ing. Mr. Metzger removed from Beaver Falls to Pittsburg in 1871 and six years later, in order to give closer personal supervision to his business, became a resident of Latrobe, where he died November 14, 1883. While in charge of the mill he manufactured manilla, roofing and wrapping papers. He once had a contract for over two million pounds of paper. He em- ployed forty hands and made daily fourteen thousand pounds of paper. He had two large paper stock and warehouses, one on the grounds and the other at Pittsburg. These works, when under Mr. Metzger's charge, covered two and three-quarter acres of ground and required three hundred and fifty bushels of coal daily to run them.
On November 2, 1869, Mr. Metzger was married to Margaret Johnson, daughter of John M. Johnson, of Pittsburg. They had two chil- dren : John A. and William J. Mrs. Metzger and her two sons reside at their beautiful home at Latrobe.
In 1861 Frederick Metzger enlisted as a private in the fifth Pa. Heavy Artillery, was promoted second lieutenant and served through- out the war. Ile was a member of P. A. Will- iams Post, No. 4, Grand Army of the Republic ; Loyalhanna Lodge, No. 950, Knights of Honor, and Latrobe Lodge, No. 368, Royal Arcanum. As president of the school board in 1882 he was largely instrumental in securing the erection
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of the present fine Latrobe public school build- ing. Ile was an earnest, consistent and useful member of the Presbyterian church. Frederick Metzger was a public-spirited citizen in every sense of the term and his early death was deeply deplored and his untimely loss long felt in the community he had chosen for his permanent home.
D AVID W. McCONAUGHY, M. D., a distinguished physician of Latrobe, was born February 13, 1828, in Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland county, Pa., and is a son of John and Margaret (MeCurdy) McConaughy. Ilis father was born February 22, 1783, in Fulton county, Pa., but removed in later years to this county, settling in Ligonier Valley, where he followed farming very successfully. Hle was originally a whig but later republican and an abolitionist ; also a member of the Pres- byterian church, of which he was an elder, and strong advocate of temperance, being one of the first men in the county to banish whiskey from his premises. On the 31st of March, 1808, he married Margaret, a daughter of James Mc Curdy, of this county, who was a relative of the Rev. Elisha MeCurdy, and who bore him eleven children, six of whom are living: Jane, wife of Samuel Nesbit ; James (Dr.), formerly of Mount Pleasant ; Francis (Dr.), a resident of Mount Pleasant ; Mary Ann, wife of John Bell, living in Nebraska : David W., and Melinda, wife of Lloyd Shallenberger, of Clarion, Pa. John McConaughy (father) died July 21, 1870. Grandfather McConaughy settled in Ligonier Valley near the beginning of the nineteenth century, but afterwards removed to Indiana county, Pa., where some of his descendants still live.
Dr. D. W. McConaughy attended the public schools and Ligonier academy, after which he taught school for several terms. In 1856 he entered Jefferson Medical college at Philadel-
phia, Pa., and was graduated from that institu- tion in 1858. Beginning the practice of his chosen profession at Madison, this county, he continued there until 1867 when he removed to Latrobe, where he has ever since remained, having an exellent practice and all he cared to do. He is a member and also treasurer of the Westmoreland county Medical society ; the American Medical Association ; the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania; is also a member of Loyalhanna Lodge, No. 275, F. & A. M., of Latrobe. Dr. McConaughy is an elder of the Presbyterian church and takes a leading part in church work generally. In politics he is a zealous republican and does much effective work for his party. A strict party man, he belives in supporting the nominees and has never voted anything but the republican ticket.
Dr. D. W. McConaughy was united in mar- riage February 4, 1863, with Anna, a daughter of James L. Brown, of Madison, Pa., Rev. Thomas Johnson performing the ceremony. Mrs. McConaughy was born May 19, 1842, and is a consistent member of the Presbyterian church.
Not only is Dr. McConaughy a skillful and successful physician and a conscientious Chris- tian gentleman, social and agreeable by nature, but he is also a man of strict integrity and un- usual intelligence ; a logical thinker who is thoroughly conversant with the public questions and issues of the day ; a diligent student of human nature; a close observer; a constant reader of general and scientific literature; a man of warm and generous emotions, whose ideas of justice and equity between man and man or between citizen and State approximate to those of the ideal citizen or subject of a free govern- ment, and whose religious, social and political opinions are practical, safe and conservative. Dr. McConaughy is a director and the vice- president of the "Citizens' National bank of Latrobe."
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R. EV. EDWARD MCKEEVER, a fine scholar, a polished and cultured gentle- man, a pleasant conversationalist and a successful and popular pastor of the Catholic church, was born in Pittsburg, Pa., February 10, 1848. Ile is a son of William and Cathe- rine (Mullen) MeKeever. They were natives of Ireland where the former was born in county Monaghan in 1809, and the latter in county Tyrone in 1811. They were members of the Catholic church, came to Baltimore in 1832, and from thence journeyed by stage across the Alleghenies to Pittsburg, where Mr. Mckeever engaged successfully in the grocery business and was interested in several other profitable enter- prises. Ile died July 7, 1880, and seven years later his widow passed away on February 2, 1887.
Rev. Edward Mckeever attended the paro- chial schools attached to St. Paul's cathedral and at that time under charge of the " Fran- ciscan Brothers." In these schools he studied Latin for two years under the direction of Mr. McCann and Father James McCann. In 1862 he entered St. Michael's seminary where he finished his classical course and took a full course in philosophy and theology. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 20,
1871, by Bishop Michael Domence, and on the same day was appointed assistant of St. Peter's church in Allegheny City. On September 22, 1873, he was appointed rector of St. Simon and Jude's church at Blairsville, Indiana county, l'a., where he found a difficult field of labor before him. He entered upon his work with zeal and energy and was signally successful He lifted a church debt of twenty-seven hundred dollars, placed a hall over the school buildings, erected a new pastoral residence and made ex- tensive repairs on the church. Rev. Mckeever was highly appreciated during his sixteen years residence at Blairsville by his own people and the whole community and he looks back with pleasure and satisfaction to the time he spent at
Blairsville. On the eve of his departure from there for his newly assigned field of labor at Latrobe, he was presented by his church mem- bers and others with a gold watch, a sum of money and several other valuable and beautiful tokens of respect and good will. On January 16, 1889, he left Blairsville and assumed his present pastorship of the Holy Family church of Latrobe, where he is meeting with highly gratifying success in his pastoral labors. Ile has already erected a large hall and has in con- templation many other valuable improvements. Ilis field of labor includes one hundred and twenty families repesenting six hundred souls. Rev. Edward Mckeever has just returned from an extended European tour. While in the old world he traveled through England, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and France. During his sojourn in Italia's land of sunshine and flowers he spent a fortnight in Rome and viewed the many sacred places and the num- erous historic buildings of the " Eternal City."
D R. HENRY J. MILLER. Of late years the manufacture and sale of proprietary medicines in the United States has in- creased wonderfully, and one who is successfully engaged in that business is Dr. II. J. Miller of Latrobe, the discoverer of the " HI. J. Miller's Family Medicines." Ile is a son of Lieut. Jacob A. and Nancy (Casabeer) Miller and was born in Somerset county, Pa., May 16, 1844. His grandfather, Adam Miller, was one of the early settlers of Somerset county, to which he had immigrated when a young man from the north bank of the Rhine in Bavaria, Germany. Soon after his arrival he married Elizabeth Snyder of the town of Somerset, which at that time was a mere hamlet of three or four houses at most. Ile was a farmer by occupation, a good business man and died in 1853 when in the eighty-second year of his age. Ilis only son was Lieut. Jacob A. Miller, who was born
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in 1809 and died in 1869. He was one of the successful farmers of Somerset county and re- ceived a commission from Gov. Joseph Ritner on August 3, 1835, as a lieutenant of the eighth reg., Pa., militia. This commission and a rare old silver watch, which was presented to him by an uncle residing in Bavaria, are now in the pos- session of the subject of this sketch. Lieut. Miller was a member of the Evangelical Luth- eran church and married Nancy Casebeer, who is now residing in her Somerset county home and is in the seventy-seventh year of her age. They had three sons and three daughters, of whom one son and two daughters are living.
Henry J. Miller was reared on a farm and at- tended the common schools in the winter months until 1862, when he enlisted in Co. D, one hundred and forty-second, Pa., Vols., and served until November 10, 1863. He then was trans- ferred to the U. S. Signal Service in which he continued till the close of the late war. He then returned to Somerset county where he was engaged in the mercantile business until the spring of 1877, when he came to Latrobe and embarked in the manufacture and sale of his well-known proprietary medicines. The firm of John J. Miller & Co. are now proprietors of HI. J. Miller's family medicines, consisting of "Sweepstakes Liniment," "Constitution Searcher " and " Blood Purifier," " Sweet Worm Powder " and "Opaline." They also manufacture fruit syrups, essences and flavoring extracts. These remedies of HI. J. Miller are sold largely throughout Westmoreland, Somerset, Bedford, Indiana, Cambria and Fayette counties and western Pennsylvania generally and by the wholesale dealers in Pittsburg. Dr. Miller's business in 1877 did not reach $1000, but the demand for his specialties has been such for the last twelve years that the annual sales of his remedies are now from twelveto fifteen thousand dollars. Many of his patrons think there are no remedies in the United States so effectual as his. He is a republican, a member and trustee
of Trinity Lutheran church, of whose Sunday school he has been superintendent for many years.
He united in marriage on the 5th day of May, 1869, with Mary Naugle, daughter of Joseph Naugle, a resident of Laughlinstown, this county. Their union has been blessed with two children : Ida B. and Milton N.
ICHAEL B. MURRAY, a successful and popular tobacconist and confectioner of Latrobe and one who has labored over a wide area of the great Mississippi valley, was born in Ireland November 9, 1848. IIe is a son of Peter and Julia (Daley) Murray, both natives of County Roscommon, Ireland. The former was born in 1826 and the latter died in Philadelphia in 1853, aged thirty-one years. Peter Murray was a contractor in his native country. He came to Philadelphia in 1851 and eight years later removed to St. Louis, Mo. He is a strong democrat, a member of the Catholic Knights and Catholic church. For the last twenty years he has been very active in politics and. is now serving as assistant post- master of St. Louis. At three years of age Michael Murray was brought by his parents to Philadelphia, and two years later, after the death of his mother, he accompanied his aunt, Mary Murray, to Greensburg and remained with her and went to school until he was twelve years of age. In 1860 he rejoined his father at St. Louis, Mo., and attended the schools of that city for two years.
During the late war he and nineteen other young men equipped themselves with horses and arms and started to join Gen. Price, but were captured by the Union forces and pressed into the United States service as bridge guards on the Iron Mountain railroad for six months. Returning from the army, he engaged in farm- ing until 1876 with his father on a farm that the latter owned within six miles of St. Louis. From 1876 to 1878 he was in Mississippi and
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Louisiana, where he acted as paymaster for John Scott who was a large contractor for building and repairing levees in those States. In 1878 Mr. Scott became a large contractor on the con- struction of that section of the Atchison & Topeka railroad between Leadville, Col., and Santa Fe, N. M., and gave Mr. Murray the important position of general foreman. Ile served in this capacity very acceptably for two years. In 1880 he returned to Pennsylvania and became foreman for Booth & Flinn, con- tractors on the Cambria and Somerset railroad, and later was stationed as foreman at the " Blue Rock " quarries in the Ligonier Valley. In 1883 he was specially selected as superintendent of the force that put in the syphon pipe at Highland Avenue reservoir, Pittsburg. In 1884 he opened his present cigar, tobacco and grocery establishment at No. 906 Ligonier street, Latrobe, and has built up a fine trade in his special line of business.
On July 29, 1880, he was united in marriage to Annie M. Williams, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Williams of Latrobe. Of this marriage, four children have been born : Thomas B., IIarry B., John B. and Paul M.
M. B. Murray is a member of the Catholic church, the Catholic Knights and Meridian Conclave, No. 177, Improved Order of Hepta- sophs. He is a democrat and is borough audi- tor. Hle keeps in stock the best brands of tobacco, makes a specialty of cigars and always has the latest and best confections. He is full of push and vim and his life has been one of activity. As time-keeper, paymaster, foreman and superintendent his services were always satisfactory, and as a merchant his large trade attests his popularity and success.
D AVID R. NEWINGIIAM, a highly re- spected citizen and the largest harness and saddlery manufacturer and dealer of Latrobe, is a son of David and Sarah (Snyder)
Newingham. He is the sixth of a family of thirteen children, all of whom are living, and was born in Mt. Pleasant township, Westmore- land county, Pa., January 5, 1845. His father, David Newingham, was born in 1811 in llun- tingdon county. He married Sarah Snyder, who was born November 7, 1812, and removed in 1832 to Greensburg, where he opened and conducted a saddle and harness shop for many years. Ile is a democrat and in 1843 was ap- pointed sheriff of Westmoreland county to serve until the next election in place of Sheriff James Harvey, who died in 1843. Mr. Newingham and his wife reside at Greensburg and are mem- bers of the German Reformed church of that place.
David R. Newingham was reared principally at Pleasant Unity and received his education in the common schools. He learned the saddle and harness trade with his father, and at eighteen years of age engaged in business for himself at Mt. Pleasant, where he remained for thirteen years. In 1876 he removed to Latrobe, opened a saddlery and harness establishment and has continued successfully in that line of business ever since.
Hle was married in 1867 to Katie C. Mc- Clelland, daughter of Robert McClelland, of New Alexandria. To this union have been born five children: Howard, Annie, who died at eleven years of age, James, Goldia and Emmet.
David R. Newingham is the oldest as well as the largest saddlery and harness manufacturer in Latrobe. His establishment is on Ligonier street and he manufactures and deals in harness, saddles, collars, whips and everything to be found in a first-class saddlery and harness house. HIe transacts a large business and his trade has every appearance of rapidly increasing in the future. By close attention to business and honorable dealing with his patrons he has won his way into the front rank of respected and substantial merchants. Mr. Newingham is a
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conservative democrat, a useful member of the Presbyterian church, and has borne for many years the reputation of an upright and honest man.
ILLIAM O'BRIEN, the oldest and lead- ing contractor and builder and lumber merchant of Latrobe, was born in Pitts- burg, Pa., October 14, 1836, and is a son of James and Mary (Mallon) O'Brien. James O'Brien was born in 1802 at Baltimore, Mary- land, and when but a mere youth came to Pitts- burg. He here learned and worked at the carpenter trade until 1848. In that year he removed to Unity township, this county, and was engaged in farming until 1875, when he retired from active business. He sold his farm and came to Latrobe, where he passed his re- maining days of life and departed from earth March 27, 1881. He was a stanch democrat, an honest, hardworking man and a member of the Catholic church. He was married to Mary Mallon, a native of county Tyrone, Ireland. She came to this country at eight years of age, was a member of the Catholic church and died in 1878, aged sixty four years.
At twelve years of age William O'Brien ac- companied his parents from Pittsburg to Unity township, Westmoreland county, where he com- pleted in the rural schools the branches that he had been studying in the parochial schools of that city previous to his removal. He then learned the trade of carpenter which he pursued at different places in the county until 1866. In that year he removed to Latrobe and estab- lished his present extensive contracting business. In 1870 he opened a lumber yard and has suc- cessfully operated it until the present time. Mr. O'Brien has been engaged since 1859 as a contractor and builder. He is the oldest con- tractor in Latrobe, has erected some of the finest and largest buildings of that place and bears the reputation of being a good mechanic. Ilis large shop is fully equipped with all the
latest and best machinery which is used in his line of business. Ilis workmen have all learned their trade with him, while some of them have been in his employ for over eighteen years. Hle is a member of the Catholic church, a strong and unswerving democrat and has served as a member of the borough council.
On January 25, 1859, Mr. O'Brien was united in marriage to Agnes Kuhn, daughter of John Kuhn, of Unity township, this county. Their union has been blessed with one child, a son: Edward O'Brien, who is a civil engineer and now pursuing the study of some of the higher branches of his profession at Paris, France.
AMES PETERS. The manufacture of paper is one of the important industries of western Pennsylvania that has made great progress within the last twenty years. A repre- sentative firm in a special branch of this busi- ness is James Peters & Co., proprietors of the Loyalhanna Paper Mills at Latrobe. The senior partner, James Peters, an honorable, suc- cessful business man, a wounded soldier of the late war, was born in Hanover township. Beaver county, Pa., January 14, 1844, and is a son of William and Jane (Sloan) Peters. The former was a native of county Down and the latter was born in county Antrim, Ireland. They were married and immigrated to the United States in 1832 and settled in Pittsburg. William Peters there engaged for several years in the grocery business on what was then known as Dickson's corner (now corner of Seventh avenue). From Pittsburg he removed to near Hanover, Beaver county, this State, where he bought a farm and became a dealer in horses. He purchased large numbers of horses and sold them in the eastern markets to which he drove them over the Allegheny mountains. On the completion of the Pennsylvania railroad Mr. Peters abandoned dealing in horses and em- barked in the mercantile business in Hanover,
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where he built the first brick house at that place. In 1856 he lost his eye-sight which compelled him to quit business ; he lost his wife the same year before moving to Pittsburg He then re- moved to Pittsburg where in the same year he had the sad misfortune to lose his wife, who in crossing a street was run over and killed by a runaway team. William Peters survived his wife but one year and was laid to rest in 1857. He was successful in business life and was a member of the Beformed Presbyterian church, of which his wife was an esteemed member. Ilis children were: William J. (dead); Robert S., James and Sarah J. William J. was a car- penter, enlisted in 1861 in Col. Rouley's old thirteenth reg., for three months, re-enlisted the same year in Battery F (Hampton's), Light ar- tillery and served faithfully as a soldier during the war. In 1868 he fell fromn a cherry tree at Hillsdale near Pittsburg, and broke his neck. Robert S. is a blacksmith by trade, enlisted in August, 1862, in Hampton's Battery, was wounded at Harper's Ferry, remained in Chest- nut Hill hospital, Baltimore, for several months, rejoined his battery and served with it until the close of the war. He is now engaged in the creamery business at Moundsville, W. Va.
At twelve years of age James Peters accom- panied his parents from Beaver county to Pitts- burg and attended the public schools of Alle- gheny City for three years more or less. He then engaged with James Reese, a steam engine manufacturer of Pittsburg, to learn the trade of steam engine building. On August 1, 1862, he enlisted in Hampton's Battery F, light artill- ery. He was at Second Bull Run, Antietam, was wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville in both legs and sent to Douglas hospital, D. C. When about recovered he received a thirty-five days furlough and at its expiration in Septem- ber, 1863, he returned to his company and served until the close of the Great Rebellion. He was promoted from corporal to sergeant some time before he was honorably discharged
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