USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania > Part 53
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In 1881 he married Hannah McCauley, daughter of the late Andrew MeCauley of Irwin. Their union has been blessed with two children : Charles II. and Mary HI.
L. HI. Taylor is a member of the A. O. U.W., Royal Areanum, Improved Order of Hepta- sophs, Jr. O. U. A. M., Order of Solons, A. Y. M., II. R. A. M., and is a Knight Tem- plar. Ile is a republican and a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Taylor is an obliging gentleman and has made many friends in con- sequence of his social qualities and honorable business methods.
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R OBERT FULTON THOMPSON, one of the progressive and well-to-do farmers of North Huntingdon township, was born February 6, 1832, in Sewickley township, West- moreland county, Pa., and is a son of Isaac and Hannah ( Lewis) Thompson. Isaac Thomp- son, his father, was a native of Lancaster county, this State, and was brought to this county about the year 1814, when he was about six years of age. Ile resided in what is now Sewickley township, and was by trade a stone-mason. IIe came to his death accidentally, falling from a barn loft in 1864. His wife, IIannah Lewis, was born in 1796 in New Jersey and was gath- ered to her fathers in 1868 at the age of seventy-two years.
R. F. Thompson was sent to the country schools until twelve years of age, when he was hired to a farmer at one dollar per month except in harvest, when he received two. In 1849, at the age of seventeen, he undertook to learn the carpenter trade, at which he continued for twenty-five years, working in this county all the time except two and one-half years that he was in Allegheny county. He was at the site of Irwin when there was nothing on the ground but a saw-mill. At the end of his career as a mechanic he began speculating in real estate, buying farms, improving and selling them, in which he has been very successful. In 1879 he bought the farm on which Jeannette now stands, selling it in 1887 to a Mr. Brickell for Chambers & Mckee. Three years ago he purchased from Jacob Gongaware his present farm of 126 acres of choice, well-improved land, lying two miles east of Irwin on the pike.
R. F. Thompson in 1864 enlisted in Co. E, 200th reg., Pa. Vols., and served till the close of the war, participating in all the important engagements of his regiment and remaining from April 24 till May 24 in the city of Rich- mond.
Kunkle). They have four children : John L., Sarah S., George P. and Catharine K. John 1 .. Thompson has been twice married, his first wife, Malzena Shrum, living but one year after her marriage. He next married Mary Altman, of East Jeannette, where he now resides. Sarah S. Thompson is the wife of William Seanor, a farmer of Hempfield township, and George P. Thompson is married to Elizabeth, a daughter of Michael Earhart, of the same township. ; Catharine K. Thompson is the wife of John Lentner, who is also a resident of Hempfield township.
Robert F. Thompson is a stanch democrat, a most excellent man, a good neighbor and an enterprising citizen.
FOIIN II. TRESCHER, a leading merchant of Irwin, an energetic and enterprising citizen of Westmoreland county and the J proprietor and editor of the Jeannette Dispatch, I which has taken its place as one of the spicy and sparkling newspapers of this part of the State, is a son of Annie E. Schroeder and John Trescher and was born at Eckhart, Allegheny county, Md., February 13, 1864. His parents are natives of Germany and emigrated forty years ago from their native land to Maryland, where they settled at Cumberland, Md., in which they reside to-day. Mr. Trescher, Sr., learned the trade of machinist in Germany. After his arrival in Maryland he worked for eighteen years on engines at Eckhart, Md., then purchased a farm and engaged in his present fruit-growing and stock-raising business. He is a skilled ma- chinist, a prosperous farmer and a member of the Reformed church. He is now in the fifty- seventh year of his age and owns two fine farms which aggregate five hundred acres of land. In polities he is an independent and has served as school director of his township.
He was married in 1856 to Sarah Jane, a John II. Trescher was reared at Eckhart and daughter of John L. Kunkle (see sketch of J. L. : on his father's farm. IIe attended the common
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schools, took a literary course at the State Nor- mal university of Illinois and took the full busi- ness course of the Iron City Business college of Pittsburg, from which commercial institution he was graduated in 1885. In 1882 he made a tour of the western States and territories, visited all their principal cities and studied frontier life as it really exists to-day. From 1882 to 1887 he assisted his father in the management of his fruit and stock farms. Being anxious to enter into commercial life, for which he was well qual- ified, he selected Irwin as a favorable location on account of its many advantages for business enterprises. In January, 1887, he formed his present partnership with Adam Schade, under the firm name of Trescher and Schade. They are engaged in the general mercantile business in the spacious room in the opera-house build- ing. (For an account of which see sketch of Adam Schade.)
After three years' experience as a successful merchant he incidentally visited Jeannette in the autumn of 1888, and in its wonderful growth on a site that six months before was a farm he noted its future importance and likelihood to rank as a great manufacturing city. Instead of looking for a mercantile enterprise in which to invest he bought a number of lots in a favor- able location and from time to time made profit- able turns in real estate. Ile kept this up and watched with interest the spreading borders of Jeannette. In the spring of 1889 he saw what he decided was a favorable newspaper field. Being possessed of more than ordinary ambi- tion and having a decided taste for journalism, he in company with Mr. J. C. Longhead, of Irwin, who is a practical and experienced printer, established the Jeannette Dispatch, the first number of which appeared on Friday, May 3, 1889. It is a four-page sheet of thirty-two columns, neat in typographical appearance and well edited. It is largely devoted to local news and home interests, yet presents in its columns much of instructive, interesting and entertain-
ing miscellany. One of its constant features is to give the latest local and the most interesting State and county news. The Jeannette Dis- patch is published at the remarkably low price of one dollar. In the short period of its exist- ence it has attained a wide circulation, secured a large patronage and used every possible effort to please its many readers. It receives an en- couraging amount of home-advertising and job printing. It is independent in tone and senti- men, but is always courteous though candid in the treatment of any subject which it discusses. John H. Trescher is well qualified for the field of journalism into which he has entered, and with his usual characteristic energy and pro- gressive spirit he has projected a daily paper which he will soon issue at Jeannette.
P ETER WHITEHEAD, a worthy descend- ant of one of the old and prominent fam- ilies of Westmoreland and an honorable citizen of North Huntingdon township, is a son of Peter and Barbara ( Highberger) Whitehead and was born on the farm in which he now re- sides, in North Huntingdon township, West- moreland county, Pa., July 21, 1830. The Whitehead family traces its ancestry back to Valentine Whitehead (grandfather), who was born in Richmond, Va. He came across the Alleghenies when quite young and became one of the pioneer settlers of Westmoreland county. lle did guard duty at Fort Pitt, served on the frontiers of the county during the Indian trou- bles and made his first settlement in Sewickley township, where he took up a large tract of land. He left that township after a short resi- dence and came to North Huntingdon, where he patented the farm which the subject of this sketch now owns. He was well known through- out the early settlements of the county for his firmness and courage. His cabin was twice burned by Indians, his stock was often killed by war parties who sought for his scalp. Once
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while plowing his horse refused to go towards a piece of woods at one end of the field in which he was working. Hitching his team he made a circuit round the field through the woods and shot an Indian who was concealed in the timber for the purpose of securing Whitehead's scalp. One of his sons was Peter Whitehead, Sr. (father), who was born in 1795 on the home farm on which he always resided until his death, May 6, 1872. He was a stirring man, a pros- perous farmer, a member of the Reformed church and a strong democrat. He served one term as county commissioner and was married to Barbara Highberger, who was a native of Montgomery county, Pa., and died November 29, 1834, aged forty-one years. Iler father, Daniel Highberger, came to Sewickley township where he followed farming until his death.
Peter Whitehead attended the common schools of his neighborhood and commenced life for himself as a farmer. He has successfully pur-
sued farming and stock-raising since attaining his majority.
On October 10, 1854, he married Sarah Eisaman, daughter of Jacob Eisaman, of Hemp- field township. They have ten children : Alice A., Agnes E., wife of John Kerr; William O., who married Alice Gongaware, and lives in Barker county, Kansas ; Susan M., married to James A. Seanor; Edwin G., Jacob E., a teacher ; Harry W., who follows teaching; Sadie E., Olive C. and Laura M.
In politics Mr. Whitehead is a democrat. IIe is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry and the Reformed church, of which he has been a trustec for several years. Hle owns one of the best farms in the township. It contains one hundred and fifty-four acres of very fertile and well-kept land. He has always led a peaceable and quiet life. He gives his entire attention to his own business affairs but is ever ready to oblige a neighbor or assist a friend.
Derry, Mt. Pleasant, St. Clair Unity
NDREW J. ALLISON, one who has won a competency in life by his industry and economy, and a reliable and honor- able citizen of Derry township, was born in Washington county, Pa., March 10, 1828, and is a son of Andrew and Sarah (Martin) Allison. Ilis paternal grandfather, John Allison, came from Ireland when young and settled in Wash- ington county, where he owned three farms at the time of his death. Ile reared a family of seven children, one of whom, a daughter, young- est daughter, is now in the ninety-third year of her age. One of the sons, Andrew Allison (father), was born in the latter part of the eight- eenth century. He was a farmer by occupation, served as a soldier in the war of 1812 and died in 1873. Ile married Sarah Martin, a native of New Jersey, by whom he had eight children : William, of Derry township; Thomas and Robert, who reside in Iowa; Mary Ann, widow of Archie Balden, of Washington county, Pa .; Catherine, wife of Andrew Laudeback, also of Washington county, Pa .; George, who lives in the Ligonier Valley ; James, who enlisted in Co. E, two hundred and eleventh reg. l'a. Vols., and was killed before Petersburg; and Andrew J. Mrs. Sarah Allison died in 1877 at ninety years of age. Her father came from New Jersey to near Lake Erie and finally removed to Wash- ington county, Pa. Mrs. Allison when a child was captured by the Indians but was ransomed by her father, who met her and her captors as he was returning from mill.
Andrew J. Allison was brought by his father to Westmoreland county at two years of age. Ile was reared near Hannastown and worked for neighboring farmers until his marriage in 1851, when he began farming in Hempfield township, which he followed for eighteen years, part of the time on the shares and part of the time at ten dollars per month. In 1869 he pur- chased a farm near Ilillside, in Derry township, which he has improved and made very produc- tive. By hard work and strict economy Mr. Allison has made all that he has and deserves great credit for the successful efforts which he has made in gaining a comfortable competency.
He was married on August 21, 1851, to Susan Dible, daughter of John Dible, then of Arm- strong but now of Westmoreland county. Of their marriage have been born nine children : James M., born July 26, 1852; John D., born October 4, 1853, resides at Chester Pa., and has three children ; William O., born January 28, 1855, now residing in Henry county, Illin- ois ; Andrew F., born December 17, 1856, and lives in Morris county, Kansas; Elizabeth Frances, born March 18, 1860, married Joseph Barron, and died December 23, 1886; Joseph G., born October 19, 1861, and lives at Blairs- ville Intersection ; Elmer E., born August 30, 1863; Westley Grant, born March 15, 1865, resides at Derry station and is an engineer on the P. R. R .; and David V., who was born Jan- uary 8, 1868, and is ummarried.
Andrew J. Allison served in the Army of the
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
Potomac. IIe enlisted August 31, 1864, in Co. E., two hundred and eleventh reg., Pa. Vols., and was mustered out at Alexandria, Va., June 2, 1865. Hle was in the battles of Fort Stead- man and Petersburg.
OSEPII AUKERMAN, a descendant of one of the old and substantial families of Unity township, is a son of Henry and Catharine (Smith) Aukerman and was born in Unity township, Westmoreland county, Pa., January 24, 1838. At some time in the latter part of the eighteenth century three brothers by the name of Aukerman migrated from Lancaster county to what is now Unity township, where each of them located and cleared out a large farm for himself. One of these brothers was Philip Aukerman, the grandfather of Joseph Aukerman. As one of the early settlers Philip Aukerman was exposed to many of the trials and privations of frontier life. IIe was a farmer and lived to an advanced age, while his wife, who survived him, lacked but eight years of being a centenarian. She re- tained her senses unimpaired to the last and but a few months previous to her death related to her grandson, the subject of this sketch, how she had witnessed the killing of wolves, wild turkeys and deer on her husband's farm, and how upon one occasion she had caught up an axe and killed a deer which had got fast in a fence through which it was trying to force its way. Henry Aukerman (father) was born in 1801 and lived in Unity township until April 5, 1885. He was an industrious and prosper- ous farmer, a member and deacon of the Evan- gelical Lutheran church and an earnest and active democrat. He married Catharine Smith, by whom he had nine children, four sons and five daughters.
Joseph Aukerman was reared on his father's farm, received his education in the common schools of his native township and has always
been engaged in farming. He owns a farm of fifty-four acres of land adjoining the town of Lycippus. Ile is a democrat in politics and a member and deacon of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church.
October 15, 1861, he united in marriage with Sarah E. Launtz, a daughter of Andrew Launtz, of Unity township. They are the parents of nine children, six sons and three daughters : Harry, Della, Edward, David, Emma, Nathan- iel, John, Christina and Trauger. Harry Aukerman, the eldest son, married Elizabeth Critzer and resides at Lycippus.
TOIIN R. AUKERMAN, a reliable citizen and a thrifty farmer of Unity township, is a son of IIenry and Catharine (Smith) Aukerman, and was born in Unity township, Westmoreland county, Pa., December 11, 1848. The present generation in this county knows but little of the hardships endured by the early settlers of the territory between Chestnut Ridge and the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers. Among those pioneers who settled in Unity township when it was an almost unbroken stretch of forest were three brothers by the name of Aukerman. They were natives of Lancaster county and came west of the Alleghenies at the close of the Revolution. One of these brothers was Philip Aukerman (grandfather), who took up a large tract of land and spent many years in clearing out a farm. He lived to be quite an old man and reared a family of industrious and respectable children. His widow survived him for several years and passed away in the ninety-third year of her age. She was a woman of strong mind, remarkable courage and great fortitude (see sketch of Joseph Auker- man). Henry Aukerman (father) was born in 1801 and died in 1885, aged eighty-three years. Ile was a democrat and a Lutheran. Ile was a man who was kind to the poor and needy and his word was as good as his bond wherever he
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was known. He married Catharine Smith, who was a native of this county.
John R. Aukerman was reared on a farm and received a fair education in the common schools of his native township. Leaving school he engaged in farming which he has pursued ever since. ITis present farm of fifty-three acres of well-improved land is four miles south of Latrobe. In addition to farming he is engaged in stock-raising.
In 1874 he married Anna C. Shiry, daughter of Jacob Shiry, of Unity township. They are the parents of five children, two sons and four daughters: Mary C., Ada C., Minnie B., John II., Olive and Henry.
Politically he is a democrat of the Jacksonian type and is a very strong believer in the prin- ciples of his party. John R. Aukerman served his township as tax collector in 1884, and is now a member of the Unity township school board. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church and Patrons of Husbandry.
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EORGE F. AUSTRAW, a Union vet- cran of the late civil war and a prosper- ous merchant of Millwood, was born in Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland county, Pa., November 30, 1843, and is a son of John M. and Hannah (Freeman) Austraw. John M. Austraw was a saddler by trade. He was one of the first teachers who organized music classes in Bedford, Somerset and Westmoreland coun- ties, and was accidentally killed while engaged in erecting a saw mill. The saddle horse of the team which he was driving toward the saw mill stumbled and fell and crushed Mr. Austraw to death against a tree. He married Hannah Freeman, a daughter of George Freeman, of Cook township, who was an early settler in the Ligonier Valley. Mr. and Mrs. Austraw were the parents of eleven children : Eliza, widow of Edward O'Connor; Martha (dead); Agnes (deceased); Susan (dead); John F., Samuel M., 1
Mary Ann, wife of A. W. Akers, of Topeka, Kansas; James, Harrison and George F. Mrs. Anstraw died October 17, 1870.
George F. Austraw was reared in the Ligo- nier Valley and attended the schools of Ligo- nier. On August 18, 1864, he enlisted in Co. K, two hundred and eleventh reg. Pa. Vols. and participated in the battles of Hatcher's Run, Ft. Steadman and Petersburg, besides several minor engagements and sharp skirmishes. At Peters- burg, on April 2, 1865, he was wounded by a gun-shot in the right thigh from which he has never fully recovered. Shortly after being wounded he was taken to the field hospital and then to City Point, from thence was sent to Carver hospital, Washington City, where he re- mained until July 10, 1865, when he was honor- ably discharged from the service of the United States. On September 18, 1865, he came to Millwood and secured a clerkship in a store at that place which he held until 1868, when he erected a storeroom and engaged in his present mercantile business at Millwood. In 1871 he erected a very fine dwelling. July 11, 1868, he was appointed postmaster and has served in that capacity ever since with the exception of six months in 1887. He has a varied and com- prehensive assortment of dry goods, groceries, notions and everything usually found in a first- class general mercantile establishment.
George F. Austraw was married on March 31, 1870, to Agnes V. Raum, Millwood, Derry township. Their union has been blessed with two children : Alice M., born January 3, 1875, and Annie Laura, born November 2, 1876.
In politics Mr. Austraw has always been a republican. He has been successful in the mercantile business and enjoyy a good trade. Mrs. A. V. Austraw's mother's maiden name was Anna Barton, from Bedford county. The Barton family is a very old one in the history of this county ; they were originally English and settled in the State of New Jersey prior to the Revolution, during which conflict they took an
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BIOGRAPHIES OF
active interest. Col. Barton commanded at the capture of Tinicum island below Philadel- phia. The eminent Dr. Barton, so long a pro- fessor in Jefferson Medical college, now deceased is a descendant. Miss Anna Barton, M. D., is one of the instructors in the Women's Medical college of Philadelphia. Dr. Barton, of Home- stead, is a full cousin of Mrs. Austraw.
Hle is a member of the Presbyterian church at Derry, and P. A. Williams Post, No. 4, Grand Army of the Republic.
W. BANKS, M. D., a well-read and successful physician of Livermore and medical examiner for the relief depart- ment of the Pennsylvania railroad, is a son of Dr. Morgan R. and Nancy J. (Long) Banks and was born at Livermore, Westmoreland county, Pa., May 1, 1852. Ilis great-grand- father, Banks, was a native of Maryland, where his son Joshua Banks, grandfather, was born. Joshua Banks migrated to Derry township where he soon quit farming and engaged in the mer_ cantile business. Ile married Catharine Rees, a native of Wales, who bore him seven children, of whom but two are living: Dr. Morgan R. and Eleanor Creery, of Cherry Tree, Indiana county, l'a. Dr. Morgan R. Banks was born in Derry township March 5, 1815, read medi- cine with Dr. Thomas Mabon of Indiana county, now of Allegheny City, and graduated from the Allopathie Medical school of Cleveland, O., in 1851. Immediately after graduation he located at Livermore where he has practiced medicine ever since.
Hle is an experienced and successful physician, and but few members of his profession in the county surpass him in years of practice. IIe was married to Nancy J. Long and to them have been born four children : Jessie May, wife of Oscar J. MeCreery, a contractor of Mckeesport, Pa., Dr. C. W., Samuel M., deceased, and Clara, deceased.
Mrs. Banks is a daughter of James Long, who came to Derry township from county Derry, Ireland. He was born about the time of the Revolutionary war and married Miss Fair of Indiana county, Pa., by whom he had six chil- dren.
Dr. C. W. Banks was reared at Livermore and received his education in the public and select schools of that place and Blairsville academy, when the latter institution was under the charge of Prof. A. J. Bolar. He read medi- cine with his father and entered the college of Physicians and Surgeons where he remained one year. Hle then (1981) went to Starling Medical college, Columbus, O., where he pursued his medical studies till 1882 when he entered Toledo Medical college, Toledo, O., from which insti- tution he was graduated in April, 1883, as vale- dictorian of his class. After graduation he located at Livermore where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession till the present time. With his wide range of medical reading, with the advantages derived from prosecuting professional studies in three leading medical colleges of the land, and with seven years of actual and successful practice, he is amply quali- fied to win success in the future. He is exceed- ingly affable and courteous and is a man of fine personal appearance.
June, 1881, Dr. C. W. Banks united in mar- riage with Ida M. Walkinshaw, daughter of James Walkinshaw of this county. Their union has been blessed with one child, Willie R., who was born September 23, 1882.
WILSON BARNETT, the leading mer- chant of Ilillside, a man of fine business ability and one whose talents and labor have wrought out marked success, is a son of John and Nancy (Morrison) Barnett, and was born in Derry township, Westmoreland county, Pa., May 27, 1839. The Barnett family are old settlers. John Barnett was born in Chester
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county, Pa., of Scotch-Irish parents and was a Revolutionary soldier. Married Rachel Crosby, of Foggs Manor, and came to Westmoreland county in 1778, settled in Derry township on a tract of land near New Derry in 1784, died in 1825; his wife in 1833. Children: Samuel married Rebecca McClure, William married Jane Wallace, John married Nancy Morrison, daughter of John Morrison, of Unity township, Elizabeth married William Hughes, Martha married Isaac Taylor, Rachael married John Laird. John Barnett, Jr., was a man of influ- ence in Derry township, a good thinker and of great strength of character ; took a leading part in the establishment of the common school sys- tem in Derry township. He died in 1884 in his nintieth year and his wife died in 1876. Their children were: Jane Elizabeth, died in infancy ; Rachel, born June 24, 1824, married Rev. W. M. Donaldson, died April 4, 1854; Rev. John Morrison, born May 20, 1826, mar- ried Martha R. Elder; Martha Jane, born March 26, 1828, married Thomas L. Pollock, both dead; Nancy, born July 10, 1833, married Rev. J. Shearer Elder, D. D. ; Elizabeth Irving, born June 20, 1830, died May 27, 1839 ; Mary, born January 27, 1837, married Thomas Bar- nett Elder; James Wilson, born May 27, 1839.
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