USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania > Part 59
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Samuel L. Gorgas attended school at Mt. Pleasant and Greensburg. In January, 1839, he assisted his father in the clerk's office, and from 1840 to June, 1846, he was a clerk in the prothonotary's office. In the year 1847 he re- moved to Johnstown, Pa., where he remained until 1859, when he removed to his present farm which he had purchased and upon which he had erected a good house in 1858.
On January 12, 1811, he married. His son Murray has been receiving teller of the Provi- dent Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia since 1876 ; Minerva J., wife of B. M. Smiley, of Carlisle; Ferdinand S., a dental surgeon of Derry ; and Mary A., who is the wife of Dr. W. K. Young of Pittsburg, Pa.
In politics Mr. Gorgas is a stanch democrat and has been serving as justice of the peace since 1882. He is a man of good business
ability, does a general collecting business, and has been constantly called upon for years to write wills, deeds, mortgages and articles of agreement.
ICHARD GRAHAM is one of the many prosperous farmers of Unity township who are deserving of the success which they have achieved. Ile is a son of James and Catherine (Ewing) Graham and was born on the farm on which he now resides in Unity township, Westmoreland county, Pa., July 9, 1833. His parents were both natives of county Donegal, in which they were married and afterwards (1835) immigrated to this country. They were Presby- terians, came to Westmoreland county and settled in Unity township on the farm now occupied by the subject of this sketch. The father, James Graham, was a very industrious man, reared a family of two sons and six daughters and cleared out a large part of his farm on which the old house is still standing into which he first moved. Ile was a republican and died May 6, 1881, aged eighty-two years. The mother, Catherine (Ewing) Graham was an estimable woman and died April 15, 1884, when in the eighty-fourth year of her age.
Richard Graham was reared on the farm which he now owns and on which he has always resided. His education was received in the carly common schools of the county. Leaving school he engaged in farming which he followed until the fall of 1862 when he was drafted and served for nine months in Co. 1, 168th reg., Pa. Vols. His regiment was stationed at New Berne, N. C. After his term of military ser- vice was ended he returned home and resumed charge of his farm which he has successfully tilled ever since. He is a republican in political sentiment, a presbyterian in religious belief and holds membership in the Unity church of that denomination.
April 15, 1885, he married Emma Crawford, a daughter of James Crawford, of Unity township,
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who was a farmer by occupation, a member of Unity Presbyterian church and died March 15, 1879, aged eighty years. Mr. and Mrs. Graham have one child, a daughter, who is named Lucy May.
Richard Graham has given his time entirely to agricultural pursuits yet has never failed to take a proper interest in political affairs or to discharge every religious duty devolved upon him. His farm of one hundred and fifty acres of land is well situated in regard to railroad com- munication and market facilities. The land is productive and well adapted to fruit or market gardening purposes.
ACOB GRESS, an old and well-known citi- zen and a prominent and successful farmer of Unity township and now a resident of Pleasant Unity, was born in Washington town- ship, Westmoreland county, Pa., September 27, 1825, and is a son of Jacob and Mary ( Lauffer) Gress. The Gress family of this county is a branch of the Gress family of eastern Pennsyl- vania. Capt. Valentine Gress (grandfather) came from that part of the State and settled in Mt. Pleasant township. One of his sons was the late Jacob Gress, Sr. He was one of the most substantial citizens and remarkably suc- cessful business men who ever lived in . West- moreland county. He was born March 11, 1793, and died February 13, 1883, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, eleven months and two days. By trade he was a cooper but early in life he and his brother John purchased three hundred acres of timber land near Apollo and lived in a little log cabin with puncheon floor while they cleared and farmed this land. Ile next bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Ohio and prospered so well that in 1832 he purchased a splendid farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres in Unity township, on which he moved in 1837 and afterwards built a large brick house in which he lived until his death.
He served as a soldier in the war of 1812, was a democrat in politics and held membership in the Reformed church, of which he had been dea- con and elder. He was a man of unusual business ability and was a prominent and influ- ential citizen of the community in which he lived. He was a large land-holder and gave a good farm to each of his four sons and two daughters. His wife was Mary Lauffer who bore him eight children, four sons and four daughters, and died September 2, 1880, aged eighty-one years, one month and sixteen days.
Jacob Gress received his education in the schools of his neighborhood. IIe came to Unity township in 1837 and remained until 1856 when he moved to a farm of his father's in Mt. Pleas- ant township. In 1866 he returned to the home farm where he remained until 1886, when he retired from farming and active business life and removed to his present residence at Pleasant Unity in 1889. He owns his father's fine Unity township farm of one hundred and eighty-six aeres besides an adjoining farm of one hundred and eighteen acres and four acres of land and some valuable property at Pleasant Unity. Jacob Gress is a good business man, a "dyed- in-the-wool" democrat and one of the old and substantial members of St. Paul Re- formed church,in which he has been deacon and elder.
On 20th March, 1856, he married Catharine Rumbaugh, who was a daughter of Peter Rum- baugh, of Mt. Pleasant township, and died in 1859 leaving two children : Franklin L., who is preparing to go west, and Mary C., wife of J. K. Poorman. Mr. Gress remarried 9th June, 1870, to Maria Zimmerman, who was a daughter of Reuben Zimmerman, of Hempfield township, and died May 10, 1879, leaving one child : John R. E. For his third and present wife Mr. Gress united in marriage, on 15th March, 1881, with Julia Ann Iless, daughter of Jacob Hess, of Donegal township, this county.
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OSIIVA GRIFFITH, one of the careful farmers and highly respected citizens of Mt. Pleasant township, is a son of Daniel and Mary (Newill) Griffith and was born in Mt. Pleasant township, Westmoreland county, Pa., September 6, 1822. Hlis paternal grandfather, Abijah Griffith, was a resident of Mt. Pleasant township for many years and was engaged in the common agricultural pursuits of his day. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Newill, was a de- scendant of the old and early settled Newill family of Mt. Pleasant township. He was born and reared on his father's farm, attended the early schools of the first quarter of the eighteenth century and engaged in farming, which was the common occupation of the settlers of that day in Westmoreland county. He died on the farm now owned by the subject of this sketch. Daniel Griffith (father) was born in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Hle was reared on a farm, received his education in old subscription schools and followed farming till his death. He married Mary Newill, by whom he had four children, two sons and two daughters : John (dead) ; Joshua, Elizabeth and Jane.
Joshua Griffith was reared in his native town- ship and trained to all kinds of farmwork. He attended the rural schools and after obtaining what was considered at that day a fair education he engaged in his present business of farming and stock-raising. He owns ninety-five acres of good land which he keeps in first-class order. His farm is situated near the young and rising town of Keeksburg.
Joshua Griffith married Elizabeth Mathias. To Mr. and Mrs. Griffith were born four child- ren, two sons and two daughters: Henry married Amy Barnhart, follows teaching and is fnow serving as auditor of Mt. Pleasant township ; Emily, wife of James Obley, who is engaged in farming ; Lincoln (dead) ; and David, who is at- tending the " Western Pennsylvania Classical and Scientific Institute."
Politically Joshua Griffith is a republican.
He is a member of Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian church, which was known in old times as the " Middle church."
OTY GUTHRIE, one of Derry township's leading farmers and best citizens, was born in that township, June 16, 1845, and is the only child of John and Abby (Doty) Guthrie. His grandfather, Robert Guthrie, was a native of Ireland who immigrated to America more than a century ago and after re- maining three years in Franklin county located permanently in Derry township where he bought a farm which Doty Guthrie now owns, and on which he died February 26, 1826. He was married in Ireland to Margaret Love, a native of Erin, by whom he had eight daughters and two sons. John Guthrie (father) was the young- est child and was born on the homestead farm in Derry township, January 21, 1812, and lived on the same until his death which occurred on the 20th of August, 1888. Like the remainder of the family he was always a democrat and at- tended and supported the Presbyterian church. Interested in education he served in the profit- less office of school director for fully a quarter of a century. Although somewhat reserved in manner, yet he was good-humored and loved to crack a joke. In his community he was highly esteemed by all who knew him. He was twice married, first to Abby Doty, who lived but one and one-half years after her marriage and died June 30, 1845, when her son was only two weeks old. Mr. Guthrie's second wife was Mary W. Keuney (See sketch of George W. Kenney) who died without issue September 16, 1876. Nathaniel Doty (maternal grandfather) lived many years near Millwood in Derry township, where he died. The original Doty came to America from England in the Mayflower in 1620 and the descendants are to be found in va- rious sections of the country.
Doty Guthrie was reared on the farm where
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first he saw the light, received a common school education and has all his life been engaged in the pursuit of agriculture. He was desirous of obtaining a complete education, but could not stand the necessary confinement and was obliged to abandon his purpose or intention. Ile is a presbyterian, a trustee of the church at New Alexandria and takes great interest in educa- tional matters, having served as school director for some twelve years. A democrat in principle, he takes an active part in behalf of his party's cause. He is connected with the order of Patrons of Husbandry, owns several fine farms, has excellent home improvements and is one of the most substantial citizens of the township. He is quiet and unassuming yet courteous and genial, full of humor and hospitality.
Doty Guthrie was married June 5, 1873, to IIannah R. Peoples, daughter of Joseph Peoples, of Ligonier township, and to them have been born three children : John, born August 7, 1874 ; Margaret E., born August 28, 1879; and Abby J., born April 27, 1884.
J TOSEPII GUTHRIE (deceased). One of the most industrious and useful citizens of Westmoreland county and one who had been particularly identified with the legal affairs of Derry township was the late Joseph Guthrie, a grandson of the founder of New Derry and who served very acceptably as a surveyor for many years. He was a son of Col. James and Sallie (MeClure) Guthrie and was born on the homestead farm in Derry township, Westmore- land county, Pa. His grandfather, William Guthrie, was born in Ireland July 16, 1744, and died April 8, 1807, in Derry township to which he had emigrated in early Indian times. Ile took up a large tract of land near the site of New Derry and laid out that thriving town. Ilis children were : Alexander, John, Margaret, William, Col. James, Thomas, Mary and Joseph. Col. James Guthrie (father) was born
in the old settlers' fort which stood on the Calvin Gilson farm on June 19, 1781, and died November 12, 1855. He received a large farm out of his father's vast tract of land on which he resided as long as he lived. He was quite prominent in his day and was said to have kept a live panther as a pet for many years. Ile married Sallie McClure who was born January 14, 1790, and died September 25, 1875, and whose parents were John and Violet (McElheny) McClure, of Derry township. To Col. James and Mrs. Guthrie were born four children : Joseph (deceased) ; Margaret A., who died in 1867 ; William, died in 1825; and Violet M.
Joseph Guthrie inherited his father's farm on which he was reared and spent his life. He obtained a fair education and gave his attention to farming and surveying. He was a member and communicant of Old Salem Presbyterian church for over fifty years. He was more than once elected ruling elder but would never accept that office, although he frequently served as choir leader and trustee. Ile was a liberal contributor to the church, a successful business man, an industrious farmer and a useful citizen. Hle was a republican in politics, was justice of the peace for many years and served one term as county surveyor.
On November 9, 1886, he united in marriage with Margaret A. Kline, daughter of Joseph and Margaret J. (Leasure) Kline, who have been residents of Delmont since 1850. To Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie was born one child, a son, Joseph Leasure Kline Guthrie, who was born April 2, 1888. Mrs. Guthrie is a great-great- granddaughter of Peter Kline, whose eldest son John served under Washington, married a Miss Mace and removed to Westmoreland county where his eldest son, John Kline, married Nancy Buchman and one of their children was Joseph Kline, who married Margaret Leasure and has six children : Anna M., Aggie J., Margaret A. (Mrs. Guthrie), John L., Emma and Cyrus (for a full account of this important family see
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sketch of S. W. K. Kline, of Greensburg). Mrs. Guthrie, after her husband's death, re- moved to Latrobe where she has built and occupies a very fine house which stands just outside the borough limits.
Joseph Guthrie died December 8, 1888, and his remains rest in Old Salem cemetery. Of him it has been truthfully and appropriately said, " That he was a devoted son, an affection- ate brother and a loving husband and father."
HARLES C. HACKETT, an active busi- ness man, a soldier of the late war, ticket and freight agent of the P. R. R. Co., at Derry, was born at Elliottsburg, Perry county, Pa., August 1, 1845, and is a son of James B. Hackett. Tracing his lineage back for six gen- orations we come to David Hackett, who was of Scotch-Irish extraction and immigrated to Cum- berland (now Perry) county prior to the war of the Revolution. He lies buried in the old grave- yard near Duncannon, Pa. He had three sons : Robert, who lost an arm in the Revolutionary war and was buried alongside his father ; James, who immigrated to Crawford county, Pa. ; and George, who moved to Red Rock, near Loys- ville, Pa., where he died August 1, 1800. The latter had five sons: Robert, the second son and great-grandfather of Charles C. Hackett, settled near Sandy Hill, in Perry county, Pa., where he died June 1, 1835, and is buried in Centre graveyard. He had nine sons, of whom the second was George S. (grandfather). He served as treasurer and director of the poor of Perry county, died at Bloomfield July 5, 1852, and is buried in old Centre graveyard. One of his sons is James B. Hackett (father), who was born September 7, 1819, and is a resident of Bloomfield. He was in the mercantile business for many years, elected county surveyor in 1856, and was a clerk for four years in the office of Internal affairs under Hon. J. Simpson Africa, secretary.
Charles C. Hackett was reared in Perry county, where he graduated from Bloomfield academy. Being too young to enter the army as a private he enlisted as a drummer boy at the age of sixteen years in Co. G, one hundred and thirty-third reg. Pa. Vols., and participated in all the battles in which the command to which he was attached was engaged. In February, 1864, he re-enlisted in the Signal Corps of the U. S. A. and served until the close of the war. After the war he engaged successfully in the grocery and clothing business. In June, 1869, he was employed by the P. R. R. Co. and sent as as- sistant ticket agent to Derry. In 1871 he was transferred to Pittsburg, where he acted for three years as storekeeper. In 1874 Mr. Hackett was appointed ticket and freight agent at Derry, which position he has held very creditably ever since. On February 8, 1882, he married Annie E. Kunkle, daughter of Rev. Christian F. Kunkle of Greencastle, Franklin county, Pa. To their union has been born one child, a daughter, Amanda Belle Hackett. In politics Mr. Hackett is a stanch democrat and has always been an active worker in that party. Ile is a member of Derry Presbyterian church, and an energetic and successful business man of the borough in which he resides.
R. EV. J. MILTON HAMILTON, the pop- ular pastor of the Presbyterian church at New Florence, is of Scotch-Irish line- age, was born in Ashland county, Ohio, May 16, 1842, and is a son of Hanson Hamilton who was a farmer by occupation and a native of Washington county, Pa., and was born in Feb- ruary, 1788. In 1818 he migrated to Ohio, where he purchased a large farm and quietly lived the life of a farmer until his death, on December 8, 1871. Ilis wife, Sarah, was a daughter of James Davis of Washington county, Pa. She died in May, 1889, at the advanced age of ninety-five years. William Hamilton
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(grandfather) was a Washington county pioncer ; he settled on a farm near West Middletown, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution and came to Pennsylvania from the north of Ire- land.
On December 30, 1869, Rev. J. Milton Hamilton was married to Julia Loomis, a daughter of Robert C., an iron merchant, and Jane (McCurdy) Loomis of Pittsburg, Pa. Four children have been born to their union : Mary L., born October 1, 1871; Robert L., July 28, 1873; Jennie, November 26, 1875, and Estella, November 21, 1877. IIe attended the public schools and afterwards the academy at Haysville. In 1865 he entered Washington and Jefferson colleges of Pennsylvania and was graduated from there in the class of 1866. In the fall of the same year he became a divinity student at the Western Theological seminary at Allegheny, Pa., and from which he was gradu- ated in the Spring of 1869. His first pastoral charge was at Corsica and Greenville, preaching every alternate Sabbath at either place in Clarion county. At the end of two years he resigned on account of ill health and for the two years following he did no work. He next entered the Blairsville presbytery and took charge of the Plum creek Presbyterian church where he successfully labored in the interests of that church for a period of fourteen years. In 1888 he came to New Florence and now has charge of the church at that place and the Armagh Presbyterian church in Indiana county. Rev. Hamilton is a thorough gentleman, a man of superior intelligence, strong and forcible in the pulpit and is very popular with the members of his church.
ERMAN HAMILL. Among the many different kinds of business there are none of more importance than the lumber trade, and one who is engaged in this branch of commercial enterprise is Herman Hamill of Laurelville.
Ile is a son of William and Helena (Seibert) Hamill and was born in the State of Hesse (German, Hessen) Germany, January 19, 1857. llis grandfathers Hamill and Seibert were na- tives and residents of Germany. They were strict Lutherans in religious belief. William Hamill, father, was born about 1825 and is a very fine scholar. He has been a teacher in and principal of the schools of Belter Shausen, Germany, for the last forty-eight years. He is a lutheran and owns a small farm. He has been married twice. For his first wife he mar- ried Helena Seibert, who died in 1866. They had seven children : Lizzie. wife of William Reisbeck, of Philadelphia; Prof. Carl, princi- pal of a high school in Germany ; William, a captain in the German army; Herman, Martin, a teacher, and two who died in infancy.
For his second wife he married a Miss Price, by whom he has had two children Katie and George who died when young.
Herman Hamill received a very good educa- tion in the schools of Belter Shausen where his teacher was his father. In 1872 he and his sister came to Greensburg where he worked at butcher- ing till 1878 when he engaged in that business for himself. In 1887 he removed to Laurelville and in partnership with Mr. Koontz purchased two hundred and sixty-five acres of heavily- timbered land. Mr. Hamill is actively en- gaged in cutting this timber and sawing it into lumber which he is constantly shipping to many different points. While in the butchering business at Greensburg he bought and shipped cattle to the eastern markets and during one summer put up a great many hay elevators throughout the county.
On March 22, 1879, he married Sophia Bomer, daughter of Bernard Bomer of near Greensburg. They are the parents of four children : Helen and Mabel M. (twins), born June 24, 1880; Lizzie, born November 1, 1881, and William Carl, born April 7, 1886.
Politically Mr. Hamill is a democrat. IIe is
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a member of the First Lutheran church of Mt. Pleasant and is one of the energetic and success- ful business men of his community.
AMES HARDING, a descendant of an old Revolutionary soldier and patriot and the owner of one of Derry township's finest farms, was born in Mifflin township, Allegheny county, Pa., October 26, 1823, and is a son of James and Sarah (Hays) Harding. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Harding, was born in Ire- land and came to America prior to the Revolu- tionary war. Ile served as a cavalryman in the Continental army, was captured by the British, carried to Philadelphia and confined in a build- ing from which he and several other prisoners escaped by means of a rope conveyed to them by the woman who carried in their meals. After the war he migrated to Allegheny county, this State, and subsequently removed to Clinton county, Ohio, where he died in 1844 at the advanced age of ninety-eight years. Abraham Hays, maternal grandfather, was a resident of Allegheny county, Pa., where he married Fan- nie Pattie, who was of French descent. James Harding, Sr. (father) was born February 7, 1780, in Allegheny county, where he resided until his death, which occurred October 3, 1858. Hle was originally a democrat but became a whig in 1845. He was a farmer and married Sarah Hays, by whom he had eight children. of whom two are living: James, and Margaret, who married John Hodgson, of Pittsburg and cele- brated her golden wedding in July, 1889.
James Harding was reared on a farm and learned the trade of carpenter in Pittsburg, which he followed in that city for ten years. In 1866 he removed to Derry township and settled on his present farm which he had purchased in 1858. For the last twenty-one years he has been very successful in farming and stock-rais- ing. He is a republican in politics and a deacon of the Blairsville Presbyterian church. Ile is
genial and generous and has a beautiful and attractive home, which lies near Blairsville and is known as the Social Hall Farm.
On November 18, 1852, he married Louisa Hall, who was born August 7, 1829, and is a daughter of Robert Hall, a wealthy plow manu- facturer of Pittsburg and the inventer of the first patent lever plow. Mr. and Mrs. Harding have been the parents of six children : Martha J., born February 20, 1855; Laura B., June 24, 1858 ; James L., born November 7, 1860; Robert II., May 27, 1863, and died January 6, 1879 : Lawrence, born February 17, 1868, died January 13, 1879, and George H., born December 29, 1872, and died January 26, 1879.
MIZI D. HARMAN, a valiant soldier in the great rebellion and the present effi- cient manager of the Derry co-operative store, was born at Wilkinsburg, Allegheny county, Pa., April 18, 1845. Later, he, with his parents, removed to Greensburg where the subject of this sketch received his education. In June, 1863, he enlisted as corporal in Co. K, 211th reg. Pa. Vols. Mr. Harman for his intrepid conduct in the field was voted by Con- gress a medal which he now has in his posses- sion. Ile was engaged at Dunbar, Fayette county, for eight years, thence went to Connells- ville, afterwards was a short time in business at Greensburg and in 1881 he removed to Derry to take his present position, that of manager of the Derry co-operative store.
HIe was married to Miss Lucetta Sarver, of Greensburg, on November 4, 1869. She was a daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Kichl) Sarver, who were both born in Westmoreland county, Pa., and both now deceased.
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