USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania > Part 64
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ICHIAEL PALMER. One who has made life a success and established a good name in his community is Michael Palmer, of Youngstown. He is a son of Michael and Christina (Hays) Palmer, and was born in Donegal township, Westmoreland county, Pa., May 31, 1812. The Palmer family is of Ger- man deseent and the Westmoreland county branch of it was founded by Adam Palmer, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Adam Palmer was a native of what is now Lebanon county, Pa., where his ancestors had been resi- dlent for several generations and were noted for thrift and honesty. He served two terms of enlistment in the Revolutiongry war and was at Brandywine and in several other battles. About 1782 he pushed westward to better his fortunes, located in Mt. Pleasant township, where he took up a large tract of land and was a highly re- spected citizen. Of the children who were born to him in this county one was Michael Palmer, Sr., who removed to Donegal township, where he purchased a farm and resided until his death in 1860, when he was in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church and married Christina Hays, who was a native of this county, a devout Lutheran and who passed away in 1855 aged sixty-nine years, five months and three days.
Michael Palmer attended the rural schools of his neighborhood and remained on his father's farm till he was twenty-four years of age when
he removed to Unity township. He there pur- chased a farm which he continued to till for forty-three years. In 1879 he retired from active life and removed to Youngstown where he has resided ever since. For over a half cen- tury of active life he was reckoned one of the most industrious and successful farmers of his section of the county. He is a member of the Catholic church, has been a life-long democrat and served his township for one term as assessor.
Michael Palmer was married in 1840 to Mary Ann Henry, who died in 1867 and left five children : Ely II., Isaac HI., John S., Mary Ann and Agnes. In 1879 Mr. Palmer united in marriage with Mary Alice Kuntz. To this second union have been born two sons and one daughter: Michael Francis, Alexander Jerome and Elizabeth Gertrude.
AMES A. PEARCE, a prominent and re- liable druggist of Livermore and a veteran soldier of the late " Great Rebellion," who made a fine military record and fought in some of the hardest battles of the war, is a son of John C. and Sarah A. (King) Pearce and was born at New Alexandria, Westmoreland county, Pa., July 16, 1847. The Pearces are of Scotch- Irish descent, who originally settled in Mon- mouth county, N. J. about the year 1740, and Isaac M. Pearce, the father of John C. and grandfather of James A. Pearce, removed west in 1792 and bought a farm in Westmoreland county near New Alexandria where he died in 1847.
John C. Pearce was born near New Alexan- dria, Westmoreland county, Pa., 1822. He was reared on a farm, educated in the common schools, taught several terms of school, was a clerk at New Alexandria and Livermore and became a member of the mercantile firm of Thomas G. Stewart & Co., of Livermore. In 1870 he removed to Saltsburg, Indiana county, Pa., became a member of the mercantile firm of
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Stewart & Pearce, which continued until 1878. when Mr. Pearce withdrew and engaged in his present clothing business at that place. He is a strong republican, was a friend of Hon. John Covode and is a warm supporter of Judge Harry White. Ile is an active worker in the Metho- dist Episcopal church. On July 16, 1846, he married Sarah A. King, daughter of Charles King, an old steamboat captain of Pittsburg. To them have been born nine children : James A., E. May, Mary J., wife of Simon Wilt, of St. Petersburg, Pa .; Catharine, married to Alfred MeQuiston, of Saltsburg, this State ; Thomas S., married to Julia, daughter of Rev. W. W. Woodend, pastor of the Saltsburg Pres- byterian church ; T. Stewart (deceased), and three who died in infancy.
James A. Pearce was reared and educated at Livermore until the age of fourteen. On Sep- tember 10, 1861, he enlisted in Co. G, seventy- sixth Pa. "Zouaves, served six months and was discharged on account of sickness. On June 19, 1863, he enlisted in Co. D, second reg., Pa. Vols., was discharged January 2, 1864, and four years later entered the United States Sig- nal Corps in which he served until August 22, 1865 ; was in the battles of New Market, Wood- stock, Piedmont, Lexington, Stanton, Salem, Berryville, Ohio, Cedar creek, Fisher's Hill and Winchester. After the war he was com- missioned by Gov. Hartranft as second lieuten- ant of Co. D, Livermore Rangers of the National Guards and served as such for several years. From 1865 to 1872 he was engaged hackstering. In the latter year he embarked in his present prosperous and flourishing drug business at Livermore.
On October 9, 1866, Mr. Pearce united in marriage with Margaret I. Cunningham, of near Livermore. To their ation have been born seven children, of whom four are living : Charles K., born January 26, 1868; Earnest C., born De- cember 13, 1869; E. Madge, born June 27, 1872; and John R., born February 24, 1876.
May 80, 1879, his wife died and on February 1, 1883, he married Hannah M. Holmes, daughter of Samuel Hohnes. By his second marriage he has two children : Ono IL., born December 20, 1883, and Orpha E., born May 31, 1886.
In politics Mr. Pearce is an uncompromising republican and a strong worker in that party. Ile has served twice as postmaster at Livermore. His first term was from March 10, 1870, to April 1, 1872, and the second term from De- cember 17, 1873, to September 20, 1885. He was elected justice of the peace 1890, and is now serving as such.
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TOSEPII E. PEEBLES, M. D., one of the leading physicians of Youngstown and one of the young, progressive and successful physicians of the county and a member of the National Medical society, is a son of John M. and Jane (Hunter) Pee- bles and was born at Pleasant Unity, Unity township, Westmoreland county, Pa., October 2, 1859. His paternal grandfather, Robert Peebles, was a native of county Tyrone, prov- ince of Ulster, Ireland. He was a linen and coverlet weaver by trade and immigrated to this country when a young man. After arriving in the United States he settled in the eastern part of Pennsylvania where he followed weaving for many years. In 1838 he removed with his family to Westmoreland county where he settled in the Ligonier Valley. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church and the Masonic fraternity. He died in 1854 when in his eighty- fifth year. One of his sons, John M. Peebles, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1811, and accompanied his father to the Ligonier valley in 1838. He followed farming and school teach- ing for several years and then gave his atten- tion to farming exclusively until lately, when he retired from active life. He resides at Pleasant Unity and has always been a stout, active and stirring man. He has been a member and of-
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ficer of the United Presbyterian church for nearly sixty years. In politics he has been a life-long democrat and held many positions of honor and trust. Verging well on to his eight- : jeth year he is well preserved both in body and mind for one of his years. Ile married Jane Hunter, who was born in Cook township, this county, and died October 2, 1884. She was a devout member of the United Presbyterian church and was an excellent woman. Mr. and Mrs. Peebles were the parents of nine children, four sons and five daughters : Dr. A. II., Dr. Joseph E., Robert and HI. M. (the girls are) Mary, Margaret, Kate E., II. M. and Sadie. Of these children five were graduates of high schools.
Dr. Joseph E. Peebles was reared at Pleasant Unity and attended the common schools of that place until he was eleven years of age when he entered Sewickley academy. After three years' attendance at that institution of learning he spent two years in studying geometry, trigo- nometry and civil engineering under a pri- vate tutor who was well versed and practi- cally experienced in those branches. He then engaged in the general mercantile business with Thomas Hanna at Pleasant Unity, which he pur- sued for five years. Having made choice of medicine for his life-work he abandoned the mercantile business in which he had been very successful and commenced reading medicine in 1879 with his brother, Dr. A. H. Peebles, of Youngstown, this county. In the fall of 1882 he entered the Cincinnati college of Medicine and Surgery and graduated from that institution February 26, 1885, with the first honors of his class. After graduating he entered into part- nership with his brother. Dr. A. II. Peebles, and they practiced medicine for three years at Youngstown under the firm name of Peebles & Peebles. At the end of this time they dissolved partnership and since then Dr. Joseph E. Peebles has continued at Youngstown in the active and successful practice of his profession.
He is a democrat, a Knight of Pythias and a Chosen Friend. He is a member and was for one year secretary of the Westmoreland county Medical society. He is also a member of the State Medical society and was elected by it at its meeting in Bedford Springs, Pa., in 1887, as a delegate to the National Medical society. Dr. Peebles is a man of quiet habits, pleasant manners and void of any disposition for personal display. He takes an active interest in every- thing that benefits his community and is an earnest, zealous and successful physician.
ESSE K. POORMAN, the proprietor of a large, fine and well-appointed grocery store of Pleasant Unity and a worthy de- scendant of the early settled Poorman family of Unity township, is a son of William and Caro- line (Kuntz) Poorman and was born in Unity township, Westmoreland county, Pa., October 21, 1855. His great-grandfather, Michael Poor- man, Sr., was born and reared in one of the eastern Pennsylvania counties, from which he removed in early life to Unity township where he settled on a farm. He was one of the early settlers of the township. His son, Michael Poor- man (grandfather), came to Unity township with his father when but a mere child. He was reared and always lived in Unity township, where he died at the age of seventy-six years. He was a well- to-do farmer, a stanch democrat and an earnest member and liberal supporter of the German Reformed church. His son, William Poorman, was born in 1882 and died in 1861 at the early age of twenty-nine years. He was of the same religious faith and political opinion as his father before him. He had but merely entered upon an active and what promised to be a successful business career when he was summoned from his earthly labors. He married Caroline Kuntz. He left his widow and children to mourn a kind husband and an affectionate father. Mrs. Caro-
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line Poorman was born in 1834 and is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church.
Jesse K. Poorman was reared on a farm and received his education in common and graded schools. On leaving school he had intended to read medicine, but a serious weakness of his eyes compelled him to abandon that intention. Hle then served as a brakeman on the Pennsyl- vania railroad for two years, after which he re- turned to his farm where he remained for seven or eight years. At the end of that time he re- moved to Pleasant Unity, was in the undertak- ing business for three years and then went back to farming. Then he removed a second time to Pleasant Unity, where he has been engaged ever since in the grocery business. He carries a fine assortment of general groceries, provis- ions and all staple commodities of his line of trade and has built up an extensive patronage. Ile has always been an unswerving democrat and is a member of the Reformed church and has acquired considerable means in life by his industry and good management.
In 1875 Mr. Poorman united in marriage with Mary C. Gress, daughter of Jacob Gress of Unity township (see his sketch). To Mr. and Mrs. Poorman have been born five children, one son and four daughters : Clark L., Della A., Laura F., Nellie C. and Jennie C.
R EV. A. D. POTTS, A. M., pastor of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church hear Pleasant Unity, a favorably-known and highly respected minister of this county and a member of the "Society of Science, Letters and Art," of London, England. was born at Del- mont, Westmoreland county, Pa., October 31, 1849, and is a son of Daniel and Rosanna Potts. lle is descended from an old Scottish family, the first member of which there is any mention as a resident of Westmoreland county is John Potts (grandfather). Ile was a thrifty farmer and a strict Lutheran and resided the greater part of
his life in Jefferson and Armstrong counties. Ile married Catharine Whitehead by whom he had five sons and seven daughters. One of these sons was Daniel Potts the father of the Rev. A. D. Potts. When a young man Daniel Potts learned the trade of carriage builder which he followed for several years. Abandoning his trade for awhile he turned his attention to agri- cultural and mercantile pursuits. He next en- gaged in the furniture business at Delmont where he died June 26, 1884, when in the sixty-second year of his age. He was a republican but was liberal in his political views. He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church in which, however, he would never serve as an officer and frequently declined an election as elder or dea- con. Ile was an active worker in his church. With a warm heart, a cool head, an earnest zeal and a sound judgment he was a man whose counsel was often sought in church matters and who was a source of strength to the church and a help to the pastor. His wife was of Irish des- cent. They had nine children, of whom seven are living.
Rev. A. D. Potts was reared at Delmont where he received his early education in the common schools and academy of that place. He took his collegiate course at Muhlenberg college, Pa., from which institution he was graduated June 27, 1872. Ile then entered and took the full course of the Evangelical Lutheran semi- mary at Philadelphia, Pa., from which he was graduated May 19, 1875. On March 28 of that year he was ordained to the ministry and received a call to the Ligonier charge, which he held for ten months and then resigned on account of ill health. In 1879 he received and accepted a call to Franklin charge, which he served until 1883, when he accepted a call to his present charge of St. Paul's church at Pleasant Unity where he has labored faithfully and successfully for the substantial growth and development of Lutheranism and Christianity.
On January 7, 1875, he married Clarissa
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Welty, a daughter of Daniel and Barbara Welty, of Hannastown, this county. To Rev. and Mrs. Potts have been born six children, of whom four are living : A. Welty, Annie M., Jennie K. and Nellie R. The two deceased were a son who died in infancy and Mary E. who died February 11, 1889, aged three years, three months and fifteen days.
To St. Paul's church Rev. Potts has added seventy members by confirmation and fifteen by letter. He is a classical scholar, a clear thinker, an eloquent divine and an unassuming gentle- man who has many warm personal friends wherever he is known. He was highly compli- mented in New York City for his masterly arti- cle on " Evolution, Growth, Development," and a leading paper in speaking of him says : " Mr. Potts is considered as one among the ablest di- vines in the Lutheran church. As a writer and a pulpit orator he has few superiors."
J OSEPH POUNDS. The Pounds family is one of the oldest and best families in Derry township. It is of English, Scotch and Dutch descent. To the present generation the most prominent personage of this family and the cen- tral figure in this sketch is Joseph Pounds (deceased), who was born in Derry township near Livermore, December 21. 1795, and died on the farm where he was born, October 2, 1881, in his eighty-sixth year. Thomas Pounds who, in 1635, at the age of twenty-one " sailed from London to New England, embarked in the Eli- zabeth and Ann," and his wife, one of the chil- dren who came in the Mayflower in 1620, were ancestors of Joseph Pounds. William Collier, a London merchant belonging to one of the best English families, who came to America in 1633, and who was assistant governor of the Plymouth Colony for thirty years, when he was succeeded because he was " opposed to the adoption of rig- orous measures against the Quakers," was an ancestor of Joseph Pounds. John Cannan
(spelled Canann and Keenan), who came to the Plymouth Colony from London in the ship For- tune in 1621, and who was afterwards married to one of the ladies who came in the Mayflower, was the ancestor of Ellen Canaan, married to William Drummond (grandfather of wife of Joseph Pounds). William Drummond (from whose ancestors descended Rev. William Drum- mond, a Scotch Presbyterian minister, first gov- ernor of North Carolina and one of the earliest martyrs in America), came to New Jersey from Scotland in early life, was mortally wounded in the Revolutionary war, and had among his grandchildren Mary Drummond, wife of Joseph Pounds. The Pounds, Cannans, Bayards, Bull- mans and Colliers emigrated from New England principally from the Plymouth Colony, and about 1664 settled at Basking Ridge and Sterl- ing's Buildings, some thirty miles west of New- ark, N. J., whence a number of them came to Derry township just after the Rovolutionary War.
Adonijah Pounds, great-grandson of Thomas Pounds, married Sarah Fitchinger of whom came Joseph Pounds, who was born in 1750 and died April 4, 1813. He served with distinction in the Revolutionary war and at its close came to Derry township. He married Sarah Collier (sister of Thomas Collier), who was born in 1757 and died April 8, 1813. To them were born six children : Stephen, Sarah, Hannah, Eunice (Eggen), Elsie (McIntyre) and Joseph, the sub- ject of this sketch. Joseph Pounds purchased the homestead and afterward added to it by pur- chase until at his death he owned about two hundred and fifty acres of the best wheat grow- ing land in Derry township. He was a man of strong character, highly respected and without a known enemy. In early life he boated salt from the Conemaugh river to Cincinnati and points below that city. But his distinctive occupation was farming. He was an ardent democrat of the Jacksonian school. Joseph Pounds was a member of the Salem Presbyterian church for
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nearly seventy years. He persistently declined to hold any office in the church and never would accept any civil office. He married Mary Drummond, born 1807 and died February 26, 1815. Her grandfather, William Drummond, was of Scotch ancestors who settled in New Jer- sey and was mortally wounded in the Revo- Intionary war. He married Ellen Cannan and his eldest son John was born in 1763 and died in 1843. John Drummond married Mary Bullman, daughter of Joseph and Theresa ( Bay- ard) Bullman. He manufactured salt on the Conemaugh river for many years. His children were William, Goin, Joseph, Ellen (McCracken), John, Sarah (Cunningham), Mary (Pounds) and Nancy. To Joseph and Mary ( Drummond) Pounds were born nine children : Joseph, born May 12, 1830 ; Mary, born September 9, 1831, died July 16, 1832; Sarah (McCurdy), born May 11, 1833; John D., born December 13, 1834 ; Ellen (Drummond), born September 18, 1836; Hannah, born March 10, 1838; Mary. born December 21, 1839, died January 15, 1889; Stephen C., born July 25, 1841, and William, born April 6, 1843, and died October 19, 1876.
Joseph is a wealthy and leading farmer in Centre township, Indiana county, Pa. He was first married to Jane Robinson, second, to Julia Henderson and third to Ellen Coad. His chil- dren are: Mary (Johnston), Daniel, Jennie, William, Lizzie (deceased), Netta, Frank, Harry and Joseph. Sarah resides at Livermore. She was married to Alexander J. MeCurdy who died September 2, 1884. Her children are : Rev. Dr. Irwin Pounds, of Philadelphia, Pa. ; Joseph A., a lawyer of Greensburg ; Hannah (deceased); John, postmaster at Livermore ; Ella, William and Minnie. Ellen is married to John Drum- mond of near Livermore, where they purchased one of the Pounds tracts of land. John, Ste- phen and Hannah reside on the old Pounds homestead called " Tunnel Hill," which is owned by John and Hannah. John spent some time in
the oil country and served with Capt. Weaver in Co. A, 54th reg. Pa. Vols, against John Morgan in Ohio. He is a successful farmer and business man and is highly respected by his neighbors. Stephen Collier Pounds was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion in Capt. H. L. Donnelly's Co. G, 135th reg. Pa. Vols., in Capt. William Seanor's Co. 1, 54th reg. Pa. Vols., and in Capt. Tanner's Co. H. D. Pa. Vols. He has a good education. Hannah, since the recent death of her beloved sister Mary, continues to make the Pounds mansion the most desirable place to visit by all the Pounds descendants and one of the most pleasant homes in the community. The Pounds family have been the supporters and nearly all members of the old Salem Presby- terian church for the last hundred years.
RLANDO C. REED, a carpenter and lumber dealer of New Florence was born in Wheatfield township, Indiana county, Pa., June 30, 1856. His father, Abner Reed, is a native of St. Clair township, Westmoreland county, Pa., and was born near Laurel Furnace April 26, 1826. Hle is a machinist and millwright by trade and is an extensive dealer in lumber. He owns two valuable farms in Jefferson town- ship, Fayette county and an eighty-acre tract in Derry township, this county. His wife was Harriet Butler to whom he was married October 8, 1848 ; she was born in July, 1824.
Hezekiah Reed (grandfather), a surveyor by profession, was born in Scotland, but the most of his life was spent in Indiana county, where he died at the advanced age of eighty-three years. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and as a surveyor ran the boundary lines of Jefferson, Armstrong and Clarion counties. Ilis wife was Miss Shrum a native of Germany. They both came over to America on the same steamer, while en route became acquainted, were afterwards married and settled near a place
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which is now known as Garfield, in Indiana county.
Orlando C. Reed on leaving the common schools of his native township attended the State Normal school at Lock Haven, Pa., and the county normal in Clearfield county, Pa. In 1880 he went west and in one year returned to Pennsylvania. He came to New Florence and engaged in business. On November 10, 1881, he was married to Barbara Ruffner, a native of St. Clair township and a daughter of Cornelius and Dorcas (Brady) Ruffner of the same town- ship. Three children have been born to their marriage : Clarence, born December 31, 1882; Nettie L., May 3. 1885, and Elsie M., Septem- ber 1, 1887. Ile is a republican, member of the Order of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and is also a member of the M. E. church at New Florence.
$ HANNON ROBB. proprietor of the Robb House at Youngstown, and a great-grand- son of Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair of Revolutionary fame, is a son of William and Susan (West) Robb and was born in Unity township, Westmoreland county, Pa., February 3, 1850. William Robb was reared in Unity township where he has always resided. He was born in 1823 and is a member of the Evangeli- cal Lutheran church. He married Jane West a native of this county.
Shannon Robb was reared in Unity township and attended the common schools till he was fifteen years of age. when he came to Youngs- town and learned the trade of saddlery and harness making with D. S. Gibson of that place. After completing his apprenticeship he opened a shop at Youngstown and followed saddle and harness making for twenty-two years. In 1882 he engaged in the hotel business which he has conducted successfully ever since. His house is well arranged for the entertainment and accom- modation of the traveling public and he never
spares any pains to make his guests comfortable as well as to supply their every want. In the eight years that he has been proprietor and manager of the house he has achieved the repu- tation of being a successful and popular land- lord. He is specially adapted for his present line of business and has made the Robb House a most desirable, comfortable and home-like hotel. Mr. Robb is a straight and unswerving democrat, takes an active part in political cam- paigns and has held all of the various borough offices of Youngstown. Ile is a member of the Evangelical church, Junior Order of United American Mechanics and Chosen Friends.
In 1880 Shannon Robb united in marriage with Rebecca Bossart, daughter of John Bossart of Unity township. Mr. and Mrs. Robb are the parents of three children, two sons and one daughter : Frank Keenan, Jessie Blanche and John Burton.
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