Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Part 68

Author: Gresham, John M. cn; Wiley, Samuel T. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia [Dunlap & Clarke]
Number of Pages: 1422

USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania > Part 68

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BIOGRAPHIES OF

varia, January 9, 1809, and received in holy baptism the name of Sebastian. Feeling an in- clination to embrace the legal profession he entered the University of Munich in 1827. During his course of philosophy, however, he turned his mind to a higher calling and had himself enrolled among the students of the Georgianum, a theological seminary attached to the university. After the completion of his course at this institution he went to the Dio- cesan seminary at Ratisbon, into which diocese he had been received, to prepare himself for the reception of Holy Orders under the direction of the saintly coadjutor bishop, Michael Wittmann. On July 31, 1831, he was raised to the sublime dignity of the priesthood. After laboring most zealously and faithfully for one year at Alt- Oetting, a noted place of pilgrimage, he was rewarded with a vocation to a state of still greater perfection and entered the Order of St. Benedict in the monastery at Metten. From 1840 to 1846 he was employed as professor in Munich

In 1845 the question of rendering spiritual assistance to the greatly neglected German cath- olies in many parts of the United States was agitated in Europe. Father Boniface, as he was then called, laid down a plan of no ordinary merit, which drew the attention of the Ludwig Mission society. King Louis I, of Bavaria, took a lively interest in the matter and sent for Father Boniface. After his majesty had atten- tively listened to all details of the proposed un- dertaking he asked the father if he were willing to carry out his own plan. Father Boniface re- plied that he would be, provided the Rt. Rev. Abbot of Metten, his superior, would give his consent and blessing to the new mission. This permission and also a ready promise of substan- tial pecuniary assistance for a number of years was secured. Father Boniface now began active preparations for the great work for which Di- vine Providence had destined him in the New World. Father Boniface's idea was to select in

the interior of the country a central point of a district thickly settled with German catholics. There he intended to establish a monastery upon. a farm which would be attended by lay brothers. To the monastery he wished to attach a college in such a manner that the institution would not be entirely dependent upon its resources from. tuition fees, but owing to the products and pro- ceeds of the farm would be enabled to educate for little or no compensation a considerable number of boys and young men, chiefly of Ger- man parentage, who desired to become priests, either secular or regular. A site for his pro- posed establishment was offered him by the Rev. Peter H. Lemke, who had founded a Catholic colony at Carrolltown, Cambria county, Pa., and he referred the matter to the Bishop of Pitts- burg. On July 25, 1846, Father Boniface left Munich for America with fourteen young men who were aspirants for the priesthood. At Rot- terdam they embarked in the steamer Iowa and landed at New York city September 16, 1846. Here they were met by Rev. Lemke and accom- panied him to Carrolltown, where they arrived on the 30th of the month. Father Boniface immediately visited Bishop O'Connor of Pitts- burg, who offered him Sportsman's hall in this county as a favorable site for a monastery and college. In company with the bishop he visited the site of the present abbey and college build- ings, where he found a plain brick church 87 by 51} feet ; a parsonage 40 by 40 and a school house 30 by 20. A very fertile farm of three hundred and fifteen acres of land belonged to the church, whose members were German and English-speaking farmers of the surrounding country. Father Boniface was highly pleased with the place and after a consultation with his companions at Carrolltown he accepted the bishi- op's offer and on the 17th of October took pos- session of the parish of St. Vincent, which has had an eventful history. In 1787 six German Catholic families settled near Greensburg and two years later Rev. Theodore Brouwers, a

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Franciscan missionary, arrived in this settle- ment. He purchased Sportsman's hall, a log- house, which was occasionally used by a gentle- man from Harrisburg, Pa., on his hunting ex peditions in the vicinity. Father Brouwers' intention was to make the place a second Cone- wago, a residence of devoted priests. After the lapse of half a century his pious wish has been fulfilled. Sportsman's hall has become St. Vincent's abbey and college, whose influence is destined to endure for centuries. On October 24, 1846, Father Boniface laid the spiritual foundations of the monastery by investing his companions with the holy habit of the Order of St. Benedict.

From 1846 to 1850 Father Boniface and his followers had to encounter many trials and pri- vations. In 1850 he founded the Priory at St. Mary's, Elk county, Pa., introduced a commu- nity of Benedictine Sisters who took charge of the parochial schools. In the meantime his home labors at St. Vincent had not been neg- lected. He had replaced the old frame barn by one of brick, 222 x 67 feet. On the site of the parochial residence he built an abbey of 400 x 210 feet, which is commodious and well adapted to its purpose. The seminary was erected under his direction in 1848 and is growing more popular with each succeeding year of its age. In 1852 the college had thirty-four students. In 1854 the pupils had increased to ninety. In 1855 the community consisted of twenty priests, sixty-four cheries and scholastics and one hundred and twelve lay-brothers. In consideration of this progress the monsatery was raised by a decree of the Holy See, dated Au- gust 24, 1855, to the rank of an abbey, and by a breve of September 17 of the same year, Father Boniface Wimmer was appointed first abbot. From 1855 the order spread with rapid strides in various directions. In 1856 Abbot Wimmer sent a colony of monks to Minnesota, where they founded the present abbey and uni- versity of St. John. In 1857 a band of mission-

aries left St. Vincent for Kansas and Nebraska, where they established many stations. Their superior, Rev. Augustine Wirth, finally made Atchison, Kansas, his headquarters and founded at that place St. Benedict's abbey and college. In 1857 Abbot Winner sent several fathers to Newark, N. J., where they assumed charge of the parish and church of the Blessed Virgin, and some years later founded an abbey and col- lege. In 1876 he sent a few fathers to the "Caldwell Place " near Charlotte, N. C. They erected a monastery and chapel and opened St. Mary's college, one of the most successful Catho- lic institutions in the south. In 1885 their monastery was raised to the rank of an abbey. During 1876 and 1877 he established colonies in Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia. In the latter State he founded an agricultural school for colored boys. In 1880 he planted a colony in southern Illinois. Arch-abbot Wimmer made four journeys to Rome in the interests of his order, where, during his second visit, he established the college of St. Elizabeth.

St. Vincent abbey and college became wonder- fully prosperous under the rule of their illustri- ous founder. These institutions are situated forty miles east of Pittsburg and one mile from Beatty station.

When the aged arch-abbot was at last called out of life to receive the reward of his long and arduous labors, the American-Casinese Congre- gration of Benedictines, of which he, in 1865, had been appointed " praeses ad dies vitae " by Pope Pius IX, of happy memory, embraces five abbeys, two independent priories, nine dependent priories, one hundred and fifty-two other houses and missionary stations. Among the latter were the recently established missions to the negroes of Georgia and the Indians of northern Minne- sota. The congregation had among its members three bishops, six abbots, two independent priors, two hundred and twenty priests, four deacons, eleven sub-deacons, fifty-nine eleries in minor or- ders, twelve novices, one hundred and sixty-

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seven scholastics and about one hundred and fifty lay-brothers. The fathers were laboring at the time in twenty-five different dioceses and vi- cariates, attending to one hundred and sixty-one parishes and missions and conducting five col- leges with an attendance of over one thousand students.

Covered with the snows of years and full- handed of good works, the aged prelate, Boni- face Wimmer, surrounded by his sorrowing com- munity, calmly resigned his soul into the hands of his Maker, December 8, 1887. His power to inspire, to control and teach men, was simply wonderful. His name is written on thousands of hearts, is repeated at thousands of firesides and is indelibly inscribed on the imperishable tablet of history as one of the greatest leaders in the world's wide fields of modern missionary labor. His works of love, his deeds of kindness, his acts of charity are the noble monuments which the good arch-abbot raised to his memory, and in the completion of which he spent over a half century of his sacerdotal and monastic life.

ILLIAM WRIGHIT is a son of Daniel and Naney (Jones) Wright, and was born in Somerset county, Pa., July 18, 1841. His grandfather, Frederick Wright, was a native of Somerset county where he died, and his grandfather, John Jones, of Welsh descent, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. Daniel Wright (father) was born in 1812 in Somerset county, whence he came in 1854 to Mt. Pleasant township, this county. He died in 1881. He was a farmer and belonged to the Disciple church, in which he was an elder. He was the father of seven sons and four daughters. Two of his sons besides William served in the civil war. Norman entered the service near

the close but Charles enlisted earlier and saw considerable fighting at Fredericksburg and else- where.

William Wright has been twice married ; the first time to Hannah, a daughter of George Henri, by whom he had six children. Hannah Henri was born in 1843 and died in 1887. Elmer H., a bookkeeper at Hecla coke works who is married to Martha Dean ; Samuel S., also a bookkeeper at IIecla ; Walter L., Nellie, Emerson and Thomas H. Mr. Wright's second wife was Mary Laird, a daughter of Francis Laird, of Mt. Pleasant township, but a native of Scotland. To this marriage was born one child named Howard L.

William Wright was educated in the common schools and worked as a farmer prior to entering the civil war, June 21, 1861. He enlisted in Co. B, 28th reg. Pa. Vols., and served until July 20, 1864, participating in the battles of Gettysburg, Antietam, Leesburg, Maryland Campaign under MeClellan, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and various others, and was slightly wounded at the battle of Antietam and received a flesh wound at Chancellorsville. Ile was with Sherman dur- ing his march to Atlanta, and altogether saw a great deal of hard service. Part of the time he served as a private but later was promoted to a corporal. After being honorably discharged he returned to Mt. Pleasant township where he now owns a small tract of very fertile land and is en- gaged in gardening, fruit-raising, etc. In poli- ties he is a republican, has served as supervisor in his township and is one of the census enumer- ators who were appointed for Mt. Pleasant town- ship, the duties of which position he filled in June, 1890. He is a member of the M. E. church and for fourteen years superintendent of Sabbath school ; he is president of the board of trustees, is licensed as a local preacher and be- longs to the G. A. R. at Mt. Pleasant.

Cook, Donegal, Fairfield Ligonier

ACOB T. AMBROSE, M. D., one of the oldest practicing physicians of Ligonier, was born December 6, 1837, in Ligonier township, Westmoreland county, Pa., and is a son of William and Sarah (Bitner) Ambrose. Frederick Ambrose, his great-grandfather, a native of Fulton county, this State, came to Westmoreland county with his three sons, George, John and Henry, and settled in Ligo- nier Valley at a very early period in its history, where he remained until his death at a ripe old age. These three sons all reared families in the Valley, but their descendants have scattered, many of them going west, until but few com- paratively remain in that section. Henry Am- brose (grandfather) was born in Fulton county about 1762, and in this county, to which he came when quite young ; he followed farming till the end of his life. Ilis son, William Am- brose (father) was born October 14, 1806, in Ligonier Valley, where he owned land and was a tiller of the soil all his life. He married in 1828, Sarah, a daughter of Peter Bitner, of Ligonier township, who was of German descent, and who bore him eleven children, of whom six are living. The following is a record of the births and deaths : George W., born June 21, 1829, died November, 1881; Matilda, born April 18, 1832, married to Henry Karus; Mat- thew, born December 10, 1830, died July 22, 1839; Henry P., born March 10, 1834, living on the old homestead; Mary A, born May 11, 1836, wife of William Koontz; Jacob T., born

December 6, 1837 ; Josiah W., born March 2, 1810, lives at Ligonier ; Alexander, born Jan- uary 8, 1842, died January 23, 1842; Lucinda, born February 24, 1844, married to John Ray ; Louisa (twin), born February 24, 1844, died June 1, 1844; Amanda, born September 27, 1846, died December 18, 1846; William and Sarah (Bitner) Ambrose are both dead; the former died January 29, 1868, and the latter January 25, 1873. In his younger days William Ambrose was an "old-line whig," but in his more mature years became converted to the principles of the Democratic party. Both he and his wife were members of the Lutheran church.

Jacob T. Ambrose was reared on his father's farm, attended common schools and Ligonier academy, and at the age of twenty years began teaching school, which he continued for twelve years. In 1867 he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. J. A. Miller, of Ligonier, and in 1870 graduated from Long Island col- lege of Medicine, located in Brooklyn, N. Y. Dr. Ambrose began and continued the practice of his profession for five years at Stahlstown, this county, but removed to Ligonier in 1875, where he has successfully practiced ever since, and has built up an excellent reputation. Ile is a democrat in politics and belongs to the Lutheran church ; his wife is a member of the M. E. church.

Dr. J. T. Ambrose was married in 1867 to Susan E., a daughter of Hiram Boncher, who

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was born March 14, 1844, of German ancestors, and they have had seven children : Luella May, born December 26, 1868; Flora V., born April 12. 1871, died December 13, 1876; Lillian, born February 17, 1873: Nellie E., born January 31, 1875, died September, 1875; Charles D., born July 6, 1876; Frederick, born April 8, 1883; and George, born September 12, 1888.

MORY W. BLACKBURN, M. D., of Stahlstown, one of the young and rising physicians of the county, is a son of Joseph and Lucinda ( Kennedy) Blackburn, and was born in Donegal township, Westmoreland county, Pa., November 19, 1862. On both sides of his house he is of Scotch-Irish descent. Ilis grandfather, Hon. Joseph Blackburn, Sr., was a son of Anthony Blackburn and was a na- tive and prominent citizen of Donegal township where he served as justice of the peace for many years. Ile was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature and walked across the mountains to Harrisburg, for which he never received any mileage.

He was a Methodist in religious belief. Ile served in the war of 1812. His son, Joseph Blackburn (father), was born in 1823 and has always resided in his native township where he has followed farming as an occupation. He is a member and trustee of the M. E. church, a prominent and active republican and has served for many years as justice of the peace for Don -. egal township. He married Lucinda Kennedy, a daughter of Joseph Kennedy, who was a life- long resident of Perry county, Pa., where he was a leather dealer by occupation, a methodist in religious faith and a republican in political opinion. A sprained ankle caused him to be rejected as a soldier in 1861.

Joseph and Lucinda Blackburn have had six children : Melville, a farmer and married to Ella Creager ; Rebecca. wife of Henry Ober ; Frank,

Watson, who died young; Emma and Dr. Emory W.

Emory W. Blackburn received his education in the common and select schools at Stahlstown and the Scientific and Classical institute at Mt. Pleasant. Leaving college he taught for four years in the common schools of Fayette and Westmoreland counties and during one of these years he taught at Connellsville. In 1883 he quit teaching and entered the Medical depart- ment of the Western Reserve university at Cleveland, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1884. He then went to Cincinnati where he continued his professional studies in the Eclectic Medical institute of that city, from which he was graduated in 1885. During that year he located at Stahlstown where he has been en- gaged in the successful practice of medicine ever since. Dr. Blackburn has built up a large practice in his section, is popular as a physician and three young men at the present time are reading medicine with him. Politically he is a republican who is always active in behalf of his party's interests and has served as a member of the school board of Cook township. He is a member of Ligonier Lodge, No. 331, F. and A. M .; Ligonier Lodge, No. 960, I. O. O. F .; Ligonier Council, No. 501, Royal Arcanum, and Lodge No. 431, P. O. S. A. at Stahlstown, and of the M. E. church, of which he is a trustee.

On May 25, 1884, Dr. Blackburn united in marriage with Lizzie, daughter of Lewis Thomp- son (see sketch). Their union has been blessed with two children : Byron and Ruth.

B OUCHIER. The name Boucher is purely a French name and not German in any sense. That the first ancestor spoke the German and not the French language may be better understood by a brief reference to history. During the persecution of the Huguenots in the seventeenth century many of them were ban- ished from France and driven to Lorraine

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WESTMORELAND COUNTY.

and Alsace, two sparsely settled provinces be- longing to the German empire. The persecu- tion was carried to such an extent that these countries became densely populated with French refugees. For this and other reasons Louis the Fourteenth claimed these provinces and taking them from Germany they remained under the French dominion until the close of the Franco- Prussian war. While living in these " German States of France" the banished Huguenots learned to speak the German language, which they retain to this day. It is very common in American biography to find families of French extraction whose ancestors spoke the German language.

THE BOUCHER FAMILY .- The first ancestor of this family in this country was Daniel Boucher, who came from Lorraine about 1755. IIe crossed the ocean in a ship called " The President," bringing with him a wife and two children. He purchased land and became a farmer in Albany township, Berks county, Pa., his home being about twenty miles from the present city of Reading. In religion he was a Lutheran and he built a church called " Bethel " near his home. It has been rebuilt three times but still retains the name given it by. the founder. Little is known of him further than that he lost a great deal of prop- erty during the Revolutionary war, that he died in the early years of this century and that his ashes rest in the yard of the church which he founded. He had sons named Peter, William, Philip, Jacob and Henry. Peter died without children. William settled in Ross county, Ohio, in 1801. Philip remained with his father, succeeded him in the possession of his lands, which are still owned by his descend- ants. Jacob settled in Schuylkill county, Pa,

Henry was born in Berks county, March 10, 1759. IIe was married to Mary Shoemaker and moved from the place of his birth to what is now the town of Hamburg, where he became a farmer. In 1801 he and a neighbor named

Jacob Will started on horseback to the then western country with the intention of purchasing lands and moving on them. They rode as far as the Miami valley in Ohio, but becoming frightened by the ague which prevailed in that section they turned back. On their way home- ward they purchased land in Somerset county and in the spring of 1802 moved there with their families. The land which Henry pur- chased is situated about three miles from Glade. It contains 450 acres and was deeded to him by John Gross. Here he lived until his death, November 19, 1834. Ilis wife, Mary Shoe- maker, was born January 22, 1762, and died May 12, 1840. They are buried in the cem- etery at Glade. They had sons named Jacob, Henry, Christian, David, Solomon and John. Their daughters were as follows : Elizabeth, who married Henry Will and moved to Ran- dolph county, Illinois. Magdalene died un- married in 1870, aged ninety-three. Mary married Jolm K. Tedrow of Somerset county. Rebecca married John Corn and died in 1820. Catherine married John Henry Whipkey and Sarah married John King, both of Somerset county. Hannah married Jeremiah Strawn, who settled in northern Illinois where they have left a large number of descendants. Of the sons named above, Jacob moved to Circle- ville, Ohio ; Christian died in youth ; Henry, Solomon and John raised large families and lived and died in Somerset county.

David was born November 12, 1789, and was therefore twelve years old when his father Henry moved into Somerset county. Ile was married to Mary Eve Friedline, May 19, 1814. She was born August 23, 1794, and died near Ligonier January 11, 1842. In 1833 David moved to Ligonier valley where he purchased land near Ligonier from William Ross. On November 11, 1844, he was married to Sarah Stahl. By his first wife he had two daughters, one of whom, Elizabeth, died in childhood and the other, Susan, was married in 1837 to

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BIOGRAPHIES OF

Abraham Brant, of Ligonier valley ; she still lives, the widowed mother of a large family. Of their sons, Daniel died in Illinois; John died in Kansas ; Isaac and David died in Cali- fornia; Josiah lives in California ; Henry and Simon live in Kansas; Hiram alone, of all these sons, remained in Ligonier valley, the rest, with one exception, having gone to Cali- fornia to search for gold shortly after its dis- covery. To his second wife David had two sons, Charles Wesley and Lucius Chapman, and two daughters, Emma, married to John Wood, and Anna, married to Morgan Beam, all living in the vicinity of Pittsburg. David died April 12, 1868 ; his second wife died in March, 1887.

Hiram Boucher was born in Somerset county December 7, 1821. On January 26, 1843, he was married to Abigail Seater, of Ligonier township, who survives him. Very early in manhood he united with the M. E. church of Ligonier and was one of its leading members up to the time of his death. He took particular interest in that branch of the church work which pertains to the Sunday school and for a quarter of a century taught the leading class, composed of old and young men. Few were more competent to perform this work than he. Though having but limited advantages as to schooling in his youth, such as was the lot of most boys of sixty years ago, he was a life-long and careful student of the Bible and of the books pertaining to it and in this line of thought he had but few equals in his community. They had daughters as follows : Elizabeth, married to Dr. J. T. Ambrose of Ligonier; Mary, married to William C. Knox of Ligonier township; Amanda, married to Hamilton Smith of Ligo- nier; Caroline, married to Rev. O. A. Emerson, of the Pittsburg M. E. Conference; Sarah, who was married to Hugh M. Clifford of Derry and died January 11, 1887; Kate, married to Dr. Edward M. Clifford, of Greensburg. They had two sons : David Wilbert and John Newton, the former of whom died, aged two years, in 1863.

Iliram Boucher died of bilious fever October 18, 1889.

'ON. JOIIN COVODE. Among the prominent and distinguished men whose names and achievements have graced the pages of Westmoreland county history, whose virtues and deeds of national interest and whose fame as political leaders has spread across the continent is Hon. John Covode, who was born in Westmoreland county, Pa., March 17, 1808. His paternal grandfather's real name is not known for when a mere child he was kidnapped in the streets of Amsterdam, Holland, by a sea- captain who brought him to Philadelphia, gave him the name of " Garret Covode " and sold him into bondage. After serving a number of years in the capacity of a servant, part of the time as a domestic in the household of George Washing- ton, he became a freeman and lived until 1826, being then ninety-four years of age. Ilis son Jacob Covode, was the father of Hon. John Covode, whose mother was a Quaker lady ; her maiden name was Updegraff. Tradition has it that two of her ancestors, in connection with one Wood, protested against William Penn's decision that negro slavery was legal, which, it is said, as the first anti-slavery manifesto issued in the New World."

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Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Part 68

Author: Gresham, John M. cn; Wiley, Samuel T. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia [Dunlap & Clarke] Number of Pages: 1422

Author: Gresham, John M. cn; Wiley, Samuel T. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia [Dunlap & Clarke]
Number of Pages: 1422