Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Part 7

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 7

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WESTMORELAND COUNTY.

Rogers Clarke and Herman Blennerhasset and many other prominent characters of American history. He subsequently removed to Liberty street, Pittsburg, where he died May 23, 1838. Ile was a public-spirited e tizen, and after coming to Pittsburg, always took a great interest in the growth and prosperity of that city. Dr. Brunot was twice married. Ilis first wife was a lady of Annapolis, by whom he had one daughter, who married, but died without issue. Ilis second wife was Elizabeth Kreider, of Philadelphia, whom he married December 17, 1789, and by whom he had six sons and one daughter. Of these sons, two, Breton and Casper, were physi- cians ; one, Sanson, was a prominent minister in the Episcopal church and at one time was in charge of the church at Greensburg; another, Hilary, served as a Lient. in the United States army, and the other two, Felix and James M., became lawyers and settled in the Southern States. James M. Brunot was the father of Hilary B. Brunot, now practicing law in Pitts- burg. Susan Louisa was the only daughter.

Lieut. Hilary Brunot (father) was the fourth son and was born July 14, 1795, in a house that is still standing in Philadelphia, on the bank of the Schuykill river. When quite young he en- tered the United States Military Academy at West Point, and was a member of one of the early classes which was graduated from that institution. After graduation he was com- missioned as lieutenant in the United States regular army, and was wounded in the sortie at Fort Erie during the War of 1812 and was pro- moted to First Lieut. for gallantry in this battle. After the close of that struggle he was stationed respectively at Fort Snelling, Mackinaw, Green Bay and Newport. From the latter place, in Kentucky, he was stationed at the Allegheny arsenal in Pittsburg. In 1825 he resigned his command in the army and was engaged in the manufacture of white lead for many years. His works occupied the entire square upon which the Union depot in Pittsburg now stands. Lieut.

Brunot retired from active business in 1850 and died March 26, 1872. He was an earnest Christian, a man of great force of character and was very active in politics. He was a whig and later a republican, and served for many years as a member of the city councils of Pittsburg. On May 6, 1819, he married Ann Tankard Reville, a daughter of Randell and Margaret Reville, of Newport, Kentucky. The Revilles were early settlers of Somerset county, Mary- land. To Lieut. and Mrs. Brunot were born nine children, of whom two are living : Hilary J. and Felix R. Brunot, of Pittsburg, who is one of the most noted philanthropists of the day.

Hilary J. Brunot was educated in Sewickley academy and Western University of Pittsburg. Leaving school, he was engaged for a short time in the white lead business. In 1845 he engaged in civil engineering and assisted Nathan McDowell to make test surveys for slackwater navigation on the Monongahela river. In 1849 he went with a Pittsburg company to Cali- fornia, where he remained two years. In 1851 he returned to Pennsylvania and helped locate and survey the Allegheny Valley railroad. In 1854 he resigned from the engineer corps, went to Indiana, where he married and then purchased a stock-farm in Rock Island county, Illinois, upon which he resided for five years. In 1859 he removed to Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in farming and speculat- ing in coal lands until 1873, when he came to Greensburg. Since then he has been dealing in coal, oil and gas lands. He was one of the pioneers of the natural gas business, and with the Haymaker brothers put down the first well at Murrysville. In 1883 he started the Daily and Weekly Press, one of the leading papers of the county, which now has far more than a local circulation.

During the late war Mr. Brunot was mus- tered into the service of the United States at Camp Howell on July 2, 1868, and served

BIOGRAPHIES OF

until August 16, 1863, when the regiment, the fifty-fourth Pa. Vols. was disbanded and he was discharged.

Hilary J. Brunot was married at Boone Grove, Indiana, on July 12, 1855, to Mary Bissell, a daughter of William and Sarah Bis- sell of that place. To this marriage have been born ten children. Ann Elizabeth, Mary Caroline, wife of Dr. I. P. Klingensmith, of Blairsville, Pa .; Hilary Sanson, business mana- ger of the Press ; Sarah Louisa, William B., died at nineteen years of age ; Felix Reville, member of the engine building firm of Reniff & Brunot ; Melesina Cory, James Thompson, at Annapolis, Md., preparing for the navy ; In- diana Traner, who died in infancy, and John Breton, who is attending school.

Politically Mr. Brunot is a stanch and ardent republican. In Masonry he has passed through lodge, council, chapter, commandery, temple and consistory, and is a Thirty-second degree or Scottish Rite Mason.

L. BUSII, a thorough business man and one of the leading booksellers and sta- tioners of Greensburg, was born near Greensburg, in Hempfield township, Westmore- land county, Pa., March 13, 1863, and the second and youngest child of Jacob and Eliza- beth (Row) Bush. Jacob Bush was born in Hempfield township, where he resided until his death in 1866. Mr. Bush selected farming as an occupation and was successfully engaged in that line of business during his lifetime. IIe believed in the principles and practices of the democratic party, was an active working mem- ber of the German Reformed Church, in which he served for many years as deacon and after- wards as an elder, and was a prominent man in his community and township. He married Elizabeth Row, daughter of Samuel Row of Hempfield township. Their marriage was blessed with five children, of whom the three following

are living : David J., a lawyer residing at La- trobe, Pa. ; Sadie and C. L. Mrs. Bush was born in 1825, and is a member of the Evangeli- cal Lutheran church. Jacob Rush was a son of Daniel Rush, Sr., who was a Westmoreland county farmer and married Marie Smeltzer. The Smelt- zers are a numerous and widely scattered family. C. L. Bush was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools of his native township and at Greensburg High School. At seventeen years of age he began business for himself. In 1880 he learned the trade of paperhanger in which he was actively and successfully engaged for nine years. On August 1, 1889, he pur- chased his present book and stationery store from A. W. McCoy.

On October 3, 1888, he married Ida F. Naley, daughter of Eli Naley, of Hempfield township. Mrs. Bush received her education in the common schools and Greensburg Academy, and is a member of the German Reformed Church.

C. L. Bush's book and stationery establish- ment is located at No. 141 North Main street, and is known as the " A. P. A." store. His room is commodious, conveniently arranged and heavily stocked with a complete assortment of bocks, stationery, papers, magazines, window- blinds, school material and toilet articles. The book department represents the widest range of literature, from science and philosophy to amusement and romance. A specialty of the establishment is the wall-paper department, in which a full stock of plain and fancy wall-paper are always kept on hand. He has within a com- paratively brief period secured a large and pay- ing trade. IIe is a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M. and a useful member of the German Re- formed church.

B F. BYERS, the late popular and efficient sheriff of Westmoreland county, is a son of John II. and Mary (Runnibaugh) Byers, and was born on the old Byers homestead near

WESTMORELAND COUNTY.

Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland county, Pa. John II. Byers is a son of John Byers, who was a farmer and distiller of Westmoreland county. Ile is a comfortably situated farmer, a stanch democrat and a leading member of the Reformed church. He operated the Byers' distillery prior to the late civil war. Ilis first wife was Mary, daughter of Abraham Runnibaugh, of Mt. Pleasant township. She died and left five children. His second wife was Charlotte Miller, by whom he had two children, and after her death he was married to Miss Emily Lynn.

B. F. Byers received his education in the common schools and Mt. Pleasant academy ; leaving school he began farming, which he soon relinquished and engaged in stock-buying. He was later engaged in the livery business for two years and then became a partner of E. II. Fiscus. This partnership lasted about six months. Mr. Byers' political career commenced by his being elected constable of Latrobe borough. After two years acceptable service in this position he became deputy sheriff of Westmoreland county for three years under Sheriff James Boreland ; and served in the same position for the same length of time under Boreland's successor, Sheriff Kethering. At the expiration of Kethering's term he was employed as a railroad detective by the P. R. R. company and remained in their service two and one-half years. In 1886 he was nominated for sheriff of Westmoreland county by the democrats, and after a heated and excited contest was elected to that office. The county two years previously had gone republican. Ile is a member of Philanthropy Lodge, No. 225, A. Y. M., and is a shrewd business man. For years Mr. Byers has been a leading demno- cratie worker. As sheriff he discharged the duties of his office faithfully and efficiently, and in all his business relations he is pleasant and obliging to all.

As a judge of horses Mr. Byers has few superiors in Westmoreland county ; and his judg- ment as to men is equally good.

$ AMUEL W. CALDWELL. One who ha been remarkably successful in every enters prise he has undertaken is Samuel W. Caldwell, real estate dealer and insurance agent, of Greensburg. He was born at Manor Station, Westmoreland county, l'a., September 12, 1863, and is a son of Samuel and Maria E. (Morrow) Caldwell. Ilis paternal grandfather, William Caldwell, was born in 1793. Ile was a farmer by occupation, a democrat in politics and a use- ful member of the German Reformed church. His maternal grandfather, John Morrow, was a farmer who resided near Irwin Station (see sketch of J. C. Morrow). His father, Samuel Caldwell, was a grain dealer at Manor Station, where he died October 5, 1863, in the thirty- fifth year of his age. He was a conservative democrat in politics and a useful member of the United Presbyterian church. Ile was a success- ful and influential man who after his death was much missed in that section of the county. In 1859 he married Maria E. Morrow, by whom he had three children, two sons and one daughter : William B., in the real estate business and in charge of the Jeannette office of S. W. Caldwell & Co .; Frances E., wife of C. W. Seibold, a member of the firm of S. W. Caldwell & Co., and Samuel W. Mrs. Caldwell resides at Manor Station.

S. W. Caldwell was educated in the common schools and Murrysville academy. The first commercial enterprise in which he embarked was the general mercantile business with his brother at Manor Station. They owned and operated the Manor store, which they sold in 1884 and purchased another in Greensburg in 1885. In 1887 they sold their store and embarked in a new field of commercial industry. S. D. Cald- well formed a co-partnership with C. W. Seibold, under the firm name of S. W. Caldwell & Co., and engaged in the insurance and real estate business at Greensburg. Their office is in the new Press building on West Otterman street. In the insurance department they represent the

BIOGRAPHIES OF

following well-known companies: The Greenwich Fire Insurance Company of New York ; The United States Fire Insurance Company of New York ; Penn Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Philadelphia, capital $13,000,000. They have a large number of houses, lots and farms for sale and rent, and besides selling property, renting houses and collecting rents they have money to loan. They enjoy a large and exten- sive patronage, and in order to better accommo- date a part of their patrons a branch office was opened at Jeannette in 1889. They are thor- oughly conversant with every detail of their varied business, and justly deserve the success their energy and thrift have achieved.

On December 9, 1886, S. W. Caldwell was married to Anna L. Phillips of Greensburg. They have two children : Maude Gertrude and Wallace. Mrs Caldwell is a member of the Presbyterian church.

S. W. Caldwell is a republican and is a member of the Presbyterian church. By able management he has built up his present success- ful business, and is recognized as a reliable man and honorable citizen.

ZRA G. CAMPBELL, a soldier of the late civil war and popular caterer of Greensburg, was born in Ligonier valley, Cook township, Westmoreland county, Pa., May 29, 1840, and is a son of George and Keziah (Gelvin) Campbell. At an early period in the history of what is now Westmoreland county, eight brothers by the name of Campbell settled in the Ligonier valley, in what is now Cook township, where seven of them owned adjoining farms. One of these brothers was George Campbell whose son, John Campbell (grand- father), was a farmer and large landholder. John Campbell was a justice of the peace, captain of a militia company and an elder in the Presbyterian church. Ile married Mary Galbraith, daughter of John and Isabella (Camp-

bell) Galbraith. Mrs. Galbraith, along with her brother Robert Campbell, William, Thomas and one sister were captured in July, 1776, in Ligo- nier township, by the Indians and carried to Canada, where they were held four years as prisoners. Her father was absent at the time of the capture, while her mother and an infant sister were killed on the spot and their house burned. One of John Campbell's sons was George Campbell (father) born October 11, 1816, in Cook township. He was reared to farming, received a fair education for that period and was one of the "old-school masters " and singing-school teachers of half a century ago. Hle is a democrat, has held the various offices of his township, was elected commissioner of West- moreland county in 1884, served his term and went out of office with hosts of friends in both parties. He is pleasant and agreeable, a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church and resides at Mannsville, Cook township. On May 28, 1838, he married Keziah Gelvin, daughter of Matthew Gelvin, of Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pa., by whom he had two children : Ezra G. and Isabella M., wife of John II. Nicely, of Ligonier township.

Ezra G. Campbell received his education, like most of farmer's sons, in the common schools of his native township, and engaged in farming until the breakingout of the great rebellion. On September 2, 1861, he en- listed in Co. E, eleventh Pa. Infantry Vols. and served in the army of the Potomac. Par- ticipating in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock Station, Thoroughfare Gap and Second Bull Run, where in a rank of six men, two were wounded and three killed ; one of them was killed in Mr. Campbell's arms, being wounded prior to being killed, and Mr. Campbell alone escaped unhurt. Ile was discharged De- cember 31, 1863, re-enlisted in the same com- pany January 1, 1864, and served until July 1, 1865, when he was honorably mustered out of the United States service. Returning home he

Ele Chambers

WESTMORELAND COUNTY,

engaged for a short time in farming, served as car inspector at C'onemaugh for three years, and in 1872 returned to Greensburg, where he em- barked in his present restaurant business. Quite recently he opened a second restaurant, which is located on the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and West Otterman street.

On April 22, 1866, he was united in mar- riage to Sarah Sease, daughter of John and Nancy (Balsley) Sease. To th.s union have been born five children, of whom the eldest is dead. Those living are: Nannie S., born October 9, 1869; Henrietta R., February 26, 1874; Fran- cis Marion, September 9, 1878, and Leona Lo- weta, January 15, 1881.

Ezra G. Campbell is a member of G. A. Cribbs Post, No. 276, Grand Army of the Re- public, Encampment No. 5, Union Veteran Le- gion and Protection Council No. 11, Chosen Friends. Ile is a strong democrat, a member of the United Brethren church and a good citi- zen. No one more fully understands or better provides restaurant entertainment for the public than Mr. Campbell, who is ever accommodating and obliging. IIe has secured a large and liberal patronage, has been successful financially and owns considerable property in Greensburg.

LI CHIAMBERS. Prominent among the representative business men of the county, distinguished for financial ability, honesty, and efficiency, is Eli Chambers, the present treasurer of Westmoreland county. He belongs to that class of useful men whose patriotism, integrity, intelligence, and usefulness give stabili- ty to society, and progress and prosperity to its business affairs. Eli Chambers, who was a brave soldier and faithful officer during the war of the Great Rebellion, is a son William and Elizabeth (Leasure) Chambers, and was born near Pleasant Unity, in Unity township, West- moreland county, Pa., in 1836. The Chambers family of Westmoreland county is of Scotch-

Irish origin and Presbyterian faith. It was founded by John Chambers (grandfather), who was the descendant of a Chambers who settled in Eastern Pennsylvania at a very early day. John Chambers was born near Little York, York county, Pa., where his paternal ancestors erected the first grist-mill of that county, and their descendants in that section have been engaged in milling ever since. Some years prior to the opening of the present century, John Chambers left his comfortable eastern home and crossed the mountains into the frontier settlements of Westmoreland county, in whose wealth of virgin forests, rich soil and fine water- power for manufacturing purposes he saw a wide, not then inviting, field for business activity and future prosperity. He selected a large tract of land near Pleasant Unity, in one of the very garden spots of the county, upon which he set- tled and erected a factory for the manufacture of woolen goods, in which business he was en- gaged for many years. Ile married Leah Hart- zell, of Little York, Pa., by whom he had seven children : William, John, Elizabeth, George, Rev. Joseph, a Presbyterian minister of Wooster, Ohio, Dr. Daniel and Mary. The eldest son, William Chambers (father), was born at Little York, Pa., in 1796, and was brought by his parents to Unity township, where he was reared and received his education. He followed card- ing and cloth finishing until 1839, when he settled permanently on the present site of La- trobe, and purchased Findley's flouring mill, which he operated in connection with farming until his death, which occurred in November, 1851. Ilis remains are entombed in Unity cemetery. Ile, like his father before him, was an old line whig and a member of the Unity Presbyterian church. By his integrity and strict attention to business he was remarkably successful in his farming and milling enter- prises, and secured the respect and esteem of the community in which he lived. About 1821, he married Elizabeth Leasure, second daughter

BIOGRAPHIES OF

of Captain Daniel and Elizabeth (Ryan) Lea- sure, who died in 1840, aged 37 years. To William and Elizabeth (Leasure) Chambers were born, four sons and one daughter : John L., who married Eliza Glessner; Daniel M., married to Mary Smith; Jesse, who married Kezziah Geiger; Eliza, wife of John Beatty, and Eli.

The remote paternal ancestors of Eli Cham- bers, the Leasures, were natives of Navarre, France. They were Huguenots, and fled from a storm of religious persecution to Germany, where they settled in a beautiful province along the Rhine river. Their name was spelt Le Suer, but it is now written Leasure. One of their descendants was Abraham Leasure (maternal great grand-father), who was born in 1735, and married a French woman. He emigrated to Pennsylvania, where he settied near Chambers- burg sometime prior to the Revolutionary war. During that great struggle he removed to the valley of the Kiskiminetas, where he was en- gaged as an Indian scout until 1790. Ile then purchased a train of pack-horses and engaged in transporting merchandise. He eventually purchased a large tract of land near Pleasant Unity from the heirs of William Penn. On this land he settled and remained until his death in 1805, and in 1820 his widow followed him to the grave. ITis youngest son, Captain Dan- iel Leasure (grandfather), was born in 1767. Ile was elected captain of a frontier company before he was of age and served as such until he was fifty years of age. Ile was in the Indian war of 1790, and enlisted as a first lieutenant and reported for service in the War of 1812, but was discharged. He married Elizabeth Ryan, of French-Irish descent, who, when a young girl, was in the fort at Hannastown when it was attacked by Indians in 1782, and run pewter spoons into bullets for the use of those who were besieged. Captain Daniel and Eliza- beth (Ryan) Leasure were the parents of seven children : Mary, Abraham, George, John,

William, Jesse, and Elizabeth, the mother of the subject of this sketch.

Eli Chambers spent his boyhood on a farm and in a mill. He received his education in the common schools and Sewickley academy. At twenty-one years of age he commenced to work for his brothers, J. L. and D. L. Chambers, who were engaged in milling and grain buying and a general shipping business, and continued with them for nearly four years. In April, 1861, he enlisted in Co. K, eleventh Pa. Vols., and at the end of his three months term of ser- vice re-enlisted in Co. K, fifty-third Pa. Infan- try Vols., and was honorably discharged January 20, 1863, on account of physical disability con- tracted in the army. IIe enlisted as a private, was promoted corporal, and participated during his term of service in the battles of Falling Water, Siege of Yorktown, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Fair Oaks, Gaines' Mills, Malvern Hill and Antietam, as well as in many smaller engagements and skirmishes of the war. When Lee invaded Pennsylvania, although crippled badly, he assisted in raising Co. B, fifty-fourth Reg., State Militia, refused to become its captain, but accepted a lieutenancy, and his regiment, the fifty-fourth, assisted in the capture of the great Confederate cavalry chieftan, John H. Morgan, at Wellesville, Ohio. After his third term of service had expired Lieut. Chambers located at Latrobe, and in 1867 went into partnership with his brother, J. L. Chambers, in the general grain business, which occupied his time and attention until 1869, when he took the place of his brother in the milling business, continuing therein five years. In 1887 he was made the republican candidate for treasurer of Westmoreland county, and was elected by a neat majority in a very close contest.

On February 20, 1873, he united in marriage with Lydia J. Harvey. They have five children, two sons and three daughters : Belle I .. , Edith E., William Harvey, Charles Arthur and Alice B.

WESTMORELAND COUNTY.

Eli Chambers is a life-long republican and has always given his party an earnest and whole-hearted support. Mr. Chambers has not disappointed his friends in his management of the county treasury, as he has discharged every duty of his office with credit to himself and the county. He has worked out for himself a posi- tion in life which commands respect, and his record in business, society and church circles is without blot or stain. He is a member of Latrobe Presbyterian church, and in every station of life which he has occupied he has always been active, efficient and successful.

UCIAN CLAWSON. A prominent and leading democrat of Westmoreland county, a man of extended business experience, and a well-known resident of Greensburg is Lucian Clawson. He was born in Bell town- ship, Westmoreland county, Pa., August 26, 1839, and is a son of Peter and Elizabeth Clawson. Peter Clawson (grandfather) was an industrious and thrifty farmer. His wife was Barbara Ringle, of German descent. She lived far beyond the allotted years of life, and died in 1880 at ninety-three years of age. Peter Claw- son (father) was born in 1818. ITis occupation was farming, but he spent much of his time as a boatman on the old Pennsylvania canal. IIe was a life-long democrat, a substantial member of the Lutheran church, and died of typhoid fever in 1850. Mr. Clawson had seven children, of whom five are living, two girls and three boys.

Lucian Clawson was reared on a farm and received his education in the common schools of Bell township and Elder's Ridge academy. At eighteen years of age he left home to engage in oil-well drilling. He ran an engine for some time in the oil region above Franklin, Venango county, and then engaged in boating oil on the Allegheny river for a short season. Ile was next employed as a clerk in the Oil City post-

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Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Part 7

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