USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania > Part 96
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John S. MeKean, on the 24th of October, 1872, was united in marriage to Frances R., a daughter of George W. Hoffman, a leading cit- izen of Burrell township, who died June 12, 1863, aged forty-six years. To this union have been born seven children: George HI., born October 14, 1873; John Frederick, born Au-
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gust 10, 1875; Anna C., born October 9, 1877; Anderson, born November 14, 1879; Arthur, born March 13, 1882; Joseph, born April 8, 1884; and Frank, born February 21, 1890.
J. S. MeKean is a stanch democrat, has served several terms as assessor, has been for seven years a school director, now holds the office of justice of the peace, having been com- missioned by Gov. Pattison, and is at this writ- ing a formidable candidate for the office of county commissioner. He with his wife is a member of the United Presbyterian church at Parnassus and of Parnassus Lodge, No. 804, I. O. O. F. Mr. McKean is one of the county's best citizens. Bright and keen intellectually, a good student and a close observer, energetic and shrewd by nature, and withal honest, honorable and public-spirited, he has achieved success and conunands the respect of all who know him, re- gardless of religious or political creed.
AMES L. McKEAN, a steamboat pilot of several years experience and one of the in- fluential citizens of Allegheny township, is a son of Robert and Nancy (MeKiviston) Mc- Kean and was born in Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, Pa., June 24, 1827. His grandfather, William McKean, was a native of castern Pennsylvania. Ilis great-grandfather came from the East and purchased a large tract of land for three sons, William, Thomas and Robert. He crossed the Allegheny mountains and purchased a large tract of land in what is now Allegheny township. On his farm stood one of the old block-houses which were erected to defend the Westmoreland frontier from Indian invasions. He was a cousin of Gov. Thomas McKean of Pennsylvania. He was a man of strict honesty and died in 1846 at the age of seventy-nine years. (See sketch of F. S. Mc- Kean). One of his children was Robert Mc- Kean (father), who was born in 1801 in Alle- gheny township where he followed farming for
nearly half a century. In the early years of his life he was employed in the keel-boat business on the Allegheny river. He was a good neighbor, a successful farmer, a stanch democrat and a faith- ful member of the Catholic church. His wife was Nancy MeKiviston, who was a native of Brownsville, Fayette county, Pa., belonged to the Catholic church and died in 1888 at the age of eighty-seven years.
James L. MeKean was reared on his father's farm and attended the rural schools of his boy- hood days. In 1838 he went on the Allegheny river where he followed keel-boating for upwards of ten years and then was engaged from 1856 to 1875 for ten years longer as a steamboat pilot. Leaving the river in 1875 he removed to his present farm in 1876 where he has been engaged ever since in farming and stock-raising. He owns one hundred and sixteen acres of good farming and grazing land on which he has made many improvements. He is a member of the Catholic church at Freeport, Armstrong county, Pa., Has been a life-long democrat and has served his township as school director.
In 1851 James L. MeKean married Sarah Call, daughter of John Call of Allegheny town- ship. She died in 1863 and left four children, three sons and one daughter : Elijah S., Frank S. (see his sketch), Aun Elizabeth and Robert J. On September 10, 1867, Mr. Mckean mar- ried his second wife, Sophia Maxler, a daughter of John Maxler, of Freeport, Armstrong county, Pa. To this second union have been born five children, three sons and two daughters : Mary B., William L., Cecilia. Leo and Louis.
The Mckean family has always been noted for its thrift and enterprise and is one of the early settled families of the northern part of the county.
CRANK S. MeKEAN, an active, thorough- going and successful farmer of Allegheny township, is a son of James L. and Sarah (Call) Mckean. He was born in Allegheny
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township, Westmoreland county, Pa., February 23, 1856, and is a great-grandson of William MeKean, who was a cousin of Gov. McKean, of Pennsylvania, and one of the early settlers of what is now Allegheny township (see sketch of James L. McKean). Robert McKean, pater- nal grandfather, was born in the first year of the nineteenth century and lived to the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. He purchased and cleared out a farm of one hundred and ten acres of land. During the earlier years of his life he followed keel-boating on the Allegheny river, making trips between several New York towns and Pittsburg. Ile married Nancy McKiviston and settled down to farming which he then fol- lowed until his death. Hle was an honorable man in business affairs, a democrat in politics, and a member of the Catholic church. One of his sons was James L. McKean, the father of the subject of this sketch, and is a prosperous farmer and respected citizen of the township. IIe is of the same political belief and religious faith as his father before him (see his sketch).
Frank S. McKean was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the common schools of Allegheny township. After attaining his majority he followed farming until 1882, when he engaged in the grocery and hardware business at Derry station, this county. IIe continued successfully for three years in that line of business, then (1885) retired from mer- cantile pursuits and went on a farm of two hundred and fifty acres in his native township, which he has been farming ever since. He also gives some of his time and attention to stock- raising and keeping a butter dairy.
Frank S. Mckean on February 26, 1884, married Ellen Lynch, a daughter of the late Frank Lynch, of Allegheny township, who was a native of Ireland, and came in 1830 to this county. He conducted a distillery for several years on the farm on which Mr. McKcan resides, was afterwards engaged in the wholesale liquor business in Pittsburg and died in 1844, aged
eighty-four years. He was a member of the Catholic church and one of the leading business men in the northern part of the county.
In politics Mr. MeKean is an unswerving democrat. He is a member of the Catholic church and has always been successful in all of his business enterprises.
ILLIAM McWILLIAMS, M. D., of Merwin, a descendant of one of the pio- neer families of the county, was born December 8, 1821, in Franklin township, West- moreland county, Pa., and is the eldest son of Hamilton and Mary (McElwain) MeWilliams. llis grandfather was William McWilliams, a native of county Donegal, Ireland, who shortly after his marriage came to the United States, locating in what is now Franklin township, this county, where he took out a patent for some three hundred acres of land near Murrysville. He was a very early settler there and frequently when plowing carried a gun strapped on his back to protect himself from the Indians. He died at his home at Murrysville in January, 1852, aged ninety-six years. Hamilton MeWilliams (father) was a native of Franklin township, born near Murrysville July 2, 1792, and died near there July 19, 1870. He was a farmer, a member of the " Seceder " church while it existed and later a Presbyterian, and a democrat until 1860 when he became a republican. Ile was an active, en- ergetie man of strong mind and well versed in business methods, doing for others much writing and business that required more than ordinary intelligence. Ilis wife, a native of Franklin township, died August 13, 1848, aged fifty-four years.
Dr. William Mc Williams being the eldest son. of a farmer was inured to hard labor. Ilis edu- cation was received in the common and select schools and at Allegheny college, Meadville, Pa., and on April 1, 1848, he began the reading of medicine with Dr. D. C. Fowler, of Greens-
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burg. In 1851 he graduated from the Western Reserve Medical college, Cleveland, Ohio, and at once located at Crooked creek, Armstrong county, but the ensuing fall removed to MeLaugh- linsville (Merwin), this county, where he has ever since remained, enjoying a large practice in which he has been remarkably successful, especi- ally in the treatment of typhoid fever and diph- theria, in which he is singularly skillful.
Dr. William McWilliams was married August 26, 1852, to Elizabeth, daughter of David Walker, of Allegheny township, who died March 3, 1871, aged thirty-five years, leaving five chil- dren : Mary M., Rebecca J., Willie M., Mar- garet O. and Elizabeth. Three other children are deceased: Hazlett M., died in his eighth year; Hamilton M., in his fourth year, and James S., in his third year. Dr. MeWilliams on December 27, 1875, was married to Sarah, a daughter of Robert Murry, of Upper Burrell township. Mary M. McWilliams was married to Robert M. Hunter, May 13, 1880, and died March 16, 1886, aged twenty-six years, leaving three sons : William C., John W, and Robert M., the latter of whom died October 26, 1888, aged three years. Willie M. MeWilliams re- ceived his education in the academies and at Al- legheny college, read medicine with his father and is now attending the Western Pennsylvania Medical college, at Pittsburg, from which he will shortly graduate, having taken a three years course of lectures, his first year having been spent at the Wooster Medical college of Cleve- land, Ohio.
Dr. McWilliams is a member of the Presby- terian church, a republican in politics and one of the oldest practicing physicians of the county. Starting in life without means he has by skillful financiering succeeded in acquiring considerable wealth, owning at present chree good farms and various other valuable properties and has edu- cated all of his children. Nor is his success due alone to financiering. Realizing that a "rolling stone gathers no moss," he has stuck to his pres-
ent location for nearly forty years, labored faith- fully and diligently, and besides the competency he has amassed he has established a reputation for skill and made for himself a name that is re- spected and honored wherever known. He is indeed a man of sagacity, integrity and upright- ness.
R OBERT MILLER, proprietor of the Markle flouring mill and a descendant of an old and prominent family of the county, was born April 1, 1831, in Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, Pa., and is a son of Matthew and Sarah Moorhead Miller. His grandfather was Robert Miller, who came from east of the mountains to this county where he was a farmer and early settler of Washington township. Of this township Matthew Miller (father) was a native. Matthew Miller was known throughout the country, at least by rep- utation, as he was the manufacturer of the cel- ebrated "Miller " grain cradle, starting this business in Allegheny township in 1823 and continuing at it until his death in 1884 at the age of eighty-five years. This cradle was one of the best and had a wide-spread reputation, about five hundred a year being turned out to meet the demand. Mr. Miller was one of the pioneers of California, being a member of Capt. An- krim's company of Pittsburg, and crossed the plains in 1849, returning in 1852. Mr. Miller was a member of the Poke Run Presbyterian church and a life-long democrat. He served as school director, held various other offices and stood high in the esteem of all in his commu- nity. His wife was also a native of Washington township, belonged with her husband to the Poke Run church and died in 1855 at the age of fifty-one.
Robert Miller was reared in Allegheny town- ship and after leaving school learned the cradle- making trade with his father. At the age of twenty-one he took Greeley's advice and went
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west to California where he remained about eight years, engaged in the mining business, re- turning home in 1859. In 1862 he entered the United States naval service, continuing therein more than two years, and came home in 1865. Nine years later he embarked in the milling business, at which he has been engaged ever since, now owning and operating what is known as the " Markle" mill and enjoying a large trade. Mr. Miller is a member of the Pine Run Presbyterian church and has always been a steadfast democrat, having served his township as school director and in other capacities. IIe is one of the best citizens, of strict integrity,
Robert Miller was in 1877 married to Miss Sarah Sober, daughter of Daniel Sober of Alle- gheny township.
R EV. O. II. MILLER, of Lower Burrell township, is a son of Joseph and Mary (Newlon) Miller, and was born June 22, 1822, at Murrysville, Westmoreland county, Pa. Ilis father was a native of this county, born in 1783, was engaged in the mercantile business at Newlonsburg and also carried on farming at the same place. He belonged to the Presbyterian church at Murrysville, in which he was an elder, and in politics was an old-line whig and latterly a republican. Reliable and full of energy he was more than ordinarily successful in business and exerted a great influence for good in his community. He died in 1862 in the seventy- ninth year of his age, and his wife, a native of Sewickley township, was gathered to her fathers in 1880 at the age of eighty-one years.
Rev. O. HI. Miller until seventeen years of age was reared in the rui ! districts, in whose common schools he received his early education and after attending Jefferson college three years graduated in 1843 from Washington college. Entering the Western Theological seminary the
same year he graduated therefrom in 1846 and was in that year licensed to preach. The next year he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Fairfield church in Ligonier valley. In 1848 he became pastor of Lebanon Presbyterian church, Allegheny county, where he labored for ten years and then took charge of the Wapello church in Iowa. Two years later he returned to his native State, becoming pastor of the church at New Florence, this county. In 1862 he was elected chaplain of the twelfth reg. Pa. V. R. C .; in 1864 became pastor of the Pres- byterian church at West Newton, Pa., and four years later was appointed to a position in the broad experience, great enterprise and unques- | State school department at Harrisburg by Gov. tioned character.
Geary, who in 1871 made him State Librarian. To this position he was reappointed in 1874 by Gov. Hartranft and in 1878 was chosen chaplain of the Allegheny County Work House, in which capacity he served more than five years, retiring on account of ill health. He then located on a small farm in Lower Burrell township where he now resides and is conducting at his own ex- pense a sort of experimental fruit farm, being ambitious to have the largest and choicest col- lection of fruits in the county. Owing to out- door exercise his health has been entirely recov- ered, which was his original object in locating upon a farm.
Rev. O. II. Miller in 1846 was united in marriage to Julia Ann, daughter of James Wil- son of Pittsburg, and their union has been blessed with six children : Annie W., Mary N., J. Kerwin, J. Wilson, Ruth P. and Elizabeth B. Of these children J. Kerwin and J. Wilson are the proprietors of the wall paper store at No. 543 Smithfield street, Pittsburg, doing business under the firm name of J. Kerwin Miller & Co. Rev. Miller and family occupy a beautiful resi- dence just above Parnassus and are among the best people of the county. Mr. Miller's suc- cess in life has been far above the average, and much of it he attributes to the level-headedness of his faithful and loving wife.
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WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
TOHN R. MOORE, M.D., one of the lead- ing citizens of Lower Burrell township and a member of one of the oldest families of the county, is a son of William and Eliza ( Row- land) Moore, and was born April 7, 1826, in Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, Pa. His grandfather was the Hon. John Moore, the first president judge of Westmoreland county, who was a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania held in 1776, and who, in the last decade of the seventeenth cen- tury was a State senator representing the district of which Westmoreland county formed a part. Ilis daughter Mary married Rev. Francis Laird, the father of ex-State senator II. P. Laird of Greensburg. William Moore (father) was born in this county in 1792, and was by profession a civil engineer; he died in 1839 in Bowling Green, Ky., where he had been for four years working for the State putting in locks and dams. He was a member of the Presbyterian church as was also his wife, a native of Allegheny county, Pa., who died at Mckeesport, Pa., in 1847, aged forty- eight years.
John R. Moore spent the days of his youth in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky, living three years in the latter State. After his father's death his mother returned to Pennsylvania with her family and took up her residence at MeKees- port. Mr. Moore's literary education was re- ceived in common and academic schools and un- der private tutors. At the age of twenty-one years he began reading medicine with Drs. Hill and Sheldon of Mckeesport, and in 1854 gradu- ated from Jefferson Medical college of Philadel- phia. Prior to his graduation, however, Dr. Moore had practiced medicine three years in Allegheny township, this county, whither he re- turned after completing his course, and success- fully continued his practice there until 1864 when he located in Burrell township where he still remains. In his practice which is quite extensive he has been very successful, and, though being advanced in years and having been
in active practice upwards of forty years, is still busy in the pursuits of the healing art. Dr. Moore for a number of years was a member of the County Medical society, but ceased attend- ance upon the meetings on account of the long distance he was obliged to travel. He is a re- publican, a member of the Presbyterian church and a school director of his township.
In 1868 Dr. John R. Moore was married to Miss Mary G., a daughter of John McElroy, of Allegheny township, this county. To their union have been born three children : William S., Elizabeth N. and John R. William S. Moore is a bright young man and is now at- tending the Indiana State Normal school.
S AMUEL M. NELSON, a descendant of one of the pioneer families of this county, a gentleman of rare experience and enter- prise and the efficient cashier of the Apollo bank, is a son of James and Nancy (McCartney) Nel- son, and was born June 20, 1842, in what is now Upper Burrell township, Westmoreland county, Pa. Ilis great-grandfather Nelson was a native of England who came early in life to the United States, settling in Westmoreland county, near Greensburg, where Nathaniel Nelson (grand- father) was born about the close of the Revolu- tionary war. James Nelson (father) was born in Washington township in December, 1806. lle attended the exceedingly common schools of that day until fourteen years of age, when he ap- prenticed himself to William Marshall to learn the wheel-wright trade, receiving the liberal com- pensation of comfortable clothing and three months' schooling each year. Ilaving comple- ted his five year apprenticeship, he engaged in the carpenter business which at that time includ- ed taking the timber out of the woods, and con- tinued at that for fourteen years. In those days twine binders existed only in the dreams of in- ventors, and the " cradle " was in universal use. This afforded Mr. Nelson an opportunity for the
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exercise of his skill and he began the manufac- ture of the celebrated " Nelson Grain Cradle " which he has ever since continued, though lat- terly in a small way owing to the multiplication of reapers and binders. His wife, Nancy Me- Cartney, is the oldest daughter of Hon. Jacob McCartney, of Armstrong county, Pa., and was married in 1838; she is the mother of five chil- dren. Jacob McCartney was born in eastern Pennsylvania but came early in life to West- moreland county where for a number of years he was a prominent man of affairs, having built several saw-mills, woolen-mill and the first steam grist mill in his section. He was a genial and very popular gentleman, served one term in the Legislature of Pennsylvania and died in 1880 at the age of ninety years.
Samuel M. Nelson was reared in the rural districts and attended the country schools till 1859, when he entered the Leechburg academy, which he attended till 1861. In 1862 he joined a home militia company which went down to Antietam but returned in a few weeks without participating in any battles. In the fall of 1863 Mr. Nelson entered the 54th reg., Pa. State Militia, and participated in the chase of Morgan, being present at his capture. After his return Mr. Nelson assisted his father in the manufac- ture of grain cradles for nearly fifteen years, then in 1877 went into a store at Markle, this county, remaining there about five years. Be- coming a stockholder in the Apollo bank, he was in 1882 chosen cashier of the institution, which position he still efficiently and faithfully fills. Hle is a most intelligent gentleman, pub- lie-spirited and progressive, thoroughly wide- awake and especially interested in all that tends to improve the condition or advance the pros- pects of his native county or his adopted home. A careful and shrewd man of business, honorable and upright, cordial and generous, he has hosts of friends and is highly respected and esteemed by all that know him and his character.
Samuel M. Nelson, on the 1st of November,
1870, was united in marriage with Nannie E. Watson, a native of Allegheny township, this county, and their union has been blessed by four children : Netta L., born October 12, 1872; James N., born May 20, 1874; William N., born April 27, 1876, and Blanche C., born April 20, 1878.
HARLES PARKIN, one of the leading men of the county and the architect of his own fortune, is the son of Henry and Ann (Skelton) Parkin, was born January 26, 1838, in Yorkshire, England, and now is a resi- dent of Lower Burrell township, this county. His father was a steel manufacturer of England, who died there in 1864, aged sixty-four years, and his mother died the previous year at the age of sixty years.
Charles Parkin was reared in his native country, where he received a common school edu- cation, and learned the trade of manufacturing steel with his father. In 1860 he came to the United States, locating as Pittsburg, where he worked at his trade for five years, when he formed a partnership with R. Miller and William Metcalf, and started what is now known as the Crescent Steel Company, whose works or factory is in the seventeenth ward of Pitts- burg and turns out forty tons a day. In May, 1888, Mr. Parkin with his family moved from Pittsburg to his beautiful residence just above Parnassus, where he has a fine farm. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of Butler street, Pittsburg, is a republican in poli- ties and has served as school director and treas- urer of the seventeenth ward school board. For a number of years he was one of the directors of the Metropolitan Bank, of Pittsburg, and is now one of Westmoreland county's most sub- stantial citizens. Coming to America with nothing but his trade, Mr. Parkin owing to his energy, brain-power and business qualifications, has succeeded in amassing considerable wealth,
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and in carving out for himself a fortune and standing of which he may be justly proud.
Charles Parkin was married twice, first in 1863 to Eliza Fletcher, of Lincolnshire, England, who died in 1872, leaving two children, Walter F. and Charles B. Charles B. Parkin, in June of 1888, graduated from the Faribault Military academy, of Minnesota, and in July, 1889, he at the age of twenty years was removed from earth by the angel of death. Mr. Parkin's second wife was Annie V. Dravo, of Pittsburg, whom he married December 24, 1884. To this union have been born four sons and one daughter, Edward H., William M., Harry D., Alice and Malcolm B.
R EV. ROBERT REED, deceased, was an able, efficient and popular minister of Al- legheny township where he was pastor of old Bethel Reformed Associate church. He was born in Londonderry, Ohio, June 13, 1821, and was reared in that State, where he re- ceived a thorough education. Ile was graduated from the Muskingum college and shortly after- wards entered a well known theological seminary from which he graduated. Ile was an energetic and hard-working student at school, where he gave ample promise of his after success and use- fulness in life. In 1860 he was ordained and in- stalled as pastor of the Brookland Reform As- sociate church which was organized in 1832. Its first pastor was Rev. Hugh Walkinshaw, who was succeeded in 1843 by Rev. Oliver Wylie whose successor in 1860 was Rev. Robert Reed the sub- ject of this sketch. From 1860 to 1882 he served this church faithfully and efficiently ; in connection with it he was stated supply of Eliza- beth church near Mckeesport, Pa. In 1882 his health compelled him, after a pastorate of nearly a quarter of a century, to resign his charge and retire from active ministerial labor. Four years later, on October 31, 1886, he passed away when in the sixty-fifth year of his age.
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