USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 16
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By the waters of the calm-flowing Dela- ware, in 1634, Gustavus Adolphus, "the greatest benefactor of mankind in the line of Swedish kings," sought to establish a mighty empire, in which religious thought should be free, and human servitude should never exist. But to other hands was left the founding of this grand ideal State, and upon the weak and feeble New Sweden of the war- rior king of Sweden was planted the strong and prosperous Quaker province of William Penn, which is now the powerful and popu- lous Keystone State of the American Union. Prior to Gustavus Adolphus' idea of found- ing a State on the Delaware, the Dutch West India Company and the English of Connecticut had made ineffectual attempts at colonization on the "South River." The first permanent settlement in Pennsylvania was made at Upsal (now Chester), in 1638, by Swedes and Finns, and was under the direction of Oxenstiern. These settlers came from Gottenburg, on two vessels, named the Key of Calmar and the Griffin. They were sent out by a Swedish West India company, which was founded by William Usselinex, who had been instrumental in
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forming the Dutch West India Company. Their first governor was Peter Minnet, a former governor of the New Netherlands. In 1655 New Sweden was captured by the Dutch, and was New Netherlands until 1664, when it was wrested from the Dutch by the English. In 1673 a Dutch squadron recaptured the country, but one year later gave it up to the English by the treaty of Westminster.
In 1681 the province of Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn, in liquida- tion of a debt of 16,000 pounds, which the British government owed to his distin- gnished father, Admiral Sir William Penn.
The following, from Dr. Engle's History of Pennsylvania, will throw light upon the naning of the State: "The king affixed his signature on March 4, 1681, naming the province Pennsylvania, for the reasons ex- plained in the subjoined extract from a let- ter from William Penn to his friend, Robert Turner, dated 5th of 1st month, 1681 : "This day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania-a name the king would give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being as this is a pretty hilly coun- try ; but Penn being Welsh for a head, as Penmaumoire in Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckingham- shire, the highest land in England, called this Pennsylvania, which is the high, or head wooodlands, for I proposed, when the secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, and they added Penn to it, and though I much opposed it, and went to the king to have it struck out and altered, he said it was past, and would take it upon him; nor could twenty guineas move the under secretary to vary the name,
for, I fear, lest it be looked on as vanity in me, and not as a respect to the king, as it truly was, to my father, whom he often mentioned with praise.'"
William Penn landed in his province in 1682. He founded the city of Philadelphia, which afterward became the metropolis of the thirteen colonies and the birthplace of American independence. He established his colony upon the broad principles of Christian charity and constitutional free- dom. Penn was proprietor of Pennsylvania
until 1693, when the crown assumed the government, which it did not restore to him for two years. He then continued as pro- prietor until his death, in 1718, and was succeeded by his sons John, Richard, and Thomas, who were successively proprietors until 1776.
At the opening of the revolutionary war the settlers between the Susquehanna and the Hudson owned larger farms than the people of New England, although their farms were less than the plantations of the south. There was a greater diversity of nationalities in Pennsylvania than in any other colony. From the southeast and north and westward were the following ele- ments of population : "First Swedes, next English, then Germans, and lastly New Englanders; while the whole front of this mass, from the west branch of the Susque- hanna southward, was Irish, Welsh, Scotch, and Scotch-Irish." The spirit of liberty in Pennsylvania was stubborn but not fierce.
During the revolution Pennsylvania bore her part in achieving independence, and since its close the State has increased rap- idly in population and wealth until the present time.
The Indian title to the State was liqui- dated by six successive purchases, made
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
respectively in 1682, 1736, 1749, 1758, 1768, and 1784.
Pennsylvania soldiers were first to reach Washington in 1861. During the war Penn- sylvania sent to the Union army 270 regi- ments, numbering 287,284 men, which in- cluded 25,000 militia, which were in service in September, 1862. The decisive battle of the late civil war was the great struggle at Gettysburg, on the soil of Pennsylvania.
Since the war the State has grown very rapidly in population and wealth, and of her political history since 1824 we give the following table :
POPULAR VOTE OF PENNSYLVANIA AT PRESI- DENTIAL ELECTIONS FROM 1824 To 1888.
1824. Republican . . Andrew Jackson. . . 36,100
Coalition . John Q Adams 5,440 Republican. .. . William H. Crawford. 4,206 Republican . Henry Clay 1,669
1828. Democrat . Andrew Jackson 101,652 Nat. Rep John Q. Adams. 50,848 1832. Democrat . Andrew Jackson 90,983 Nat. Rep Henry Clay. 56,716 Anti-Masonic . William Wirt.
1836. Democrat . Martin Van Buren. 91,475
Whig. Wm. H. Harrison. 87,111
1840. Whig. . Wm. H. Harrison ... 144,021
Democrat Martin Van Buren 143,676 Liberty James G. Birney .. 343
1844. Democrat James K. Polk 167,535
Whig. Henry Clay 161,203
Liberty James G. Birney .. 3,138 1848. Whig Zachary Taylor 185,513 Democrat Lewis Cass 171,176
Free Soil . Martin Van Buren 11,263 1852. Democrat Franklin Pierce 198,568 Whig. . Winfield Scott 179,174 Free Dem John P. Hale .. 8,525
1856. Democrat . James Buchanan. 230,710 Republican .... John C. Fremont 147,510
American .. .Millard Fillmore. ... 82,175
1860. Republican. . . . Abraham Lincoln .... 268,030 Democrat ..... John C. Breckinridge. 178,871 Ind. Dem .. ... Stephen A. Douglas .. 16,765 Cons't Union. . John Bell. 12,776
1864. Republican .. Abraham Lincoln .... 296,391 Democrat ..... Geo. B. MeClellan .... 276,316
1868. Republican. . . Ulysses S. Grant ... 342,280
Democrat ..... Horatio Seymour .. 313,382 1872 Republican. .. . Ulysses S. Grant .. 349,589 Dem. and Lib .. Horace Greeley 212,041 Temperance. .. James Black. 1,630
Democrat . ... Charles O'Connor
1876. Republican.
Rutherford B. Hayes. 384,122
Democrat
. Samuel J. Tilden .. .
366,158
Greenback ..
.Peter Cooper ..
7,187
Prohibition .. . Green Clay Smith. 1,319
1880. Republican.
..
James A. Garfield .... 444,704
Democrat
Winfield S. Hancock. 407,428
Greenback
James B. Weaver.
20,668
Prohibition .. . Neal Dow ..
1884. Republican.
James G. Blaine.
473,904
Democrat
Grover Cleveland
392,785
Greenback
Benjamin F. Butler ...
16,992
Prohibition.
John P. St. John ..
15,283
1898. Republican ..
Benjamin Harrison ..
526,091
Democrat
Grover Cleveland
446,633
Prohibition .. .. Clinton B. Fisk
20,947
Greenback
Alson J. Streeter.
3,873
Pennsylvania needs no eulogium; her past honorable career and present commer- cial supremacy are sufficient guarantees of her future greatness.
William Penn .- In concluding this brief account of the "Keystone State," we ap- pend Lossing's sketch of her founder: "In glorious contrast with the inhumanity of Spaniards, Frenchmen, and many English- men, stands the record on History's tablet of the kindness and justice toward the feeble Indian of the founder of Pennsylvania.
" "Thou'lt find,' said the Quaker, 'in me and mine, But friends and brothers to thee and thine, Who abuse no power, and admit no line "Twixt the red man and the white.'
And bright was the spot where the Quaker came To leave his hat, his drab, and his name, That will sweetly sound from the trump of Fame, Till its final blast shall die.
HANNAH F. GOULD.
" William Penn was born in the city of London on the 14th of October, 1644, and was educated at Oxford. His father was the eminent Admiral Penn, a great favor- ite of royalty. William was remarkable,
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in early youth, for brilliant talent and un- affected piety. While yet a student he heard one of the new sect of Quakers preach, and, with other students, became deeply impressed with the evangelical truths which they uttered. He, with several others, withdrew from the Established church, wor- shipped by themselves, and for non-con- formity were expelled from the college. Penn's father sought, in vain, to reclaim him; and when at length he refused to take off his hat in the presence of the admiral, and even of the king, he was expelled from the parental roof. He was sent to gay France, where he became a polished gen- tleman after a residence of two years; and on his return he studied law in London until the appearance of the great plague, in 1665. He was sent to Ireland in 1666, to manage an estate there belonging to his father, but was soon recalled, because he associated with Quakers. Again expelled from his father's house, he became an itinerant Quaker preacher, made many I roselytes, suffered revilings and imprison- ments 'for conscience' sake,' and at the age of twenty-four years wrote his celebrated work, entitled 'No Cross, No Crown,' while in prison because of his non-conformity to the Church of England. He was released in 1670, and soon afterward became the possessor of the large estates of his father, who died that year. He continued to write and preach in defence of his sect, and went to Holland and Germany, for that purpose, in 1677.
"In March, 1681, Penn procured from Charles the Second, a grant of the territory in America which yet bears his name; and two years afterward he visited the colony which he had established there. He founded Phil- adelphia -city of brotherly love-toward
the close of the same year; and within twenty-four months afterward, two thousand settlers were planting their homes there. Penn returned to England in 1684, and through his influence with the king, ob- tained the release of thirteen hundred Qua- kers, then in prison. Because of his per- sonal friendship toward James, the successor of Charles ( who was driven from the throne by the revolution of 1688, and had his place filled by his daughter, Mary, and William, Prince of Orange ), he was suspected of ad- herence to the fallen monarch, and was imprisoned and deprived of his proprietary rights. These were restored to him in 1694; and in 1699 he again visited his American colony. He remained in Penn- sylvania until 1701, when he hastened to England to oppose a parliamentary propo- sition to abolish all proprietary governments in America. He never returned. In 1712 he was prostrated by a paralytic disorder. It terminated his life on the 30th of July, 1718, at the age of seventy-four years. Penn was greatly beloved by the Indians; and it is worthy of remark that not a drop of Quaker's blood was ever shed by the sav- ages."
Time in his flight has numbered nearly a decade over two hundred years since Wil- liam Penn set foot on the soil of the present mighty and populous State of Pennsylvania, and the results of his work on the Delaware are truthfully given on the tablet in Inde- pendence Hall, on which is inscribed : " Wil- liam Penn, born in London, October 14th, 1644, laid the foundation of universal liberty A. D. 1682, 'in the privileges he then ac- corded the emigrants to Pennsylvania, and thus enabled their descendants to make the colony the Keystone State of the Federal . Union in 1789."
Judge John Deavir
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BLAIR COUNTY
BIOGRAPHIES.
ON. JOHN DEAN, the present nom- ince of the Republican party for the ollice of justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, ranks deservedly high as a jurist, and is one of those men who need not the dignity of office to give him name, power and influence among his fellow-citizens, or to command publie respect and confidence wherever he is known. He is a son of Matthew and Anna ( Patterson) Dean, (both of whom were born in Huntington county), and was born at Williamsburg, Blair county, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1835. With many other worthy names, the name of Dean is stamped upon the earliest history of Huntingdon county. Elizabeth Dean, the great-grandmother of Hon. John Dean, and three of her children were massacred in Canoe valley, in 1780, by a Delaware war party. Her husband, Matthew Dean, and five of their children escaped the tomahawk of the vengeful Indian by being at some distance from the house. Matthew Dean ( see historical sketch in this volume), who was of Scotch-Irish extraction, had settled in Canoe valley prior to the revolutionary war, and of his five children who were
not killed in 1780, one was John Dean (grandfather), of Water Street, Huntingdon county. Ile married and reared a family in his native township, of which he was a life-long resident. Ilis son, Matthew Dean, was born in 1808, and died in December, 1886, at seventy-eight years of age. He was an industrious and useful citizen ; although a tanner by trade, his principal business in life was that of farming. He married Anna Patterson, daughter of John Patterson, of Huntingdon county. They reared a family of eleven children, eight sons and three daughters, all living except the youngest SO11.
John Dean received his education in the common schools, Williamsburg academy and Washington college, of Washington, Penn- sylvania, taught school at Williamsburg and Hollidaysburg, and read law with James M. Bell and D. HI. Hoffius, of Hollidaysburg. In 1855 he was admitted to the bar, and in the same year opened an office at Holli- daysburg, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession until May, 1857, when he was elected superintendent of the ' common schools of his county for a term (157)
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY ยท
of three years. Two years later he resigned the superintendency to form a law partner- ship with Hon. Samuel S. Blair, which con- tinned to exist until 1864, when Mr. Dean withdrew and practiced alone for three years. He was then (October, 1867) ap- pointed district attorney, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of J. H. Keatley, and the next year was elected for a term of three years, which he served with credit to himself and satisfaction to the public. At the close of his elective term, in 1871, he wa. nominated and elected by the republi- cans as president judge of the Twenty-fourth judicial district for a term of ten years, over the regular nominee of the Democratie party and an independent candidate. ITis record was such on the bench that in 1881 he was re-nominated and elected without opposition, an unmistable evidence of the popular approval of his faithful and eminent services during his first term. ITis district comprised the counties of Huntingdon, Blair and Cambria, and his position was one of hard and constant labor, as the rapidly in- creasing business of these three counties imposed upon him an immense amount of labor. His two terms were remarkable not only for the great volume of their business, but also for the importance of their many individual cases. He decided every cause upon its merits, after a careful hearing and a thorough examination of every authority bearing in any degree upon the question involved, and thus he attained high stand- ing as a judge before the supreme court, as well as the bench at large. In 1892, if elected judge of the Supreme Court, he will retire from the common pleas bench with the good will of the bar, and the esteem and respect of the public, for the ability, disinterestedness and in-
partiality with which he had presided for twenty years over the courts of the Twenty- fourth judicial district. In recognition of his eminent ability as a jurist, his high standing as a lawyer, and his deserved pop- ularity for honor and integrity, Judge John Dean was nominated by the Republican party, in their State convention in Harris- burg, in April, 1892, as their candidate for the vacant justiceship of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, occasioned by the death of Judge Silas M. Clark, over such well-known judges as Harry White, of Indiana county, Judge Sadler, Judge Henderson, Judge Ewing, and others.
In 1857 Judge Dean married Rebecca Calwell, daughter of Judge Calwell, of Hol- lidaysburg. His wife died in 1874. He again, in November, 1876, married Margaret Bell, daughter of Martin Bell. They have four children : Eliza, Anna, Claribel, and Margaret.
Judge Dean has a beautiful home at Hollidaysburg, gives some attention to the management of his farming and other lands, and enjoys a popularity throughout central Pennsylvania that has been possessed by but very few other men since its settlement. As a lawyer his ability was recognized dur- ing the earlier years of his practice, and he soon rose to the highest rank in his profes- sion, where he has held a commanding po- sition ever since, and from which no allure- ment of political life, however powerful, has ever been able to draw him away. As a judge he was distinguished by his able opinions and impartial decisions, and as a citizen he is enterprising and progressive. As a man, in the true sense of the word, Judge Dean has won the esteem and respect ever due to those whose lives are devoted to right living and usefulness. As a public
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
speaker he is able, pleasing, popular and eloquent, and his services are in constant demand as a lecturer on the leading ques- tions and vital issues of the day.
In personal appearance Judge Dean is prepossessing, dignified and gentlemanly. Over six feet in height, he is erect and active, and his clear and finely cut features give unmistakable evidence of his energy, earnestness and determined force of char- acter.
Judge John Dean has met the tasks and duties of every important post which he has held, with prudence, courage and forethought. Although controlled by ideas, sentiment and principle, yet he is practical when ne- cessity demands or occasion requires. If Judge Dean is chosen in November (1892) by the ballots of his fellow-citizens to oc- cupy a seat upon the supreme bench of the State, the history of his past career is suf- ficient to warrant that he will not be one to suffer the dignity and learning and efficiency of the supreme bench to fall from its pres- ent high standard.
T THEODORE H. WIGTON, cashier of
the Altoona bank, one of the strongest institutions of central Pennsylvania, and a well known financier and leading business mian of that section, is a son of Samuel and Eliza (Ingram) Wigton, and was born at Wigton's Forge, in Franklin township, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, May 16, 1844. The crest of the Wigton family is found in the book of heraldry of England, and indicates that the family was prominent in civil and military affairs several centuries back in the history of that country. Three brothers who were members of this family came to Pennsylvania in the early part of
the last century and settled in Bucks county, where they became the right hand men of Rev. Tennant, who was the founder of the old log cabin college whose distinguished successor is the celebrated Princeton col- lege. A descendant of one of these broth- ers was Samuel Wigton, whose son Chris- topher was the grandfather of Capt. Chris- topher H. Wigton, whose son, Samuel Wigton, is the father of the subject of this sketch. Capt. Christopher II. Wigton was a native of Chester county, and commanded a company in the war of 1812. He was a farmer and furnace manager in his native county, and about 1836 removed to Mattern forge, which he had purchased in Franklin township, Huntingdon county, where he died in 1864. He was prominent and influ- ential in political matters, and when he saw that fate destined the extinction of the Whig party he left its ranks, and was in- strumental in organizing the Republican party in Huntington county. He was a friend of the free school system, and was one of the first two school directors elected in Franklin township. His son, Samuel Wigton (father), was born October 25, 1812, in West Fallon township, Chester county, where he received his education in the common schools of that day. He came with his father to Huntingdon county, where he was principally engaged for many years in farming in Franklin township. He was also largely interested in Wigton forge and Rock Hill furnace until 1857. He was a whig and republican in politics, and was elected in 1851 as a county commissioner, and in 1857 as'a school director. In 1877 he removed to Altoona, where he died in 1887. Ile had served for twenty years be- fore his death as a ruling elder in the Pres- byterian church, with which his direct
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ancestors for five generations back had been prominently connected and had served in as rnling elders. He married Eliza Ingram, daughter of William Ingram, who settled in Huntingdon county in 1787. They had six children : Wade, who served in the 2d Pennsylvania heavy artillery in the late war, and is now in the freight department of the Pennsylvania railroad at Harrisburg ; John M., residing on the home farm ; Han- nah; Christopher and William ( twins ), one in a railroad depot and the other in the mercantile business in Salt Lake City, Utah ; and Theodore II.
Theodore HI. Wigton was reared in his rative township, and received his education in Tuscarora academy and Juniata academy, then under charge of Dr. Shumaker. In 1864 he left school and went to Broad Top (ity, where he was a clerk for his uncle, R. B. Wigton, at Cunard mines, but soon re- signed his place and enlisted for one year as a soldier in the 19th Pennsylvania cav- atry, and served on detached service in the southwest, and as far southward as New Orleans and Mobile. After being honor- ably discharged from the Union service he returned home, and in the spring of 1866 went to Vinton, near Chillicothe, Ohio, where he became book-keeper for the Vin- 'on Furnace and Coal Company. He was soon made manager of the company's works, and . served satisfactorily in that position until 1872, when he resigned in order to come to Altoona, where he desired to em- bark in the banking business. In connec- tion with others he helped organize the Altoona bank, of which he was elected a director and appointed assistant cashier. The cashier-elect was unable to attend to his duties, which were attended to by Mr. Wigton, and upon his death, in 1873, the
latter was appointed cashier, and has served in that capacity ever since.
On January 15, 1868, he married Mary Bayley, daughter of William Bayley, a merchant of Ferguson township, Centre county. They are the parents of four chil- dren, three sons and one daughter : Samuel, a rodman on the Pittsburg division of the Pennsylvania railroad; William Bayley, secretary of the Altoona Manufacturing Company ; Mary, and Richard C.
Theodore H. Wigton is a republican in politics, and has served one term as a mem- ber of the select council of Altoona. In religious belief he is a Presbyterian, and since 1869 has been a member of the Second church of that denomination in Altoona, in which he has served as a trustee and deacon for several years. Ile is one of the pro- jectors and stockholders of the city railway, Oak Ridge Cemetery association, Altoona Light Company, and Altoona Heat Com- pany. Ile is a past master in Mountain Lodge, No. 281, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Mountain Chapter, No. 189, Royal Arch Masons, and Mountain Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar. He was active in the movement for the erection of the present Masonic Temple, of whose building committee he was chairman. The solidity and good standing of the banks of a city add much to its reputation and largely to its volume of business and mate- rial prosperity. The National bank of Al- toona, under its safe and conservative man- agement, has been a factor in the progress of that enterprising and prosperous city, and much of the bank's remarkable success is due to the efforts of Theodore HI. Wig- ton, who has won an enviable reputation for financial ability and correct business . methods.
M. a. Greene
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
M A. GREEN, one of the most suc- cessful business men of the Keystone State, and the president of the Altoona Manufacturing Company, whose great in- dustrial establishment is next in size to the wonderful and immense car shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was born July 16, 1852. He is also a mechanical engineer, and a member of the American Association of Mechanical Engineers. He became one of the organizers of the Altoona Car Company, limited, of which he served . as superintendent for seven years. The company was then organized under the name of the Altoona Manufacturing Com- pany, and Mr. Green was elected president, which position he has very successfully filled ever since. Next to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's shops, the second great industrial establishment in the Mountain City is the works of the Altoona Manu- facturing Company, located on a five-acre tract of land on the western border of the city, just within its corporate limits, at Broad and Twenty-sixth streets. The first works built upon the site of the present extensive buildings was in the year 1868. These were burned down on May 23, 1879, but the work of reconstruction was at once began, and from time to time since additional buildings and other improvements have been added. The Altoona Manufacturing Company is a joint stock organization. The company's plant, valued at about one hun- dred and seventy-five thousand dollars, is not only conveniently but also pleasantly situated. To Mr. Green himself, more than to any other man, is due the prosperity of the company and the general excellence of the work turned out by the establishment. Devoting his personal attention to every department of the works, and being per-
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