USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Biographical review : v. 24, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburgh and the vicinity, Pennsylvania > Part 24
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War of 1812, and was afterward a Colonel in the militia. Dr. Basil Brown Brashear was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Febru- ary 24, 1822, and spent his early life in that place. Having studied medicine, he practised it in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. While so employed he was called to a professorship in the medical department of the University of Wooster at Cleveland, in which capacity he now serves that institution. He joined the army as surgeon of the Sixteenth Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry, rose to the position of sur- geon-in-chief of the Thirteenth Army Corps, and became later the medical director of the Department of the Gulf, with his headquarters at New Orleans, serving there until the close of the war, with the rank of Major. Re- cently he has given his attention to the teach- ing of medicine. Dr. Brashear married Cath - erine Whitacre, a collateral descendant of Matthew Thornton, the signer of the Declara- tion of Independence from New Hampshire. Their daughter Imogen was born in Tuscara- was County, and was educated in the Bishop Bowman Institute in Pittsburg, in which, after graduating, she became one of the fac- ulty. Mrs. Oakley on her mother's side is a descendant of George de Hulme, a Quaker, who emigrated to this country in 1700, and settled near Philadelphia. He was a descend- ant of William de Houlme, a Norman gentle- man, who accompanied William the Conqueror into England. The father of Mrs. Oakley's mother,. Thornton Whitacre, was one of the early settlers of the State of Ohio, and was a prominent public man, though a Quaker.
Mr. and Mrs. Oakley became the parents of one son, Thornton, now a boy of about sixteen years, who resides with his mother. Mrs. Oakley is one of the original members of the Civic Club, and has held the position of secre- tary since its organization. She is a member
of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. She also belongs to the Daughters of the Revolution, the United States Daughters of 1812, and to various other social and philanthropic clubs.
EV. WILLIAM A. STANTON, for the past seven years pastor of the Shady Avenue Baptist Church in Pittsburg, was born in Lawrenceville, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1854, son of Charles A. and Helen J. (Nichoson) Stanton.
At the age of twenty years Thomas Stanton, the first of the name to come to America, took passage on the "Bonaventura " from London for Virginia, January 2, 1635. In 1636 he appears on record in Boston, Mass., serving as a magistrate. Later he served in the Pequod War. He was well acquainted with the. Ind- ian language, and was most useful to the Colonial authorities as interpreter. Especial mention is made of his bravery in the battle of Fairfield Swamp, where he nearly lost his life. He married Ann, eldest daughter of Dr. Thomas and Ann Lord. His second son, who was a Captain in King Philip's War, was born in Hartford, Conn., in 1641, married Hannah Thompson, 1664, died in Stonington, Conn., 1713. His son, John, born May 22, 1665, at Stonington, Conn., married Mary Starkweather before 1709, died 1755. He lived in Preston, Conn. Next in line of de- scent was Daniel, a farmer, born January 8, 1708, married April 22, 1737, Mrs. Dinah Starkweather, died 1775. To this couple were born eleven children, among them John, the fifth child, born June 20, 1746, at Pres- ton, Conn., married August 16, 1774, Hulda Freeman, a descendant of Joseph Freeman, who came to Connecticut in 1698. John Stanton, last named, was a soldier of the American Revolution, and was First Sergeant
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in Captain Joseph Boardman's company, Eighth Regiment, Connecticut militia. The regiment was under the command of Colonel Oliver Smith, of New York, and served through the campaign in which General Howe drove Washington from Long Island and New York City, and thereby gained control of the lower Hudson. In 1790 John Stanton, the Revolutionary veteran, settled in Charleston, Montgomery County, N. Y. His wife died there March 31, 1807; and in 1815 he re- moved with his son, Captain Amasa Stanton, to Hornby township, Steuben County, N.Y., where he died March 16, 1818. He had nine children, the fifth of whom was Amasa, born June 6, 1788, at Preston, and married in 1814 Dimmis Brown, in Charleston, N. Y. In 1815, with his wife, one child, and his father, he located in Steuben County, on a farm which he cleared and cultivated. He died there, December 28, 1843, leaving seven children, the fourth of whom was Charles A., born No- vember 8, 1823, in Steuben County.
In young manhood Mr. Charles A. Stanton taught school. Later he kept a general mer- chandise store in Lawrenceville; and in 1859 he removed to Madison, Ind., where he carried on a wholesale boot and shoe business until the time of his death in March, 1892. He was an honored citizen, honest in his business dealings, as in every position in life. It was said of him that his life was like an open book with pages pure and clean. He was for twenty-five years secretary and treasurer of the Madison & Hanover Pike Company, served for six years on the School Board, and was a di- rector in the Fireman's and Mechanics' Insur- ance Company, in the Madison Stove Com- pany, and was identified with the woollen and cotton mills of the place. He was also a di- rector on the Board of the Old Ladies' Home Society. "Such a character as that of Mr.
Stanton," it has been well said, "was not the result of accident, but the logical sequence of a religious ancestry, who had profound con- victions of God's word and of their account- ability for the early religious training of their children." Upon the occasion of his death the city schools of Madison were dismissed, to enable the teachers to attend the funeral.
He was twice married. His first wife, for - merly Miss Helen J. Nichoson, died May 12, 1862. He married second, September 8, 1863, Anna Beers, by whom he had four chil- dren, as follows: Helen Stanton, who became the wife of Mr. H. C. Dixon, the president of Mount Pleasant Institute, Pennsylvania; Olive C., now the wife of W. L. Nuttall, of New Castle, Ky .; Charles E., who is preparing for the ministry at Crozer Theological Seminary at Upland, Pa .; and Robert F., the youngest son, who has succeeded his father in business at Madison, Ind.
William A., son of his father by the first wife, was graduated at the Madison High School in 1871, at Hanover College in 1875, at the Rochester (N.Y.) Theological Semi- nary in 1878, and received the degree of Doc- tor of Philosophy from the University of Chi- cago in 1886. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in Muncie, Ind., April 14, 1878, and held a pastorate there for two years. After a five years' ministry with the Vermont Street Church in Quincy, Ill., he accepted a call to the First Baptist Church at Rockford in 1885, and in the year 1890 became pastor of the Shady Avenue Baptist Church in Pittsburg, where he still remains.
He married September 4, 1878, Sara Louisa Rogers, of Wheatland, Monroe County, N.Y. Her American ancestry is as follows : James Rogers, born in 1618 in England, came to America on the ship "Increase" in 1635, married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel
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Rowland, lived in Stratford, Milford, and New London, Conn., died 1687. James, Jr., born February 15, 1652, at Stratford, Conn., married Mary Jordon, daughter of Jeffrey Jordon, of Ireland, November 5, 1674, died November 8, 1713. His son William, born May 10, 1693, in New London, Conn., married Elizabeth Harris, August 28, 1713, died 1741. Nathaniel, born 1725, married twice, his first wife being Theody Miner, by whom he had Josiah, born in New London. His son Harris, born in July, 1784, in Hebron, Conn., married Keziah, daughter of G. H. Smith, died January 21, 1832. Daniel Erial, his son, born January 17, ISII, in Wheatland, N. Y., married February 13, 1840, Eunice, daughter of Edmund Fellows, of Chili, N. Y. Of this union was born Sara Louisa Rogers, wife of the Rev. W. A. Stanton. Their children are: Helen Rogers, Edith Nichoson, Anna Brewster, and Charles A.
Dr. Stanton is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and is at the present time serving his third term as State Chap- lain. During his college course he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Dr. Stanton stands high in the ranks of Baptist ministers. He is first vice-president of Penn- sylvania State Sunday-school Association, of which he was president before the elec- tion of John Wanamaker. He is also vice- president of the State Baptist Missionary Association, and has served two terms as pres- ident of the Pennsylvania State Ministers' Union. IIe is Republican in politics. He has done much newspaper work, being the Pittsburg correspondent of the New York Er- aminer since 1890 and an occasional contrib- utor to the Standard of Chicago, to the Bap- tist Outlook of Indianapolis, and the Central Baptist of St. Louis, Mo.
HARLES C. LANGE, M.D., one of the oldest physicians of Pittsburg, was born here, June 10, 1843, son of Arnold and Susanna (Shaffner) Lange. The grandfather was a ship merchant of Bremen. The father, who was born in Bremen, May 23, 1813, studied at Heidelberg, Bonn, and Stutt- gart, and graduated in medicine at Würzburg. About the year 1837 he came to this country, locating in Pittsburg, where he practised med- icine until the time of his death, January 20, 1890. He was connected with the Pittsburg Infirmary, better known as Passavants Hospi- tal, from the time of its establishment ; and he was examining physician for the Germania Life Insurance Company. On July 9, 1840, he married Susanna Shaffner, who was born in Hagerstown, Md. They had four children - Henrietta, Charles C., Kennedy F., and Anna M. Kennedy F. was a druggist in the city. The mother, now eighty-four years old, is quite active. The father was a member and an Elder of the First Evangelican Lu- theran Church from the time of its organ- ization.
Charles C. Lange graduated from the Pitts- burg High School in the class of 1860. Sub- sequently he studied medicine with his father. In 1862 he enlisted as hospital stew- ard in the One Hundred and Third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served in the Civil War until 1864, when he was taken prisoner at Plymouth, N.C., and sent to Andersonville. He suffered the tortures of this horrible prison for a year, and was then exchanged, going to Vicksburg, whence he was sent to Annapolis. He was discharged from the service at Harrisburg, Pa., in the summer of 1865. During his term of service he saw a great deal of field hospital service, went through the seven days of Peninsular cam- paign, and was in the battles of his regiment
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in North Carolina. Upon his return from the war Dr. Lange resumed the study of medi- cine, and took his lectures at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. After grad- uating in March, 1867, he located at Centre and Overhill Streets, where he has since re- sided, and where he is now one of the best known practitioners in the district. He was one of the original members of the Allegheny Medical Society, and also a life member, in recognition of his services in the Free Dis- pensary. He was attending physician of the Pittsburg Infirmary, with which he has been connected for the past thirty years, and he is now its consulting physician. He is also ex- aminer for different life insurance organiza- tions.
Dr. Lange married Miss Birdie R. Trego, daughter of Joseph Trego, of Carlisle, Cum- berland County, in October, 1868. Of their six children Anna B., Kennedy T., May Ellen, Charles Arnold, and Frank C. are liv- ing. The parents are members of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Pittsburg. The Doctor is a member of O. H. Rippy Post, No. 41, Department of Pennsylvania, G. A. R., of which he has been surgeon; and he is Past Medical Director of the Department of Pennsylvania. At one time he took con- siderable interest in Grand Army affairs. More recently he found his professional duties demanded all the energy and attention at his command; and these he has given ungrudg- ingly since winning his present high reputa- tion, if not the full financial recompense which should accompany it.
AMES M. FULLERTON, one of the leading undertakers of Pittsburg, was born here, June 13, 1850, son of John and Unity (Galaher) Fullerton. The father,
now retired from active life, was born at Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland, September 7, ISTO, son of William and Elizabeth (Wil- son) Fullerton. The family comes of old Scotch and Presbyterian ancestry. The grand- father, after living a quiet farmer's life in Tyrone County, died when John was but nine- teen months old. The grandmother, who was a native of the same place, and died in 1831, brought her family of eight children to Pitts- burg in 1823. Of these children John is the only survivor. The others were: Mary, who became the wife of John Ramsey, and died at the age of ninety-one; Jane, who died be- tween the ages of seventy and seventy-five years; Margaret, who was the wife of John Moore, and died at the age of ninety-nine years, six months, and twenty-eight days; Eliza, who married John Mitcheltree, of Middlesex, Pa., and died at the age of ninety- three; Ann, who married James Gardner, and died at the age of seventy-four; James, who died in Pittsburg when fifty-five years of age; and Robert, who died in the West.
John Fullerton's education was received partly in Ireland and partly in Pittsburg. He came here at the age of twelve, and has been a resident for the past seventy-three years, seeing the city grow under his eyes. When a boy Mr. Fullerton was bound an ap- prentice to Samuel Boyce in the tobacco busi- ness, and learned all the branches of the trade. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he es- tablished himself in the city, and for fifty- eight years was a successful tobacco dealer, having been continuously in business for a longer period of time than any other man in the city. During the Civil War he was largely engaged in manufacturing, and em- ployed many people. It was at this time that he began a jobbing business, to which in later years he gave his particular attention.
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He continued in active business till March, 1895, being then eighty-five years old. Since that time he has led a retired life. Mr. Ful- lerton was one of the original stockholders of the Second National Bank and of the Pitts- burg Insurance Company, of which he was a director and in the organization of which he took an active part. He was an ac- tive Republican; but, though at one time a School Director in the Fourth Ward, he was not an aspirant to office. He married Unity Galaher, May 21, 1839, and has five children living. These are: John T., Susan A., Will- iam W., Samuel R., and James M. He has been connected with the Methodist Episcopal church for about fifty years. At first he was a member of the old Wesley Chapel on Smith- field Street, where he served on the Official Board. Afterward he had relations with Christ's Church on Liberty Street and latterly with the North Avenue Street, Allegheny City. In each, until recently, he figured prominently among the church officers. His wife died September 7, 1895, at the age of seventy-six. He now lives quietly at the East End with his son, Samuel R., after a long life of activity and usefulness.
James M. Fullerton went to school in the Fourth Ward, and received a good education in the private schools at Sewickley. After finishing a preparatory business course, he entered his father's store, and later formed a partnership with him and his brother, Will- iam W., under the name of John Fullerton & Sons. In 1883 he left the firm, and estab- lished an undertaker's office on Penn Avenue. The business having prospered, he now has an office and chapel, especially fitted for services, and a show-room and preparing- rooms on Ninth Avenue. He has perfected himself in his work, and is skilled in embalm- ing. His exclusive attention to business has
always insured his success. . He was made a Mason in Franklin Lodge, No. 221, Schenley Park; and is a member of Lodge No. 1039, I. O. O. F. ; and Lodge No. 11, B. P. O. Elks, of Pittsburg. Ile is also a member of the Tariff Club and of political organizations; of the Junior O. U. A. M., Pittsburg, Lodge No. 117; of the A. O. U. W., No. 40; and of the Knights of P., No. 392. He has for some time been chairman of the Fourth Ward Re- publican Committee, and has taken an active part in local politics. He is now a member of the School Board in the Fourth Ward, on which his father had served. Mr. Fullerton is not married; and his home is made at his place of business, just above his spacious business rooms. He attends and assists in the support of the Methodist Episcopal church.
OHN P. STERRETT, M.D., a prac- tising physician of Pittsburg for nearly a score of years, was born April 20, 1826, in Juniata County, son of Robert Sterrett. His earlier ancestors lived in the north of Ireland, whence in 1722 or 1726 John and Benjamin Sterrett emigrated to America. They settled on land now in Don- egal township, Lancaster County, this State, being among the earliest pioneers of the place. Benjamin at his death left three sons, Robert, John, and Charles, from one of whom Dr. Sterrett is descended.
James Sterrett, the grandfather of the Doc- tor, was a lifelong resident of Eastern Penn- sylvania. He successively married Miss Hanna and Miss Margaret McClure. The family of the latter was very prominent in that section of the country. She was the mother of Robert Sterrett. Robert was reared to agriculture, which he followed during his life, having been a well-to-do farmer. He
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married Margaret Patterson, whose progenitors were also pioneer settlers of Bucks County, coming from Ireland about the time the Sterretts did. His children were: James P., John P., Margeretta, Isabella Jane, William, and Robert McClure.
John P. Sterrett spent his boyhood in Ju- niata County, obtaining his preliminary edu- cation in the public schools and the Tascarora Academy. After spending 1845 and 1846 at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, he began the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph Kelley. In 1848, having graduated from the Univer- sity of Virginia, he began the practice of his profession in association with his former pre- ceptor, Dr. Kelley. Dr. Sterrett established himself as a practitioner in Johnstown in 1849. Six months later he removed to Aca- demia, where he remained twenty years, ac- tively engaged in his professional duties. During the larger part of the time he was connected with the academy of that village as president of the Governing Board. In 1875 he transferred his practice to Port Royal, remaining there until his removal to Pitts- burg in 1879. Here Dr. Sterrett soon made himself known as a physician of ability; and his close attention to his work secured a good practice, which he has steadily maintained. Ile is well known in professional circles, being a valued member of the Allegheny County Medical Society, of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. He has been a Mason since his early life. In religion he is a Pres- byterian.
In November, 1849, Dr. Sterrett married Miss Anna Kennedy, daughter of Dr. Ken- nedy. The five children born of the union are: Robert Moffatt, a druggist, doing busi- ness in Pittsburg; James Rolston, an attor- ney, likewise a resident of this city; Mary D.,
the wife of Charles Shuman, of Pittsburg; Carrie J., who married Lee C. Robins; and John Kennedy Sterrett, M.D., a rising young physician of this city.
TEPHEN L. BLACHLY, M.D., having been in active practice as a physician and surgeon for more than half a century, in 1895 removed from his home in Washington County, Pennsylvania, to Wilkinsburg, Allegheny County, where he has since lived retired. He traces his lineage back eight generations to Thomas Blachly, in - migrant, who was of Hartford, Conn, in .1640, of New Haven in 1643, and two years later was a resident of Branford, Conn. Thomas Blachly signed the agreement with the little band of colonists that migrated from the latter place to Newark, N.J., but did not go with them, and did not receive any part of the lands set off to him. His children, four in number, were: Aaron, Moses, Miriam, and Abigail.
Aaron Blachly, the second progenitor in this line, married Mary Dodd, of Guilford, Conn., where he located in 1683, and. they reared nine children ; namely, Mary, Thomas, Dr. Ebenezer, Hannah, Daniel, Joseph, Ben- jamin, Sarah, and Susanna, the order of their births being uncertain. Dr. Ebenezer Blachly, first, one of the five sons of Aaron, practised medicine at Dix Hills, Huntington township, L. I., many years. He married, and reared five children - Elizabeth, Dr. Ebenezer, Joseph, Benjamin, and Daniel.
Dr. Ebenezer Blachly, second, the fourth in line of descent, was born in 1709, and died at "The Ponds," N.J. His wife, Hannah Miller, bore him eight children - Frances, Zophar, Ebenezer (third), Miller, Sarah, Cor- nelius, Mary, and Mercy. Dr. Ebenezer
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Blachly, third, was born in 1735, and died April 19, 1805, near Mendham, N.J. He was one of the founders of the New Jersey Medical Society in 1776, and was a surgeon in the Revolutionary War. He married Mary Wickham, and they had a family of seven sons and five daughters. Five of these sons, Eben- ezer, Henry W., Absalom, William, and Cor- nelius C., became physicians; and the eldest daughter, Mary, married a physician, Dr. Hezekiah Sites Woodruff.
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Dr. Ebenezer Blachly, fourth, son of Dr. Ebenezer, third, was born in 1760, and died August 20, 1812. He entered the American service under age in the Revolution, as sur- geon's mate to a North Carolina regiment which was encamped near the old Raritan Bridge in the winter of 1778. He also acted as a volunteer assistant surgeon to a regi- ment in the Pennsylvania line. In 1776 he was at the battle of White Plains, in 1777 in winter quarters at Valley Forge, and in 1778 at the battle of Monmouth. After the war he married Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of Colo- nel Oliver Spencer, and settled in Paterson, N.J., where he enjoyed an extensive and suc- cessful practice. He had nine children, namely: Nancy; Dr. Ebenezer S .; Dr. Henry Wickham; Mary J .; Juliana; Bayard P., a druggist in New York City; Eliza; and Jo- seph W. and Oliver, wholesale dry-goods mer- chants of Cincinnati.
Dr. Henry Wickham Blachly, son of Dr. Ebenezer, fourth, and father of Dr. Stephen L., was born April 17, 1786, in Paterson, N.J. He read medicine with his father, and, after concluding his preparatory studies in New York City, practised there for a short time in company with Dr. William Budd. He then settled in Washington County, Penn- sylvania, where he was one of the foremost physicians for forty years. On January 9,
1806, he married Hannah Loveridge, who bore him twelve children, as follows, named in the order of their births: Ebenezer S., Milton, Eveline, Maria J., Stephen L., Eliza, Oliver B., Joseph Warren, Lucilla Caroline, Har- riet Newell, Henry W., and Hannah Louisa.
Dr. Ebenezer S. Blachly, the first-born, hav- ing completed his medical studies at Jeffer- son Medical College in Philadelphia, Pa., set- tled for practice in Greene County. He was twice married. His first wife was Martha Hanna, and his second, Elizabeth Alison, now deceased. His children, five in number, were born of his first marriage; and of these but one grew to maturity, Bayard Milton, who succeeded to the profession of his father, and for thirty years was a practitioner in Waynes- burg. Milton Blachly, second son of Dr. Henry W. Blachly, died when sixteen years old. Eveline Blachly, the eldest daughter, married Dr. William B. Porter, of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. She and her husband died leaving three children, namely: Maria, who married Francis Braddock; Louisa, who became the wife of William Carter; and John Henry, who married Hannah McAfee, and died soon after completing his medical studies. Maria J. married Dr. Lutellus Lindley, of Connellsville, Pa., and died leav- ing one son, Dr. Henry S. Lindley, of Perrys- ville, this county. Eliza Blachly married John Milton Lindley, who died leaving three chil- dren - Bayard, Colin, and Sarah, Colin being now a well-known physician at Zollarsville, Pa. Oliver B. Blachly married for his first wife Ellen Cracraft, by whom he had five children - Byron, Henry, Oliver, Mary, and Howard; and for his second wife, Ella Hunt.
Dr. Joseph Warren Blachly, fifth son of Dr. Henry W., was for many years an active practitioner in his native town. He married Eliza Minton, who bore him four children, as
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follows: Maria; Ellen, who died some years ago; Joseph Warren, Jr., who has also passed to the life beyond; and Frank, who married Hannah Post, and is an able physician at Peoria, Ill. Lucilla Caroline Blachly mar- ried I. N. Day, a prosperous farmer of Morris township, Pa. Their children were: Henry B., who married Alice Vail; and Homer, who married Nettie Donahey, and engaged in the practice of medicine at Smyrna, Ohio, but is now deceased. Harriet Newell Blachly mar- ried Harvey Lindley, and they became the parents of the following children : Harry B., who married Sarah Vankirk, and died at the age of thirty-three years; Ann Eliza, the wife of Samuel Cozad; Oscar; Howard; and Abra- ham Lincoln. Henry W. Blachly, Jr., was also a talented and successful physician, de- voting his energies to his profession until his death. He married Caroline Cracraft, and had two children, namely: Mary, who married Dr. Emerick, of Dowd's Station, Ia., and died at a comparatively early age; and Henry W., a lawyer in Van Wert, Ohio. Hannah Louisa Blachly, the youngest member of the parental household, never married.
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