USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Biographical review : v. 24, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburgh and the vicinity, Pennsylvania > Part 34
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Duff was wounded by a minie ball in the right thigh, necessitating the amputation of the leg. On account of the terrible loss of life during this assault, it is known in history as the Hare House slaughter. He recovered from the wound; but, being disabled for field service, he was at his own request discharged from the army on October 24, 1864. He returned to Pittsburg, and resumed the practice of law. In the fall of 1865 he was elected District Attorney of Allegheny County, which office he held for three years. After retiring from office, he continued the practice of law, in which he has been very successful.
Colonel Duff was elected District Attorney upon the Republican ticket, but in 1872 joined the Liberal Republicans and supported Horace Greeley for President. In 1882 he joined the Independent Republican movement started by Charles S. Wolfe, and was the candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Since then he has been a Democrat, and in 1893 was a candidate for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, No. 2, of Allegheny County, on the Democratic ticket.
He is a member of Encampment No. 1 Union Veteran Legion; and of the Pennsyl- vania Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion; and of the Association of the Army of the Potomac.
Colonel Duff has been twice married. On July 21, 1862, he married Harriet H. Nixon, daughter of Hezekiah Nixon, ex-Mayor of Allegheny, Pa., and by this union had five children, three of whom died young. The living are : Samuel E., a civil engineer of this city ; and Hezekiah Nixon, a special writer on the Pittsburg Leader.
Colonel Duff's first wife died on July 16, 1877; and on January 16, 1882, he was again married to Agnes F. Kaufman, daughter of John A. Kaufman, of Coesse, Ind. He at:
tends the United Presbyterian Church, of which Mrs. Duff is a member.
EV. LEMUEL CALL BARNES, D. D., an eminent divine of Pitts- burg, pastor of the Fourth Avenue Church, is the son of Lemuel Munson and Rachel (Call) Barnes. His great-great-great- grandfather, Timothy Barnes, came from Eng- land in the early part of the seventeenth cen- tury. The emigrant's son Timothy was born in Connecticut; Timothy, third, was born at Hartford, Conn. ; and Timothy, fourth, grand- father of Dr. Barnes, was born at Litchfield, Conn., and became one of the pioneers of the Connecticut, or Western, Reserve, Ohio. His wife, Ruth Taylor, was a native of Rut- land, Vt.
The maternal great-grandfather of Dr. Barnes was the Rev. Stephen Call, a native of Colerain, Mass., who removed to Warren County, New York, in 1797. He was a Bap- tist minister and one of the active men of his time, preaching and organizing churches near and far. He lived on his farm in Warren County nearly fifty years. The country road in the township of Luzerne still goes by his name, Call Street. His son, Obed Call, be- came a pioneer of the Western Reserve, set- tling in Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio. He was one of the early school-teachers there, and a pillar in the Baptist church. Obed Call's wife was Lovina Sperry, a daughter of Elijah Sperry, who was a Lieutenant in Colonel Jed- uthan Baldwin's regiment of artificers in the Revolution. He enlisted at New Milford, Conn., in 1777, and rose to the rank of Lieu- tenant, April 1, 1779. He had an active hand in making the great chain which was thrown across the Hudson at West Point, links of which are still preserved there. He mar-
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ried Marauchie Van Orden, a native of Hol- land. Their daughter Lovina was born in Waitsfield, Vt.
Lemuel Call Barnes was born in Kirtland, Ohio, November 6, 1854. His parents re- moving to Michigan, he entered Kalamazoo College, whose charter requires the standard of admission to be kept equal to that of Michi- gan University, and there enjoyed the advan- tage of being under a man of choice ability as an educator, President Kendall Brooks, D. D. Mr. Barnes was graduated in the class of 1875, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After pursuing the usual course of study at the New- ton Theological Institution in Massachusetts, graduating in 1878, he was ordained at Kala- mazoo, and took as a first pastorate that of the First Baptist Church, St. Paul, Minn., at the time one of the strongest churches in the North-west, and enjoying a house of worship which cost over a hundred thousand dollars. He remained there until July 31, 1882, when he accepted a call to the Fourth Avenue Bap- tist Church, Pittsburg. Five years and a half later he became the pastor of the First Bap- tist Church of Newton, Mass., one of the ancient churches of this faith in the suburbs of Boston, composed largely of solid business men and their families, being also the home church of the Newton Theological Institution, the Baptist Divinity School in New England: On entering a new and elegant house of wor- ship, the church, at the earnest solicitation of Pastor Barnes, adopted the free pew system, after more than a hundred years of pew rent- ing. The church prospered as never before in home expenses, and at the same time very largely increased its contributions to objects of benevolence. It also grew steadily and decidedly in numbers.
At the annual meeting of the American Baptist Missionary Union held in Chicago in
1890, Mr. Barnes was elected Foreign Secre- tary to succeed the Rev. J. N. Murdock, D. D., L.L. D., who had been secretary for twenty- seven years. This position involved the over- sight of a widespread work in Europe, Asia, and Africa, including the largest number of converts from heathenism under the care of any foreign mission society in the world, more than twice the number under the care of any other American society. He declined, how- ever, this highest honor in the gift of his denomination, in order to continue in the pas- torate. The same marked taste for the pasto- rate led him at different times to decline professorships in two theological seminaries and the presidency of a college. In 1892 hc spent seven months with his wife in Europe, Egypt, and Palestine.
After a pastorate of five years and a half in Newton he returned, June 1, 1893, to his former beloved people of the Fourth Avenue Church, Pittsburg, and has here done a great work during the last four years. This is the oldest Baptist church of the city, organized in 1812 as the First Baptist Church; and from it all the other Baptist churches of the city have sprung. It is now often called an institu- tional church, sometimes "The Twentieth Century Church." It is more simply named by its pastor the Practical Church. It has two branches, one on Wylie Avenue, corner Conklin Street, with a presiding minister, and one in the West End. The church is ag- gressive in practical, philanthropic effort, and carries on a kindergarten, a nursery, and an industrial school. The latter includes sewing, mending, dressmaking, cooking, clay model- ling, and a penny savings bank. The church employs a trained nurse to devote her whole time to visiting the destitute sick in the city, regardless of race or creed. It provides an I interpreter for deaf-mutes, who attend its ser-
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vices in large numbers. It also has a flourish- ing Chinese department. Free giving is a feature of the church life, and it is a remark- able fact that the living expenses of the church for the past year were but nine thou- sand five hundred and sixty-two dollars; while for missions the total amount contributed dur- ing the year was eleven thousand eight hun- dred and eighteen dollars. This is the more surprising because the church counts among its members very few of the men of wealth. Through the pastor's teaching, money is never raised by pew rents, suppers, fairs, or admis- sion fees, but is freely subscribed as a direct worship of God. It is a "free church " in more senses than one. The steadfast purpose of pastor and people is to bring Christianity into the daily life of the community. The chief prayer of the church is, "Thy kingdom come on carth." Its membership has grown, in spite of its decidedly down-town location, during the pastorates of Dr. Barnes, from less than four hundred to more than seven hundred.
Dr. Barnes is a natural leader and organizer and a deep student and thinker. His execu- tive power is unquestionable. When he was pastor in St. Paul, the church raised in cash a church debt of thirty-one thousand dollars in thirty days' time. He there inaugurated city missions, out of which five churches have sprung. In 1885 he was active in bringing Messrs. Moody and Sankey to Pittsburg, after having made and published a painstaking re- view of the religious statistics of Pittsburg and Allegheny. He later inspired the making of a careful sociological examination of all the churches in the two cities, showing to what industrial ranks the membership belonged. Lemuel Call Barnes is the author of various articles and pamphlets. One, entitled "Shall Islam rule Africa? " published by the Baptist Ministers' Conference of Boston, was appreci-
atively reviewed in England, and was repub- lished there. In June, 1896, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Kalamazoo College, a rule of many years' standing against conferring honorary degrees being suspended for the first time for this pur- pose. A week later the same degree was con- ferred by Bucknell University. The follow- ing season he was also proffered the degree by the Western University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Barnes is a trustee of the Newton Theological Institution and of the Board of Managers, of the American Baptist Missionary Union. He has done elaborate committee work in the ser- vice of the latter.
He married January 2, 1879, Miss Mary Clark, who was graduated from Kalamazoo College with the degree of Bachelor of Philos- ophy in his own class of 1875, taking the de- gree of Master of Philosophy in 1878. Dur- ing the three years immediately following her graduation and previous to their marriage Mrs. Barnes was Lady Principal of the college. She is possessed of scholarly tastes and of much executive ability. A large part of the success of the Practical Church and of the mis- sionary work of her husband is due to her un- tiring sympathy and wise effort.
AVID Z. BRICKELL, vice-presi- dent and treasurer of the Chambers & McKee Glass Company at Pitts- burg, comes of Scotch-Irish origin. The Scotch-Irish family is traced back to a Scotch- man, who is alleged to have been driven from his own country to Ireland by religious perse- cution. From the Emerald Isle in after years four of this ancestor's descendants, brothers, emigrated to America, all locating at first in Redstone, Pa., whence afterward one went to Steubenville, Ohio, and another to Colum-
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DAVID Z. BRICKELL.
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bus. All were men of deep religious convic- tions, being United Presbyterians, or Cove- manters. George Brickell, the grandfather of David Z., was born and reared in Redstone, Fayette County. From there he came to Pittsburg, where he was engaged in agricult- ural pursuits until his death. He served his country as a soldier in the War of 1812. Ona of his brothers, John Brickell, when a boy was taken prisoner by the Delaware Indians, and held a captive for four and a half years, being liberated at Fort Defiance shortly after the treaty at Greenville. The grandfather married Lydia Lovejoy, of Boston, Mass., of whose children by him ten attained maturity ; namely, Sarah, Elizabeth, John, William, Susan, Samuel, Robert, James, Zachariah, and Lydia. Elizabeth married James Allison, father of Dr. James Allison; Susan became the wife of Enoch Holmes, of this city; and Lydia successively married James Evans and James Craig. With the exception of James all of the sons here mentioned were pioneer steamboat engineers and captains. Robert and Samuel removed to Cincinnati, whence they ran river boats to New Orleans.
John Brickell, the father of David Z., was born in Pittsburg, December 7, 1796. Hav- ing completed his education in the subscrip- tion schools of the city, he learned the ma- chinist's trade. He was then engaged as an engineer on the river steamers for a time, after which he received charge of a boat, being one of the earliest steamboat men in this vicin- ity. In 1832, at the mouth of Sook's Run, he built the steamboat "Boston, " and ran it be- tween Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. During the Mexican War, while going by the Rio Grande River to Mexico on the steamer "Rough and Ready," a government transport boat, he was stricken with the Chagres fever, which reduced him to the condition of an in-
valid and finally resulted in his death in 1861, after his return to his home. He was a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Milner Lodge, F. & A. M., of Pittsburg. On December 5, 1822, at the Smithfield Meth- odist Episcopal Church, by the Rev. Richard Tidings, a noted preacher of that day, he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine E. Zilhart, daughter of David Zilhart, of Pitts- burg. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, August 4, 1 800, she came with her parents to Pittsburg at the age of five, and died here December 1, 1892. She bore her husband five children, four of whom grew to maturity. These were : David Z., the subject of this sketch; John, who died in San Francisco, November 27, 1894, leaving a family; William B., whose death occurred December 23, 1894; and Anna B., the first-born, who is the widow of the late William Stone. Both parents were members of the Liberty Street Methodist Episcopal Church.
David Z. Brickell is also a native of Pitts- burg. Born October 7, 1825, he was educated in the public and private schools of his native city. In the week following the big fire of 1845, when his uncle Samuel came to Pitts- burg and bought the steamer "Manhattan," he went with his uncle in the capacity of second clerk on that boat. He had been employed in that position nine months when the steamer sunk at Devil's Island, on the upper Missis- sippi. Returning then to Pittsburg, he clerked in a broker's office for more than a year, then purchased an interest in the steamer "High- lander," and went on board it as clerk under Captain Henry Force. He continued in the steamboat business until after the war, serving as pilot and captain for twenty-one years. In company with Captain W. W. Martin, he built and ran a number of river steamers. At inter- vals throughout the war, having charge of the
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"Florence," he transported troops and sup- plies for the government from Cincinnati and Columbus to Parkersburg by way of the Big Kanawha River. On the day that Tennessee seceded, after stopping at Memphis with the steamer "Nevada," he continued on his way to New Orleans, arriving there on the day preceding that of the Mardi Gras, unloaded his vessel, and succeeded in getting above Cairo, Ill., on his return trip, in season to avoid the blockade. Mr. Brickell was at Milliken's Bend during the siege of Vicksburg. Subse- quently he carried his boat up Hatchies River in company with other transports under the protection of gunboats, having a brief en- counter on the way. In 1865 he retired from boating, and with others bought the Kittan- ning Rolling Mills, and under the firm name of Martin, Oliver & Brickell was in business until the burning of the mill three years later. Going then to Smartville, Cal., to visit his brother John, he spent six months in that lo- cality. On his return to his native city he accepted the position of right-of-way commis- sioner for the Pittsburg, Virginia & Charleston Railroad Company, and held it for two years. During the ensuing three years he was super- intendent of the Castle Shannon coal road, after which he had charge of the South Side Gas Works for five years. In 1891 Mr. Brickell became a member of the Chambers & McKee Glass Company, with which he has since been officially connected, as mentioned above. The company manufactures window glass at the rate of twenty-four hundred boxes every twenty-four hours, their plant being the largest of the kind in the world, and giving employment to about fourteen hundred men. Mr. Brickell has also other financial interests. In 1873 he was elected president of the South Side Railway Company, a position which he retained until the road was absorbed by the
Pittsburg & Birmingham line, in which he is still interested. He is likewise a director of the Manufacturers' Bank, the Mercantile Bank, the Mercantile Trust Company, and the First National Bank of Jeannette, Pa.
On December 23, 1851, Mr. Brickell mar- ried Miss Mary N. McCarty, daughter of John McCarty, of Steubenville, Ohio. Of the three children born of the union, but one is now living; namely, William D. Brickell, the owner and publisher of the Columbus Evening Dispatch, of Columbus, Ohio. Mrs. Brickell lived but a few years after her mar- riage, passing away July 12, 1856. She was a most estimable woman and a devoted mem- ber of the Methodist Protestant church. Mr. Brickell belongs to St. John's Lodge, No. 219, F. & A. M., of this city. In politics he votes for the best men, regardless of party: He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church on Smithfield Street.
HARLES WOODRUFF SCOVEL, a prominent life insurance manager of Pittsburg, Pa., son of the Rev. Syl- vester F. and Caroline (Woodruff) Scovel, was born in Springfield, Ohio, August 16, 1862. His maternal grandfather was Charles Wood- ruff, a successful hardware merchant of New Albany, Ind., who lived to an advanced age.
Mr. Scovel's paternal grandfather, Sylves- ter Scovel, D. D., was the son of a Revolution- ary soldier, and was born in New England. He was well known in religious circles, being one of the first secretaries of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. By his untiring efforts were established many churches in the Ohio valley, then a frontier. His wife left a luxurious home to go with him through the wilds of that State, undergoing the perils and privations of the early pioneers. He preached
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in Pittsburg many times during its early days. At the time of his death he was president of Hanover College, Indiana. His wife, Han- nah Matlack, was related to the well-known Kennedy family of Philadelphia. She sur- vived him until the summer of 1896, dying at the age of ninety.
The Rev. Sylvester F. Scovel, D. D., father of Charles W. Scovel, was born in Hamilton, Ohio; and his wife was a native of New Al- bany, Ind. Five children were born to them, namely : Minor; Charles W. ; Amy, now wife of Walter J. Mullins, of Wooster, Ohio; Syl- vester H. ; and Elizabeth D. The father is a man of letters, now holding the honorable position of president of Wooster University. This call was accepted by him in 1883, after a pastorate of eighteen years in the First Presby- terian Church of Pittsburg, where he is re- membered with veneration. In early life he preached for one or two years in New Albany, Ind., and for five years in Springfield, Ohio. While residing in Pittsburg, Dr. Scovel was associated with every kind of religious work, at the same time laboring in behalf of every cause promoting the public welfare. He was trustee of the Western Theological Seminary, the Western University of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania College for Women. He was chosen to be the first president of the Art Society, as well as of the May Festival Asso- ciation, and was frequently made delegate to religious conventions in this country and abroad.
Charles W. Scovel was but three years old when his parents took him from Springfield to Pittsburg, where he has since made his home. Here he attended the public and private schools, finishing his course in the Pittsburg High School in 1880. Immediately entering the Western University of Pennsylvania, he graduated there in 1883 with honors, being the
valedictorian of his class; and in 1886 he re- ceived from this institution his degree of Mas- ter of Arts. Upon graduating, he registered as a law student in the office of William Scott, and for one year attended the Columbia Law School in New York, where he became a mem- ber of the famous law fraternity, Phi Delta Phi. Desirous of more advanced study, Mr. Scovel spent the winter of 1884-85 in taking special courses of law in the University of Berlin, Germany. Upon his return he re-en- tered the office of Mr. Scott, and in 1886 he was admitted to the bar. He was engaged in active law practice for upward of eleven years, chiefly as an office lawyer, though some of his best professional work was done as master, au- ditor, and so forth, under court appointment. The Allegheny County Bar Association elected him secretary for three successive terms - 1895, 1896, and 1897. This office he resigned when, in August, 1897, he withdrew from the active life of the profession to accept a very flattering offer to become manager for Western Pennsylvania of the great Manhattan Life Insurance Company of New York.
He is a stanch Republican, but a man inter- ested rather in music, art, and literature than in the life of the local politician. He is an amateur organist, and has since 1885 been a leader of musical opinion in Pittsburg through his weekly newspaper articles. His interests and ties outside of business are many. The Art Society, of which he was for three years secretary and a director twice as long, owes its growth and development in a large degree to Mr. Scovel. This is also true of the Pittsburg Orchestra, which was founded by the former organization at his instance. He personally solicited the original three years' guarantee fund for the orchestra. Some years before, he raised the money to buy the Karl Merz musi- cal library for the Carnegie Library of Pitts-
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burg, then only a prospect. In 1893 he was appointed as a Phi Delta Phi to a position on the Advisory Board of the World's Fair Con- gress of College Fraternities. He is a mem- ber of the Alumni Associations of the High School and Western University, college de- partment, and has served in various offices, including the presidency of each. He was chosen (1897) the first president of the Gen- eral Alumni Association, including all depart- ments of the University, and also secretary of the Board of Trustees of that institution.
He married June 24, 1886, Sara Wilson Butler, who is a daughter of John Williamson Butler and Sarah Greer (Wilson) Butler. They have three children - Sylvester B., Sara W., and Caroline W.
b R. W. A. McGIFFIN, a popular dentist of Allegheny, was born in Washington County, July 16, 1849, son of William H. and Eliza (Frederick) Mc- Giffin. His grandfather was John McGiffin, born in Washington County, September 17, 1781. Of John's three sons and one daughter, William H., born November 9, 1818, was a resident of Washington County, where he kept a country store. William enlisted in Com- pany D of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Vol- unteer Infantry, and died in 1862 of typhoid fever at Harrison's Landing, before Richmond, aged forty-four years. His wife survived him until 1894, dying at the home of her son, Dr. McGiffin, at the age of sixty-five. She was a 1 member of Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Her husband was a Baptist. They had five children, only one of whom is now living.
WV. A. McGiffin went to college at Mount Union, Ohio, and then taught in the public schools of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Vir- ginia for three or four years. In 1870 he
began the study of dentistry in North- western Ohio. After some practice there and at his old home he attended the Pennsylvania Dental College. In 1879 he came to Allegheny, where he has since followed his profession. He is now one of the best known dentists in the city, well up in his profession, and an affable and agreeable gentleman.
On July 31, 1879, Dr. McGiffin married Miss Emma M. McGaffick, daughter of Eliza- beth McGaffick, of Beaver, Pa. Their chil- dren are - Edna A., William M., and Donald Hazzard. Mrs. McGiffin is a member of the Fourth United Presbyterian Church. The Doctor is connected with the Improved Order of Heptasophs and the A. O. U. W. In poli- tics he is a Republican, and he has held the position of clerk and librarian of the Pennsyl- vania Reform Schools for two years.
LARENCE C. MOOAR, the popu- lar Assistant Postmaster of Allegheny City, was born in Covington, Ky., February 19, 1856. By both parents, Judge Charles H. and Phoebe C. (Flagg) Mooar, he comes of New England ancestry. His grand- father, Jacob Mooar, who resided in Hollis, N. H., and was a cooper by trade, lived to an advanced age. Judge Mooar, who was born in New Hampshire, is a graduate of Dartmouth College. His wife's father, a Scotchman, died when she was but a year old. Her mother, who, born in 18or, died in 1890, after the death of Mr. Flagg married a Mr. Brain- ard, with whom she afterward lived in Han- over, N. H. Judge Mooar's children are: Clarence C., Sadie O., Mamie A., Eva L., R. H. L., and William B. Sadie O. is now Mrs. T. B. Fennell, of Kentucky. Eva I .. is the wife of A. A. Reeves, of Chicago. R. H. L. Mooar resides in Chicago, and Will-
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