USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Biographical review : v. 24, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburgh and the vicinity, Pennsylvania > Part 40
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Mrs. Dickson are: William, who is now at Chartiers; Mary A., who is the wife of Au- gustus Cole, and lives next to her parents; Jennie, now Mrs. Robert Hayes, of Alle- gheny ; Lizzie, the wife of Alexander Phillips, also living on the island; David, whose resi- dence is near by; John E., who lives with his parents; Emma, who is the wife of William J. Parker; Maggie, now Mrs. Charles Stevenson, of North-east Pennsylvania; and Algernon B., Finley S., and Wilson J., all still at home. There are thirty-eight grandchildren and twelve living great-grandchildren, and there was not a break in the family circle until the death of the little son of Mrs. Steven- son. Mr. Dickson has had a family reunion, which sixty descendants attended. Both he and Mrs. Dickson are charter members of the Neville Island Presbyterian Church, and all their family are members of the same society. Wilson Dickson is superintendent of the Sun- day-school.
Three of Mr. Dickson's sons - David, John E., and Wilson -are thirty-second degree Masons, like their father. The fine substan- tial residence that is now the home of the fan- ily was built by Mr. Dickson upon the site of his former residence, which was destroyed by fire in the preceding year.
AMES BONAR, the senior partner in the firm of James Bonar & Co., of Pittsburg, was born in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland, April 3, 1864. He traces his lineage back through several gen- erations of honest and upright ancestors. His father, a student and hard-working man, was born on the field of the famous battle of Bannockburn. His mother is still living in Dunfermline, at the age of seventy years.
James Bonar was the first boy to receive the
scholarship given in his native town by Mr. Andrew Carnegie. This secured him a good education in a school at Dunfermline in which students are prepared for the universi- ties. When he was about fifteen years of age, an old friend of his advised him to learn some handicraft, saying that he would do well to educate not merely his brain, but his hands. Acting upon this suggestion, the lad went into the establishment of the Dunfermline Foundry and Machine Company as an appren- tice at the machinist's trade. During the first year he received four shillings a week and during the next five shillings. At the age of seventeen, equipped with a good knowl- edge of the business, he went to London, and became a workman in the pump works of Per- kins, Hopkins & Co. In London and at Leeds, where he afterward worked, Mr. Bonar found time to increase both his theoretical and practical knowledge of machinery by at- tending courses of instruction in the Govern- ment Technical School, from which institu- tion he received a number of certificates bearing the government stamp. Ambitious to excel in his chosen work, and desirous of placing himself in a position where he would be environed by the greatest possibilities for commercial development, Mr. Bonar deter- mined to come to the great coal and iron re- gion of Pennsylvania. Shortly after his ar- rival in this country, in 1884, he secured a position in the Keystone Bridge Works of the Carnegie Steel Company. Mr. Bonar re- mained for some years with this company, and was successively assistant chief engineer at the Lucy furnaces, inspector of machinery in the various departments, and finally assistant purchasing agent. In this last position he remained for six years. Later, upon the re- organization of the Pittsburg Gage Company, he became interested in that, and was chosen
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its secretary. The extensive acquaintance with all kinds of machinery, which he ac- quired while connected with the Carnegie Company, and his knowledge of the conditions governing the buying and selling of all iron and steel machinery, thoroughly qualified him to open a business for himself. Less than a year ago he organized the firm of James Bonar & Co., contracting engineers. In connection with the contracting department there is a large business carried on in the manufacture and sale of steam appliances. Mr. Bonar is the patentee of a live steam feed water purifier for boilers. He aims to keep in stock all the latest appliances for steam plants, and is con- stantly on the lookout for new ideas. He is also watchful for new patents, which he de- velops, if upon investigation he considers them practicable.
Mr. Bonar married Miss Fannie Young Harrison, of Pittsburg, daughter of John Harrison, a large stone contractor, recently deceased. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bonar - James Greig, Mary Young, and Agnes Harrison. Mr. Bonar is a member of the Columbia Association, No. 15, of Pittsburg, National Association of Station- ary Engineers. His successful career is a good illustration of what pluck and energy will do for a man.
OHN DAVIDSON MILLIGAN, M. D., one of the most skilful physicians of Pittsburg, was born near Madison, Westmoreland County, Pa., July 31, 1851, son of James M. and Elizabeth (Davidson) Milli- gan. The Milligans are a family noted for longevity, thrift, and morality. Their first representative in America was John Milligan, who was born near the home of Robert Burns, in Ayrshire, Scotland, and immigrated prior to
the Revolutionary War, locating in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1774. He was a miller by occupation, and owned and operated a mill, which was destroyed by a detachment of British troops because he supplied the Con- tinental troops with flour. He became a sol- dier under Washington, and served until the close of the war.
John Milligan married, in 1775, Mary Adams, of Carlisle, whose paternal ancestors were from New England, and subsequently removed to Westmoreland County, where he loated on what is now known as the Willow- tree Farm. He patented four hundred acres of land in Sewickley township. He served many years as Justice of the Peace, and as such made a record for marrying more couples than any other justice of the county. It is said this was because of the brevity of his cere- mony. In 1802 he started with a boat-load of flour and whiskey to New Orleans. The flour soured on the way; and he took it to Liverpool, England, where he sold it to the starch manufacturers, and invested the proceeds in dry goods and general merchandise. He then visited his native place in Scotland, and induced his half-brother, James, an eloquent Scotch Covenanter, to return with him to America. The Rev. James Milligan became noted as an early abolitionist.
John Milligan had ten children, among them James C., a successful farmer, who was also a cabinet-maker, and made all the coffins used in the vicinity. An old-school Cove- manter in religious relief, he died in Sewick- ley township in 1886, aged ninety-five years. His appearance was commanding, he being six feet two inches in height. He married Deborah Echels, a native of Carlisle, Pa. Their children were: John, Mary, Charles, James M., Margaret, Joseph David, Ellen, Stephen, George, and Mungo.
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James M. Milligan, son of James C. and the father of the Doctor, was born on New Year's Day, 1819, on the farm patented by his grand- father. He has been successful as a farmer, is an efficient officer in the United Brethren church, and in politics an active Republican, having held various local offices. He taught school in early life. His first marriage, Feb- ruary 17, 1842, was to Rosa Murtland, by whom he has one child, named Daniel Murt- land. He married second, October 10, 1850, Elizabeth Davidson, daughter of Samuel and Hannah Davidson. The first representative of this branch of the Davidson family in America was Robert Davidson, a minister, who, with his wife, came prior to the Revolution, and set- tled in Philadelphia, where he died about 1780. One of their children was Jacob, who, after the death of his father, was placed with a Mennonite family, which accounted for his fluent use of the German language. After leaving them, he became a miller, and after his marriage to Mary Young he emigrated to Westmoreland County. They had ten chil- dren, five sons and five daughters. The fam- ily traditions describe Jacob as being low of stature, five feet, five inches, square and firmly built, unassuming in manner, careful and scrupulous, as well as industrious and saving. He was a buhr-maker, and honest and untiring in his vocation. Buhrs of his making are still in use. Among his sons was Samuel, maternal grandfather of Dr. Milligan, born at Funks Mills, January, 1807. He married Hannah Christman, and had three children. One of them, Elizabeth, born March 22, 1830, married James M. Milli- gan. The children of Mr. James M. Milli- gan and his second wife are: John D., Ro- setta, Sarah E., and Harry E.
John D. Milligan was educated in the com- mon schools of his native county. He studied
medicine with Dr. Lewis Sutton, of West Newton, and in 1873 attended lectures at the Western Reserve Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio. In 1874 he entered the Bellevue Hos- pital College of New York City, where he was graduated March 1, 1876. During the spring of the succeeding year he took the full post- graduate course at Bellevue; and, beginning the practice of medicine at Madison, he soon became one of the foremost and successful phy- sicians of the county. After thirteen years spent in his native town he selected Greens- burg as being a wide field for work, and located there in 1890, thence removing to Pittsburg, where he has taken a high rank.
Dr. Milligan is a member of numerous orders and societies, among them Westmore- land County Medical Society, of which he is an ex-president ; the Allegheny County Medi- cal Society; the Western Pennsylvania Ob- stetrical Society; the State and National So- cieties; and the American Railway Surgeons' Association. He is general surgeon of the Pittsburg & Lake Erie Railroad, and has acquired recognition as a medical expert, being frequently called upon as such. His knowledge of medical jurisprudence is con- ceded to be of a high order, and he is one of the most successful and popular practitioners of Pittsburg. He is one of the leaders in Masonic circles, being a Knight Templar, a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of Syria Temple and Penna Consistory, of Pitts- burg. He is also connected with the I. O. O. F. He is a Presbyterian in religious faith. A Republican in politics, he is public-spirited, and is a man of affable and charming manners.
Dr. Milligan married Miss Margaret Ede Jones, of Johnstown, July 27, 1893, the cere- mony being performed by the Rev. D. Jewett Davies. Mrs. Milligan and her father, Will- iam Wallace Jones, are the sole survivors of
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a family of seven, all the others having been drowned in the Johnstown flood of May 31, 1889; and their property was swept away.
ILLIAM SCOTT, one of the leading members of the Pittsburg bar, was born in Huntingdon, Pa., May 8, 1850, son of John and Annie E. (Eyster) Scott. His paternal ancestors were Scotch- Irish, who, after the siege of Derry and the granting of Penn's charter, in common with many others, fled to the United States. John Scott, the grandfather, a native of York (now Adams) County, married Agnes Irvine, who was born in the northern part of Ireland.
The Hon. John Scott, the father of Will- iam, attained prominence in legal and politi- cal circles. He studied law with Judge Alex- · ander Thomson at Chambersburg, and after his admission to the bar began practice in Huntingdon. He became a Republican upon the organization of that party, and in 1869 was elected to the United States Senate, where he subsequently served for six years. Afte. Jis return from the Senate he located in Pittsburg that he might more conveniently attend to his legal duties in behalf of the Pennsylvania Company. Two years later he took up his residence in Philadelphia, where he died November 29, 1896. His was an honorable career, characterized by strict in- tegrity and great perseverance, qualities that compelled success. For many years he was the general solicitor for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. His wife had six sons, namely : William and Walter, who are attor- neys of Pittsburg; John, Jr., an attorney of Philadelphia; George and Irvine, business men in Philadelphia; and J. Allison, a Phil- adelphia physician.
William Scott attended the private schools
at Huntingdon for a time. Subsequently he studied at Princeton College, graduating in the class of 1868. He then engaged for a time in the business of coal mining, after which he spent two years in Washington, D.C., as his father's secretary. While there he read law with his father. He came to Pittsburg in 1875, and for three years acted as assistant to his father, then general attorney for the Pennsylvania Company; and in 1878 he opened an office in Pittsburg for the prac- tice of law. On September 16, 1880, Mr. Scott married Anne L. King, daughter of Dr. James King, at one time brigade surgeon of the Pennsylvania Reserves, and a man who ranked high in his profession. They have three boys living - James King, John Irvine, and William Russell. Mr. Scott is a member of the Presbyterian church. In politics he is a Republican. Thoroughly devoted to his profession, he is recognized as one of the leaders of the Pittsburg bar. He is the presi- dent of the Pittsburg Bar Association. Courteous in manners, but steadfast in pur- pose, he commands the respect of all with whom he comes in contact.
HILIP REYMER, for many years a prominent citizen of Allegheny. Pa., and at the time of his death. March 3, 1893, one of the firm of Reymer Brothers, proprietors of an extensive and long- established confectionery business, corner Third Street and Cherry Alley, was a na- tive of Pittsburg, Pa., born June 27, 1824. He was a son of Peter and Anna Maria ( Evans) Reymer. His grandfather, Philip Reymer, first, went into the Revolutionary War when either nine or ten years old as a fifer, and served during the whole of the great struggle for independence. At Valley Forge, where
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he spent one winter, he lost his coat. After the war he settled at Green Castle, Pa., and there married Mrs. Elizabeth Stottler, and reared quite a family of children, some of whom went to Ohio. His son Peter, above named, became one of the earliest settlers of Pittsburg ; and one of Peter's sisters also came here, Mrs. Bush, of Plum township. Peter Reymer was a shoemaker, and was for a num- ber of years superintendent of the shoe depart- ment in the Western Penitentiary. He died December 25, 1876. His wife, Anna Maria, who was daughter of a sea captain, came to this locality from New York State in 1813. She died some three or four years before her husband. Their family consisted of seven sons and three daughters; namely, Philip, Griffith, Harmer Denny, Jacob, James, George, Sarah (Mrs. Morris), Cornelia (Mrs. C. Snively), Louise, and Evans.
Mr. Philip Reymer, having received his ed- ucation in the public schools of Pittsburg, began his working life as clerk at Hunker's. After a time he formed a partnership with Joshua Rhodes in the confectionery business. The firm failed after a few years; and then Mr. Reymer with Mr. Anderson started a wholesale fruit and confectionery business, the firm being Reymer & Anderson. Later this partnership was dissolved, and the firm of Reymer Brothers was formed, consisting of Messrs. Philip, Jacob, and Harmer Denny Reymer. They located on Wood Street about 1860; and the business, now the oldest con- fectionery business in the city, is still carried on at the same place. At the time of his death Mr. Reymer had been director of the Mechanics' National Bank for twenty-eight years. He was also a director in the Western Insurance Company, and was officially con- nected with various other institutions. In the Grocers' Association, of which he was
president, he took a lively interest. Frater- nally, he was a Mason and a Knight Templar. He was a trustee of the North Presbyterian Church, and both he and his wife were mem- bers of it. Their home was in Bidwell Street for thirty-one years.
On July 21, 1859, Mr. Reymer was united in marriage with Miss Hannah C. Riter, daughter of Joseph Riter and sister of Thomas B. Riter. Mrs. Reymer has three children living: Ida B .; C. C. Reymer; and Eliza- beth R., now Mrs. Robert D. Totten. ' Philip Reymer, Jr., died at the age of twenty-four years.
GTSAAC N. BUNTON, president of the Joseph Walton Company, Incorporated, miners and shippers of coal by river and by rail .-- This prosperous merchant of Pittsburg, Pa., was born here, June 28, 1841, son of James F. and Elizabeth (Speer) Bun- ton. His father came from Uniontown, Fay- ette County, Pa., when a young man. He worked at his trade as a carpenter, and also operated a saw-mill. He was much inter- ested in the schools of the community, and served long and faithfully as a director of the School Board. In politics he was connected with the old Whig party. His wife was a daughter of Alexander Speer, a farmer of Deer Creek, Pa. They had nine children, of whom five are now living. Both parents were stanch supporters of the Methodist Episcopal church. The death of James F. Bunton occurred in 1855. His father was James Bunton, a native of Baltimore, by occu- pation a hatter and farmer, who came to Uniontown when the country was little more than a wilderness, and who fought in the War of IS12.
Isaac N. Bunton received his education in the public schools of his native city. Upon
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finishing his high-school course, he took a po- sition offered him in the lumber office of William F. Richardson, and here remained until the war broke out. He at once joined a select company of young men known as the Friend Rifle Guards, which was attached to the Seventieth New York Regiment and Sickles's brigade. They were in the Army of the Potomac, and, fighting bravely in its bat- tles, carried off the highest honors of their brigade. At the expiration of three years Isaac Bunton retired, now Sergeant of his company ; and he was offered a Captain's com- mission on his return. After the close of the war he gradually worked up to a partnership with Joseph Walton in the coal business. From this time on the business increased, until the company has now no less than nine steamboats, three hundred barges, and two hundred coal boats in use annually; and within the last year they have added rail facil- ities. They have three large mines, and give employment, all told, to one thousand men, handling exclusively first-class coal. Until the incorporation of the company, in 1893, Mr. Bunton was the business manager. Since that time he has held the position of presi- dent. This mammoth company also operates a large saw-mill and docks, and a large retail store at Pittsburg, in addition to a retail busi- ness in Louisville, the largest in that city. Mr. Bunton is vice-president of the Mononga- hela Coal Company, which is engaged in shipping coal to New Orleans; and he is pres- ident of the Coal Dealers' Association, for the betterment of coal shippers.
Politically, Mr. Bunton is a stanch Repub- lican, but not an aspirant for office, his busi- ness cares requiring his entire attention. Oc- tober 11, 1866, he married Miss Jennie Hen- drickson, of Pittsburg, but formerly of Mckeesport, daughter of a river captain,
David L. Hendrickson, and his wife, Margaret Park, both of whom are now deceased. The seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Bunton are as follows: E. Walton, who is married, and resides at West Elizabeth, Pa .; Charles C., now in the coal business in Cincinnati, Ohio; Elizabeth, wife of Grant Henderson ; Frank, deceased; Harry; Jennie; and Kennedy. Mr. and Mrs. Bunton are members of the Oak- land Methodist Episcopal Church, and their home is located in the beautiful Schenley Park neighborhood.
RS. MARY JANE BAILEY, widow of Robert Bailey, was born near the seashore at Donahue Dee, Ireland, in 1820, daughter of Andrew and Jane (McKee) Murdock. The Murdocks, it is said, were descendants of the Argyle family in Scotland.
John Murdock, Mrs. Bailey's paternal grandfather, was born and doubtless reared in Scotland; but, to escape persecution, he went to Donahue Dee, Ireland, and took up his abode on a farm. In religious faith he was a strong Presbyterian. His son Andrew, who also was a farmer, died in early manhood. After her husband's death Mrs. Jane Mckee Murdock came to this country with her four children. Her father, John McKee, had been a Covenanter; and at the death of her husband she adopted this faith. The children settled in Pittsburg. They were: William; Dr. A. C. Murdock, a noted physician of Pitts - burg; Eliza, afterward the wife of James Nicholson, of Pittsburg; and Mary Jane, now Mrs. Bailey.
Mary Jane Murdock received an excellent education under the instruction of the Rev. Mr. Steen, a United Presbyterian minister who taught school in Donahue Dee, and who
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came to Pittsburg after the arrival of the Murdock family, about 1851. A year later Miss Murdock married Robert Bailey, who was from Belewalter Shore, Ireland. He was a son of Robert, Sr., and Hannah Bailey, and was of Scotch-Irish stock. The Bailey family came to this country from Ireland in the year 1826, and had been many years in Pittsburg, where Robert, the father, owned a farm of some hundred acres, extending through a large part of the present city, from East Liberty Street to Dallas Street. He had two sons be- sides Robert - namely, Francis and Samuel - and three daughters, as follows: Mary Ann, who married Elex Laughlin, of this city ; Isa- bella; and Hannah -all now deceased. Francis Bailey was in business with his brother-in-law, E. Laughlin, on Liberty Street, in a grocery house, one of the first in Pittsburg; and Samuel Bailey was engaged in the iron business, firm of Bailey & Brown. The younger Robert Bailey cultivated the pa- ternal farm, and took care of his aged father for a long period of time. Gradually, how- ever, the city crept up around them, and Mr. Bailey first sold a piece of land for the church at a nominal figure. Later his entire farm was sold for house lots at a large price, land that had cost his father in the early days from seven dollars to twenty dollars an acre. He retained half of it for many years, and built thereon a handsome house. It was not until after his death in 1877 that the remainder of the property was sold by his widow. It is now the East End Boulevard, a fashionable quarter, with hundreds of elegant residences. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bailey were members of the old Presbyterian church; and Mr. Bailey was looked upon as one of the pillars of the church, a strong, sturdy character, always reliable and to be depended upon. They had three children, namely: Robert, who is still
in Pittsburg; Andrew, now living in Denver, Col. ; and Margaret Jane, now the wife of Mr. William J. Morris. Mrs. Bailey resides with Mr. and Mrs. Morris, whose home is on Penn Avenue. They have two sons - Gelston Bailey Morris and David McKee Morris.
ETER JACOB STOUFFER, M.D., one of the older physicians of Pitts- burg, was born at Point of Rocks, near Connellsville, Fayette County, February 25, 1832, son of Jacob J. and Mary (Shelkey) Stouffer. His great-great-grandfather was born in Switzerland. Jacob, the great-grand- father, born in this country, was a farmer and Mennonite, and resided near Easton, Pa. The family was early connected with the Stoners, who moved to Mount Pleasant. Peter Stouffer, the grandfather, was born in North- ampton County, near Easton, where he was engaged in farming throughout his active period. He also cut great quantities of lum- ber, which he sent down the Susquehanna River to his saw-mill. He was not only a prominent business man of those days, but was very active in the Mennonite church. He was, however, often arraigned before the ; church for mustering with the militia. Upon removing to Westmoreland County, he sold his farm to Samuel Clement, receiving as part payment seventeen hundred and sixty-eight acres of land at the Falls of St. Anthony, where the city of Minneapolis now stands, which property had been transferred to Cap- tain Carver by the Indians, under a deed rati- fied by George III., King of England. Dr. Stouffer is one of a committee recently ap- pointed to investigate the lands. He died on the journey home, October 3, 1821, and was buried in Beaver County at Shippingport, l'a.
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His wife died near Point of Rocks in Au- gust, 1852.
Jacob J. Stouffer, son of Peter, was born in Upper Mount Bethel township, Northampton County, September 4, 1804. He learned the milling trade at Mount Pleasant, where the most of his boyhood was passed. He took up farming before his marriage, and. afterward bought a farm at Greenlick Creek in Fayette County, where he died May 19, 1874. Both he and his wife, Mary, were for many years members of the Reformed Presbyterian church ; but, upon going to Fayette County, they joined the Evangelical church, and he gave the land for the church edifice, and in · other ways aided the society. His children were: Peter Jacob and Jonathan J .; Mary Ann, who married Daniel Worman, of Illi. nois; Catherine, now Mrs. Henry G. Freed, of Pennsylvania; Susan, now Mrs. John W. Kinneer, of Illinois; Henry S., who was a member of the Evangelical church, built churches in Indiana and Virginia, and died in Pennsylvania; Hannah, now Mrs. Simon Martz, residing near Glencoe, Somerset County; Sarah, now Mrs. Samuel Eshleman, of Laurelville; Maria, who died at the age of eighteen months; William Bigler, now resid- ing on the homestead at Greenlick, who mar- ried Maggie Herbert, daughter of John and Jeanette Herbert, of Bridgeport; and Melissa, the youngest, who died at the age of two years. The mother survived until January 3, 1893.
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