USA > Pennsylvania > Lawrence County > Biographical sketches of leading citizens of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania > Part 18
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Dr. Shannon attended the public schools until he was seventeen years of age. He made up his mind to enter a profession, and after much seri- ous thought he selected the medical as being the best fitted for his tastes, as well as his being adapted to it. His youth was filled with plans for his career, and he took up teaching as a means to the desired end. To better prepare himself for his profession as well as for teaching, he entered Grove City College, and progressed through the regular course, teaching school in the summer, and was graduated in 1888 at the head of his class. In 1888-89 he was principal of the Sheffield school, where he discharged his duties as a pedagogue to the eminent satisfac- tion of the school patrons. The next year he
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resumed his medical studies, becoming a student in the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and taking up his work with earnestness and vim. He was granted a degree in 1892, and at once began his practice in Porterville, Butler Co., Pa. In a few months he was drawn by the superior attractions of Ellwood City, and the prospect of a good field, to change his residence and build up a new patronage. Having had the advantage of late discoveries in his medical training, and having adopted improved methods in the science of healing, he was able to treat properly difficult cases that came to his notice that might well have puzzled a more experienced man. In medicine as in other employments, if a man would rise, he must work, and he will ever find plenty of room at the top. Dr. Shannon is recognized as one who is bound to win; he has taken his place in the county as one who has come to stay, and is quietly engaged in attend- ing to the stream of practice that is converging in his direction. He is well-read, a deep and logical thinker, with good judgment, and keen, trustworthy good common sense. These quali- ties, united to fine social address, tend to make him popular and command for him the confi- dence and esteem of the whole community. Pos- sessing a strong ambition, and a high standard of professional excellence, with the sympathy of a noble and womanly life-companion, he is well- fitted to attain a front rank in his chosen pro- fession, and to secure in short time the perman- ent rewards of a successful career. The Doctor is Republican in his political preferences, but he has not had the time for aspirations in the field of political favor, as he places his profes- sion emphatically before every other interest.
He is a member of the Lawrence County Medi- cal Society. In fraternal orders is a member of K. P., Alma Lodge, No. 420, of Ellwood City; Ellwood City Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 599; and I. O O. F., Glen Park Lodge, No. 1016, of Ell- wood City.
Dr. Shannon was fortunate in his selection of a wife in the person of Miss Clara Koerner, an amiable and accomplished young lady of Alle- gheny, Pa. Dr. and Mrs. Shannon have a sweet little daughter, Marian E., who came to the home on Dec. 17, 1895, and claimed their love and devotion.
DAVID L. CUNNINGHAM, a leading resi- dent and business man of Ellwood City, is a large landed proprietor and a heavy dealer in real estate in the above-named city. He was one of the first as well as one of the most active and enterprising business men from the very date of the city's incorporation, and during the years of subsequent growth has kept pace with the developments, and still occupies a promi- nent position in commercial circles as he did at the beginning. He is indigenous to Lawrence County, his birth having occurred in Wayne township, where his family were numbered among the oldest residents.
William C. Cunningham, his great-grand- father, was born Oct. 10, 1767; he came to Lawrence County from Fayette County in 1796, and settled on a two-hundred-acre farm, now the property of J. P. Cunningham, where he died Sept. 3, 1852. His wife was Mary Smith, who
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was born June 24, 1779, and who passed away pains, which enabled them to undertake needed on Feb. 16, 1865.
Their son, Benjamin, born Dec. 17, 1800, in Beaver County, succeeded to the ownership of the land, which he had helped to clear, and be- sides purchased an adjacent piece that contained 170 acres. He put up a log-house, and after his farm was cleared, he discovered that the clay banks on his place could be suitably worked into good brick; so he set right to work, manu- factured a large quantity, and built the comfort- able brick farm-house, now the residence of J. P. Cunningham. He laid down his labors and en- tered into rest when he had reached three score years, and his wife filled out the allotted space of three score years and ten. Martha Cunning- ham bore her husband the following children: Elias; William W .; Joseph; David; Mary; Hen- derson; and several others who died before at- taining adult age.
William W. Cunningham, the father of our subject, on arriving at manhood's estate, pur- chased fifty acres of unimproved land adjoining the parental estate, where he built himself a log- house, and brought the land into subjection and productiveness with axe and plow. He married Nancy Vaneman, whose father was George Vaneman of Moravia, Lawrence County. Mrs. Cunningham became the mother of Keziah, Slemons, Maria M., David L., Amos B., Sophia, Wiley and Frank, all of whom are living. Over- work caused Mr. Cunningham's health to fail, and he was only forty-two years of age when he was removed from the midst of his sorrowing family, being laid to rest in 1869. The wife and children carried on the farm with substantial success, and met with a fair reward for their
improvements, among which was the replacing of all the old structures about the place with new buildings. Mr. Cunningham held a firm belief in Republican principles, and gave con- siderable time and attention to the consideration of political questions, though never aspiring to public office. During the Civil War, he was drafted, but was not called on for duty in the field of action.
David L. Cunningham, in whose life the chief interest of this personal history is centered, at- tended the district schools in Wayne township, and worked on the homestead until his marriage to Miss Agnes Parker, daughter of John Parker of Wampum, this county . This second great event in his life having been celebrated in due form, he went to housekeeping with his young wife on a farm of eighty-four acres near New Wilmington, in Mercer County. There they built a good house and barn, improved the land, and lived in peace and full contentment until 1890. At that date Ellwood City was springing into prominence in Lawrence County as a grow- ing young city, full of rich opportunities for those who would but seize them and take advan- tage of them. After thoroughly looking the ground over, and becoming convinced of Ell- wood City's splendid adaptation as a business center, he decided to rent his farm, and to merge himself in with the commercial life of the place. He erected one of the first buildings used for a store, and for two years Mr. Cunningham was engaged in dealing in merchandise on the cor- ner of Seventh Street and Lawrence Avenue, where his office is now located. He has built eight dwelling-houses, all of which are rented
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except the handsome brick residence on the cor- ner of Fifth Street and Fountain Avenue, which is familiar to all Ellwood City residents as the Cunningham home. In co-operation with George B. Nye, Mr. Cunningham owns a farm of thirty-five acres which they have laid out for a cemetery, and eight hundred acres in the oil district of Slippery Rock township with Robert C. Aiken. He was elected constable and tax collector of the city in 1892, which has been his only elevation to an official position.
Mr. Cunningham is one of the men who are chiefly responsible for the fine showing of the Ellwood City of to-day; from the very outset he possessed a firm belief in the city's future pros- perity, and lost no time in assisting in bringing that good time along with success in his own business ventures. He is a man of recognized business methods, and has been of invaluable assistance in building up his adopted city. He is possessed of acute perceptions, and understands value in realty more thoroughly than many men with vastly more experience in common life. Combining thrift and energy, he has made for himself an admirable business man, and his deal- ings manifest an interest in his client's affairs as well as in his own profit.
DAVID F. BARNES, of New Castle, who occupies a prominent place among the retail grocers of that city, was born in Lawrence Co., Pa., Oct. 28, 1848, and is a son of Henry and Martha (Van Kirk) Barnes. Henry Barnes, Sr., our subject's grandfather, was a native of Phila- delphia, and although born and reared in the
city, developed a taste for farm life, and accord- ingly followed agricultural pursuits all his life. He married a Miss Cochran, and of the eleven children born to them, the father of our subject was the third in order of birth.
Henry Barnes was born in Lawrence Co., Pa., and at an early age learned the cabinet-maker's trade, which, in conjunction with carpentry work, constituted his chief means of livelihood throughout his life. He was a stanch Republi- can, politically. Six children were allotted to him as follows: Andrew, born Sept. 16, 1839; Sarah A., May 25, 1842; Caroline, June 3, 1846; David F., Oct. 28, 1848; Thomas, Nov. 28, 1851; and Mary F., May 25, 1859. Henry Barnes was born July 4, 1812, and departed this life July Io, 1894. They were Presbyterians in point of church attendance and creed. Mr. Barnes enlisted in the United States service in the War of the Rebellion, and served four years in Co. G, 76th Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf.
The subject of this narration was educated in the excellent schools of New Castle, and when a young man secured employment in the nail factory, where he remained about seven years. When twenty-two years of age, he learned the carpenter's and joiner's trade, and followed the same until 1883, when he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, and has since been engaged in a general retail grocery business, in which he has been very successful.
In the month of April, 1884, he was married to Cordelia Rigby, daughter of Eli Rigby of New Castle. The following children were born to them: Edna, deceased; Stella; Carl; Alma; and Erma. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes are members of the Disciples Church.
GEORGE JOHNSON BOYD, M. D.
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GEORGE JOHNSON BOYD, M. D., whose likeness on the opposite page presents the un- mistakable features of refinement and high order of intellectuality, is one of Ellwood City's prom- inent physicians. A medical man of no small ability or culture, he has been markedly suc- cessful in the practice of his profession, and has won the confidence and esteem of the public by his care and courteous kindness, no less than by his energy and industry He stands high among the members of the medical fraternity, and is highly respected as a man of enterprise, who thoroughly understands his work, and rarely loses a case. He was born in Black Hawk, Beaver Co., and was a son of the late Dr. Thomas G. Boyd, a grandson of Joseph Boyd, and a great-grandson of John Boyd
John Boyd lived near Londonderry, Ireland; when he determined to come to America, he settled his affairs, and with his wife, Mary Ful- ton, and two children was about to embark in a sailing vessel with his wife's relatives for the New World, when it was discovered that there were several cases of small-pox on board the ship. This had the effect of delaying their de- parture three months until the next trip. The first vessel lost all the children on board and many of the adults by small-pox; as if this was not enough, the vessel foundered and did not reach port as soon as did the one on which the Boyds took passage. John Boyd settled in Alle- gheny Co., Pa., where he engaged in farming. His family showed unparalleled devotion to the Presbyterian Church, as four sons were minis- ters of that faith, three sons were elders in churches, and two daughters married Presby- terian elders.
Joseph Boyd, who was born in Allegheny County, emigrated to Marion County, Ohio, where he built the first hewed log-house in the county. He determined to have a "raising," and invited the neighbors, who responded in person, as there was always a frolic when the timbers of a building were raised, and whiskey was wont to flow freely. On that occasion, however, the exception proved to be the rule, for Mr Boyd set his foot down on having any liquor dispensed, and the men waited about un- til nine o'clock before yielding. When they did set to work, it was with a will, and the raising was finished by four o'clock, and that without an accident, something very rare in those days. This freedom from accident most likely was due to the absence of spirituous liquors to befuddle the brains and unsteady the nerves. Mr. Boyd always remained a farmer, and came to own a great deal of land. He was a sufferer from con- sumption, and his life was cut short at the age of fifty-six; Mrs. Boyd, who was Jane Glass be- fore her marriage, died at seventy-two years of age. Their descendants of the next generation were: James, John, Robert G., Thomas G., Mary, and Gen. Joseph F., who was one of the one hundred and nine prisoners of war who es- caped from Libby Prison. Of the above family, Robert G. and Joseph F. are the sole surviving members.
Dr. Thomas G. Boyd, the father of our sub- ject, was a graduate of the Cleveland Medical College, and practiced two years in Freedom, Pa., after which he settled in Black Hawk, Pa., where he carried on the practice of his profes- sion for thirty-seven years, and became a lead- ing figure of Beaver County. He not only had
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a lucrative practice, but also won the admiration and highest respect of his patients. His wife was Jane H. Jeffrey, daughter of Alexander Jef- frey. Dr. Boyd died at the age of sixty-four from a fatal stroke of apoplexy. The following children were born to them: Joseph A., assist- ant general passenger agent of the Louisville & Nashville R. R .; Thomas H., real estate and insurance, McKeesport, Pa .; Addison, who died at the age of six; Dr. George J .; Ida J., who be- came the wife of D. C. Kirke of Leetsdale, Pa.
Dr. George J. Boyd studied in his father's office, and took a medical course in Michigan University at Ann Arbor, where he graduated in 1889; while a student in college he became a brother of the Greek Letter Fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega. His father passed away when our subject was still pursuing his collegiate studies, so that on his return home, he immediately suc- ceeded to his father's well-established practice. He remained in Black Hawk two years, and then removed to Esther, also in Beaver County, three and one-half miles distant, and in 1894 came to Ellwood City. In this favorable local- ity, he began building up a practice, and by his constant attention and eminent medical ability, he has fairly succeeded, and has a large scope of territory in town and country. He has dealt to a considerable extent in real estate, buying a number of years ago twenty-seven lots in Hazel Dell, which he later disposed of and bought the C. F. Buchanan block of Lawrence Avenue; this block, 22x60 feet on the ground, is two stories high, and was one of the first business blocks built in Ellwood City. On the first floor is a store and offices, and the second floor is utilized by the Doctor as living rooms.
Dr. Boyd married, Nov. 28, 1889, Jessie D. Fitz-Randolph, daughter of Jonathan and Rebecca Fitz-Randolph of Achor, Ohio. Three children have come to the household, but Wilda Fern was called home when sixteen months old, and Helen Mae made a brief stay of five short months on earth. Jessie, who was born in Esther, Pa., on June 12, 1894, is a dear little girl, and the delight of her parents. Dr. Boyd is a Republican of no uncertain or wavering type, and as a representative citizen has been honored with office as a member of the city council, and also as a member of the board of health. He belongs to Ellwood Lodge, No. 599, F. & A. M., and holds a membership in the K. O. T. M.
GEORGE HUNT, deceased. The subject of this brief history was a prominent and well-to- do farmer of Neshannock township, of which he was a native. He was born Nov. 30, 1833. on his father's homestead, where he lived all of his life, extensively engaged in buying and sell- ing cattle, horses, and sheep in the Pittsburg and Philadelphia markets; the farm was known as the Chappel Stock Farm. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, prudence and indus- try, and at his death left his widow and children in very comfortable circumstances. He was a Democrat in his political convictions, and held the township offices of school director, overseer of the poor, and tax collector. He was a prom- inent member of the religious circles of the M. E. Church, and for a period of twenty years held the responsible position of class-leader; for his
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valuable services in upbuilding the local church and other similar work for the moral and spirit- ual welfare of his community he was granted a certificate, May 31, 1865, which entitled him to a life membership in the Pennsylvania Bible So- ciety. Devout and exemplary in his Christian life, he was one that was highly esteemed by all who had the good fortune to acquire an intimate acquaintance with him.
His grandfather, also named George Hunt, was a native of Ireland, and a farmer by occupa- tion; he came to the United States in 1795, and settled in Beaver County, where he purchased a farm, and cared for it the remainder of his life. Like most of his countrymen, who have taken up a residence in this country, he was a hard and indefatigable worker, and labored with the utmost zeal to improve the splendid opportun- ity afforded in a new land, and was very success- ful in his efforts. He was twice married. His second wife, whose maiden name was Jane Mc- Fetridge, also a native of Ireland, bore him the following children, namely: Mary; Jane; Sarah; William; John; and Elizabeth. They were Methodists in religious belief. They passed away in peace, Mr. Hunt dying Dec. 29, 1825, aged seventy years, and his wife, in 1843, aged eighty years, and their works follows them in the worthy lives of their descendants.
William Hunt, the father of our subject, was born June 21, 1801, in Beaver Co., Pa., where he lived until after his marriage, moving then to Neshannock township, then a part of Mercer County, but now included in Lawrence County, in 1832, and settled on the farm, which is now the home of his wife, who survives him, and of his son George's widow. At that time, but fifteen
acres of the farm were cleared, and many months of hard, incessant toil were necessary before the farm reached the state of excellence he so much desired, and which was his aim to attain. He erected a brick house, one of the first of its kind to be built in that vicinity, out of brick he mant- factured on his own farm. All of his life was spent in agricultural pursuits, and how well he succeeded is open history to all the older resi- dents of the township who remember him. He was pronounced in his views on political ques- tions, adhering to the Jeffersonian principles of the Democratic party, but he never aspired to political fame or office, seeming content to do what he could in a simple, unostentatious man- ner to bring about reforms or to advance some needed improvement. He was never known to sue a man, nor was he ever engaged in a law suit. In 1830, he married Louisiana Newkirk, daughter of Henry Newkirk, a resident of Bea- ver Co., Pa .; she was born in Hartford, Ohio, in 1812. Their home was blessed with the birth of six children; Rebecca J., born Oct. 31, 1831, married Alexander Green of Neshannock town- ship (see biography of Alexander Green in this volume); George, the subject of this sketch; Emeline, born in October, 1836, who married George P. Graham of Neshannock township, and has a family of four bright children-Will- iam, Ella, Peter, and May; Henry, born April 4, 1840, married Emeline Smith of Neshannock township, and they have three children-Scott, Louisiana, and Mary; Jasper N., born in Feb- ruary, 1851, married Amanda Frazier of Mercer Co., Ill., and they have two children, Jasper and Amanda F .; and William L., born Aug. 22, 1845, died at seven years of age. They were
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prominent in the local Methodist Church. Our subject's father died Aug. 6, 1851, but he is sur- vived by his widow, who lives on the paternal estate.
On Feb. 11, 1867, the nuptials of George Hunt and Anna M. Brown, daughter of William and Letsa Brown of Carlisle, Pa., were consum- mated, and their union has resulted in the birth of three children: Letsa M., deceased; George L., deceased; and William B., who married Nel- lie K. MacGavin of Lowellville, Ohio.
CLINTON E. SANKEY, cashier of the W. N. Y. & P. R. R. at New Castle, and a represen- tative of one of the first families of the county and city, residing on the old family homestead, No. 155 West Washington Street, New Castle, was born in the house in which he lives, April 17, 1867. He was reared in his native place, and his common school education was followed up with a one year's course at the Geneva College of Beaver Falls, Pa. Upon completing his edu- cation at the latter institution, at the age of nine- teen, he entered the employ of the Pennsylvania R. R. in the warehouse, and within six months was promoted to a clerkship, which he filled for some five years. After resigning his clerkship, he went into business with Mr Marquis, under the firm name of Marquis & Sankey, but the partnership was only continued six months, for Mr. Sankey became dissatisfied, and sold out to his partner to accept the position of traveling salesman for C. J. Kirk, a dealer in hardware, in whose employ he continued about one year.
On his return from a pleasure trip to Denver, he again accepted a position with the Pennsyl- vania R. R. as transfer agent at Lawrence Junc- tion, and remained with the company two years, when he became, in August, 1895, cashier for the W. N. Y. & P. R. R., a position he is now filling efficiently in his wide-awake, energetic manner. Mr. Sankey was married in Wheeling, West Virginia, Feb. 17, 1893, to Mrs. Tillie Wiggins, daughter of Samuel Smith. Mr. San- key is a member of the Presbyterian Church, while his wife unites with the Baptist Church. In politics, he is a Republican, and has served three years as councilman and also as director of schools in West New Castle. Socially, he is a member of the following organizations: Im- proved Order Red Men, Erie Tribe, No. 252; Fidelis Lodge, No. 460, Knights of Pythias; and Uniformed Rank, No. 36.
The first member of the Sankey family to be- come a resident of Lawrence County, was Major Ezekiel Sankey, Sr., a native of Lewis- ton, Mifflin Co., Pa., where he was born in the year 1772. The ancestors were of English stock, emigrating from Warrington, Lancashire Co., to America in early colonial times, and settling in the Kishacoquillas Valley in Mifflin County. The father dying in 1794, Ezekiel and his mother, executors of the father's will, soon after moved to Center County, to a place called Pot- ter's Mills, where they resided a short time be- fore going to the Chartiers Valley in Washing- ton County, where Ezekiel bought a farm, and resided until 1800, at which time he changed his residence to Mercer County, where he settled at the mouth of a stream, now known as Sankey's Run, within the present limits of Union town-
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ship, and he was undoubtedly the first white set- tler within the present boundaries of that town- ship. Ezekiel Sankey, Sr, was the first sheriff elected by the people of Mercer County, William Byers having served by appointment in 1803. He was major of one of the Pennsylvania mili- tia regiments during the period of the War of 1812, and was one of two from the whole regi- ment who would volunteer to go outside of the State and serve. Major Sankey and William Sheriff proceeded to the front, where our sub- ject's grandfather was appointed to a position in the commissary department of Gen. Cook's Brigade, which was organized at Pittsburg. Joining this organization at Mansfield, Ohio, they proceeded as far west as the Rapids of the Maumee River, where Fort Meigs was afterward located. Remaining at that point through the winter of 1812-13, he returned home in the fol- lowing spring, but was taken sick at Mercer from the effects of cold and exposure, and was brought home from there, but lingered but a few months, dying July 13, 1813. He married Jane Cubbison, who was born in County Downs, Ireland, in December, 1767. Mr. San- key was a member of the United Presbyterian Church.
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