USA > Pennsylvania > Lawrence County > Biographical sketches of leading citizens of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania > Part 2
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ROBERT AUDLEY BROWNE, D. D. A sketch of Mr. Browne's life might appropriately commence with the narration of the event that took place on Sept. 3, 1896. The community of New Castle and vicinity had taken occasion of "The Golden Wedding" anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Browne, and their first coming to New Castle and becoming citizens of the then borough, to give them a public reception (the parties most concerned being sent away before- hand on a vacation). The result was truly sur- prising. Many hundreds honored the occasion with their presence during the afternoon and evening; many more could not gain admission, because of the crush, to the church; while others sent their hearty congratulations by mail, mani- festing by their expressions of regret their dis- appointment at not being able to be present. Old and young, contemporaries of former years and new comers, residents of the town and country, church people and others, men and women, all classes and conditions, and all with- out invitation except what was received through the columns of the newspapers of the city, were present, including "the grand old boys" of the war. Speeches were delivered and testimonials
made; such an ovation as Mr. and Mrs. Browne received could not have been foreseen Sept. 3, 1846, when they were married in Oakland, now a ward of the city of Pittsburg.
The anniversary occasion also stood in some sense connected with important events both in the life of this honored couple and in the his- tory of the community during the intervening years. These events perhaps few living to-day were permitted to view face to face, but had it not been for them, the present enjoyable and instructive event could never have been enacted. Fifty years ago, New Castle was a village of about 1,600 inhabitants with four or five general country stores, doing much business with the farming people and mostly on the credit and barter system; a grist-mill; an oil-mill; a rolling- mill and nail factory; and another soon to begin work. The village had canal communications with Lake Erie on the one hand and the Ohio River on the other. It was a part of the County of Mercer on its north, while its outlying citi- zens on the south were in Beaver County. The county of Lawrence was not yet organized, the date of its separation being 1849. The borough only grew into a city in 1869, when the city charter was secured by Mr. Browne, as State Senator at that period for the district. Now, after the close of a half-century, there are many miles of streets paved with asphalt and vitrified brick, instead of the mud and dust of the earlier period. Gas lights and electric lights have made encroachments on the realm of darkness, that formerly prevailed during the night hours. Trolley cars traverse the streets. The sound of the boatman's horn is heard no more. In its stead, however, are the whistles of the locono-
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tives on four great railroad lines, that afford rapid and comfortable communication with all parts of our wide domains. The fires of numer- ous furnaces help to illumine the night, while the smoke of many mills veils the sky by day. Four little one-story school houses and an inter- mittent academy have given place to seven graded schools `with over 3,000 pupils and seventy-seven teachers, including a high school department. During these fifty years, no mat- ter what changes have taken place from time to time, Mr. Browne has been continuously en- gaged in the work of the ministry of the gospel. He had been licensed three and one-half years earlier, and ordained one year and nine months before he took up his Master's work in New Castle. His education from childhood had pointed to the work of the ministry, and whatever else besides ministerial duties came to him, the ministry was the burden and theme of his life.
But his convictions of political responsibility as an American citizen led him to oppose Amer- ican slavery, and so affected his subsequent his- tory. These convictions came to him early. He experienced them when the term "Abolitionist" was often invested with odium and false mean- ings; when fealty to slavery was made the test of loyalty to the Union; and to train with pro- fessed Union-savers in politics was the path of peace. This was the period when Mr. Browne became a pastor in New Castle, his two preach- ing places, Shenango and East Brook, being some miles out of town. The voters of his flock and the citizens generally were all voting the Whig and Democratic tickets, except a small, but growing number, who were branded as
"Abolitionists," and laughed at for "throwing their votes away," or abused as being responsi- ble for the defeat of some favorite candidate if the contest became too close. The new pastor under these circumstances secured a hearing as he desired it; accorded every man his rights, and exercised his own; prayed for the slaves; spoke against slavery on fitting occasions; and voted against it always on election day. There was a growing ferment all the time among the polit- ical elements, with the result that by 1856 one of the old parties was retired from the stage of national politics, and in 1860 the other was broken into two irreconcilable sections. Mean- while the bloody pro-slavery invasion of Kansas and John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry had startled the nation. A new party had been called to the front, which, under its leader, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, was strong enough to administer for peace and war, and to crush the greatest rebellion of modern times.
The war at last had burst. Loyal men all over the land were responding to the call to arms. Lawrence County promptly sent 167 men to the front. Three months later, a regi- ment for a three years' enlistment followed, a large portion of which was made up of Law- rence County men. This was the famous "Roundhead Regiment"-the 100th P. V. . I. Dr. Leasure was its commander, and Mr. Browne was the chaplain. These were the two men who had called the first meeting in New Castle some years before in aid of the Free State settlers in Kansas, much of this aid taking the form of Sharp's rifles for defence against border ruffians. The enlistment of the new
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regiment dated from August 29. The chaplain was given leave of absence by his congregation for one year, by which time it was then thought the rebellion would be suppressed. How the loyal expectations of the North were disappointed! When the year was completed, the outlook was indeed disheartening, for the Union Army had just suffered one of its greatest defeats in the Second Battle of Bull Run. The chaplain's leave, in consequence of that defeat, was length- ened from twelve to twenty-eight months. The term of service of those twenty-eight months was truly a remarkable one.
The regiment had a wonderful experience of wide and varied service, transportation by rail- road and by ocean and river navigation for long distances, to Newport News, South Carolina, to James Island in the first siege of Charleston, to Newport News again, to Acquia Creek, to Fredericksburg, to the Rapidan, to Bull Run, to South Mountain, to Antietam, back again to Fredericksburg, to Baltimore, thence to Lexing- ton, Ky., and Camp Dick Robinson, to Vicks- burg and Jackson, Miss., back to Kentucky, and thence across inland mountain ridges and rivers through Cumberland Gap to Knoxville, Tenn., where, after repulsing Longstreet's forces and helping to secure Grant's great victory at Chattanooga, the regiment re-enlisted in the dead of winter, and having received their vet- eran furloughs marched North again over that rugged country and in that fearful winter to the railroad connections at Nicholasville, Ky. It was a great feature of Chaplain Browne's his- tory to have shared in most of these hardships and dangers, by field and flood, facing disease and battle, being a member of the column on
the march, and of the host in bivouac or camp, through summer's heat and winter's cold. In Beaufort, South Carolina, he was seized with spotted fever, from which he recovered with a hardened liver. The chaplain's presence was a marked feature of the regimental life. The nightly Psalm of Praise at his services often was carried on the night breezes to listeners in the enemy's lines.
Mr. Browne applied for and received his dis- charge in Eastern Tennessee. It came to him after the siege of Knoxville and the repulse of Longstreet. He reached his home from Blaine's Cross Roads, the point of starting, by the cir- cuitous route of Chattenooga and Stevenson, Alabama. It was during the wild winter storm of that season, that had inflicted itself on all the country from Alabama to the pole, and through which his recent comrades were on the march across the mountains and rivers of Eastern Ten- nessee and Kentucky. After a journey of near- ly a thousand miles, he arrived at his home in the middle of January, 1864, and immediately resumed his pastoral duties. He found himself soon after his return beset and crowded from many points with invitations and appointments, and was expected to do a thousand and one in- compatible and impossible things. Under such a strain, and because of exposure past and now undergone in his pastoral duties in the winter when rest was needed, his health broke down. It was clearly beyond his reach to accomplish all that was at once expected of him publicly and privately, socially and professionally. At the time of his discharge he had engaged to write a history of the regiment till that date. It has not yet been accomplished.
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Other events, however, should be mentioned as included in the 15 years which preceded Mr. Browne's army life. These were events of his personal ministerial and pastoral work on which he entered upon his first arrival in New Castle in 1846. Although he resided in the town, his people were mostly in the country, with two out-of-town places of preaching. The parish was twelve miles long and twelve miles, wide. It included the two congregations of East Brook and Shenango. The labor involved was great. It required travel and included visiting the families pastorally and socially, with minis- trations to the sick, catechizing, preaching in school houses at odd times, and in general and special the usual ministerial duties of a country pastor. The country, too, by this time was re- quiring new organizations at new points, adjusted to the growth of the population. New Castle and New Wilmington were two of these, and "The Harbor" was a third. All these de- manded for a time the pastor's fostering care and extra service of preaching on his part to prepare the way for new laborers yet to be called. And all this was in the first instance while he yet was in connection with the other two congregations which were his special charge.
The New Castle congregation was organized Dec. 25, 1849. The church edifice was built by Joseph Kissick, Robert Cochran, George Hen- derson, Capt. James Leslie, Samuel F. Cooke, and a few others. The corner-stone was laid on a bleak day in May, 1849. It is the building in which the golden anniversary was held. At the outset Mr. Browne had twelve church members in the town. The congregation was organized
as a church with thirty-two members. The pas- tor was relieved of the pastoral charge of his East Brook congregation which had claimed a half of his time to devote that half to New Cas- tle. He resuscitated and for one year took charge of the New Castle Academy.
In 1850 he organized the New Wilmington Church. In 1852 he organized "The Harbor" Church, and ministered to it for one year. He was still ministering to the Shenango flock. Only half of his time was as yet taken up by New Castle. It was a day of small things. Mr. Browne's congregation now (1897) numbers almost three hundred souls. Eight years ago, a second congregation was organized with ninety- three dismissals from the parent body, and this offshoot, planted in the eastern part of the city, has now grown to be a prosperous church of four hundred members. The population of the city is about 22,000.
The second year after Mr. Browne's return from the army he was invited to accept a nom- ination for the State Senate. The invitation was made unanimous by his fellow Republicans of the county. The nomination was confirmed by the conferees, and the result was his election, and his discharging the duties of Senator for the sessions of 1866, 1867 and 1868, sitting for the district comprising Lawrence, Butler and Armstrong counties. The honor thus conferred was to him a grateful recognition of his ad- vanced convictions of years before, which had now become the policy of the State and Nation. His action, votes and speeches on record were in accordance with the just expectations of his constituents.
Before his third session in the Senate com-
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menced, he was induced to accept the presi- dency of Westminster College, New Wilming- ton. This required his resignation of his con- gregation and removal to the latter place. After three years in this connection he resigned it, and filled temporary appointments in Cleve- land, Leavenworth, and Titusville, residing one year in the latter place, which was the only year in fifty in which he had not continued to be a citizen of the county of Lawrence. Rev. J. W. Bain had succeeded him as pastor of his New Castle congregation, but he having resigned, Mr. Browne was recalled by the congregation, and in October, 1873, entered upon his second pas- toral term. This continues till this time.
In 1875, upon the repeal of the Local Option Law of the State, he was made the standard- bearer of the Prohibition Party as gubernatorial candidate. He received a vacation of two months from his congregation, during which period he made a very notable canvass of the State.
His action in this candidacy was in harmony with his life-long convictions. These have logic- ally allied him to every cause of reform, the maintenance of government, law and order and the preservation of the Christianity of the insti- tutions of State and Nation against all assailants, whether born on the soil or importations from foreign lands.
Mr. Browne's parents, David Lyons Browne and Sarah (Miller) Browne, each born in County Tyrone, Ireland, embarked for America in 1812, being with their parental families emigrants to America. They were respectively eighteen and seventeen years of age. At their marriage in 1817 they became Pittsburgers. Their children
were mostly born in Pittsburg; but Robert Aud- ley, their third son, was born in Steubenville, Dec. 3, 1821, during a two years sojourn of the family in that place. From his infancy he was reared in Pittsburg under the ministry of Dr. Joseph Kerr and his eloquent son and succes- sor, Joseph Reynolds Kerr. His education was in its schools, including his college course in the Western University under the presidency of Rev. Robert Bruce, D.D., a very learned grad- uate of the University of Edinburgh. Here also he had for instructors Hon. Thomas Mellon and Rev. Alexander Young, D.D., LL.D., men who acquired distinction and did honor to West- ern University, also their Alma Mater, and here he received his degree of A. B. in 1840. In the Allegheny Theological Seminary he had for in- structors the eminent Dr. John T. Pressley and the refined and learned Dr. Jas. L. Dinwiddie. In the seminary he was of the class of 1844, but was licensed to preach the gospel March 29, 1843. At the time of the great fire of Pittsburg, April 10, 1845, he was engaged in his second year as stated supply in the Second Associate Reformed congregation. The church was to- tally destroyed by the fire. Mr. Browne ob- tained the first collections from abroad to secure their second place of worship, after which he was free to release himself from his late in- formal pastoral relations. A year later he began his settled pastorate at New Castle.
Mr. Browne was born, baptized, reared licensed and ordained in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian, now the United Presbyterian Church. He is descended by blood and church connection from the Covenanters of the West of Scotland. Tradition points to a noble ancestor
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
in the person of that Capt. John Browne men- tioned by the Ettrick Shepherd in his tale, "The Brownie of Bodsbeck," who was wounded by a sabre stroke at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, June 22, 1679. The Millers, his mother's family, were of kindred Scottish Presbyterian stock. Of this same stock also were Mrs. Browne's ancestors, on the one side, namely, that of her mother, Rebecca Johnston, while her father, William Eichbaum, was Prussian, as his name indicates; he for seventy years from his boyhood in Pittsburg stood abreast of the foremost citi- zens of that great growing community.
Mr. Browne is a member of the Regimental Association of the 100th P. V. I., an honorary member of Post 100 of the G. A. R., and a com- panion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States-the latter honor conferred for "having been specially distinguished for faithful services in maintaining and defend- ing the honor, integrity and supremacy of the United States of America." In 1865 his Alma Mater conferred on him the degree of D.D. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the year 1869.
There are few citizens of Lawrence County so prominent, so well known, and so univer- sally respected as is Dr. Browne. Three dis- tinct life-phases have been included in his career, namely, that of pastor, army chaplain, and poli- tician and legislator. In all his diversified rela- tions he has borne himself fittingly and with the dignity requisite to the station. His friends are legion, and are to be found in all the walks of life. Few portraits in this volume will meet an equal amount of interest as his, which we have placed on a preceding page.
JAMES M. MAYNE, the subject of this sketch, is well known among the enterprising and progressive citizens of New Castle, as a large owner in real estate and as a man of exceptional business acumen. He was born in Shenango township, Lawrence Co., Pa., July 16, 1832, and is a son of William and Jane (McKee) Mayne, and a grandson of William and Mary (Whan) Mayne. Our subject's grandfather im- migrated to this country from the north of Ire- land when a young man. He and his wife, both of whom lived to enjoy a beautiful old age, reared a family of five children, as follows: Samuel; Jane; William, Jr .; Betsy; Polly; John; and Margaret.
William Mayne, Jr., settled in Lawrence County, where he bought a tract of new land, built a log-house, and cleared about fifteen acres of the very best farming land, on which he fol- lowed the honorable pursuits of agriculture all his life, dying at the age of seventy-three. His wife, who lived to the age of thirty-five, was a daughter of James McKee. They were both members in good standing of the United Pres- byterian Church. Our subject's father was a Whig, and then a Republican, serving in various offices in the town. Their children were: John; James; Charles; William; Calvin; and Margaret, who died at the age of four years. All the boys are living.
James M. Mayne, after spending the years of his youth in New Castle, where he secured an education, went to Cleveland, Ohio, and learned the carpenter's trade, and from 1856 to 1860 was in Morris, Grundy Co., Ill., engaged in contract- ing. In 1866, he returned to New Castle, and carried on contracting a number of years, and,
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
besides building himself a number of houses, including his present dwelling-house, built the First National Bank building and the Opera House in 1868, besides many other structures now included among the best buildings of the city. In 1870, he became interested with J. D. Bryson in the milling industry, and built and furnished the first roller process mill in this part of the country. From that time until 1882, when the mill burned down, they kept developing their business, and increasing their output of fine flour; they incorporated under the name of "Lowell Milling Co.," with D. W. Kennedy as president, and re-built the mill, carrying on a flourishing business until 1890, when Mr. Mayne sold his interest to D. W. Kennedy. Mr. Mayne built a large warehouse on Croton Avenue, where he dealt in feed, hay, straw, and grain until 1893, when he sold out. He still owns four stores on Croton Avenue. He became a stockholder of the Big Meadows Gas Co., and was secretary of it until 1896, when he sold his interest and re- tired from active business.
In 1855, our subject married Hannah M. Johnston, daughter of James Johnston. She died in 1877, aged forty-two years, leaving five children, as follows: Kate, the wife of J. M. McMillin; Rose McKee, the wife of Seth Mar- shall; Nettie B., wife of Robert Whitla, a . plumber by trade; Nellie D. (twin of Nettie B.), and Bessie, who lives at home with their father. Mr. Mayne married as his second wife Esther Shield, daughter of James Shield. Our subject is a Republican, and has served on the city council and in the select council. He is a mem- ber of the Royal Templars of Temperance, and well connected in the Presbyterian Church.
JOHN C. FULKERSON, a retired and highly honored citizen of New Castle, was born in the above town, August 29, 1814, and is a son of James and Martha (Johnson) Fulkerson, and a grandson of John and Mary (Alky) Fulkerson.
John Fulkerson was of German descent, and the earliest record has him a resident of Virginia, living near Rappahannock, Fredericks County, where our subject's father was born. In 1810, John Fulkerson and his wife came to the town of New Castle in search of a desirable farm on which to locate, traveling three hundred miles on horseback to reach this locality. Mr. Fulker- son was neither a slave-owner nor a believer in the iniquitous practice, and so his coming to this part of Pennsylvania was because he desired to settle in a new country, where slavery had no foot-hold. He secured a farm of 200 acres, ad- joining New Castle, and returned to Virginia, and with horses and wagons brought his wordly effects and children, with the exception of two, who chose to remain in their old home. The farm had some few improvements, there being a small log-house or cabin, and a few acres had been cleared by the former occupant by burning, and were consequently very fertile. So it was with little difficulty he installed his household in the new home, and set about acquiring a com- petence and securing a livelihood; there he reared his family, and with the assistance of his sons cleared the land. Both he and his wife lived to exceed eighty years of age. He was an attendant of the Presbyterian Church, and helped to construct the first church building. There were eight children born to our subject's grandparents, as follows: Lewis; John: Roger; James; Eliza, the wife of Thomas Gilespie;
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
William; Richard; and Margaret Ann, the wife of William Cox.
James, being one of the oldest of the children who came to Pennsylvania, was of valuable assistance to his father in clearing the farm, and in keeping the wild animals, that abounded thereabouts, from molesting their live stock. For his own farm he bought a tract of 200 acres, adjoining his father's property, which farm Robert J. and Lewis Fulkerson, our subject's brothers, owned later on, and set about in earn- est to support himself and to accumulate prop- try; he was a very hard worker, and made the work of clearing as easy as it was possible by burning what would be considered very valuable lumber nowadays, but which was considered in the way of the growing crops then. His brother went to the War of 1812, and James started with him, but met with a fall, which left him a cripple in his left arm the remainder of his life. He was a prominent man among the town's citizens, and active in matters of public interest, but never held an office. He died at the age of seventy- nine. In the battle of life he ever looked on the bright side, was of a cheery disposition and never down-hearted; in his immediate surroundings he was a kind and loving husband and father. His wife, who was a daughter of John Johnson, died at the age of seventy-nine, having borne him eight children, namely: John C., the subject of this notice; Lewis, a farmer of New Castle; Mar- garet, deceased, formerly the wife of J. R. Squires; Eliza, now deceased, married William C. Hoffman; Robert J., whose sketch appears elsewhere; Jane, deceased, the wife of J. Houk; Matilda, the wife of William Coplin; and James, who resides in the State of Iowa.
John C. Fulkerson at eighteen years of age left the farm to learn the cabinet-maker's trade, served three years' apprenticeship, and worked two years as a journeyman. He then started in business for himself in New Castle, in a small shop on the property, where Mrs. Sankey now resides, on West Washington Street. He became a very skilled workman, and made a specialty of fine work in the line of house furniture; this work he followed un- til 1861, and many of the elegant pieces of cabinet-work, prized by the leading families of the town, were wrought by his hand. Machinery at length invaded the domain of his trade, and the resulting competition and low prices was too much for our subject, so he turned his attention to carpentry work, which he has followed for some twenty years. He was then appointed to take charge of the county and city bridges, and has been in active life until 1897, when he retired; he resides in a house he built in 1847, and besides owning one adjoining, which he built in 1836, he owns another tene- ment property in a different part of the town, besides a number of lots. Our subject was a stanch Whig, but is now a Republican.
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