USA > Pennsylvania > Lawrence County > Biographical sketches of leading citizens of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania > Part 47
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
in the State of New Jersey, but at an early age came west and made his first stand in Washing- ton County. About 1800, he removed into Perry township, and bought a small tract of land which his grandson, Alvah, owns to-day. On it he erected a small log cabin which he replaced later on with a larger house. Jacob Van Gorder, Sr., departed this life at the age of seventy-seven.
Jacob Van Gorder, the younger, and father of Alvah, our subject, first opened his eyes in the year 1805 on the home place in Perry township. Attaining early manhood, he assisted his father in clearing the land, and in 1839 was able to buy an adjoining farm, which had been settled by Mr. Allen. The same year he built a stone house, the material used being quarried and cut to size by a Mr. Manlin. Mr. Van Gorder fin- ished clearing his farm, and had a fine orchard set out and bearing luxuriantly before much time had elapsed. In 1844, he threw a dam across the Slippery Rock Creek and put up a saw-mill. Here he manufactured lumber for the rapidly-growing country, and did a general cus- tom work during the remainder of his active days. A grist-mill was also built by Mr. Van Gorder in 1859, and from then on he conducted a heavy flouring business. These various* enter- prises, backed up by his sterling business attri- butes, and managed with skillful care, soon made Mr. Van Gorder a wealthy man and gave him a standing in the community second to none. He lived out a long and useful life, dying in 1887 at the age of eighty-two. Mr. Van Gorder was, up to the Civil War, a Whig, and since that event was ever a Republican of the soundest type. His religious views were those entertained by the members of the Presbyterian Church. His wife
Nancy was a daughter of Andrew Elliott of Perry township, and her life extended into the year 1884, when she passed away at the age of seven- ty-four. They were the parents of nine children, whose names were: Andrew E .; Israel; Mar- garet; Louisa; Elmira; Alvah S., our subject ; James; Nancy Belle; and Robert S.
Alvah S. Van Gorder grew up to manhood as- sisting his father on the farm and in the mills. He inherited a part of the old place and bought an adjoining piece of property, so that to-day he owns a tract of 122 acres, all improved land in most excellent condition. He still keeps the old stone house in repair, and makes good use of it, although in 1870 he built an attractive dwelling- house. He also erected some new barns a few years ago. Mr. Van Gorder follows general farming, and has always maintained a small but choice dairy. The mills in which he holds a third interest have also taken up much of his time with handsome profits as the result. His wife, Rebec- ca, is from one of the old pioneer families, a daughter of Joseph Marshall. Six children have blessed their union, all of whom are living at this writing. They are: Lilah Belle, the wife of William Hazen, now living with her husband on the old homestead; Nannie, who married R. W. McElwaine, and has become the mother of three children-Roy A., Samuel E., and Mary E .; Joseph A., a student; Jacob E., who is living at home; S. Jennie; and Bardella.
Mr. Van Gorder has always been a follower of the political destiny of the Republican party. He has been too busy a man to ever aspire to any official position, but has devoted some time to the minor positions of usefulness which his fellow-townsmen have almost forced upon him.
DR. JAMES REYNOLDS HAUN.
MRS. JESSIE P. HAUN.
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
He is a gentleman of intense patriotism, and loves well the land of his fathers. He appreciates to the full his duties as a citizen and as a native- born American. In business, he is shrewd, up- right and exact. His social relations are of the pleasantest nature, and few men stand higher in the estimation of his fellow-townsmen than does he. Surrounded by those elements that make life worth the living, he finds with each succeed- ing day matters of live interest into which he throws the same energy and activity which has been of such valued service to him these many years.
DR. JAMES REYNOLDS HAUN. This cul- tured and learned gentleman, whose talents and superior natural ability have been given to the relieving of pain, and to the caring for those who have been brought into dire straits of sickness by inimical diseases, is the leading and oldest practitioner of the medical profession in Eden- burg, Mahoning township, and has been a grad- uate physician for a period extending over thirty years. In villages and small settlements, the doctor plays a more important part in the do- mestic economy than in the large cities, for he is usually a man of superior attainments, and pos- sesses the confidence and esteem of his patrons quite as much as the minister, being often con- sulted in matters quite foreign to his line of work, so high is the estimation in which he is held. The family doctor is more competent to judge of his patient's condition, and what remedy should be applied to the particular case, than one, who with perhaps greater medical knowl-
edge and more expert technical skill has not that intimate acquaintance with the person's tempera- ment and the traces of heredity that appear in him, that are so much an index to a successful treatment of the case. Dr. Haun for the past ten years has been connected with the medical profession in Edenburg, and numbers a wide circle of patrons, whose reliance is on him in time of disease and physical trouble.
Dr. Haun was born in Shippenville, Clarion Co., Pa., July 27, 1842, of respectable German parentage. Soon after he had finished his dis- trict school education he enlisted in 1861 in Co. A, 103d Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf., and served four years, four months' and eleven days; he was taken prisoner at Plymouth, North Carolina, and sent to that awful prison-pen, Andersonville Prison, where so many brave sons of the North, thousands in number, fought for their life against starvation, fever, sickness of all sorts, and the gross indignities heaped upon them by barbarous Confederate butchers. How many a "vacant chair" about firesides in Northern homes testified to the terrible treatment that was accorded Northern prisoners of war in Southern prisons! Dr. Haun was kept in Andersonville Prison ten months and sixteen days. He then was delivered to the United States Government. Returning from the fratricidal struggle, he turned his attention to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar of Clarion Co., Pa., in 1866, and practiced two years; he had, however, mis- taken his profession, so he dropped what law practice he had, and secured a collegiate educa- tion in the Cannonsburg College. He then stud- ied medicine with Isaac W. Mesce of Shippen- ville, and graduated from the Jefferson Medical
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
College of Philadelphia in 1867. He began his practice with Dr. I. W. Mesce in Shippenville, where he remained seven years; he was then a physician in Allegheny City seven years, in Elk City five years, and in Oreville six years. In 1887, he came to Edenburg, and succeeded the venerable Dr. E. M. Ilgenfritz, and at once pro- ceeded to build up and extend that practice. He has been very successful, and is entitled to be called one of the most popular men in the vil- lage or in the township.
Henry Haun, his grandfather, was a native of Hesse Cassel, Germany; he was taken prisoner while serving in a revolt against the govern- ment, and was imprisoned for eight years, his wife and children being left to do the best they could to keep soul and body together. His brother Henry decided to come to America, and to relieve the poor mother of the support of part of her family, he brought three of the children with him, and settled at Wilkesbarre, Pa. One of these boys, who was only fourteen days old when they crossed the sea, was Thomas Haun, Jr., the father of Dr. Haun. He was a lover of horses from boyhood, and contrived it that in all his occupations horses should be his com- panions. As he approached manhood he be- came a teamster, hauling what was called a "canastoga" wagon from Philadelphia to Pitts- burg, transporting merchandise one way and provisions on the return trip; it took eighty- three days to make the round trip, crossing the mountains twice. The "stogies," so well known to users of the "weed" in and about Pittsburg, have their origin connected with the canastoga wagon; it runs like this, that the teamsters on these wagons used to take a handful of the na-
tive leaf from the plants in the fields along the route, and make it into a rude cigar, and these were called after the wagon "canastogas," which became shortened to the present name. Thomas Haun, our subject's father, settled in Clarion County, at Shippenville, where he spent his last years in retirement, dying at the age of eighty- six in 1879; his love for his equine friends kept up to the last, and he was never without at least one horse. His wife, Rachel, who was a daugh- ter of Jonathan Morris, lived until 1891, when she fell into the last sleep which knows no wak- ing at the age of eighty-one. Of eight children born to them, three lived to grow to manhood: Henry of Butler County; John of Callensburg, Clarion Co., Pa .; and James R., our subject. Thomas was a Whig in politics, and held many of the minor offices of the township. During the later days of slavery, when the Abolitionists es- tablished the underground railway for the trans- portation of slaves to Canada, Mr. Haun kept a station, and was instrumental in helping many a poor black to freedom.
Dr. Haun married as his first wife Miss Clara A. Dunkle, daughter of Peter Dunkle of Clarion County; she died in 1875, aged twenty-six years, leaving two children behind-Minnie, who mar- ried Leslie Stewart, and has four children, Onda, Ruth, Coral Haun, and one that died in infancy; Sally, who married B. D. Wood and has one child, Donolly. Our subject was united the second time in matrimonial bonds to Jessie Pow- ell, daughter of Andrew and Mertella (Stewart) Powell of Lawrence County. Andrew Powell was a farmer all his life; his wife still survives him, aged 68 years. The following children were born to them, all of whom are living but one:
+
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
Fidelia; Elcethia; Floyd; Elzeta; Rosetta; Iona; Jessie F .; Dora; Mertella; Adelaide; Clyde; Lyle; and Roxanna, who died at twelve years of age. This second union has been blessed with one daughter, Elzeta Maud, born in Edenburg, June 2, 1887. Dr. Haun is a stanch Republican; he attends the M. E. Church with his wife, who is a member, but he has never made any pro- fession of religion. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 226 of Clarion Co., Pa .; and is a past grand and royal patron of the Encamp- ment No. 90. He was a charter member of the G. A. R. Post, No. 326 of Wampum, this county, and still retains an activce membership.
As a talented and worthy member of that most honorable of all professions, medicine, it gives us pleasure to present Dr. Haun's portrait on a preceding page, and with it also appears an ex- cellent likeness of his most estimable wife and helpmeet, Mrs. Jessie P. Haun.
PARKER SIMISON. This leading citizen of Volant, Washington township, who now in the sunset of his life, having provided liberally for all his children, is in the main leading a re- tired life at his residence in the village, although engaging still to some extent in agricultural labors on his two farms, was born at New Gar- den, Columbiana Co., Ohio, May 4, 1828. He was a son of Robert E. Simison, who was born at Carlisle, Cumberland Co., Pa.
Our subject's father received the customary district school education, and upon its comple- tion, learned the hatter's trade, serving an ap-
prenticeship of several years. He then went to the State of Ohio and worked at his trade at various places as a journeyman, but at last tiring of the confinement he embarked in farming in Portage Co., Ohio, where he continued to be numbered among the citizens of that county un- til his death at the age of fifty-six. He was a self-educated man in many respects, and what he knew was chiefly obtained from books and experience, particularly from the latter source. Blessed with an intelligence far above the ordin- ary run, foresighted in his judgment, and cool in his calculations, we see in him many of the traits that show so plainly in his son, the dis- tinguished subject of this sketch. In his polit- ical bearings, it may be said that he never desert- ed the Republican standard, voting the straight ticket as a loyal member of the party. His wife died at the age of sixty-six.
Parker Simison, after obtaining as much of an education as was practicable in the neighboring district schools of his native place, came to Mer- cer County and hired out to a farmer, with whom he then remained about three years. Starting "on his own hook," he rented a farm in that county, intending to purchase the property, so soon as he became equal to the task. After four years of renting, the farm became his by pur- chase, which was known as the "Old Herd Farm" in Mercer County, partly improved, but for the most part in a state of semi-wildness. While he owned the place, he made a number of improvements, lasting and extensive in charac- ter, principally comprised in fencing and in ditching. He sold this property about 1866, and then bought a mill in connection with a small farm in Wilmington, Pa., and spent $1,500 for
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
necessary improvements, which placed the mill and farm in the best possible shape. Meanwhile he bought a farm two miles from the mill, and turned the milling property over to his two old- est sons, removing to the new farm with the re- mainder of the family. He lived on the farm one year, and sold it and with the proceeds next bought one hundred acres adjoining the farm he had sold in Wilmington township, this county, and remained there one year. He then came to Volant and purchased two small farms and the Volant milling property, which a little later he turned over to his two sons, David and Patrick. This is the splendid record of a man who was alive to the opportunities of life that lie around on every hand, awaiting the clever man who knows the value of things to seize them and make the most of them. He seems to be pecu- liarly gifted with the power to turn everything into gold, but this power on analysis resolves it- self into a correct knowledge of the value of de- preciated property, and of the value of improve- ments, and into an ability to seize the proper moment and strike when the iron is hot. He ranks high among his follow-townsmen as a shrewd business man, whose success has been brought about only in the most open and legiti- mate manner. He is alert and zealous in build- ing up his part of the county, and thinks there is no such country for farming as may be found in Lawrence and the neighboring counties, in which opinion he is supported by every citizen who is alive to the best interests of this section of the State. He is stanch and steadfast in his advocacy of Republican political doctrines, and is known as a skilled politician, although he has never sought political office for himself.
Miss Esther E. McKean, daughter of William McKean, accepted his invitation to share his heart and home, and in the course of their mar- ried life has presented him with ten children, namely: Mary E., who married J. Backup of Sheakleyville, Pa., and has three children-Guy P., Earl, and Emma; William E., who formed a matrimonial alliance with Effie Crooks, and has four children-Charley, Parker, John W., and Ruth; Barney, who married Ada McMillen, and has a family of three children-Cora, Edna, and Frank; Margaret, who became the wife of James McMahon; David, who married Tillie J. Jordan, and has two children-Paul J. and Ray- mond P .; Patrick R., who married Della Slo- cum, who died and left him one daughter, Jen- nie; Jennie, deceased; Carrie, who became the wife of Dr. J. P. Kirk of Wampum, Lawrence County; and Jack G., who lives at home with his parents. The family have always been faithful attendants of the M. E. Church, and the children were brought up to reverence its faith.
JOHN THOMAS, one of the leading and most prosperous agriculturists of Lawrence County, engaged in carrying on general farming operations on the farm, which he inherited from his father in Perry township, was born in the above township on the aforementioned farm May 9, 1838.
Daniel Thomas, the father of the subject of this notice, was born in Beaver Co., Pa., and re- ceived his education in the common schools, to which was added the advanages desived from a course in New Brighton Academy. In 1830,
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY. 497
he selected the land, one hundred acres in area, in Perry township, which is now farmed by his son John. The same year he built a house, and afterwards the outbuildings suitable for farm work. Hearty and rugged of constitution, he enjoyed a delightful old age, and died at the age of ninety years. He stood well in the commu- nity, as he was industrious, enterprising, and public-spirited, and his dealings always pros- pered, no matter in what line; being a man of genial, warm nature, he was liked by his neigh- bors, who considered him one of the best men in the world, and worthy of the highest confi- dence and esteem. He took a lady of Wayne township, Lawrence County, to be his compan- ion through the walks and trials of life, Dorothy Aiken, daughter of William Aiken, and they reared the following children: William; John; whose biography is recorded here; Sarah; Elam; and David. . The family were very regular at- tendants of the United Presbyterian Church.
Elam Thomas, the grandsire of John, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, and followed agricultural callings during his life, his death taking place at the age of sixty-three. During the Indian War he served for nine months in the U. S. Army, and received a pension for such services as he rendered during that period.
Daniel Thomas, the father of Elam, and great-grandfather of John, was a hardy Welsh- man, who left his native country to mend his lot in life in the new republic over the seas. He set- tled near Baltimore, Md., and reared his family there. In his younger days he taught school, but his life was spent chiefly in the culture of the soil, slave-labor being almost exclusively used, a not uncommon thing in those days.
John Thomas enjoys the unique distinction of having passed his entire life on the homestead which was bequeathed to him by his father. Dur- ing the last twenty years, he has wrought various changes, and made the place modern in its ap- pointments in every respect. His specialty is breeding fine draught horses, and he never has to hunt far for a market for his products. Sheep- raising has also claimed a share of his time, and he has always maintained a small dairy since he has been identified with the agricultural inter- ests of his community.
On June 27, 1871, were celebrated the nuptials of John Thomas and Elizabeth Stunkard, a daughter of William Stunkard of Hickory town- ship. These three daughters grace their home: Maragret B .; Dorothy M .; and Anna E. Relig- iously they incline toward the United Presbyter- ian Church, and politically Mr. Thomas affiliates with the Republican party. Mr. Thomas has no " bigotry nor narrow-mindedness in his make-up; he is broad and liberal in his views, and although he expresses himself strongly on subjects in which he is interested, he respects the rights of other people to entertain opposite opinions. Charitable and magnanimous, he invites no quarrels, and should a breach be opened between him and one of his acquaintances, he is always ready to take the first step toward a reconcilia- tion. That he is popular and a well-liked person- age is attested by the fact that he has served as school director three terms, has been assessor two terms, judge of election one term, and in 1897 officiated in the capacity of overseer of the poor. Mr. Thomas is very influential in Perry township, and commands the esteem and respect of all with whom he comes in contact.
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
FREDERICK E. POISTER, editor and pro- prietor of the Ellwood Citizen, a weekly paper of Ellwood City, Pa., was born May 9, 1857, in Wetzlar, Rhenish Prussia, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Shaefer) Poister, being a descen- dant of old and representative families. John Poister, his father, served in the regular army in the 29th infantry at Koblentz, and after his term was over was an officer in the provincial court at Wetzlar. In December, 1862, having lost his wife, he resigned his position and brought his four children, two sons and two daughters, with him to America, and settled at Galion, Ohio, where he resided until his death in Nov., 1896.
It was the intention of Mr. Poister to become an artist, and with this end in view, he studied with several prominent painters, two of whom had spent years in Rome, Munich, Dresden and Paris, and was therefore far advanced in free- hand drawing, when he found that his means would not prove adequate to the demands upon them, so he diverted his attention to photo- graphy, which profession he followed with ordin- ary success for several years. While engaged at this work, though scarcely more than a youth in his early twenties, he did some work in pre- paring special articles for the daily papers, and his increasing reputation led him into the field of his present success. He was soon recognized as a writer of real ability, as his style was pleas- ing and of a nature to hold the reader, and his thought was of the best and stated in the most attractive manner, and because of the demand for his articles he was given responsible posi- tions to fill. He assisted in writing an early his- tory of the State of Ohio, and was the first to write up the narrative of Grant's Boyhood Days
in Georgetown, Ohio, as it appeared in the Cleveland World; these are two well-known as- signments that were given him, but he had many others, equally important, which space forbids us mentioning. He came to Ellwood City, in 1894, and occupied the editorial chair at the Motor office for several weeks, and in June of that year he formed a partnership with J. H. Ash, and founded the Ellwood Citizen, a non- partisan weekly of eight pages. At the expira- tion of one year, Mr. Poister purchased his part- ner's interest, and assumed entire charge of the sheet. A building suitable for the business was needed quite badly, and so in 1895 Mr. Poister erected a handsome brick block, two stories high, on Lawrence Avenue near Eighth Street; the first floor is used for a store, and the second for the printing establishment. Mr. Poister, with the idea of making his printing-house superior to anything of its kind in Ellwood City, and equal to anything in the county, put in the best modern machinery, and has a full equipment for printing and job work of various kinds; all the power that is used in the building is gener- ated by a water-motor, and this shows in part the up-to-dateness of the equipment. The Citi- zen is one of the best papers in the county, has a weekly circulation of one thousand copies, is devoted to the welfare of Ellwood City and the surrounding country, and is of great value to advertisers, as it exerts a deep influence on the reading public, as a reliable, newsy sheet. Al- though his views are not expressed in the edi- torials, Mr. Poister is a Republican, and has come to be one of the foremost men of the town: He has served in the council one term. There is a good field in journalism for a young man of
L.
GERSHUM B. INGHAM.
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
Mr. Poister's type, and as he is now in his prime, he will no doubt score more brilliant successes in the future, and justify the promise of his begin- ning as a writer.
Mr. Poster married Miss Carrie E. Seymour, a former teacher in the public schools at Kent, Ohio, whose parents are Andrew and Mary (Sei- bold) Seymour, the latter deceased, of that town, and they have three children to brighten their home: Bessie G .; Clyde A .; and Ralph S. Our subject and wife are estimable people, and min- gle in the best society, being held in admiration and respect by a large circle of friends.
GERSHUM B. INGHAM. Ranking among the important products of Lawrence County is the Beaver Valley sandstone, which is quarried in large quantities for building purposes in the southern part of the county near Chewton; the heaviest producer and dealer in this excellent building material is the Consolidated Stone & Mining Co., which has extensive quarries in Beaver Valley between Chewton and Rock Point, Pa., along the line of the Pennsylvania railroad. This company was organized in 1881 by Gershum B. Ingham, whose personal history we are now relating, and his two brothers, Gom- er E. and John G. They are the largest dealers in sandstone in Western Pennsylvania, and also deal largely in all other building materials, in- cluding lumber, limestone and granite.
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