USA > Pennsylvania > Lawrence County > Biographical sketches of leading citizens of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
Mr. Rhodes chose for his wife a lady who was a native of New Castle, Pa., the daughter of Levi
D. and Ella (Werner) Durban, Lillian D., and she is the mother of two boys-Levi Durban and Donald Newell Rhodes. Mr. Rhodes and family are earnest workers in the Presbyterian Church, to which they belong. Politically, Mr. Rhodes' sympathies are Republican, and in 1897 he was honored by an election to the presidency of the borough council. He is a member of the social orders: Mahoning Lodge, No. 243, F. & A. M. of New Castle; and Amazon Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of Mahoningtown. He has a pleasant and commodious home on Railroad Street, where his many friends are always wel- come, and sure to be entertained in a royal manner.
JAMES W. ROBINSON, who resides in Mahoningtown, is a long-time and trusted em- ployee of the Pennsylvania R. R., having been connected with the train service of that road for almost thirty years. He was born in West New Castle, Jan. 1, 1854, and is a son of Andrew G. and Frances (Edwards) Robinson. Andrew G. Robinson, whose father fought in the War of 1812, was born in the region of Hollidaysburg, Pa., about 1812, one of a family of sixteen boys and one girl born to his parents. He grew to manhood in that city, and married there. He was a charcoal burner by trade, the charcoal going to supply the large iron furnaces; after coming to New Castle in 1842 or 1843, he still followed that business until bituminous coal took the place of the charcoal, and then his occupation giving out he learned the trade of an iron-worker, and was employed in the iron-
47
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
mills the remaining active years of his life. He died in New Castle at the age of seventy-three years. His wife was born in Wales in 1813, and was left an orphan at an early age; she came to the United States with her two brothers, John and Joseph, when she was seventeen years old in 1830, and settled in Hollidaysburg. Her first three children were born there. Of the family of eleven children they reared, seven boys and four girls, seven survive. The record reads as .
follows: Sarah Jane, who married David Hut- tenbaugh, an operative in the rolling-mills at New Castle; David, who was killed in the ser- vice of his country in the late war; Thomas, deceased; Zechariah, a mill operative of New Castle; Joseph, the chief of police of New Cas- tle; Andrew, a puddler in the iron works at New Castle; Edward, deceased; Lizzie, deceased; Margaret, the wife of Charles Owery, a mill op- erative of New Castle; James, the tenth in order of birth, and subject of this sketch; and Fannie, the wife of Edward J. Murphy, an engineer liv- ing in Mahoningtown.
Our subject was reared in New Castle, and attended the public schools there until his four- teenth year during the winter seasons; being at that age a large and strong youth, he secured a place as fireman on the Pennsylvania R. R., per- forming his first work for the company Dec. 18, 1868. He was thus employed until Oct. 14, 1872, when he was promoted to the position of engineer, in which position he has been con- tinued as a valued employee, and has held it with credit to himself and eminent satisfaction to his employers since. Probably the worst wreck that it has been the lot of Mr. Robinson to be mixed up in occurred at Clinton, Pa., on Dec.
18, 1878, just ten years to a day from his initia- tion in railroading. On this occasion Mr. Rob- inson suffered a severe injury in a fractured left leg, which necessitated his being "sent to the shop for repairs," and his not being able to re- sume his run until the first of April following, During his railroad life of nearly thirty years, he has missed but one pay, and that was when he was in Chicago for treatment-a record for steady employment few can equal.
Mr. Robinson was married in New Castle, June 25, 1876, to Anna G. Sankey, daughter of T. F. and Caroline (Somers) Sankey, the latter a daughter of Samuel, Jr., and Eliza C. (Ran- kin) Somers. Samuel Somers was born in 1794, married his wife in 1822, and died in 1829, at the early age of thirty-five years. Two children have been born to Mr. Robinson and his wife: Walter Scott, a young man of twenty years, who is just entering upon a busines career, and obtaining the training necessary to become a successful business man; and James Garfield, a bright boy, who died Feb. 11, 1889, aged eight years, when an inmate of the School for the Blind, where he was being educated. The loss of his eyesight was through the effects of menin- gitis, the malady being further aggravated by a subsequent fall. The sudden summons that came to him, when he was far from home, has made his memory doubly dear to the bereaved parents. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are members in good standing of the M. E. Church of Mahon- ingtown. He is a Republican in politics, and was formerly a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. He is a member of the Lodge of the Craft, No. 433, F. & A. M. of New Castle.
48
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
JAMES R. HOOVER, a resident of Shen- ango township, who is engaged in farming and fruit-raising on his farm about three miles south- east of New Castle, was born in that city, Oct. 18, 1849, and is a son of Ephraim and Rachel (Kocher) Hoover, the latter a native of Wur- temberg, Germany, and a daughter of Frederick and Catherine (Smith) Kocher. Ephraim Hoover was a native of Bedford Co., Pa., and a son of Martin and Margaret (Conner) Hoover, the latter a daughter of John Conner, who was a soldier of the War of 1812. Martin Hoover was born in Huntingdon Co., Pa. His son, Ephraim, came to Beaver County in 1834, when nine years of age, and when seventeen years old he began 'working in the rolling-mills under the employ of James D. White, and continued to work in the rolling-mills for thirty-nine years, working many years in Pittsburg, and being present during the big fire of April 10, 1845. He next lived in Youngstown, Ohio, and later made his home in Wheeling, W. Va. For twenty-two years, Mr. Hoover occupied the same house on Lawrence Street, New Castle, and in 1860 bought his pres- ent farm of thirty-one acres, lying on the south- ern edge of the city of New Castle, which farm he has planted to fruits of various kinds. Six children were born to him: Adam C .; James R., the subject of this sketch; Laura J., who be- came the wife of David Gaston; Willis H .; Della R., who married Dr. Joseph Cooper of New Castle, whose biography appears in full else- where in this volume; and Edith Emma. Mrs. Hoover is a devout member and constant at- tendant of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Hoover was for forty years a member of the M. E. Church, and then withdrew from that society,
and joined the Disciples Church. He is an en- thusiastic Odd Fellow, has been a member ever since Sept. 20, 1856, and is also a member of the Grand Lodge, and Grand Encampment.
James R. Hoover was reared in New Castle, and was a pupil in that city's public schools un- til he had reached the age of eighteen years, when he began working in the rolling-mills, where he was employed ten years. In 1876, he bought his present farm of fifty-two acres, which he utilizes in general farming and in raising fruits ; he has in bearing 200 fine peach trees and 100 apple. He has identified himself with all the interests of his neighborhoods, and is one of the best citizens of a first-class community. He has been very successful in his agricultural ven- tures, and his love for the beautiful has led him to adorn his home, which everywhere shows evidences of his good taste and practical skill.
On October 14, 1875, in Mahoningtown, oc- curred Mr. Hoover's marriage to Kate Lloyd, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Long) Lloyd, the latter a daughter of Arthur G. and Catherine (Thompson) Long, and granddaughter of Arthur G. Long, a native of Greenville, Pa., who owned a woolen mill on Big Run, which he operated many years. Arthur G. Long also owned a large tract of land along the stream, which is now a suburb of the city of New. Cas- tle, and has become a valuable piece of property in the hands of his heirs. Samuel Lloyd was born in Staffordshire, Eng., son of George and Mary (Bagget) Lloyd, the latter a native of Dar- linston, Staffordshire, Eng., and a daughter of Moses and Sarah (Wilkes) Baggett. Moses Bagget was a brick-maker, and a son of Samuel Bagget, also a brick-maker; each lived to be
HON. ROBERT J. FULKERSON.
MRS. MARY A. FULKERSON.
53
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
eighty years old. George Lloyd was a native of Shropshire, Eng., where he was born in 1780; he was an operative in the rolling-mills at Bil- ston, Eng., and lived to be sixty-nine years old. He was a son of William Lloyd, a charcoal burner, who lived to be upwards of eighty years of age. One of the great-grandfathers of Mrs. Hoover fought in the War of 1812. The union of our subject and his wife has been productive of ten children: Sarah R., deceased; Cora P., deceased; Ida M., deceased; Samuel Terry; James Edwards; Della and Walter, twins; Ethel; Viola; and Clara. Our subject is a Repub- lican and thoroughly interested in the success of his party. Both he and his wife are members in good standing in the Center United Presby- terian Church of Shenango township, and may be found among the first in any church work.
HON. ROBERT J. FULKERSON, Asso- ciate-Judge and one of the highest esteemed men of the city of New Castle, has good right to boast of his long residence in the county, and in the town, for he was born in a log-house, near where he now resides, Dec. 1, 1822. He 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 horse-back 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 was not allowed. He secured a farm of 200 acres, lying between our subject's present farm and New Castle, and returned to Virginia, and with horses and wagons brought his wordly effects and chil- dren, 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 cleared of the original timber by burning, and consequently very fertile. So with little difficulty he installed his household in the new home, and set about acquiring a competence and securing a liveli- hood; 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 Gil- lispie; William; Richard; and Margaret Ann, the wife of William Cox ..
James, being one of the oldest children who went 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 our subject owned later on, and sct about in earnest to sup- port himself and to accumulate property ; he was a very hard worker, and made the work of clear-
54
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
1
ing as easy as it was possible by burning what would be considered very valuable lumber now- adays, but which was then considered to be in the way of crops of grain which otherwise might occupy the same place. 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 all his days. 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., a resident of New Castle, whose sketch also appears in this volume; Lewis, a farmer of New Castle; Margaret, deceased, formerly the wife of J. R. Squires; Eliza, now deceased, married William C. Hoff- man; Robert J., our subject; Jane, deceased, the wife of J. Houk; Matilda, the wife of William Coplin; and James, who resides in the State of Iowa.
Robert J. Fulkerson attended the district schools, and improved every opportunity by which he might add to his stock of knowledge, and so become equipped for life's work. He stayed at home, and like a dutiful son cared for his parents in their last days; in due time as a recompense for his services he was given the homestead and part of the land, on which he built a house, in 1861, where he now resides. Being located on the borough line, he has cut up a part of the farm into city lots, laying out
the following streets: Oat, Fern, Ann, and Spring. Of these lots, which he has placed on the open market, he has sold the major portion, and many of them have been built on, and are fast increasing in value. Always active in the interest and progress of New Castle, he has been engaged in mercantile business some, and has been identified in municipal affairs to a consid- erable extent, having held many offices of the town and city, being overseer of the poor ten years and a school director for a lesser period. In 1887 he was elected associate-judge, and has filled the chair since with honor and distinction.
Mr. Fulkerson married Miss Mary Ann Gib- son, daughter of Abner Gibson of Wilmington township, this county, Jan. 20, 1848; Mrs. Ful- kerson was born Jan. 10, 1824, and died Oct. 4, 1885. Their marriage was never blessed with children, but such was their desire for some one to cherish and care for, that they have had several live with them, and they have done a great deal to assist in bringing up, educating, and making them honorable and God-fearing men and women. Our subject and wife were members of the Pres- byterian Church, and Mr. Fulkerson has to-day a seat taken from the old Presbyterian Church; which, as the first seat in the church that he ever sat upon, he keeps under his favorite spruce tree as a remembrance of his appearance on that, his first visit. The seat consists of an oak plank, with four of the original spindles used as its sup- ports. He has a fine orchard, which he assisted his father in setting out, and has since replaced the old trees which no longer bear with new stock. To show the fertility of the land and its adaptability for raising large crops of the most
55
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
luscious fruit, it may be remarked that in 1896 the limbs of the trees broke down from sheer weight of the load they carried. He is not only a practicable farmer, but a fine business man in every particular.
Among the prominent and representative citizens of the county, whose portraits we pre- sent in this book, we take pleasure in giving that of Mr. Fulkerson as a gentleman of exceptional worth and good standing.
We also present the portrait of Mrs. Fulker- son as a worthy companion picture.
WILLIAM H. COX, a lumber dealer and prominent citizen of New Castle, who owes a great measure of his present success to the unre- mitting efforts that have distinguished his life from that of the generality of men, was born seven miles north of the city, May 7, 1856, and is a son of Samuel and Sophia (Reynolds) Cox, and grandson of William Cox, a native of the Keystone State. Our subject's great-grand- father was born in Ireland, was joined in wed- lock there, and when he came to this country settled in Eastern Pennsylvania, whence he came on on horseback with wife and family to this county, and settled on the 500 acres of land, which was known as the "500 Acre Tract"; there he built himself a log-house and lived to the end of his years, and after him his son William. Our subject's grandfather passed away when about ninety-five years of age; his wife lived to be about eighty-six. Sixteen children were born to them, of whom thirteen grew up, namely:
Rachel, Polly, Becky, Sally, Ann, Catherine, Jane, Betty, and Talithia were the girls; and John, Samuel, William, and Ross were the boys.
Samuel Cox settled in Union township, this county, on a part of the old homestead, which he sold later on, and bought a farm in Pulaski township, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a very progressive, wide-awake man, and one of the best of farmers. He be- longed to the Methodist Church. The following children were born to him: Mary, the wife of Henry Cooper of New Castle; Lewis C., a dealer in agricultural implements at Pulaski, Pa .; William H., our subject; John D., a farmer and milk dealer; Charles C., a teacher by profession, who has charge of the homestead farm; Joseph R., a physician of Edenburg, Pa .; and Althea, John, and Lewis, the three oldest, who died in extreme youth.
William H. Cox early devoted his energies to the lumber business, and adopted the plan of buying tracts of land covered with timber of marketable quality, and clearing the same, and converting the rough logs into finished lumber in the saw-mills which he erected for that pur- pose. He operated in Lawrence and Beaver counties, and shipped by the carload to Pitts- burg, and to Buffalo, N. Y., likewise furnishing the railroad with a large amount of timber and lumber. In 1886, Mr. Cox took up his residence in New Castle, and in 1893 built himself a fine home of brick, fitted with all the modern con- veniences, and furnished throughout in the most artistic and pleasing manner; this is located at No. 307 West Washington Street. He has built several other houses for speculative purposes,
56
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
buying his building lots from the Fulkerson addition to the city, and owns four tenement houses at present. He is a stockholder in the New Castle Car Mfg. Co., and is president and director of the same. He is faithful to his Republican principles, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Since living in New Castle he has dealt in lumber. His progress in business has been steady and constant ever since his start as a young man, and his excellent judg- ment has stood him in good stead in many an anxious hour, and has never failed to point out the right course.
Mr. Cox married Miss Sarah C. Phillips, daughter of Ephraim Phillips, a farmer of this county, and has had four children born to him, namely: Pearl R., born Nov. 23, 1881 ; George, who died aged two months; Harry W., born Nov. 20, 1883; and Ephraim, born Feb. 7, 1886.
JOSEPH KISSICK, deceased, was born near Manor, Westmoreland Co., Pa., March 29, 1801, and when a boy removed to Deer Creek, Alle- gheny Co., Pa., with his father, where the most of his youthful years were spent. His father died before our subject grew to manhood, and Mr. Kissick showed his manhood and indepen- dent character at an early age, for when his father died he said "the world was his inher- itance," and struck for himself. At the age of twenty-one he began farming near the old home- stead, but after a few years changed to the mer- cantile business at Bolivar on the line of work of the canal between Philadelphia and Pittsburg.
He subsequently became interested in canal con- struction, and followed that occupation until 1832, when he removed his business interest to New Castle, where he purchased the corner lot between Mercer Street and Apple Alley, and built a substantial store and dwelling, a part of whose walls are in the present bank building, which was erected on that site. For a number of years he owned what is now known as the Raney grist-mill, and ran the same in connection with his store. He was one of the first stock- holders and directors of the Bank of Lawrence County. He always had the interests of New Castle at heart, and was prominently identified with many of the great projects that have been very instrumental in aiding its growth and proper development; he was an active promoter and stockholder in the early railroad enterprises. In 1853 he held the office of burgess. For more than forty-four years he was one of the most active citizens of the city, giving of his time and means in general to all enterprises connected with the growth and prosperity of the place.
He was a man of good judgment and honest convictions, and tried to live and do right, and because of his strict integrity and open-hearted- ness of nature was often looked to for advice, which was frankly given as he thought was right. At the time of his death, he had finished a period of sixty-four years, in which he had been a ruling elder in the Associate Reform and then of the United Presbyterian Church. He was one of the organizers of the First United Presbyterian Church. His clear, practical sa- gacity and integrity in business gave him the full confidence and high esteem of his fellow- citizens both in his immediate neighborhood
57
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
and beyond the confines of New Castle, where- ever his name was known. On Aug. 7, 1888, he was thrown from a buggy, and received in- A juries of so serious a nature that he succumbed to the dread power of death on the following day. He died the death of a man upright in the faith of his Master.
Mr. Kissick's first wife, Mrs. Margaret (Gil- braith) Kissick, died Aug. 2, 1873, and in the following year he was joined in wedlock with Miss Esther Cooper of New Castle, who still survives him.
SAMUEL W. SMITH, mayor of the city of New Castle, is a son of Dr. William Smith, and a grandson of Samuel Smith, who was born near Pittsburg, Pa. The grandfather of our subject was a potter by trade, and also followed mercantile pursuits throughout the twenty years previous to his death; he engaged in his trade of a potter in Darlington, Beaver Co., Pa., and was a merchant of Newport, Pa. He was liv- ing in Mahoning Co., Ohio, when he enlisted for the War of 1812, and was present at Com- modore Perry's signal naval victory over the British fleet on the waters of Lake Erie. He lived to be upwards of eighty years old. His wife, Susan Tidd of Pittsburg, passed away when about three score years and ten had sil- vered her hair, and enfeebled her frame.
Our subject's father was born in Mahoning Co., Ohio, and received his education in the schools at Darlington and in the Jefferson Medi- cal College of Philadelphia. He began his prac- tice in Austintown, Ohio, where he married
Margaret Henry, daughter of James Henry, a native of the Buckeye State. From Austintown he moved to Darlington, whence after a short residence he removed to Hookstown, Beaver County, where he made his home and practiced for thirteen years. He was elected to the State Legislature from that district in 1848 and again in 1849, but declined a third term because of ill health. He then changed his residence to North Beaver township, Lawrence County, in 1853, where he went on a farm, which he soon sold and moved to Enon Valley, where he died, aged sixty years. In his political attachments, he was a Whig and then a Republican. Religiously, he was a member of the Presbyterian Church. His first wife, already mentioned, died between the ages of thirty-eight and forty, leaving him three children: Samuel W .; James H .; and Nancy J., who died at the age of twenty-five. He was again united in marriage to Mrs. Samantha Wallace, who now lives in Enon Valley. Charles W., the only child of this second union, lives in St. Paul, Minn.
Samuel W. Smith was born in Darlington, Pa., Oct. 20, 1837, and lived on the farm and acquired a district school education until 1864, when he enlisted in Co. B, Fifth Pa. Heavy Art., and was with Gen. Auger in the defense of Washington, being mustered out in August, 1865. On his return to civil life and the pursuits of peace, he engaged in the drug business for thirteen years in New Castle. He married Mary McConahy, daughter of William McConahy of North Beaver township, and has two children: Clara M. (Gregory); and Frank W., who holds a position in the National Bank of Lawrence County. Mr. Smith was appointed mayor by
58
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, LAWRENCE COUNTY.
the council Oct. 27, 1894, was re-elected in 1895 to serve the unexpired term of ex-Mayor Rich- ardson, and in February, 1896, was elected for a term of three years on the citizens' ticket. He is a prominent Mason, and is a member of the following orders: Mahoning Lodge, No. 243, F. & A. M .; Delta Chapter, No. 170, R. A. M .; Hiram Council, No. 45; Lawrence Command- ery, No. 62; he is a past officer in the lodge, chapter, and commandery. He is a member of the G. A. R. Post, No. 100.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.