USA > Pennsylvania > Lawrence County > Biographical sketches of leading citizens of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania > Part 6
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FORGUS F. SMITH, who resides in the borough of Mahoningtown, is the supervisor of sub-division No. I, of the E. & A. Division of the Pennsylvania Co.'s lines. He is one of those highly respected men, who have made their own way; he commenced on the lowest round of rail- road work, and has risen to his present position by his own energy and grit, supplemented with an unusual gift of being able to make the most of prevailing conditions. His services are valu- able because eminently practical, for his knowl- edge of the work he supervises is intimate, for it was all gained in the hard school of experience.
His father, John W. Smith, was born near the villages of Rockford and Clinton coal mines, Dec. 8, 1823, and died at the age of sixty-three; he was a painter by trade in early life, and was honored by his fellow-citizens with all the offices in the township, so great was their respect and trust in him. He was a member of the M. E. Church, and of the following societies and organizations: F. & A. M .; I. O. O. F .; and
Senior Order of American Mechanics. He was a son of Joseph and Margaret (Showalter) Smith, the latter a daughter of Jacob Showalter. The former was a son of William Smith, and was born in Lancaster Co., Pa. He was a black- smith by trade, and owned and operated a farm at the same time that he carried on his trade; his death took place when he was aged about seven- ty-seven years. Our subject's mother, Nancy (Foster) Smith, was a daughter of Forgus and Elizabeth (Yoho) Foster. Forgus Foster was a farmer by occupation and served through the War of the Rebellion, dying at the age of seven- ty-seven. His wife was a daughter of Lawrence Yoho, a farmer, who lived to be seventy years of age. Our subject comes of patriotic stock, for others of his male ancestors besides his grandfather, Foster, took part in the wars of the United States, beginning with the War of Independence, and going down through the list.
Forgus F. was born in Homewood, Pa., Jan. 27, 1847, where he was reared and where he re- sided until 1878, attending the district schools until he had reached the age of sixteen, mean- while assisting his father on the homestead. For the five succeeding years he worked on the sec- tion for the railroad, and then gave up that occu- pation to enter the army in defense of the Union. He served two years, first in Third Pa. Artillery, and later in Co. K, 188th Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf., receiving his discharge Dec. 19, 1865, at Camp Cadwallader, near Philadelphia. Among the battles in which he participated were: Drury's Bluff; Cold Harbor; Chapin's Farm; Peters- burg; Proctor Creek, etc. On his return from the army, he secured a position as brakeman on the railroad, and followed that vocation for the
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JAMES K. POLLOCK, M. D.
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space of a year. Then for two years he worked in a stone-quarry, after which he returned to the railroad again, and worked on a section until July, 1878, when he became foreman of the section, and was advanced in January, 1890, to his present position of responsibility, already noted.
He contracted his first matrimonial alliance Dec. 23, 1879, in Big Beaver township, with Martha A. Cox, to whom four children were born: John W .; Milton Grosvenor, deceased; Mabel Vernon; and Clyde Foster, deceased. He again assumed marriage vows July 6, 1893, being joined in wedlock with Edwina C. Kelly. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members in good standing of the M. E. Church, and active in performing their share of the church work. Mr. Smith is a Republican in politics, and is at present serving his second term in the borough council. He is a member of New Castle Post, No. 100, G. A. R. :
JAMES K. POLLOCK, M. D., of New Castle, whose portrait appears on the opposite page, occupies an enviable position among his fellow-practitioners as a physician whose diag- noses of cases are very rarely found wanting, and whose treatments are seldom known to fail; for this reason he is often called in consultation with the other doctors, and is known widely beyond his immediate field of practice. He was born in that part of Shenango township, once known as Pollock township, and now included in the present city limits of New Castle, April 19. 1845, in a house which stood on what is to-day
the site of the Erie R. R. yards, and directly opposite the Vulcan Foundry. His grandfather, Dr. Joseph Pollock, was a very prominent phy- sician of New Castle, Pa., and was considered by many to be the best physician and sur- geon in Western Pennsylvania. He married Rachel Morehead, daughter of James Morehead of New Castle, and to them were born the fol- lowing children: Perry A .; Milo, who married a Miss Van Horn, daughter of Hon. Samuel Van Horn; Hiram, the father of the subject of this sketch; Camilla N., who married William Mait- land of New Castle, and bore him these chil- dren-John, Martin, Perry, Irene, and Addie; Isaphoena married William McMillin of New Castle, and they were given three children- Mary, Joseph, and Frank; Belinda married R. W. Clendenin of New Castle and they have three children-Wallace, Wells, and Mary; Adaline married Joseph White of New Castle, and their family consisted of: Alice, Crawford, Eva, Joseph, Fred, Carrie, and Mary; Laura married John Mitchell of New Castle and had four chil- dren-William, James, Mary, and Kittie; Caro- line married Dennis McCoy; and Josephine, who married William Sommers of New Castle, and bore him three children-Frank, Carrie, and Irene. Frank is one of the successful Klondike miners, reaching California in September, 1897, with fifty thousand dollars. In religious belief the family favored the Presbyterian Church. Our subject's grandmother was called home in the fall of 1874.
Hiram Pollock, our subject's father, was edu- cated in the schools of Williamsport, and when a young man engaged in agricultural pursuits, but as his health could not stand the exposure
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incident to a farmer's life, he became interested in the boating business, running a packet be- tween New Castle and Pittsburg, Pa., which he carried on several years. Later in life, he en- gaged in lumber business in New Castle, continuing in this vocation till his retirement in late life. His death occurred April 15, 1896, aged seventy-six years. In his political affilia- tions, he was originally a Republican, but latter- ly became a Prohibitionist. He married Sarah Elizabeth Kerr, and to them were given four children: James K., our subject; Mary V., who married Joseph Gemmil of New Castle, Pa., and has two children- Mary and Elizabeth; Lucy, deceased; and Hiram S., who married Louise Young of New Castle and has one child-Lewis. Mrs. Pollock died in 1890, aged sixty-eight years. They were Presbyterians in the matter of church attendance and membership.
Dr. Pollock obtained his grammar-school education in New Castle, and in 1861 became a drug clerk in the New Castle Dispensary, then managed by James Shields of New Castle. He remained in that connection about ten years, and then read medicine with Dr. Barker of New Castle as preceptor. Late in the winter of 1871- 72, he entered the Miami Medical College of ยท Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated in 1873. In 1872, prior to his graduation and to receiving his diploma, his first field of practice was in Harlansburg, Pa. In 1873 he opened an office in New Castle and late in 1874, he removed to Chuckatuck, Nansemond Co., Va., where he remained a year and a half, returning from there to Harlansburg, Lawrence Co., Pa., in 1876. In 1879, he located permanently in New Castle, where he has been very successfully engaged in
attending to a general practice. He is a member of the Lawrence County Medical Society, and also belongs to the F. & A. M., Lodge of the Craft, No. 433 of New Castle, Pa. Politically, he is a firm Republican, and held the office of cor- oner about sixteen years.
On Sept. 25, 1873, he was joined in marriage with Margaret E. Cox, daughter of Albert G. Cox of New Castle, Pa .; of their two children, Kittie died at the age of three years and six months, and Maggie was removed from the home by an All-Wise Providence, when aged six months. Mrs. Pollock died in 1888. On June 19, 1889, he formed a second union with Dora B. Douthett of New Castle, daughter of Joseph Douthett. He married his third wife, who was Ella M. Newton, daughter of G. A. Newton of New Castle, May 5, 1893, and to them has been given one child-Rachel B., born Feb. 5, 1895. Mrs. Pollock is a member of the Chris- tian Church, while her husband belongs to the Presbyterian Church.
WILLIAM E. REED, a prominent citizen of Shenango township, and a splendid representa- tive of its sturdy agricultural class, was born .on the farm of which his own farm is now a part, Dec. 18, 1851, and is a son of John C. and Phoebe A. (Iddings) Reed. He was reared on the old homestead, and in all his life has never lived beyond its boundaries; when a boy he at- tended the district schools, was advanced through the high school at New Castle, and completed his education in the State Normal
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School at Edinboro, Erie County, at the age of accomplished with his indomitable will and ex- twenty years. When nineteen years old he traordinary perseverance much more than most taught his first term of school, and since his graduation from the Normal School he taught ten additional terms. He is a member of the school board of the township, and in no sub- ject of public moment does he take such close and abiding interest as in the cause of education, and his services as pedagogue and in other im- portant capacities relating closely to the educa- tional work of the township his services have been invaluable. Educational ability seems to run in the family, as many of his uncles and cousins have presided at the desk, and all his brothers and sisters with the exception of one have taught in various parts of Lawrence Coun- ty. This ability is doubtless inherited from their ancestor, Joseph Iddings, who was the first teacher in the county. Mr. Reed remained with his parents under the parental roof until he was thirty years of age, when he married, and settled down on his own farm, having purchased for this purpose a sixty-acre tract adjacent to the original homestead of his father. General farm- ing in the past has claimed most of his energy and attention, but at present he is interested in dairy-farming almost to the exclusion of all else.
John C. Reed, our subject's father, who is now deceased, was born in Shenango township, near the Center United Presbyterian Church, May 3, 1826, and lived his entire life in his na- tive township, following the healthful and peaceful life of a farmer. His death occurred Jan. 28, 1895, after suffering a number of years from a stroke of apoplexy, received while plow- ing in the fields. Mr. Reed was an energetic man, and although somewhat small in stature,
men of larger frame could have done. He was ambitious to leave his children well provided for, and in doing so exerted himself more than he ought to have done, and may be said to have sacrificed himself for his children. There was no one in the county who stood higher in public estimation than did Mr. Reed, and his word was as good as his bond. So high was the estima- tion in which he was held, that favors are often extended to his sons, because of their father's good name. His much-beloved wife and help- meet through life was Phoebe Ann Iddings, daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Hoopes) Id- dings. The latter was a native of Chester Co., Pa., of Quaker stock, and descended from Sir Anthony Wayne's sister; her father was Ezra Hoopes of Chester Co., Pa. Joseph Iddings was also born in Chester Co., Pa .; having re- ceived a good education when a boy and young man, he turned his attention to teaching, and was one of the first school-teachers in Lawrence County. He followed farming as an occupation in later years. He reared the following children : Mary, who is eighty-four years old; Mirabel, deceased; Hannah, who married Martin Reno, deceased, of Shenango township, Lawrence County; Sarah, who became the wife of Hugh A. McKee; Elizabeth, deceased, who married James Leonard of Lawrence County, and now of Michigan; Ann, deceased; Lavinia, who mar- ried James Davis of Lawrence County; and Phoebe A., the mother of our subject. To John C. Reed and Phoebe A. Iddings were given ten children, as follows: William E., the subject of this sketch; Joseph, who is living in Sharon, and
.
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practicing medicine; Charles A., a leading physi- cian of the city of New Castle; Hannah, de- ceased; Anna and Mary, twins, both of whom are deceased; Sarah J., the wife of Richard Wright of Taylor township; Lovina, who mar- ried William H. Weinschenk of Shenango township; John W., deceased; and Luther M., whose biography appears on another page. Mrs. Reed, widow of John C., makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. William H. Wein- schenk.
John C. Reed was a son of William and Anna (Cameron) Reed. The latter is still living to-day at the age of ninety-two years, and is surpris- ingly active and vigorous both in body and mind for one of her advanced years; she has been granted the unusual privilege of seeing a descendant in the fifth generation, being a great-great-grandmother to the members of the last generation. She was born in Mahoning- town, Feb. 10, 1805, and was a daughter of James and Betsey (Hendrickson) Cameron, the latter a daughter of Dr. Hendrickson, the first physician to settle in the county, coming here in 1797 with two other families from Pennsville, N. J. Indians were very numerous about this region, and Betsey Hendrickson received a severe fright from one of them, when she was driving the cows home from their pasturing ground; she was never sent alone on such an errand again. James Cameron was born at Shir- leysburg, Pa., and was a farmer by occupation; .he died in Shenango township, near New Cas- tle, at the age of sixty-six years. He was a son of James Cameron, Sr., who came to Mahoning- town to see if he would like the place for a resi- dence; the country suiting him in every respect,
he returned to Shirleysburg, sold his farm, and started for Mahoningtown with the proceeds, with the intention of purchasing each of his sons a farm. As time passed by, and no word was received from him, inquiry was made along the route, which he was supposed to have taken, with the result that his horse and saddle were found but his body was never recovered, nor was there any record of him ever found, but it is supposed that he was murdered and robbed for the money he carried in his saddle-bags. He was a soldier in the Revolution, and served hon- orably after having once deserted and then re- joined the army.
William Reed, the grandfather of our subject, was born at Zanesville, Ohio, in June, 1803, and came with his parents to Lawrence County, in 1806. He learned the wheelwright's trade, and worked for a time in New Castle. In 1829, he bought a farm in Shenango township, on which there was a small clearing and log-cabin; here he followed his trade, and cleared his farm, which to-day is one of the very best in the coun- ty; the soil of it is peculiarly adapted to fruit- growing, and it often results that in a poor fruit year his orchards will be the only ones bearing in the vicinity. He passed away in the prime of his life, attaining only the age of forty years. He was a son of John and Margaret (Lutton) Reed, the latter a daughter of Ralph Lutton, who mar- ried a Miss Martin. John Reed was born in Ireland, and upon coming to America settled first at Zanesville, Ohio, from which locality he moved in 1806 to Lawrence County, settling in Shenango township on the stream now known as Snake Run; he too died at the age of forty years while his wife Margaret lived to be ninety-
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two years old. He was a weaver in Ireland, and followed that trade in America until he took up farming as a means of obtaining a livelihood, and securing an independence. His father, Michael Reed, never left the old country, but lived and died in the north of Ireland.
Our subject, William E. Reed, was joined in marriage Nov. 29, 1882, near Center Church, to Eliza L. Keller, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Fink) Keler. Mrs. Reed's mother was born in Berks Co., Pa., in 1814, and was a daughter of John and Katherine (Kraglow) Fink. Jonathan Keller was born in Berks Co., Pa., Feb. 11, 1812, and was a son of George and Polly (Specht) Keller; Polly (Specht) Keller was born in Berks Co., Pa., and was a daughter of John Specht, who married a Miss Neuman. George Keller, a son of George Keller, Sr., a native of Berks County, was a soldier of the War of 1812, and lived to be seventy-two years old. A bright and interesting group of three children constitute the family of our subject, and they are named as follows: Lillian Keller; Charles Franklin, who died in infancy; and Wesley Edgar. Mr. and Mrs. Reed attend the Second United Presbyter- ian Church of New Castle. Mr. Reed is a Republican in his political tendencies, and has served as school director and as auditor of the township. He is at present auditor of the Wash- ington Insurance Co., in which he is an inter- ested stockholder. He has been a member of the I. O. O. F., and also of the Farmers' Alli- ance. He has always been identified with the best elements of Lawrence County society, and he is known as a good, moral citizen, who does credit to the teachings and precepts of his noble father.
DAVID S. NORRIS, a stone dealer of New Castle, Pa., was born in Washington Co., Pa., Sept. 15, 1829, and is a son of Charles Norris, who was born in Washington County, in 1808. Charles was reared and educated in his native county, and followed agricultural pursuits for a livelihood. Soon after his marriage he bought a farm about sixteen miles south of Pittsburg, in Allegheny County, and lived there until his death in 1875. He married Sarah Winters, who was born in 1806, and died in 1865, and they raised to manhood and womanhood the follow- ing children: John, who lives in the State of Missouri; David S., our subject; Mary J. (Graham), deceased; Charles P., an undertaker of the city of New Castle; Sarah A. (Gunsaulus); William, deceased; Daniel, a resident of New Castle; Joseph, who lives in Meadville, Pa .; and Clark, a house painter of New Castle. Our sub- ject's father was a Whig and then a Republican, and the family favored the M. E. Church.
David S. Norris spent his boyhood days in Allegheny County, and was married in 1852 to Rachel Stevens, daughter of Craven Stevens of Allegheny County. In the same year of his marriage he moved to Sewickley, Pa., and en- gaged in teaming there for two years, after which he came to New Castle, and worked in the iron mills for three more years. He then started a draying business, with which he was connected for some thirty years. In 1887, lie was elected street commissioner of New Castle, and served in that capacity for five years, and then engaged in the stone business, in which he is still interested.
Our subject's first wife bore him a family of four children, as follows: Samantha M. (Wahl);
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Lizzie (Churchfield); Eva; and Mary (Patter- the most in the very crisis of the disease. Dr. son). After the death of his first wife, Mr. Nor- ris formed a second union with Mrs. Mary J. Bannon of New Castle. The family are regular attendants of the M. E. Church, and are in close touch with its benevolent and charitable work. Politically, our subject is a Republican, and in party work is unhestitating. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. of New Castle.
REV. FRANK RANDOLPH PETERS, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mahoningtown, and known and respected over the county as one of the best of citizens and as an able and consistent teacher of the Gospel, was born in Moon township, Allegheny Co., Pa., March 6, 1858. Of the four children, who once composed the parental family, but two survive- William T., a contractor of Sewickley, Pa., and Mr. Peters, the subject of this sketch. Dr. John Thayer Peters, our subject's father, who was a son of Ezra Thayer Peters, a farmer, who lived to be seventy-three years old, was born in Cuba, Allegany Co., N. Y., where he attended common school, and later graduated from the Willough- by Medical College of Northern Ohio. He be- gan his practice in Moon township, and in 1858 moved to Port Perry, where he died at early age of typhoid fever; the attack was not very serious and he would have recovered there is every reason to believe had not the attending physician, who was a confirmed victim of the drink habit, gone off on one of his periodical sprees, just when his patient needed his attention
Peters' wife was a Miss Sarah Cooper, a daugh- ter of William and Esther (Hood nee Byers) Cooper; William Cooper was a native of Ire- land, and came to America with his parents at the age of eight years, and lived to be ninety- four years old. On the death of her husband, the mother of our subject with her four small' children moved to her father's homestead in Moon township, where she resided three years until 1863, when she married William Grimes, a teamster of Sewickley, and went with her chil- dren to live with him in that town.
In Sewickley, our subject lived until his eighteenth year, attending the common schools, and then took up the vocation of a teacher, pre- siding over country schools in the winter, and during the rest of the year fitting himself for a teacher, and eventually for the ministry, by fol- lowing out courses of study in academies and seminaries, attending at various times the Western University of Pittsburg, the McKees- port Normal School, the Mckeesport Academy, and taught during several years in Elizabeth township at Thorn Hill, Reynoldston, Franklin and Leet township. After a term in the Normal School at Sewickley, he taught three winters in Leet township, and in 1881 attended Mt. Union College at Alliance, Ohio. "
In 1879, Mr .. Peters was licensed as a local preacher of the M. E. Church, and occasionally filled pulpits; in the spring of 1882, in answer to a call he went to Volante to fill out the year of Rev. Crum, who had died there. At the suc- ceeding conference in the fall, he was admitted on trial to the Erie Annual Conference, and was assigned to the Greenwood charge, which em-
WILLIAM H. SMITH.
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braced the churches at Greenwood, Croton and Savannah, and over this circuit he presided for two years. For the three following years he was placed in charge of the Petersburg charge, and in this connection he held services in three dif- ferent conferences and two States. Then fol- lowed two years at Salem and three years at Volante, and in the fall of 1892 he was assigned to the charge of Mahoningtown; when the pres- ent conference closes, he will have served the full limit of the church regulations, viz .: five years. At the conference held in 1897 at Oil City he was assigned to Brocton, N. Y.
Mr. Peters is decidedly a builder and organi- zer. Before going to Salem, while on the Peters- burg charge, he built a church at Enon Valley. During his term at Salem, it was through his well-directed efforts that a parsonage was. built, and the same thing was true at Volante during his ministry there. Since coming to Ma- honingtown, he has been instrumental in re- building the church, and in moving the parson- age to its present location, adjoining the church. The church edifice has been remodeled and im- proved, so that it would now be a credit to con- gregations in much larger places than Mahon- ingtown; the old building was moved to the rear, veneered with brick, and a large auditor- ium built in front; the old portion of the church was replastered and repaired throughout to keep it in harmony with the addition, and now the whole church edifice is thoroughly modern in all its appointments.
On Oct. 19, 1882, were solemnized the mar- riage ceremonies that united Mr. Peters and Miss Lizzie Anderson, daughter of John Ander- son, one of those hardy '49ers who made the
perilous trip across the western plains and mountains, undaunted by the perils of wilder- ness and lurking savage. John Anderson mar- ried Rose Hinton on his return. Three children now constitute the household of Mr. Peters and his wife: Edith May; Julia Etta; and Frank Thayer. Mr. Peters is an earnest supporter of the Prohibition party.
JOHN D. SMITH, a prominent citizen of Mahoningtown, who is associated with his brother, William H. Smith, in carrying on a flourishing and profitable business in dealing in hardware and lumber at Cedar and Cherry streets, Mahoningtown, was born in the city of Pittsburg, Dec. 21, 1851. His parents were John G. and Eliza W. (Sample) Smith.
John G. Smith was born in Manchester, Eng- land, and came to America at ten years of age with is mother and step-father, his own father having died when he was a comparatively small boy. When he grew up he learned the machin- ist's trade, and later in life was associated in business with his step-father. His death occurred in Pittsburg, in March, 1866, when he was aged forty-seven years. He was both a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the I. O. O. F. His wife was born in Allegheny City, Pa., and was a daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Logan) Sample. Thomas Sample was born in what became Allegheny City, Jan. 8, 1791, and was the second mayor of the place, after its incorporation under a State charter. From 1812 till 1843 he lived in Allegheny City, and oper:
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