USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Book of biographies : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania > Part 35
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Elvira (Phillips) McConnel was a native of Vermont, having been born March 28, 1811, on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, whence she came West with her father about 1820. She died January 6, 1897, in the eighty-sixth year of her age, leaving to sur- vive her the following children: William Phillips; James, of Bridgewater, Pa .; Alonzo Henry, located in Pittsburg; Alcinus Clark,
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of Allegheny, Pa., Hiram Smith, a leading physician of New Brighton, Pa .; Emma An- nette, widow of Ben. J. Stephenson, of Seat- tle, Washington; and Omar Montague, of Atchison, Kansas.
William Phillips McConnel, above-named, was born at Phillipsburg (now Monaca), and with his father became a steamboat carpenter and builder, engaging in this occupation for about ten years, during which time he assisted in building boats on the Ohio, Mississippi and Tennessee rivers.
After that he engaged in the business of keeping a general store, for several years at Olean, Ohio, and later at Freedom, Pa. But river life suited him better, so he accepted a position as clerk on a steamer, and was soon promoted to secretary and treasurer of Gray's Iron Line of the city of Pittsburg, which posi- tion he held for twenty-five years. Having resigned his position with Gray's Iron Line, he became, in 1895, secretary of the Beaver Valley Traction Company, which position he still occupies.
Mr. McConnel was twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Stewart, a daughter of David and Catharine (Baker) Stewart of Bridgewater, Pa. She passed to the life be- yond at the early age of thirty-one years, leav- ing three children: Ada Annette, who died April 1, 1896; Laura Stewart; and David Stewart. Mr. McConnel was married after- wards to Lydia Anne Stewart, a daughter of Charles M. Stewart of New Brighton, Pa., and a cousin of his first wife. She bore her husband the following children: William A.,
subject of our sketch; Lillian Augusta, who, after graduating from Mount Holyoke Sem- inary, South Hadley, Mass., in 1891, and teaching in the high school at New Brighton, Pa., died on October 28, 1898; Jessie, who is a teacher in the Allegheny Kindergarten As- sociation; Richard Gray, who served during the War with Spain, in 1898, as an ensign in the U. S. Navy, and is now a lieutenant in the U. S. Marine Corps; Paul George, who graduated in medicine at the Western Univ- ersity of Pennsylvania, in 1899, and is now on the staff of the West Penn Hospital, Pitts- burg ; and Charles Hiram, a student at Penn- sylvania State College.
William A. McConnel attended the public school at Bridgewater until 1882, when he entered the high school at Beaver, Pa. From there, in 1884, he went to Phillips Exeter Academy, at Exeter, New Hampshire. In June, 1886, he took his examinations at Sha- dyside Academy, near Pittsburg, for admis- sion to Yale University, which he entered that fall. He graduated, with a High Oration standing, from Yale, in 1890.
He then studied law under the preceptor- ship of John M. Buchanan, Esq., of Beaver, and was admitted to the bar January 23, 1895. He was immediately taken into partnership by his preceptor, under the firm name of Bu- chanan, Reed & McConnel, which afterwards became Buchanan & McConnel, Lewis W. Reed retiring from the firm. Since then he has risen rapidly in his chosen profession, and today the firm of which he is a member is considered one of the best in Beaver county.
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Our subject was united in marriage with Sarah Stokes Bruce on July 10, 1895, in the First Presbyterian church, Beaver, Pa., by the Rev. P. J. Cummings. Sarah (Bruce) Mc- Connel is a daughter of William H. Bruce, a highly respected citizen of Beaver, Pa. This union has been blessed with two children: William Bruce, born May 5, 1896; and Stew- art Phillips, born March 10, 1898. Mr. Mc- Connel is a member and trustee of the Metho- 1 dist Episcopal church of Beaver, Pa., a mem-
ber of the Epworth League, and teacher in the Sabbath School of that church, taking great interest in all church work.
ILLIAM CALDWELL
FRENCH. Conspicuous among the young men of sterling worth in Beaver county, Pa., whom business or profes- sional work has given a wide acquaintance throughout the county, and whose public service is ever highly esteemed, is William Caldwell French, a rising young attorney of Beaver. Mr. French was born in Beaver, Pa., and, after graduating at the high school at that place, he registered as a law student in the office of J. H. Cunningham, one of Beaver county's most noted attorneys. After pursuing his studies very diligently, young French was admitted to the bar, and spent the following three years associated with his preceptor in the practice of his profession. Since that time he has been practicing alone.
Our worthy subject is an influential mem- ber of the Presbyterian church, and although
an active man in the interests of Beaver county, he has never sought office.
William Caldwell French is a son of Capt. Samuel B. and Emily (Robinson) French, and grandson of Joseph and Martha (Newton) French. Joseph French was born November 3. 1781, at Brown Mills, Burlington county, New Jersey, and while still a young man, learned the art of making shoes by hand in his native state. In Morristown, New Jer- sey, he met Martha Newton, a young Quakeress who became his wife. The young folks went west to Beaver county, Pa., shortly after the year 1800, locating in Brighton, which is now Beaver Falls. At that place, Mr. French began the manufacture of boots and shoes, giving employment to several hands. After following that occupation very successfully at Brighton for a period of eight years, he removed to Beaver, where he carried on a similar but more extensive business dur- ing the remainder of his life. He made fine, and also coarse, footwear of all kinds not only for the laboring classes, but for the most aristocratic families in Beaver, and townships adjoining. Shortly after moving to Beaver, he purchased a home on the southeast corner of Elk and Second streets, where he and his wife lived until their death.
He was a very progressive man and made considerable money, nor was he content to deal in footwear alone; in addition to his very heavy trade in that line, Mr. French also rented several farms, and carried on agricul- tural pursuits to a considerable extent. Be- sides rearing a large family, he was exceed-
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ingly charitable and assisted many in need,- very often, it is said, to his own disadvan- tage. Thus he became extremely popular and was much beloved. Several years prior to liis death, he was considered a well-to-do man, of his day. His death took place April 2, 1847, and the event caused universal sorrow. His amiable companion was born April 10, 1786, and for nearly eleven years awaited the summons to rejoin her husband,-passing peacefully away June 17, 1858.
Their union was blessed with ten children, namely: Newton, born July 17, 1805, and died February 10, 1827; James, born March 27, 1807, and died April 3, 1836; Charles M., born January 4, 1811, and died March 27, 1877; Joseph, born May 21, 1813, and died November 1I, 1871; Thomas, born October 4, 1815, and died November 2, 1886; Samuel B., father of the subject hereof; Maria C., born November 22, 1821, and died May IO, 1891 ; Billings O. P., born August 8, 1823, and - died September 22, 1846; Leander, born Sep- tember 30, 1825; Caroline, born January 12, 1828,-the only one of this numerous family known to be living. The honored father of these children was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, while his wife belonged to the good, old Quaker sect.
Samuel B. French, William Caldwell's father, was born December 1, 1818, and when a young man, began river life as assistant on a steamboat plying on the Ohio River, be- tween Pittsburg and New Orleans. This life just suited his fancy, and he rapidly rose in the line to be captain, and still later became part
owner of several steamboats, among them the "Joseph Pierce," the "Tropic," and the "She- nango." Retiring from river life he engaged in the manufacture of brick under the firm name of French & Quay. He established brick yards and kilns, and was conducting that business at the time of his death. This plant was conveniently located on the south side of the Ohio River, directly opposite Beaver. Shortly after his marriage Mr. French built a large, substantial and handsome brick resi- dence on the northwest corner of Elk and Second streets, where he lived during the rest of his life. This residence is, at the present time, the home of Hon. M. S. Quay.
Samuel B. French was a public-spirited man and a Democrat of much influence and great prominence. His active river life pre- vented his accepting political offices.
He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was a charter member of St. Joseph Lodge, No. 457, F. & A. M., of Beaver, and on February 15, 1854, became a member of Commandery, No. I, of the Knights Tem- plar of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He passed to his final rest January 28, 1874, and was sur- vived by his widow for twenty years. Mrs. French was, before marriage, Emily Robin- son ; she was a daughter of Hugh Robinson, a native of Beaver county, and was reared in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. She was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Beaver. Her death occurred on September 7, 1894, at the age of seventy years. She was the mother of thirteen children, ten of whom are still living, and all of whom grew to man-
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hood and womanhood, with the exception of one. Their names are: Martha, Nancy, Thomas, Samuel, Franklin, Eliza, Mary, Emily, Sarah, Katherine, Jeannette, Alice, and William C., the subject of this biographi- cal record.
ARRY T. BARKER has made sur- veying and civil engineering his profession, and has occupied the position of city engineer of New Brighton and Beaver Falls since 1879. He is a director of the Riverview Land Company, which had its origin in 1892. The subject of this sketch is a worthy representative of one of the old and prominent families of Delaware, his ancestors having settled in that state many years prior to the War of Independence. Mr. Barker was born in New Brighton, Pa., August 28, 1849, and is a son of Thomas A. and Eliza (Oakley) Barker.
On the paternal side, Samuel Barker was the original immigrant of the family in this country,-he having located in Delaware as arly as 1685 ; he received a grant of two hun- fred acres from the Penns. The next in line was Joseph Barker, who was the great-great- grandfather of the subject hereof, and his birth occurred on his father's farm in Delaware; he was a strong Episcopalian, as were his par- ents. Samuel was the great-grandfather of Harry T. Barker, and he married Rachael Ball, by whom he reared a family of children. Mr. Barker's grandfather was Abner, a native of Delaware, who early in life located in Pitts-
burg, Pa .; prior to 1790, he served in the fire department of that city. Being a man of means he retired at an early age, and spent his closing years in that city, in comfort and happiness.
On the maternal side, the family is of Eng- lish extraction, and the Oakleys, from whom Mr. Barker's mother sprang, have been resi- dents of America since a very early period. The grandfather was Milton Oakley, a native of Baltimore, Md., but later a resident of But- ler county, Pa., where he was actively engaged in business. He died in the village of Har- mony, in middle age.
Thomas A. Barker was born in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1823, but was reared to manhood in Beaver county,-he having left home to live with his older brother, Dr. Butler Barker, a practicing physician of Beaver; after re- ceiving a common school education in Beaver, he located in New Brighton, where he en- barked in mercantile pursuits,-continuing thus until his death, in February, 1859. He married Eliza Oakley, who was born in 1821 and died in 1863; they were the parents of the following children : George O., who died aged five years; Frank A., who died in 1879, from an accidental gunshot wound; Harry T .; and Ellen O., the wife of Harry Brown, of Cin- cinnati, Ohio.
Harry T. Barker obtained his primary edu- cation in the public schools of New Brighton, which was supplemented by a course in the military academy at West Chester, Pa., and upon his graduation therefrom, by a course in the Cooper Institute in New York City;
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he then took an engineering course under the professorship of George L. Fox, then a cele- brated teacher in mechanics and mathematics. On graduating, he accepted a position in the ship building establishment of the Roaches, of New York City. Returning to New Brighton, in 1873, he and his brother, Frank A., began a banking business under the name of Barker Brothers, establishing a private bank in Beaver Falls; this business was con- tinued until 1878, when the subject of this record took up his profession as a surveyor and civil engineer; in the following year he was elected city engineer of both Beaver Falls and New Brighton, and has served in that capacity until the present time. Mr. Barker was one of the organizers of the Riverview Land Company, in 1892, and he is one of its directors; he has surveyed that section into town lots, and also surveyed the route of the Riverview Railroad, which is about two miles long, and of which company he is one of the directors. Mr. Barker is esteemed by his many friends, and possesses all the char- acteristics of a loyal citizen and a good neigh- bor.
The subject of this narrative is a Repub- lican, and has served three years as county surveyor, having been elected to that office in 1882. Socially, he is a member of the A. O. U. W .; and of the K. of P.,-both of New Brighton. Religiously, he and his family are prominent members of the Episcopal church, of which the subject hereof is a vestryman. On May 29, 1873, Mr. Barker and Miss An- nie V. McClean were united in the bonds of
wedlock, and to them have been born two children, George M., and Adele, both of whom are deceased.
R. WILLIAM M. MILLER, who has an established reputation as a physician and surgeon, is a success- ful practitioner at Hookstown, Green town- ship, Beaver county, Pa. His family is one of the old and highly respected families of Hancock county, West Virginia, where he was born October 5, 1863, and he is a son of John and Margaret A. (Campbell) Miller.
David Miller, the grandfather of William M., was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, and in 1775 came to this country, first locating near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He afterwards removed to Hancock county, West Virginia, buying a tract of land east of the village of Fairview, where he lived until the Indian out- break in that locality. He was then driven away and moved to Chartiers, Pa., remaining until peace was finally restored. Upon re- turning to his former home, he followed farm- ing until his death, in 1848, having almost reached the remarkable age of one hundred years. He married Abigail Martin, and among their offspring was one John P., the father of the subject hereof.
John P. Miller was born on the old home- stead, in Hancock county, West Virginia, in 1832, and there he has always resided. He has a fine farm under a high state of cultiva- tion, and has conducted it in a very successful manner. There are gas wells upon it, and at
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one time he supplied the city of East Liver- pool, Ohio, with gas. He is also quite an ex- tensive fruit raiser. In politics he is a Repub- lican. Religiously, he is a member of the Presbyterian church. He formed a matri- monial alliance with Margaret A. Campbell, and they had the following issue: Joseph, deceased; Elmer A., who now does the farm- ing on the old homestead; Dr. William M., whose name heads this sketch; Robert S. and Benjamin S., twins, the former a farmer in Iowa, and the latter in Hancock county, West Virginia; Margaret Ellen, the wife of Law- rence Stewart, who lives near the home farm; Mary Jane, the wife of Frank Mayhew, a farmer, of Hancock county; and Henry O., who is living at home.
Dr. William M. Miller received a common school education, and worked upon the home farm until he reached the age of fifteen years, when he learned the trade of a painter and paper hanger. After continuing thus for a period of four years, he was clerk in a store at Fairview for three years; he then taught school four years, in the meantime taking up the study of medicine. In 1887 he entered the medical department of Wooster Univer- sity, now known as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Cleveland, Ohio. Being graduated in the spring of 1890, he entered upon a successful practice at Shiloh, Ohio, where he remained until 1894. Wishing a wider field in which to follow his profession, he wisely, and with good foresight, saw the many advantages offered in Beaver county, and as a result located at Hookstown, Green
township. He rapidly acquired a good paying practice, and now has the patronage of the leading class of citizens of the district. Thus he has worked his way up in life from the lc wly position of a day laborer to a prominent professional status, in which he ranks as one of the most skilled practitioners in this region. He was ever ambitious and energetic, and his advancement is the result solely of individual effort.
In 1885 Dr. Miller was joined in wedlock with Ama Moore, of Fairview, West Virginia, and three children have been born to them: Cecil E .; John M .; and Edna. In political af- filiations, he is a strong Republican. Reli- giously, he is a faithful member of the U. P. church.
ROF. RUFUS DARR. The public schools are the pride of every com- munity, and from them may be de- terinined the character and enterprise of its citizens. Citizens of an intellectual class and those ambitious for the future of their off- spring, always employ the best instructors ob- tainable, and elevate their schools to the high- est degree of efficiency. Thus the residents of Rochester, by securing the services of Prof. Darr, in 1892, took an important step in ad- vancement, the good results of which are evi- dent in the schools as they exist today. He is a man of intellectual attainments, and has passed through the ordeal of practical expe- rience,-facts which place his record as prin- cipal above criticism.
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Prof. Rufus Darr was born in Rostraver township, Westmoreland county, Pa., and is a son of John Darr, a progressive farmer of that locality. He was reared upon a farm and attended the public schools and Elder's Ridge academy. He then entered Lafayette College and after graduation in 1877, began his career as a teacher, which he has since followed continuously, with the exception of a brief period spent in farming upon the old homestead. Besides teaching for a time, in the public schools, he taught successively at Elder's Ridge Academy, Greersburg Acad- emy, at Darlington, Pa., and for several years at Laird Institute at Murrysville, Pennsylva- nia. In 1892, he accepted the principalship of the Rochester schools, in which he has since continued to the satisfaction of the board and the general public. He is a man of enter- prise, and has introduced new and approved methods of teaching.
It is an interesting matter to trace the development of the schools of Rochester from their beginning to their high standard under the present public school system.
The public school system of Pennsylvania dates back to the year 1834. Prior to that time schools were maintained only by private subscriptions, and very frequently were held in private houses. Singularly enough, the town of Rochester got its first actual start in that year. Early records show that two plats were made and recorded in 1834,-one by Joseph Hemphill and the other by Joseph Hinds. In this year the canal between Rochester and New Castle was completed,
and its effect was to build up the new town, which was then called "Fairport." Three years later an early directory gives a popula- tion of two hundred inhabitants. The only school house was a log structure, located on what is now the corner of Jefferson and Con- necticut streets. There is no record as to when it was built or by whom. It was occu- pied as a school building for several years and was replaced by a frame school build- ing now occupied by the Evangelical Associa- tion church as a parsonage. Rochester bor- ough was organized March 20, 1849, and its first school board was named at a meeting held in this building, May 22, 1849. The board was composed of William Martin, pres- ident; Dr. Thomas J. Chandler, secretary ; John Berryhill, treasurer; Robert Smith, George C. Speyerer and John McClung. The first teachers were elected May 31, 1849. They were Philip Grim, principal, and a Miss Rice, assistant. The salary of the principal was $28, and that of the assistant $14 per month. The first term of school began in June of that year. This building was used until 1862, when it was sold, the school board having purchased three lots on Jefferson street, on which a brick building was erected, which was completed in the latter year. It was a four-room structure, but was enlarged in 1868, and again during the "seventies." The steady growth of the town made a sec- ond building necessary and it was erected in 1884-1885, on Adams street. In 1891, it was again found necessary to increase the size of the school accommodations, and a four-
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room addition to the Adams street building was begun, and completed in the following year. The continued increase in population, and with it, a corresponding increase in the number of children of school age, has created a demand for a third building, and during the summer of 1899 the school board purchased two lots on Pinney street, on which a good brick building of modern design will shortly be erected. The town will then be provided with three substantial, well equipped brick buildings, located conveniently for the pupils in the various parts of the borough. The number of pupils enrolled is over nine hun- dred.
The High School department of the Roch- ester schools was established in 1890, under the principalship of W. F. Bliss. It was be- gun with a two-years' course of study, which was soon made a three-years' course, as it is at present. The attendance in the High School has constantly increased, until there is an enrolment of over sixty pupils, nearly equally divided between the three classes.
The teachers under the supervision of Prof. Darr are: S. C. Humes and Mary Stone (in the High School); and Mrs. E. C. McCoy, assistant principal; Mary Ewing, Kathryn Crane; Wilda Brown; Ada Spratly; Katie Gebhard; Kate Nannah; Kate Torrence ; Martha McFetridge; Louise Taylor; Nannie Barto; Annie Mccutcheon; Annie Lockhart ; Fay Shanor; and Lillie Reno.
Prof. Darr married Louisa Kelley, a daugh- ter of John Kelley, of St. Louis, and they have three children, namely: Sarah A .; John; and
Catharine D. Religiously, the Professor is a member and elder of the Presbyterian church. Socially, he belongs to the Masonic order.
R OBERT M. BRYAN, the leading gen- eral merchant in the southwestern portion of Beaver county, is located at Hookstown, Green township, where he is one of the foremost business men. He is a son of James and Isabella (Miller) Bryan, and was born in Hookstown, Pa., November 14, 1850.
John Bryan, the grandfather of Robert M., was a farmer of Independence township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. His son James, the father of the subject hereof, was born in that township, in 1806, and at an early age learned the trade of a hatter. In those days there were no shops, and he fol- lowed his trade at his own home in Hooks- town most of his life, and in addition to that farmed quite extensively on land which he leased. He passed to his eternal reward at the age of eighty-two years. He was first joined in marriage with Margaret Veasy, and they had three children, as follows: Sarah, de- ceased; Mary, deceased; and Joseph, who is now a pilot on the lower Mississippi River. He formed a second alliance with Isabella Miller, a daughter of Col. Robert Miller, a soldier of the War of 1812, and a resident of Beaver county, and this union was blessed with seven children: Margaret, deceased ; John, deceased, who served as adjutant in the
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140th Reg., Pa. Vol. Inf., in the Civil War, and later practiced medicine in Kentucky and Missouri, dying in the latter state in 1874; Sarah (Smith), who lives in Arkansas City; Robert, the subject of this record; Mary, de- ceased; Jennie (Mercer), whose husband was formerly in partnership with Robert M. Bryan, and lives in New Wilmington, Pa .; Belle (Lawrence), who removed from Beaver county to Red Oak, Iowa, with her husband,-a physician of that place. Mrs. Bryan died in 1892, at the age of seventy- three years. Mr. Bryan was a Democrat in politics, and was a borough officeholder.
Robert M. Bryan obtained his education in the public schools of Hookstown, attending them until he was thirteen years old, after which he was a clerk for three years in a store at Shippingport, Beaver county,-thus early acquiring a knowledge of the business which he now follows. He then learned the trade of a carpenter, which he followed during the summer months for the succeeding fifteen years. In 1870, he went west to Missouri, and worked on a farm at his trade two years, but again returned to Beaver county and taught school for the next fifteen years. Sub- sequently he engaged as a clerk for A. G. Wil- son, and served in that capacity for five years. Then, in company with Mr. Mercer, he bought a store at Hookstown, which they very successfully conducted for five years. In August, 1898, this partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Bryan became sole proprietor. He is a man of enterprise and has endeavored to please his patrons by stocking his store with
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