Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 127

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526

USA > Pennsylvania > Butler County > Butler > Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th > Part 127

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Robert M. Anderson has followed farm- ing ever since he completed his school attendance, and he remained on the home farm until after his marriage. In 1878 he purchased his present property and car- ries on general farming and derives a good income, also, from his oil wells, his

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land seemingly being of value in whatever way he uses it. He has substantial build- ings and comfortable surroundings.

Mr. Anderson married Martha Miller, a daughter of Philip Miller, of Penn Township, and they have three children, namely: Clarence O., who is a Presby- terian minister having a charge at Belle- ville, Mifflin County; Mary J., who is the wife of Jacob Henninger, of Butler; and Jessie A., who resides at home. The family belong to the First Presbyterian Church, Mr. Anderson being an elder.

In 1862, Mr. Anderson enlisted for service in the Civil War, and was in the army for nine months as a member of Company F, One Hundred Thirty-seventh Regiment, Penna. Volunteer Infantry, and is a member of Reed Post, G. A. R., at Butler. In politics he is a Democrat, as was his father before him, and he has served in a number of offices in the town- ship, including school director, overseer of the Poor and as justice of the peace. He continues to be one of the township's respected and representative citizens.

A. C. ZIEGLER, a prominent citizen of Butler County, burgess of Mars and a leading business man of that place, of which he was postmaster for eight years, has been a resident of this county since 1888. He is a son of Christopher and Caroline (Schwab) Ziegler.

The father of Mr. Ziegler was born in Germany and was a young man when he came to America and settled in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in a lumber business and operated a grist mill, was a substantial business man. He married Caroline Schwab, daughter of Henry Schwab, a native of Germany, and they had eight children, two surviving to maturity, Edward and A. C. Edward Ziegler engaged in the oil business and went to Brush Creek during the height of the oil fever there, prospered, and later

located at Mars, but died in Illinois, in 1906. The father died when his youngest. son, A. C., was one year old and then the mother returned to her father's home in Venango County, where her boys were reared, but died at Mars in April, 1908.

A. C. Ziegler taught school in Venango Township for six terms, after completing his own education, and then became inter- ested in the oil business. Later he sold his oil interests and with his brother went into partnership in a general store busi- ness at Mars, buying out the stock and good will of T. M. Marshall & Son. Nine months later the firm lost everything by fire and business was not resumed until after the Zieglers had built the present Ziegler brick block, when A. C. Ziegler conducted a shoe store for a time in that part of it now used by the Mars Bank, which has it under rental. At the present time A. C. Ziegler is still half owner of the building. Later he established his present business at the place where he now carries it on, having Ross Brown for a partner at first, and later, his present associate, C. H. Schwab, who bought the Brown interest. Mr. Ziegler has pros- pered in his business undertakings and for many years he has also been an in- fluential factor in county politics. He has frequently served as a delegate to county and Congressional conventions of the Re- publican party, and locally has served as township auditor and as school director. Aside from his business at Mars, where he conducts a large clothing, gents' fur- nishing and shoe store, he serves as secre- tary and treasurer of the Planet Oil Com- pany. As burgess he has given the town an excellent administration.

In September, 1897, Mr. Ziegler was married to Miss Maude Campbell, who is a daughter of James Campbell, and they have two children : Raymond and Laverne. Mr. and Mrs. Ziegler are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a trustee.

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WILLIAM Z. MURRIN and JOHN MURRIN, lawyers, practicing under the firm style of Murrin & Murrin, sons of the late John and Mary (Fielding) Murrin, were born at Murrinsville. They received their preliminary educations at that place and their college educations at Grove City College.

William Z. Murrin was admitted to practice law in 1893 and in 1894 formed a partnership with Jacob M. Painter which continued until 1903 when the present partnership of Murrin & Murrin was formed.

John Murrin was admitted to practice law in 1900, and from that time until the formation of the partnership with his brother, already mentioned, in 1903, was associated with T. H. C. Keck, in the practice of the law.

Both subjects of this sketch are Demo- crats in politics, and members of the Roman Catholic Church.

AUGUSTUS FREDERICK WERNER, a representative agriculturist and promi- nent citizen of Adams Township, whose 140 acres of valuable land is divided into two equal farms, through both of which runs the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad line, was born in Germany, August 6, 1846, and is the eldest son of Ernest and Eva (Brining) Werner.

The parents of Mr. Werner were born in Germany, grew up in the same neigh- borhood and married there. The father was a tailor by trade. In 1853 the family came to America, safely landing in the United States after a tiresome voyage of five weeks on the Atlantic Ocean. They settled at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. There were seven children born to Ernest Wer- ner and wife, namely: Wilhelmina, who married Jacob Nixon; Maria, who mar- ried Uriah Cooper; Mary, who married John Trout; and Ferdinand, John, Henry and Augustus F.

Augustus F. Werner was seven years

old when the family came from Germany. The father found no work at his trade in Pittsburg and on a peddler's wagon the family came on to Evans City and were given shelter over night with George Ifft, a fellow countryman. From there the Werners went on to the farm of Christian Metz, a former acquaintance and friend, who lived in Jackson Township, Butler County, for whom the father worked for the following three months. He then rented a farm in Adams Township, from Isaac Covert, lived on it for three years and then rented Henry Bolhorst's farm for four years, and later 100 acres from Thomas Wilson, also in Jackson Town- ship. Four years later he rented a farm for two years in Cranberry Township, and then bought eighty acres on Connoquenes- sing Creek, in Forward Township. On that place the father died when aged seventy-five years. The mother survives and still enjoys life although aged eighty- nine years, being one of the most vener- able ladies in Butler County.

While the family lived on that farm, Augustus F. Werner was married to Fan- nie Burr, of Forward Township, and then removed to his wife's mother's farm and conducted it for two years. He then, in 1878, purchased forty-five acres of his present farm, from Hayes Davis, and has put up all the buildings. When he started out for himself he had but $50, but he proved an excellent manager and invested in farm land from time to time, as he be- came able, and through his industry, fru- gality and forethought, has became a man of ample estate in his section. He carries on a general farming line and keeps cows for dairy purposes, shipping his milk to Pittsburg.

Mr. and Mrs. Werner have had eight children, three of whom died of an epi- demic, within three weeks of each other. They were: Lewis, who was aged eleven years; Emma, aged nine years; and Amelia, aged seven years, all three being

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unusually bright and interesting children. The other five survive, as follows: John, who married Nancy Metz, now deceased, has one child, Mabel; Minnie; Laura, who married Frank Davis, has two chil- dren, Maria and Frances; and Charles and Nellie. Mr. Werner and family be- long to the Lutheran Church, in which he is an elder. In politics, he is a Demo- crat and has frequently been elected to township offices and has served in them honestly and efficiently.

CHARLES R. MILLER, one of But- ler's enterprising business men, proprietor of the Miller Torpedo Company, both . dealer and manufacturer, was born in 1877, at Carbon Center, Butler County, Pennsylvania, a son of James W. Miller.

Charles R. Miller was educated in his native county. As soon as he was per- mitted to leave school, he was anxious to provide for his own support and first worked in a meat market, going from there to the S. G. Purvis Lumber Com- pany, and later was connected with a gro- cery store for one year. For two years he worked at the tin trade, leaving it when an opportunity was offered to enter the employ of the Humes Torpedo Com- pany as bookkeeper, and he remained with that concern for six years. Each position he had held had taught him something and after his experience with the torpedo com- pany he decided to engage in the same line of manufacture. As soon as he could complete his arrangements he established the Miller Torpedo Company, at Freedom, Beaver County, continuing alone until he concluded to take a partner and retire from the service, and in the fall of 1907, he admitted E. J. Wallace to partnership and the latter has charge of the works. Mr. Miller has had his home in Butler for about twenty-two years.

In November, 1896, Mr. Miller was mar- ried to Miss Kate Wagner, of Columbus, Indiana. and they have two children:

James V. and Charles Russell. Mr. Miller is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a Thirty-second Degree Mason, a Knight Templar, member of the Mystic Shrine at Pittsburg, Blue Lodge at Rochester, Pennsylvania, and of the Com- mandery and Consistory at Pittsburg. He belongs also to the Elks.

DAVID FORSYTHE, one of Penn Township's representative agriculturists and most respected citizens, resides on his excellent farm of fifty acres, which he has placed under fine cultivation. Mr. For- sythe was born on this farm, July 31, 1850, and is a son of James and Elizabeth (An- derson) Forsythe.

James Forsythe was born in County Derry, Ireland, December 11, 1805, and was a son of John and Martha (Marshall) Forsythe. His father died in Ireland, after which the mother accompanied her son to the United States. From Philadel- phia to Butler County, the travelers came by wagon, stopping for a short time in In- diana County, but subsequently coming on into Penn Township, where James For- sythe invested in 212 acres of uncleared land, one-half of which he later sold to his brother, John Forsythe. Before coming to America, James Forsythe followed the trade of weaver, but afterward he devoted himself entirely to farming. He married a daughter of James Anderson, who was an early settler near Evans City, and to James Forsythe and wife were born six children, namely: Martha, deceased, wife of John Henry; John A .; Eleanor, de- ceased; James and Robert, twins, the for- mer of Lawrence County and the latter deceased; and David, of Penn Township. The parents were members of the Cov- enanters' Church.

David Forsythe has always resided on the old homestead and cherishes his mem- ories of the kind but strict father and the gentle, loving mother who for many years presided over a home that was a particu-

RESIDENCE OF JOHN STEVENSON, PARKER TOWNSHIP

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larly happy one. With his brothers and sisters he attended the country schools and did his part in carrying on the farm work. Since he has engaged in farming for him- self he has devoted the larger part of his land to the cultivation of corn and oats and raises sufficient stock for his own use. He is a good, law-abiding citizen but takes no active interest in politics. For many years he has been united by membership with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North Union and has served as one of its trustees.

JOHN STEVENSON, a well known oil producer of Parker Township, residing on his farm near Bruin, Pennsylvania, was born December 5, 1851, near Sunbury, Butler County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Michael M. and Elizabeth (Greer) Stevenson, and a grandson of Samuel Stevenson, the family being of Irish ex- traction.

Michael M. Stevenson settled in Parker Township a short time previous to the Civil War and for a number of years re- sided near Bruin, but later removed to Cherry Township, where his death oc- curred several years ago. Of the children born to Michael M. and Elizabeth (Greer) Stevenson four survive, namely: Samuel, who resides in Clay Township; James, who lives in Cherry Township; John, liv- ing in Parker Township on the homestead, and Sarah, residing near Sunbury.

John Stevenson was reared in his native township, and his education was secured in the public schools of Bruin. In early manhood he engaged in agricultural pur- suits, in which he has continued to the present time, and for a number of years he has also been successfully connected with the oil industry. A Prohibitionist in his political views, Mr. Stevenson has taken more than ordinary interest in local matters, and he is also prominently identi- fied with educational interests of Parker

Township, now serving in the capacity of school director.

Mr. Stevenson was married to Nancy A. Hall, a native of Butler County, Pennsyl- vania, and they have had eight children, as follows : Michael M., Lucy May, Thomas L. (deceased), James C., Min- nie B., Hattie B., Eva G. and John M. Minnie B. is teaching school in Parker Township. Lucy May has also taught in Parker Township. Minnie B. is a gradu- ate of Slippery Rock State Normal School. Lucy May, possessing musical talents, is a teacher on the piano. Michael M. is a producer of oil and also a tool dresser. James C. is interested in wells with his father and is making the oil business his special feature. Eva G. and John M. are both pupils of the Bruin High School.

Mr. Stevenson is a member of the Pro- tected Home Circle Lodge of Glenora. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Bruin, and is now serving as a steward and trustee. He is known as a man of honesty and integrity and has many warm personal friends throughout the township.

LOUIS WOHLGEMUTH, whose fifty acres of valuable land is situated in Adams Township, has been a resident of Butler County since 1896. He was born Decem- ber 12, 1856, in Alsace-Lorraine, France, and is a son of Frederick and Mary (Kuhn) Wohlgemuth.

Mr. Wohlgemuth's life record contains many interesting details. He comes of an old military family and of one that has followed the blacksmith trade through generations. His great-grandfather was a blacksmith, and his grandfather, Louis Wohlgemuth, for whom he was named, was a blacksmith in a cavalry regiment in the service of the great Napoleon. Frederick Wohlgemuth, the father, was a native of fair Alsace Lorraine, as had been his father, and he owned his own shop and for years prospered in his trade. For seven

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years he served in a French artillery regi- ment. He died in France, in 1875, aged sixty-two years, survived by his widow un- til 1902. They had three children: Fred- erick, who died in France, in 1908; Charles, who came to America in 1871, is a minister of the Evangelical Association faith and is connected with the Ottawa Circuit, in Ohio; and Louis.

When Louis Wohlgemuth was three years old he was sent to school and he at- tended regularly until he was fourteen, France at this time being under the rule of Napoleon III. When his father judged that his son had acquired sufficient book knowledge, he took him into his shop in order to instruct him in the family voca- tion, and there young Louis remained un- til he was eighteen years of age, by which time he had become an expert worker at the trade. He then took a trip, as was the custom, to practically demonstrate his skill, and this journey led him through his own country, through Switzerland and Italy and also through a portion of Ger- many. Thus he reached his twenty-second year and on account of the disturbed con- ditions in his native land, the French hav- ing just then been overcome by the Ger- mans, he began to think of the great coun- try across the Atlantic Ocean, to which many of his comrades had already depart- ed. The Germans began to fill up their depleted regiments with the young men of France, compelling the latter to serve, and Mr. Wohlgemuth was even drafted into the German horse artillery. He deter- mined then to leave his own country rather than serve in the army of its conqueror, watched his opportunity and deserted from the German regiment, took passage on the ship St. Lawrence, and after a voy- age of eleven days, reached the United States. Ten years later this ship that brought him to freedom was wrecked.

Mr. Wohlgemuth located in Pittsburg, Penna., where he worked at his trade for four years and then bought a shop at Etna,

in Allegheny County, which he conducted for seven years. In 1881, during his resi- dence in Allegheny County, he joined the Pennsylvania State Guards, becoming a member of Company E, Eighteenth Regi- ment, in which he served for four years and in which he became so expert in sharp- shooting that he secured a medal. He finally retired from the service on account of an injury done to his thumb which pre- vented his handling a gun in a soldierly manner. After selling his shop at Etna, Mr. Wohlgemuth opened one at Myoma and conducted it for four years and then sold out and bought his present farm from the Marburger estate, and has followed general farming ever since.

On October 30, 1901, Mr. Wohlgemuth was married to Miss Lydia Kline, who is a daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Berringer) Kline. Her father was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1816, and came to America when aged twenty-two years and for twelve years lived at Harmony, Butler County. He then bought a farm in For- ward Township, on which he died in 1893. He married Elizabeth Berringer, who was born in Hessen, Germany, in 1830, and died in 1903. They had four children: Mary, wife of George Hartung; and John, William and Lydia. Mr. and Mrs. Wohlge- muth have two children; Alma Elizabeth, born April 26, 1903; and Paul Frederick, born February 27, 1907. Formerly Mr. Wohlgemuth was a Lutheran, but later he united with the Evangelical Church. In politics he is a Republican and he has served his township very efficiently as su- pervisor.

In 1891 Mr. Wohlgemuth paid a visit to his old home but he found it no longer French and was advised that if he re- mained he would be subjected to a heavy fine and made to serve in the German army. Hence he immediately departed for Switzerland and there he had some diffi- culty in drawing money from a bank on account of having no one to identify him.

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This identification was finally made in a curious way. In his youth an old Irish sailor frequently visited his father's shop and while there tattooed the arm of Louis Wohlgemuth with its owner's name, and years afterward this indelible mark served to relieve Mr. Wohlgemuth from an un- pleasant position.

JOSEPH M. MCCANDLESS, master mechanic, with the Standard Plate Glass Company, at Butler, has been identified with this large business enterprise since the spring of 1890. He belongs to an old Butler County family and was born March 12, 1867, in Connoquenessing Township. The McCandless family has been connect- ed with this section for generations.

Joseph M. McCandless was reared to be a farmer but his tastes and talents lay in another direction, and after the close of his school period, he went to Pittsburg and there served an apprenticeship of three years with the old Fisher Foundry and Machine Company. For one year longer he worked as a machinist at Pittsburg and then came to Butler, where he was in the employ of the Ball Engine Company for three months, on March 24, 1890, coming to the Standard Plate Glass Company, starting in at lathe work and being ad- vanced until he was made foreman and for several years has been in his present re- sponsible position, of master mechanic.

Mr. McCandless was married (first) in 1893, to Miss Cora Renno, who left three children, Mary, Margaret and Milton. Mr. McCandless was married (second) in Feb- ruary, 1908, to Myrtle Gillman. They are members of the German Lutheran Church.

JOHN LECHNER, one of Butler Town- ship's most esteemed citizens, now living retired after a long and successful agri- cultural life, still retains his valuable and fertile farm of 100 acres. Mr. Lechner was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, Jan-

uary 10, 1831, and is a son of John Michael and Christina (Renner) Lechner.

John Michael Lechner was born in 1785, in Germany, and in 1842, accompanied by his wife and their four children, came to America and in the same year settled in Donegal Township, Butler County, Penn- sylvania. He was a pioneer in this section and found wild conditions prevailing, but he possessed German thrift and industry and before his death, in 1869, had convert- ed his land into valuable property. Four of his children grew to maturity, namely : Mary, now deceased, was the wife of Gott- leib Soossa; Margaret, deceased, was the wife of Henry Hoover; Catherine, de- ceased, was the wife of John Frederick; and John, who is the only member of his family now living. John Michael Lechner was an elder and trustee in the German Lutheran Church at Millerstown.

John Lechner was reared and attended school in Donegal Township. He remained on the home farm until 1884, when he bought his present property in Butler Township, which was formerly known as the old Tracy farm. About sixty acres are under cultivation and the land yields large crops of corn, oats, wheat and hay, and since the father has retired it is managed by the sons.

Mr. Lechner married Catherine Freder- icks, a daughter of Peter Fredericks of Summit Township, and of their eight chil- dren, the following survived childhood : Christina, residing at home; Christian, residing on the farm in Donegal Town- ship; Peter, residing at home; Adam B., operating the home farm, who married Emma Manny and has one child, Della; William, and Catherine, residing at home; and Caroline, wife of John A. Pierce, a resident of Lisbon, Ohio. Mrs. Lechner died September 11, 1902, aged sixty-nine years. The family is a leading one in the German Lutheran Church in this section.

Mr. Lechner is a very intelligent and

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well informed man and takes much interest in general matters, but he is no politician. He has long been identified with the old- time Democratic party. In 1864 he became a member of Company D, Ninety-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infan- try, and served from September into the following year when the Civil War closed.

GEORGE A. KAUFFMAN, whose val- uable farm of ninety acres is situated in Adams Township and lies on both sides of the Evans City road, near Callery, carries on general farming and dairying and is numbered with the substantial men of this section. He was born August 27, 1852, in Beaver County, Penna., and is a son of Albert and Elizabeth Kauffman.

The parents of Mr. Kauffman were both born in Germany. The father was ten years old when he accompanied his father, Casper Kauffman, to America, and until the close of his life he called the six weeks spent on the Atlantic Ocean as a most won- derful experience. His father settled in Beaver County, Penna., and continued to reside on a farm until his sons had all left home, when he retired to Rochester, where he worked at his trade, that of tailor, until the close of his active life. He had the fol- lowing children: Casper, Albert, George, Catherine, Emma, Mary, Sarah and Eliza- beth. George Kauffman served as a sol- dier in the Civil War and at present re- sides in Ohio.

Albert Kauffman was the eldest son of the above family, to reach manhood. After leaving home he bought a small farm in Beaver County and conducted a store in connection with tilling his land. Later he rented a farm in Butler County for three years, and then sold his Beaver County farm and bought 227 acres in Adams Township, Butler County, from Charles Gibson. He completed its clearing and continued to improve it as long as he was in active life. He died here in 1884, aged

sixty-six years. His wife had come to America in girlhood, and was forty-two years old at the time of her death. Their children were: Sarah; John; George Al- bert; Rachel, who married Calvin Davi- son; Samuel; Mary, who married Lafay- ette Dunbar, deceased; Emma, who mar- ried David Davison; Catherine, who mar- ried Milton Garvin; and Albert, who died young.

George A. Kauffman was young when his parents moved to Butler County, and he remained on the home farm and subse- quently inherited fifty acres of it, to which he later added forty more acres by pur- chase from his brother Samuel. It is all fine land and Mr. Kauffman has devoted himself to its careful cultivation. Since 1884 he had been engaged in the dairy business and ships his milk to Pittsburg and Allegheny.

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Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 127

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1526

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526