Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 19

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

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the greater part of the early surveying in this county, and his wonderful memory re- tained in old age the most precise and exact knowledge of lines and surveys made by himself during the first years of the county's history. He was recognized by courts and lawyers as a high and almost infallible authority on such matters.

Mr. Dougal was the agent of Stephen Lowrey, and later of his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Collins, who inherited a large por- tion of her father's lands in this county, and he continued in this capacity for the heirs of Mrs. Collins until his retirement from active business. This responsible position afforded him the opportunity of acquiring property, and he became quite an extensive land owner. Scrupulously honest in all his dealings; correct and care- ful in his business habits; possessing an extensive and valuable fund of general in- formation, fine conversational abilities and remarkable mental power, he commanded the respect of the best people of the com- munity. There were few branches of scientific lore in which he was not well versed. In pleasant weather Mr. Dougal would sit in front of his modest home on South Main Street and converse with those who chose to listen or be entertained. His manner of speech was calm, deliberate and dignified, and his subjects were history, political economy, geography, geology, topography, climate and astronomy. He possessed an extensive and accurate know- edge of the last mentioned science, and was always happy when gazing at the starry firmament or discoursing upon its won- drous beauty and grandeur. His store of local history, too, embraced the minutest details of the annals of Butler County from its erection until the year of his death.

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With all these advantages he was, nevertheless, a peculiar and eccentric char- acter, and is principally remembered by the present generation because of the man- ner in which he lived. Though he possessed plenty of this world's goods, and might have enjoyed the usual comforts of life, he refused to improve his property, and persisted in living in one of the smallest and plainest of the frame buildings in Dougal's row until he removed to his farm in Summit Township, a few years prior to his death. Surrounded by rubbish of all kinds, including his surveying instruments, maps, charts, books, etc., with a few broken chairs and a bed that defied description, he despised and discarded modern fash- ions and modes of living, and seemed to take a peculiar delight in the slovenly dress and unrestrained life of the rudest pioneer backwoodsman. Nevertheless, when occa- sion required, he would appear as a well- dressed gentleman in refined society, and was thoroughly familiar with all the cour- tesies pertaining to it. Though he lived with the most rigid frugality, he was not a miser, but was generous, kind and charit- able to the poor and needy. If his tenants could not pay their rents, he permitted them to remain or move away without molestation.

This gifted, strange and eccentric man never married, and died on his farm in Summit Township, November 8, 1881, at the extraordinary age of 103 years, leaving much valuable property to relatives, and also to some friends who cared for him in his declining age. In appearance he was tall and erect in carriage, grave, serious and dignified in bearing, and remarkably independent in thought and action. Not only to the severe simplicity of his mode of living, but to the wonderful evenness of his temper, which he rarely suffered to be ruf- fled by any excitement, was largely due the uniformly good health he enjoyed throughout his life and the great longevity he attained. Mr. Dougal was pre-eminently

a peacemaker. His opportunities as a sur- veyor were always used to settle disputes and avoid litigation, and, as the natural result of this policy, he was often appealed to by disputants as final arbiter. In poli- ties, he was a Whig, until the formation of the Republican party, and ever afterward a Republican. While he did not profess any particular religious faith nor attend church, he was a firm believer in the funda- mental principles of christianity, and had an utter contempt for the man who treated the forms of religion with levity. The leading minds of Butler County looked upon him not only as a learned man, but a philosopher, and his name will be re- spected as long as a single one of those who knew him best is left to do justice to his memory.

HON. WALTER LOWRIE was one of the most distinguished sons of Butler County, and none of her citizens ever attained greater eminence or labored in a broader field. He was born in Edinburgh, Scot- land, December 10, 1784, and came to the United States with his parents, John and Catherine (Cameron) Lowrie, in 1792. The family settled in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, whence they removed to what is now Allegheny Township, Butler County, in 1797. Here his parents spent the remaining years of their lives, his mother dying in 1837 and his father in 1840. Their children were as follows: Matthew B., who removed to Pittsburg, became quite a prominent man of that city, and served as mayor several terms; Walter; John L .; Ann, who married An- drew Porter; Elizabeth, who first married John Stevens, and after his death, Robert S. Whann; Jane, who became the wife of William Porterfield; and Catherine, who married Andrew McCaslin. John Lowrie, Sr., owned a farm and a grist- and saw- mill, and was one of the prosperous citi- zens of the county. He was one of the founders of Scrubgrass Presbyterian Church in Venango County, and a man of

WALTER LOURIE

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sturdy character, excellent moral traits and high mental qualities. After clearing up his farm and living upon it for about forty years, he died there, and is buried in Scrubgrass Presbyterian cemetery.

The subject of this sketch was reared upon his father's farm, and his primary education consisted of an occasional term at a subscription school and home instruc- tion of winter nights. His parents being devout Presbyterians, Walter was care- fully trained in that faith, and at an early age entered upon a course of study with the ministry in view, and pursued the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages un- der Rev. John McPherrin. He came to Butler in 1807 to engage in teaching, was soon after appointed clerk in the commis- sioner's office, was later elected a member of the board, and also filled the office of justice of the peace, thus commencing a public career that lasted continuously for almost thirty years. In the meantime, he and his brother Matthew B., opened a store in Butler, which was conducted prin- cipally by clerks, the greater part of his time being devoted to his public duties. In 1811 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Legislature, and the following year to the State Senate. He was reelected to the latter, and served in that body seven years. In 1818, while still a member of the State Senate, he was elected to the United States Senate, and served in that body with ability and distinction for six years. This period was one of great in- terest in the history of our country. Such distinguished men as Webster, Clay, Cal- houn, Randolph and Benton were members of the Senate, and among these eminent statesmen Walter Lowrie occupied a posi- tion of honorable prominence. His stanch integrity won their confidence, while his practical judgment led them to seek his advice and rely upon his opinions. He was regarded by the Senators who knew him best as an authority upon all questions of political history and constitutional law.

During the discussion of the celebrated Missouri Compromise, he made a speech of great power and force of argument, in which he took strong grounds against the extension of slavery, and uttered a vigor- ous protest against the establishment of slave labor upon a single foot of free terri- tory. His influence in the Senate was not only that of a statesman, but also of a Christian. He was one of the founders of the Congressional Prayer Meeting, as well as of the Congressional Temperance Soci- ety. For a long time he was a member of the executive committee of the American Colonization Society, also of the Senate committee on Indian affairs. At the ex- piration of his senatorial term, in March, 1825, he was elected secretary of the Sen- ate, an office which he held for twelve years, resigning it in 1836 to become secre- tary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, which, under his vigorous and sagacious policy, was built up from an ob- scure institution to its subsequent impor- tance and prosperity. He brought to his new field of action the same strength of mind and earnestness of purpose that had characterized his previous career, and be- came the efficient head of a great mission- ary work. His labors only terminated with his death, which occurred in New York City, December 14, 1868.

Senator Lowrie was twice married. His first marriage occurred in 1808, to Amelia McPherrin, a daughter of Rev. John Mc- Pherrin, his preceptor, and one of the founders of the Presbyterianism in Butler County. She died in 1832, and he after- ward married Mary K. Childs. The chil- dren of his first marriage were as follows: John C .; Matthew S., an early member of the Butler bar; Mary, who married Sam- uel Baird, a merchant of Pittsburg; Eliza ; Walter M .; Jonathan Roberts, a well re- membered attorney of Hollidaysburg: Reuben P., and Henry M. John C., Wal- ter M., and Reuben P. became mission- aries of the Presbyterian church. Reu-

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ben P. fell a victim to overwork in the enervating climate of China, and Walter M. was murdered by Chinese pirates, August 19, 1847. Rev. John C. Lowrie, D. D., spent two years on missionary work in India, when he returned to New York and was appointed assistant to his father in the office of the Board of Foreign Mis- sions, and after his father's death he suc- ceeded him as secretary, which position he filled continuously for several years. Senator Lowrie exhibited a rare example of obedience to the dictates of duty in re- signing the secretaryship of the United States Senate, and accepting that of the Board of Foreign Missions. He relin- quished a home surrounded by every com- fort, a position of ease and large emolu- ment, the society of a wide circle of emi- nent men, with whom he was on terms of the closest intimacy, for a life in humble quarters, in a city with which he was un- familiar and to assume an arduous posi- tion, the remuneration of which was scarcely sufficient to sustain him. Not- withstanding his many varied talents, he was a modest and unassuming gentleman, whose public career was marked by the same rigid morals and principles that guided his private life.

REV. JOHN McPHERRIN was one of the founders of Presbyterianism in western Pennsylvania, the pioneer minister of that denomination in Butler County, and the first pastor of the Butler church. He was a native of what is now Adams County, Pennsylvania, born November 15, 1757, whence the family removed to Westmore- land County. His preparatory studies were pursued under Rev. Robert Smith, D. D., of Pequea, Pennsylvania, and he graduated at Dickinson College in 1788. He studied theology under the direction of Rev. John Clark, of Allegheny County, and was licensed to preach by the Pres- bytery of Redstone, August 20, 1789. On September 22, 1790, he was ordained by the same Presbytery, and installed pastor

of the congregations of Salem and Unity, in Westmoreland County, where he re- mained until 1803. In the meantime, how -. ever, he had visited this portion of the State on a missionary tour, coming here in the summer of 1799 and preaching to a congregation under the spreading branches of a large tree that stood near the site of Concord Presbyterian church, in what is now Concord Township, Butler County. Several of his audience requested him to name the embryo church, which he did, calling it "Concord," the title it has borne to the present day.

In 1803 Mr. McPherrin returned to this county and accepted calls from Concord and Muddy Creek churches, both of which he took charge of the same year. In 1805 he became a member of the Presbytery of Erie, and continued to minister to the con- gregations mentioned until 1813, when he resigned the Muddy Creek charge, having been installed pastor of the Butler church April 7, 1813, in connection with the church of Concord. It is also said he was pastor of Harmony church for several years. He remained pastor of Butler and Concord churches until his death, which occurred at Butler, February 10, 1822. Before coming to Butler County, Mr. Mc- Pherrin was married to Mary Stevenson, a daughter of John Stevenson, of Wash- ington County. His children were as fol- lows: Amelia, who married Walter Low- rie; William; Samuel; John; Clark; Mary, who married John Sullivan; Eben- ezer; Josiah, and Anderson.

REV. ISAIAH NIBLOCK, D. D., was one of the pioneer ministers of what is now known as the United Presbyterian church of Butler. He was a native of County Monaghan, Ireland, born in the year 1794, studied divinity under Rev. John Dick, D. D., professor of theology in the United Sessions church, Glasgow, Scotland, and was licensed to preach in 1817. The fol- lowing year he emigrated to New York, and preached in Philadelphia in the fall

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of 1818. Soon after he crossed the Alle- gheny Mountains on horseback, arriving in Pittsburg on the 20th of December, 1818, where he was appointed to supply vacancies for three months in this section of the State. Three days later he came to Butler and preached in the courthouse on the last Sunday of the year. He continued to preach as a supply until April 23, 1819, when he received a call from the congrega- tions of Butler and White Oak Springs, which he accepted, and after filling his previous engagements, was ordained and installed as their pastor by the Monon- gahela Associate Reformed Presbytery, and preached his first sermon as pastor of the Butler church on the third Sunday in May, 1819. This pastorate continued for more than forty-five years, or until his death in Butler, June 29, 1864, although he was unable to preach for nearly five months preceding that event. When Mr. Niblock became pastor of the Butler church it consisted of but one elder and nine communicants. Under his ministry there were added to the Butler, White Oak Springs and Union congregations about 1,100 members. He baptized about 2,000 children and adults, and united in mar- riage more than 200 couples. After com- ing to Butler, Dr. Niblock was married to Rachel Alexander, of Pittsburg, who be- came the mother of six children, viz .: Mary J .; James; Alexander; John, a United Presbyterian minister; Hugh; Mrs. Maria Zimmerman, and Harriet.

REV. WILLIAM WHITE, D. D., the honored and respected rector of St. Peter's Protes- tant Episcopal Church of Butler for half a century, was a native of Stewartstown, County Tyrone, Ireland. He was born March 18, 1811, and grew to manhood in his native land. In 1832 he came to Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, and entered the West- ern University, graduating from that insti- tution in 1834. He graduated from the General Theological Seminary of New York in 1837, was ordained a deacon by

Bishop Onderdonk, in Christ Church, Philadelphia, the same year, and was sent to take charge of the Freeport and Butler congregations. In 1838 he was ordained a priest by the same bishop, and remained in charge of both churches mentioned until 1842, when he gave up the Freeport charge and confined his labors to Butler and vicin- ity. Dr. White was married October 7, 1840, to Mary Bredin, a daughter of James Bredin, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to whom have been born six children, as follows: Annie; Isabella; Thomas, an Episcopal minister of East Albany, New York; George R., attorney at law at Butler; James B. and William, both deceased. For several years Dr. White combined with his parochial duties those of a teacher in the old Butler Academy, and many of the lead- ing men of Western Pennsylvania look up to him with pride as their preceptor. He continued as pastor of the Butler congre- gation until 1877, when the infirmities of advancing age induced him to lay down the burden, although he occasionally per- formed the offices of his sacred calling in the adjoining counties of Armstrong and Clarion until his death. For nearly sixty years his name was closely associated with the religious and educational life of Butler County, and few of its citizens have won to a greater degree the unbounded love and confidence of the whole people than this venerable patriarch whose rare usefulness throughout that period was gladly ac- knowledged by all.

REV. LOYAL YOUNG, D. D., was pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Butler for nearly thirty-five years, and his name is a familiar one in many of the homes in But- ler County. He was a son of Robert and Lydia (Gould) Young, of Charlemont, Franklin County, Massachusetts, where he was born July 1, 1806. When Loyal was five years old his parents removed to French Creek, Harrison County, Virginia. He obtained a good English education in the schools of that locality, entered Jeffer-

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son College, in 1826, and graduated from that institution in the fall of 1828. After teaching a private family school in Vir- ginia one year, he entered the Western Theological Seminary, at Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and was licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Ohio, June 21, 1832. On the 25th of October following, he was married to Margaret P. Johnston, a daughter of Rev. Robert Johnston, the first pastor of the Scrubgrass Presbyterian Church, Venango County, to which union were born seven sons and one daughter. Four of their sons, Robert J., Watson J., Torrence F., and James W., were soldiers in the Union Army.

Mr. Young came to Butler County soon after he was licensed to preach, his first sermon in Butler being delivered August 29, 1832. The following summer he preached as a candidate, and was ordained and installed as the third pastor of the Butler congregation, by the Presbytery of Allegheny, December 4, 1833. For nearly thirty-five years he labored faithfully and assiduously in building up the church. During his ministry here he baptized about 800 children and adults, united in marriage over 200 couples, and nearly 450 persons were brought into the Butler church. He delivered his farewell sermon May 10, 1868, and the same month took charge of French Creek and Buckhannon churches in West Virginia. He remained at French Creek eight years, and was then installed as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church

of Parkersburg, in the same State, which position he filled five years. His next charge was the Winfield, Point Pleasant and Pleasant Flats churches of West Vir- ginia, which he ministered to from 1880 to 1885. He then removed to Washington, Pennsylvania, and became a supply for a few years. Here his wife died December 29, 1887, and soon after he returned to But- ler, where he continued to follow the min- istry up to within a few weeks of his death, which occurred October 11, 1890.

While pastor of the Butler church, in 1858, the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Washington College. Dr. Young was twice moderator of the Synod of Pittsburg, once of the Erie Synod, and represented the Presbytery at the General Assembly several times. He was also the author of the following works: "Commen- tary on the Book of Ecclesiastes," "Hid- den Treasure," "Interviews With In- spired Men," "Communion," and "From Dawn to Dusk." A few weeks before his death he completed a commentary on the Book of Proverbs. To Dr. Young more than to any other man was due the estab- lishment of Witherspoon Institute at But- ler. He was the guiding spirit in calling the convention which brought that school into existence, in preparing the charter, in raising money, and placing the Institute on a solid foundation. He was its princi- pal for quite a long period, and his name is closely interwoven with its early growth and progress.

CHAPTER V

POLITICAL HISTORY

Senatorial and Representative Districts Established-First Elections-A New Judicial District --- Fourteenth Congressional District Established-Campaign of 1828- Case of Hugh Lee-Constitutional Amendments -- Twenty-fifth Congressional Dis- trict-Anti-slavery Movement-The Know Nothing Party-Anti-Administration Party -- The Republican Party-The New Representative District-Apportionment of 1871 -- The Constitutional Convention-Changes in 1874-Vote on Prohibition Amendment-Campaign of 1890- Judicial Campaigns of 1892-1902-The Union Party-Vote for President Roosevelt-New Primary Election Law-Congressional Districts-Senatorial Districts-Representative Districts-Judicial Districts- Public Officials-Appointment of Court Officials.

In addition to exercising a fostering care over her own internal political affairs, Butler County has played an important part in the various congressional, sena- torial and judicial districts to which she has belonged. Her citizens have ever val- ued and protected their political rights and have exercised them in the manner which to their minds was best calculated to con- serve the highest interests of the nation and the state.

The act of the legislature creating Butler County was approved March 12, 1800. Be- sides defining the boundaries of the county, this act -made temporary provision for her political status by assigning her to the same senatorial district as Allegheny, Washington, and Green Counties. The representative district was made up of Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, Warren, and Venango Counties and was entitled to two representatives in the gen- eral assembly.

Under the Constitution of 1790, then in force, the members of the State Senate

were elected every three years and the members of the House of Representatives every year. No member could serve more than four years in seven. Elections were held on the second Tuesday in October of each year, save for President and Vice- President of the United States, which were held in November, as at present. The terms of service of state senators and rep- resentatives began on the fourth Monday of October.

The state Capitol was at Lancaster and the Senators and Representatives, as well as other citizens having business there, usually made the journey on horse-back, that being the only mode of conveyance outside of walking, previous to the estab- lishment of a stage-coach line and the canal. . Occasionally a prudent member took his own provisions with him.

The act above referred to also provided that :

"The inhabitants of that part of the county of Butler in Elder's district of the depreciated lands, who heretofore held their elections at the town of Freeport, shall be annexed to the district known by the name of

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McClure's district and vote with the inhabitants thereof at the house of Andrew McClure. And the inhabitants of that part of Butler County in any of the donation districts, who have heretofore held their elections at the town of Freeport shall be annexed to what is called Buchannan's district and vote with the inhabitants thereof."'

SIXTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

The act of April 2, 1803, assigned Butler County to the sixth judicial district with Beaver, Mercer, and Erie Counties, of which the Honorable Jesse Moore was the first presiding judge to sit in Butler.

ELEVENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.

An act of the General Assembly of April 11, 1803, divided the state into eleven con- gressional districts, the eleventh district being composed of Allegheny, Beaver, But- ler, Crawford, Mercer, Venango, Warren, and Erie Counties.

FIRST ELECTIONS.

The first general election in the county was held in 1804, at which members of con- gress, representatives to the general as- sembly and county commissioners were voted for. The same year at the election held on the first Monday in November, presidential electors were voted for.

The candidates for Congress were J. B. C. Lucas, Democratic Republican, and James O'Hara, Federalist. The latter was a resident of Pittsburg, a Revolutionary soldier, and, as the name of his party indi- cates, an adherent of the Hamiltonian idea of a strong government. That his ideas were not well received in Butler County may be seen from the records of the vote cast in the six election districts into which the county was divided at that time. Lucas received 408 votes in the county and O'Hara 118.

The election that year in the first dis- trict was held at the home of Ezekiel Bre- din, formerly James Buchannan's, where William Gault, Jacob Smith, and Ephraim Harris were judges. In the second district the polling place was at the residence of Alexander Ramsey, the judges being Ben-

jamin Fletcher, W. Furgeson, and James Coulter. The judges of election and poll- ing places are not recorded for the third and fourth districts. The judges of the fifth district were W. Johnson, Samuel Duncan, and Moses Bolton. The place of holding election is not mentioned. In the sixth district the judges were, Abdiel Mc- Lure, William Campbell and George Shan- non. At Butler the judges were William Ayres, John Cunningham, and John Gil- more. There were no returns from the fourth district.

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Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 19

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