Century history of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens, 20th, Vol. II, Part 88

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co. (Chicago) pbl
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 898

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > Washington > Century history of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens, 20th, Vol. II > Part 88

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Thomas MeCarell, father of Leman MeCarrell was born at Ten-Mile, Washington County, attended the early schools as opportunity presented and grew to manhood as his father's helper on the home farm. After his first marriage he settled on the farm which his son Leman now owns and lived here all his life. He was a man of sterling character and took an active part in publie mat- ters and was honored and respected by his. fellow eiti- zens. In polities he was a strong Democrat. During one term he served as county commissioner and he was also associate judge. He married (first) Margaret Me- Nary, of Cross Creek Township, a member of a pioneer family there, and four children were born to them: John, Martha, Margaret and JJames. John McCarrell, who died January 19, 1891, was a physician and re- sided at Wellsville, Ohio. James MeCarrell, who was also a physician, lived on the north side of Pittsburg, and died July 4, 1900. The second marriage of Thomas

MeCarrell was to Elizabeth MeConaughy, a daughter of David MeConaughy, of a prominent Mt. Pleasant Township family, and four children were born to that union: David, who was a physician and prac- ticed for thirty years at Hickory, died November 13, 1894; Leman; Loudy, who graduated at Jefferson Col- lege, was an attorney and practiced for twenty-five years at Washington, Pa., and died April 23, 1902; and Alexan- der, who is a minister and resides at Stewart, Pa. The third marriage was with Margaret Martin, a daughter of William Martin, of Canonsburg, to which there was no issue.

Leman MeCarrell attended the district schools in Mt. Pleasant Township and later taught school very accept- ably for two winters, in Canton Township, after which he devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, his home having always been on this farm. With the exception of about twenty acres of woodland, the land is all under a fine state of cultivation. The coal has been sold and the two gas wells are not now producing. Mr. McCarrell has turned over his responsibilities to his son, Thomas MeCarrell, who operates the farm very successfully.

Mr. MeCarrell married Miss Ellen Donaldson, who died in April, 1903. She was a daughter of Andrew Donald- son, of Mt. Pleasant Township. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. McCarrell: Elizabeth, who married S. A. McCalmont ; Ella W., who married A. A. Taggart ; Etta, who died when aged eighteen years; Donaldson, who has been a popular school teacher in Mt. Pleasant Township for a number of years, married Mary Me- Burney ; Anna, who married Walker Dinsmore, of Jeffer- . son County, Ohio; and Thomas, who married Estella Taggart, of Hopewell Township. Mr. McCarrell has been identified with the Democratic party all his mature life. He belongs to the Mt. Prospect Presbyterian Church.

JOHN W. FROST, a prominent citizens of Somerset Township, whose fine farm of 152 acres is situated in School District No. 4, of which he is a director, three and one-half miles northwest of Bentleyville, in Wash- ington County, was born at Brownsville, Fayette County, Pa., June 22, 1859, a son of John Wesley and Rachel (Arrell) Frost. ,

John Wesley Frost died when his son John W., was only four years old. His mother subsequently married Andrew MeIlvaine, an unele of Judge MeIlvaine, who is prominently identified with the bar of Washington County, and the farm now owned by Mr. Frost is the. old Mellvaine farm. He was nine years old when he accompanied his mother and step-father. here and this has been his home ever since. Mr. MeIlvaine died in Jannary, 1897, and was survived by his widow until July 2, 1901, she then being seventy-one years of age.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

Mr. Frost obtained his education in the country schools and in his business life has always been a farmer. He owns what is very generally regarded as one of the best improved farms of Somerset Township. He makes a specialty of raising cattle and horses, and sheep of the Black Top breed, and his flocks are some of the finest in the county.

In early manhood, Mr. Frost married Miss Mary E. Huffman, and they have had three children: Bessie, who died when a babe of three months; John Merle, who is a popular teacher in the West Bethlehem Town- ship schools; and Thomas, who died when aged seventeen years. Mr. Frost is a stanch Democrat. He is one of the directors of the Bentleyville National Bank.

Mrs. Scott belongs to one of the oldest settled families of Somerset Township. The first of the family to come here was Rudolph Huffman, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Frost and of Mrs. A. T. Scott. He was born in Germany and when a young man emigrated to America and soon located in Somerset Township, at a time when there were many Indians living here. They were very hostile and the wife of Rudolph Huffman was killed by one of these savages, with a bow and arrow. It is related that she went to the top of the hill on the farm and from an opposite hill the Indian shot her. The parents of Mrs. Frost were Joseph and Malinda (Eagye) Huffman. Joseph Huffman was a son of Joseph Huff- man and a grandson of Rudolph Huffman. The mother of Mrs. Frost was born in Fallowfield Township, Wash- ington County, near Bentleyville, a daughter of Simon Eagye, a native of Ohio. Joseph Huffman was born November 14, 1829, and died at the home of his daugh- ter, Mrs. A. T. Scott, in Somerset Township, September 10, 1909, when aged almost eighty years. His wife died January 9, 1893. They were the parents of six children, four of whom are still living. Few families in Somerset Township have stood in higher public esteem than the Huffmans.

LOUIS VOYE, who, as the genial owner and pro- prietor of the MeDonald Hotel, at MeDonald, Pa., is known to the traveling publie and to a large number of his fellow citizens, most favorably, was born at Eliza- beth, in Allegheny County, Pa., June 16, 1879. His parents are Joseph and Clementine (Reboul) Voye.

The parents of Mr. Voye reside at MeDonald, which is also the home of a number of their children, the latter being: Joseph; Marie, who is the wife of August Valen- tour; Louisa, who is the wife of R. D. Thomas; Valeria, who is the wife of Thomas Reynolds; Lonis; Alphonse; Mareelan; Charles; Remmy and Emma.

Louis Voye was educated in the sehools of Elizabeth and Carnegie and the Iron City Commercial College. Prior to entering into the hotel business in December,

1905, he had been connected with several business houses in a clerical capacity. He conducts a first-class house and enjoys .a liberal amount of patronage.

In 1907, Mr. Voye was married to Miss Mar Beatty, a daughter of George and Alice (Barton) Beatty. Mrs. Voye has oue' brother, Benjamin, and a half-brother, George Beatty, her father having contracted a second marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. Voye are members of the Catholic Church. In polities, he is a Republican.

Fraternally he belongs to Lodge No. 30, L. O. O. M., of MeDonald; Lodge No. 76, F. O. E., of Pittsburg, Pa .; and to La Solidarite, a French organization, of McDonald.

J. DALLAS JACKSON, who passed from this life February 22, 1903, was closely identified for many years with the manufacturing interests of Washington, found- ing and successfully conducting a carriage and wagon building establishment together with blacksmithing, , which was then the largest enterprise of its kind in Washington County. He was born in Hanover Township, Washington County, Pa., April 13, 1840, and was a son of John and Margaret (Matthews) Jackson.

The paternal grandfather, James Jackson, came to JIanover Township from eastern Pennsylvania, and after that followed an agricultural lite. He was one of the early promoters of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in this section.

John Jackson, father of J. Dallas, was born in Han- over Township in 1808, and for many years he carried on agricultural pursuits on a farm adjoining the one on which he was born. Later he sold his land and retired to the village of Florence and there spent the remainder of his life. He married Margaret Matthews, who was born in Lancaster County, Pa., and they had five chil- dren, namely: Martha J., Andrew M., J. Dallas, Horatio C., and Sarah J.

J. Dallas Jackson had few educational advantages in his youth, according to modern ideas, for he was only fourteen years old when his books had to be put aside and he became an apprentice to the trade of carriage building in the big shops, as they then appeared to him, of S. B. & C. Hayes, at Washington. Ile completed his apprenticeship there and remained with that firm for sixteen years, after which he worked at the same at Wheeling. W. Va., for Edward Hayes, but remained in that section but fifteen months. In 1874 he embarked in the business at Washington which he developed into so important an enterprise and he carried it on with such industry and good judgment, enlarging his facilities as the growing trade demanded, until his establishment ex- celled any other in its line in the county. He became known as a shrewd and able business man and also ong

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

whose honesty was never questioned in any business transaction.

On January 8, 1859, Mr. Jackson was married to Miss Mary E. Miller, a daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Wolf) Miller. The father of Mrs. Jackson was born near Baltimore, Md., November 22, 1819, and was one of a family of sixteen children born to his parents who were Charles and Elizabeth (Goettman) Miller. Grand- father Miller was a native of Germany and was a weaver by trade and he worked at that until he came to Waslı- ington County in 1827, when he opened an inn, which he conducted until his death in 1846. The father of Mrs. Jackson learned the tinner's trade and worked at that until 1844, when he went into the roofing and stove business and continued in the same for forty years. He prospered greatly and became one of Washington's most substantial business men. He was one of the incorpora- tors first of the Gas Company of Washington, and later of the Natural Gas Company. He was greatly attached .. to the Methodist Church and enjoyed membership for a long period. In 1840 he was united in marriage with Sarah Wolf, a daughter of Simon Wolf, and to them eleven children were born. All of these who survive are numbered with the most respected people of the sections in which they find their homes, honoring in their lives the good parents who bore and reared them.

To Mr. and Mrs. Jackson a family was born, there being eight survivors: James W., Sarah M., Jacob, John, Ella, Emma, Daisy and Joseph D. James W. Jackson resides at Los Angeles, Cal. Sarah M. Jackson married Anthony De Normandie, and they live in Hollywood, Cal. They have three children: Jennie, who married Frank Kiner, of Salt Lake City, and they have one son, Penrose Kiner; and Herbert and Harry. Jacob Jackson resides at Waynesburg, Pa. John Jackson resides at Washington. He married Ora Husted, of Wheeling, W. Va., and they have two children, Helen and Elizabeth. Ella Jackson married M. M. Curry, of Washington, Pa., and they have two children, Edith and Esther. Emma Jackson married Charles MacGinnis, a leading clothing merchant at Washington. Daisy, the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, married Harry Whiting, of Washington, and they have one child, Lucile. Joseph D. Jackson, the youngest son, resides at home with his mother.

Andrew Roth was born and reared in Germany, where he learned brewing. He came to America in early man- hood and settled at Pittsburg, Pa., where he became one of the foremost brew-masters of the south side. After

working in a brewery for a number of years he then turned his attention to the ice business in which he was engaged for ten years in the same city, after which he retired until 1893, when he came to Monongahela City and purchased the old Monongahela brewery, which he continued to operate under that name for some years. After his death, in 1896, at the age of fifty-five years, the license was transferred to his widow, Mrs. Helena Roth, who is still owner of the business which is man- aged by her son, Joseph S. Roth. The brewery plant covers an area of twenty-two acres, in Carroll Township, Washington County, Pa. In 1905 an artificial ice plant was installed, which has an output of eight tons every twenty-four hours. The brewery has a capacity of 15,000 barrels a year, the special brand being, Gold Crown Beer, although large quantities of ale and porter are also manufactured. In 1909 the plant was greatly damaged by fire, but was again rebuilt and business con- tinned.

Andrew Roth was married at Pittsburg to Helena Scholbroek, who was born in that city, and they had the following children: Elizabeth, now deceased, who was the wife of Philip Zorn; Anna, who is the wife of E. C. Leech; Christina, who is the wife of John Baxter; Joseph S .; Rosina, who is the wife of John J. Conway; Frederick and Andrew J.

Joseph S. Roth was reared at Pittsburg and there at- tended the common schools. He came to Monongahela City with his father in 1893 and learned the brewing trade with him and since the latter's death has been manager of the H. Roth Brewery of Monongahela City. Mr. Roth is a stanch Republican and a member of sev- eral of the leading fraternal organizations.

Joseph S. Roth was married in February, 1901, to Susan Weinson, who was born in Germany and came to this country in childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Roth have two children : Andrew M. and Helen V.

WILBUR SEYMOUR SHEPLER, one of the leading real estate dealers and a director of the Citizens' Gas Company of Monongahela, was born October 4, 1858, in his father's hotel at Monongahela City, Pa., and is a son of James P. and Sarah J. (Teeters) Shepler, and a grandson of Philip Shepler, who was one of the pio- neers of Washington County.

James P. Shepler was boru on a farm on Peters JOSEPH S. ROTH, manager of the H. Roth Brewery, . Creek, Washington County, and during his early life was at Monongahela City, Pa., which was established by his father in 1893, was born August 17, 1879, and is a son of Andrew and Helena (Scholbrock) Roth.

engaged as a blacksmith and also dealt largely in live stock, especially sheep, which he took to Texas to dis- pose of. He subsequently conducted the old Shepler House, now known as the Commercial Hotel, for a period of thirty years, and was a man of publie spirit and en- terprise, ever ready to give assistance to any movement which tended toward the advancement of Monongahela

ANDREW ROTH

JOSEPH S. ROTH

FTE:

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

City. llis death occurred here in 1892, and he was sur- vived by his widow, a native of this county, and a daughter of Abraham Teeters, who was also one of the pioneers of Washington County. Five children were born to James and Sarah Shepler: Josephine, first mar- ried 1. B. Miller, after whose death she was united to a Mr. Brown, also deceased; Wilbur S., the subject of this sketeb; and Lillian M., who is the wife of S. S. Car- inack.

Wilbur S. Shepler grew to manhood in Monongahela City, where he attended the common schools, later the Normal School at California, Pa., the Allegheny College at Meadeville, Pa., and the College of Pharmacy at Phil- adelphia. Upon the completion of his education, Mr. Shepler opened and conducted for three years a drug store in the Brown block at Monongahela City, then dis- posed of the drug business to S. C. Markell, and went. to California, where for nine years he ran a fruit and stock farm, and during that time was foreman of con- struction for the Southern Pacific Railroad. At the be- ginning of the Spanish-American war, he went to Wash- ington, where he became a member of Co. 0, 10th Regt., with which he went to Manila, where he served until the company returned to the United States.

In polities, Mr. Shepler is an adherent of the Demo- eratie party, and is at present a member of the city council. His fraternal affiliations are with the B. P. O. E., and the F. O. E. orders, and also with Camp John C. Gregg, of which he is chaplain.

Mr. Shepler was married November 11, 1880, to Carrie L. Seymour, a daughter of Thomas J. and Maria (Bar- ton) Seymour, who comes of an old established family of Meadville, Pa. They have one child, James C. Shep- ler. The family resides in a comfortable home at No. 513 Jackson street.

CHARLES C. VAN KIRK. a retired merchant, who purchased and located on his present property in South Strabane Township, in September, 1903, was born in Amwell Township, Washington County, Pa., October 10, 1843. His parents were Ralph and Saralı (Cooper) Van Kirk.

Ralph Van Kirk, was born in Washington County, Pa .. December 27, 1815, the third in a family of four sons and three daughters born to Arthur Van Kirk and Eliza- beth (Parkinson) Van Kirk, the others being: Asher, who died in Ohio; Edward, who died in Greene County, Pa .; William, who died in Amwell Township; Lucretia, who married David Birch; Emma, who was the wife of John Cooper; and Mary, wife of Robert Woods. Ralph Van Kirk was a leading citizen of West Bethlehem Town- ship for many years and for six years served as one of the directors of the Washington County Home. His death occurred at his residence on East Maiden street,

Washington, January 1, 1900, and his burial was in the Washington Cemetery. On November II, 1841, he mar- ried Sarah Cooper, a daughter of Sylvanus and Eliza- beth (Brayant) Cooper, and they had the following chil- dren: Charles C .; Mary Jane, who married George Mr Elree, a resident of East Washington, and they had three children-H. Winnett, who is principal of the In- gram schools, Nellie B., who is a teacher in the Sixth Ward of Washington, and Ralph, who died at the age of twelve years; Ellen E., who married J. M. Weygandt ; and Addison, who died when one year old. Mrs. Van Kirk resides with her daughter, Mrs. Weygandt, in Am- well Township.

Charles C. Van Kirk attended school in West Bethle- hem Township and later was a student in the State Nor- mal School at California, and also Washington and Jef- ferson College, after which he taught school for several terms, in Washington County. Later he became a com- mercial traveler for a Pittsburg firm in the gents' fur- nishings line. Following his marriage he embarked in the mercantile business at Scenery Hill and during his commercial life there, had, as a patron of his store on one occasion, no less distinguished a person than Presi- dent Grant. From Scenery Hill, Mr. Van Kirk came to Washington and for a time was a clerk in the Smith dry goods store, after which he went into the furniture and undertaking business, under the firm style of Van Kirk & Co. For a number of years he was a repre- sentative business man of Washington. From that he became a commercial traveler, continuing until he came to his present place.

Mr. Van Virk was married March 15, 1869, to Miss Elizabeth F. Gambell, a daughter of Levi and Barbara A. Weygandt) Gambell. She was born on a farm of 265 acres, located at the head of Pigeon Creek. Her father bought the property from George V. Lawrence, and resided on it until his death, December 18, 1891. Levi Gambell was born on a farm near Pigeon Creek, in Somerset Township, and was a son of Samuel and Eunice (Westfall) Gambell, the latter of whom was born on land that is now included in the city of New York. Levi Gambell married Barbara A. Weygandt, who was born near Monongahela City, and died in December, 1905. They were both interred in the Piegon Creek Presbyterian Cemetery. Levi Gambell was a farmer all his life, and was a man of considerable prominence in his section, a leading Democrat and frequently elected to township offices. To Levi Gambell and wife three daughters were born: Elizabeth F., Eunice A. and Re- becca J. Eunice A., who died November 10, 1903, and was buried at Beallsville, Pa., was the wife of A. M. Roberts, of South Strabane Township, and the mother of three children: Levi Calvin Roberts, who married Belle Hottman; Oliver, who married Belle Hallam; and

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

Donna Irene. Rebecca J. married Eli U. Ross, and they reside on Locust street, Washington. They have four children: Ada, who married Prof. Herron; Frank L., who married Margaret Condit; Charles, who married Maude Shipe; and Harry, unmarried, who lives at home. Mr. and Mrs. Van Kirk had one daughter, Dora G. Her death occurred March 20, 1883, from typhoid fever, and her 'burial was in the Washington Cemetery: Mr. aud Mrs. Van Kirk are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is very active and is a charter member of the Isaac Sharp Bible class. In poli- ties, he is a Republican.

H. H. HILL, M. D., physician and surgeon, who has been in active practice at Charleroi, Pa., with well ap- pointed quarters at No. 518 Fallowfield avenue, since August, 1905, located here immediately after his gradua- tion from the Homeopathic College, of Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Hill was born at Indiana, Pa., April 23, 1883, and is a son of D. A. and Rebecca Hill.

In his childhood, the parents of Dr. Hill removed from Indiana to Jeanette, in Westmoreland County. There he secured an excellent grammar school education, and in 1901 was graduated from the Jeanette high school. Before he completed his medical course he was married at Cleveland, Ohio, to Miss Agnes B. Allen, of Sharon, Pa., who, at that time, was a student in college in that city. Dr. Hill enjoys an excellent practice, being the only physician of the Homeopathic school in Charleroi and one of the few who have located in the Monongahela Valley.

JAMES S. McCARTNEY, M. D., of Washington, Pa., son of Jacob McCartney, a prominent merchant and manufacturer, of Apollo, Pa., was born May 12, 1832. He received his literary education at Elders Ridge and Indiana academies, studied medicine under Dr. David Alter, of Freeport, Pa., and was graduated at Jefferson Medical College in 1856. He was associated the first year after his graduation with Dr. James M. Taylor, of Indiana, Pa., and afterwards located at Tarentum, Pa., where he continued in practice until his removal to Washington, Pa., in 1898. In Tarentum, he also in- vested in real estate, and was the organizer and president of the First National Bank and trustee of the glass works, and was guardian and trustee for different in- dividuals and executor and administrator for several estates. He was married July 21, 1887, to Miss Lizzie J. Bovard, a daughter of William C. Bovard, banker, of Du Bois, Pa. His children are Mary M., Alice B., James S., Jane E., and Ada S.

HOWARD F. HUMPHRIES, deputy coroner of Wash- ington County, Pa., has been in business at McDonald,

Pa., for five years, engaged as undertaker and embalmer and also condneting a livery stable, and is one of the borough's enterprising and progressive men. He was born in England, January 19, 1868, and is a son of Rob- ert and Anna (Guy) Humphries.

The Humphries family came to America in 1868 and setled at Scottdale, in Westmoreland County, Pa., where the father died in 1902, The mother continues to re- side there and is in her seventy-fifth year. The chil- dren of the family were as follows: E. A., who is a coke and coal operator at Uniontown and Latrobe, Pa .; Reu- ben J., who is an operator at Uniontown; Albert E., who died in 1900, was an operator at Dunbar, Pa .; and Howard F. The ' maternal great-grandfather was Thomas Guy, the founder of the great Guy Hospital, in London, England.

Prior to coming to MeDonald, Mr. Humphries was a prominent citizen of Rockwood, Somerset County, Pa., where he served six years as burgess and he is still identified with the M. W. A., at that point. When he came first to McDonald he was a member of the firm of MeCabe & Humphries, which bought out Williams & Wallace, and continued for one year, since which Mr. Humphries has been alone. He is an active and inter- ested citizen and when his present term as a member of the borough council shall expire, he will have served for three years and with much value to the community.

On August 20, 1891, Mr. Humphries was married to Miss Elizabeth Catherine Fraser, whose parents were resi- dents of Wellsville, Ohio. They have two children: Enid Elizabeth and Kenneth Guy Fraser, both of whom are very bright students in the McDonald schools. Mr. and Mrs. Humphries are members of the First Presbyterian Church at MeDonald. He is identified with Garfield Lodge, No. 604, F, and A. M., and the Knights of Pythi- as, both at MeDonald; the Knights of Malta, at West Newton; and the Eagles, at Sturgeon, Pa. Like his father, he has always been affiliated with the Republican party.

OLIVER O. HORNBAKE, who is a resident of Cali- fornia, Pa., but whose business interests are' at Coal Center, Pa., is senior member of the well known lumber and building contracting firm of Hornbake Bros., where the firm has been established since 1877. Oliver O. Horn- bake was born in what is now Coal Center, but at that time was known as Greenfield, Washington County, Pa., March 11, 1848, and is a son of George W. and Hannah (Rothwell) Hornbake.

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Century history of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens, 20th, Vol. II, Part 88

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co. (Chicago) pbl Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 898

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co. (Chicago) pbl
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 898