USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. III > Part 50
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Memucan Hughes, the grandfather of Matilda (Hughes) Barnes, was born April 12, 1739. He was evidently a resident of Pennsylvania in early life as, April 20, 1754, at the age of fifteen years he was commissioned ensign of Cap- tain Johnson's company of Pennsylvania artillery in the battalion under the com- mand of Colonel, afterwards Governor William Denny, and May 2, 1754, was advanced to the rank of lieutenant. He was, however, a resident of Cape May when he signed the marriage license bond, in New Jersey, March 4, 1761, to marry his cousin, Martha Hughes. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Memucan Hughes became a member of the Committee of Safety of Cape May
Memucan . Hughes
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county and he took an active part in the struggle for national independence. July 6, 1776, he was commissioned paymaster of the militia of Cape May coun- ty, and continued his activity in the patriot cause until the close of the war.
Israel Hughes, son of Memucan and Martha Hughes, was born at Cape May City, New Jersey, May 10, 1778, died there February 7, 1833. He married Mary Eldridge, born at Cape May, February 15, 1785, died June 16, 1863, daughter of William Eldridge, (1734-1809) and his wife Judith (Corson) Eld- ridge, daughter of Nathan Corson, and a descendant of Captain Ezekiel Eld- ridge, one of the first settlers and prominent officials of Cape May county.
PAUL HENRY BARNES, son of Paul and Matilda (Hughes) Barnes, was born in Philadelphia, May 28, 1841, died at Billingsport, New Jersey, July 8, 1896. He became identified with insurance business in Philadelphia in 1867. and the business established by him in that year is still continued by his son, the subject of this sketch. Israel Hughes Barnes a younger brother of Paul H., born April 14, 1844, was a soldier in the Ninety-first Regiment, Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, Colonel E. M. Gregg, and was killed at the battle of Chan- cellorsville, Virginia, May 3, 1863. Paul Henry Barnes married, May 17, 1864, Mary Maull Maxwell, who was born in Philadelphia, October 15, 1840, daughter of Andrew Robeson Maxwell, born in Philadelphia in 1811, died December, 1895, and Emily (Maull) Maxwell, born in Philadelphia in 1812, died there in 1898. The parents of Andrew Robeson were John and Jane (Robeson) Maxwell.
PAUL HENRY BARNES JR., son of Paul Henry and Mary M. (Maxwell) Barnes, was born in Philadelphia, January 3, 1872. He was educated at the Rugby Academy and on his graduation in 1889 engaged in the insurance business with his father, and succeeding to it at the latter's death in 1896, still conducts it at 138 South Fourth street, Philadelphia. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution in right of descent from Paymaster Memucan Hughes, of Cape May, and of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, also member of the Union League of Philadelphia and the Corinthian Yacht clubs.
LILY SHIRAS MORRIS JARVIS
LILY SHIRAS MORRIS (Mrs. Cecil C. Jarvis) derives Revolutionary ancestry through the military service of her great-great-grandfather, Lieutenant James Moore, an officer of the Continental army, who had an honorable record of hard service at the battles of Stillwater, Saratoga, Bennington, and other battles of the War for Independence, and from George Shiras, of the New Jersey Militia. Her mother, Rebecca Shiras, is of the distinguished Shiras family, whose names adorn the records of the Pennsylvania bar down to the present generation, and furnish one shining name to the list of associate judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. Another member of the family was Major General Alexander Shiras, who served with distinction in the great Civil War. In business, in let- ters and in the professions the family have long been prominent in Pennsylvania and other states.
PETER SHIRAS, the Pittsburgh progenitor of the Shiras family, was born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He was the son of Alexander and Mar- garet (Stuart) Shiras. Peter and his brother Alexander left Scotland and sailed to America in 1768. They settled first in Philadelphia, but later removed to Mt. Holly, New Jersey, where they purchased property, and became men of prom- inence. Alexander Shiras married Martha Clark, of Philadelphia, in 1777. One of his sons became an eminent Episcopal clergyman, and one of his grandsons rose to the rank of major-general in the United States regular army during the Civil War. The descendants of this branch of the family have remained almost entirely in the east. Peter Shiras, younger than Alexander, married Rebecca Thomas, November II, 1770. They had two sons, George and William. The latter died unmarried. Peter Shiras was a member of the Episcopal Church, having been christened by the Rev., afterwards Bishop Kilgore, who came to America to ordain Bishop Seabury, the first American bishop. The original headstones over the graves of Peter and his wife can be seen still in the Episco- pal burying ground at Mt. Holly.
GEORGE SHIRAS, the son of Peter and Rebecca (Thomas) Shiras, was born in Mt. Holly, in the year 1774. He was a member of the New Jersey Militia, and was sent West in 1794 to help suppress the "Whiskey Rebellion". The following year he persuaded his father to purchase from the government the site of the old fort (known as Duquesne, afterward Fort Pitt), on which ground George built a house out of the bricks of the old magazine. George Shiras was married twice. His first wife, Hanna (Perry) Shiras, only lived about ten years, leaving five children : Peter, George, Alexander, Oliver and Rebecca. Pe- ter, Alexander and Rebecca died unmarried. His second wife, Jane (Hull) (Sloan) Shiras, had only one child, Charles Peter Shiras. George Shiras was a member of Trinity Church (Pittsburgh), in whose yard his headstone still stands. Jane (Hull) (Sloan) Shiras was a daughter of John Hull, a soldier of the Revolution, and was born in Winchester, Virginia. John Hull served in the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment and was with Washington at Valley Forge.
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GEORGE (2) SHIRAS, oldest son of George (I) and Hanna (Perry) Shiras, was born in Pittsburgh, March 31, 1806. He married Eliza, daughter of the Rev. Francis Herron, an eminent divine, who founded the First Presbyterian Church at Pittsburgh. They had three sons: George (3), Francis and Oliver P. George Shiras was a business man and was highly respected for his many ex- cellent traits of character. He was of ample means, and gave his children the best education obtainable. He died in Pittsburgh in 1892.
OLIVER SHIRAS, youngest son of George (I) and Hanna (Perry) Shiras, was born in 1813. He married Jessie Russell Smith, a sister of William Russell Smith, the noted artist. Oliver Shiras left Pittsburgh about 1857, but two of his grandsons now reside there, William MacGilvrey Shiras, a prominent offi- cial of the Carnegie Steel Company, and Oliver Shiras, a noted illustrator and cartoonist.
CHARLES PETER SHIRAS, only child of George (I) and Jane (Hull) (Sloan) Shiras, was born 1824. He received a college education, and devoted his life to literary work. He was a writer of uncommon vigor, and his reputation as a poet is widespread and enduring. Had he been blessed with health he would have made a name high in the literary world. He was a close friend and co- worker with that gifted son of Pittsburgh, the song writer, Stephen C. Foster. Mr. Shiras at one time was an editor on the Commercial Journal (Commercial Gazette ) of Pittsburgh. He also published an anti-slavery paper called Albatross for a short time, which was a financial failure, although characterized by marked literary ability. Among the published works of Charles P. Shiras the best known perhaps are "Redemption of Labor", "Dollars and Dimes", "The Blood Hound's Song", and "I Owe No Man a Dollar". Charles P. Shiras married Mary Close. Both, however, died a little over a year later, leaving an infant daughter, Rebec- ca Shiras (Mrs. J. H. Morris).
GEORGE (3) SHIRAS, eldest son of George (2) and Eliza (Herron) Shiras, was born in Pittsburgh, January 26, 1832. After his preliminary schooling he fitted for college at the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, then entered Yale, as a member of the famous class of 1853, graduating in that year with Wayne Mac Veagh, Andrew D. White, Senator Gibson, of Louisiana, Chauncey Depew, Justices Brewer and Brown, with whom later he was to be associated on the Supreme Bench of the United States. For another year he pursued legal stud- ies at the Yale Law School, then returned to Pittsburgh, where he read under the direction of the Hon. Hopewell Hepburn. He was admitted to the Alle- gheny county bar in 1856. In 1883 his alma mater conferred upon him the de- gree of LL.D. He then removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where he joined his broth- er, Oliver P. Shiras, later United States district judge, in the Northern Circuit of Iowa. In 1856 he returned to Pittsburgh, where he entered into partnership with his preceptor and his son, which connection continued until the death of Judge Hepburn in 1862. From that time until October 10, 1892, when he took the oath of office as an associate judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, to which high office he was appointed by President Harrison, July 19, 1892, to succeed to the place made vacant by the death, January 22, 1892, of Judge Joseph Bradley, he continued in the uninterrupted and active practice of the law in Pittsburgh. At the bar the career of Mr. Shiras was marked by re- markable success in the transaction of an extensive business. He tried the
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most important cases arising in Western Pennsylvania, involving vast interests in oil, coal and iron enterprises, railroad extensions and great commercial and banking transactions. As a lawyer he was both able and conscientious, cour- teous and dignified in manner, of abundant legal learning, extraordinary quick- ness of apprehension, great strength of memory and sagacious judgment. Judge Shiras remained upon the Supreme Bench until February 18, 1903, when he sent in his resignation to take effect, February 24, 1903. President Roosevelt ac- cepted the resignation in the following words: "It is with great regret I ac- cept your resignation, and cannot allow the occasion to pass without congratu- lating you upon the signal success which has marked your labors on the Federal Bench." In 1888 he served as presidential elector.
Judge Shiras married, in 1857, Lily E., daughter of Robert T. Kennedy, of Pittsburgh. They have two sons, George (4) and Winfield K., see forward.
OLIVER P. SHIRAS, son of George (2) and Eliza (Herron) Shiras, was born in Pittsburgh, October 22, 1833. He was United States judge of the Northern District of Iowa from August 4, 1882, to 1903. He was graduated from Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, in 1853, attended Yale Law School, and received the degree of A. M. in 1856, in which year he removed to Dubuque, Iowa, and was admitted to the bar of that state. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the Union army, was on the staff of General Harron, served in Missouri, Arkansas and Louisana until 1864. He returned to Iowa and practiced law at Dubuque until appointed to the bench in 1882. He rendered several important decisions in celebrated cases, involving the rights of Indians, pension and railroad cases. In a celebrated case the United States Supreme Court upheld his decision although his brother, Justice George Shiras, voted against him. He is the author of a standard law book entitled "Equity Practice in Circuit Courts of the United States".
REBECCA SHIRAS, only child of Charles P. and Mary (Close) Shiras, was born in Pittsburgh. She married Captain James H. Morris, of Beaver county, son of Thomas Jefferson and Mary ( Moore) Morris. Captain Morris traces his ancestry back to his great-grandfather, Lieutenant James Moore, who fought in the battles of Stillwater, Bennington and other notable engagements of the Revolutionary War. His great-uncle, Captain Charles Stuart, was at one time commander of the frigate "Constitution". James H. and Rebecca (Shiras) Mor- ris have four children : I. Charles Shiras, a graduate of Trinity College, at pres- ent a resident of Hartford, Connecticut, and treasurer of the Hart Hegeman Company (Electric Company, Switch Manufacturers). He married Grace Jud- son, daughter of Judson H. Root, of Hartford, Connecticut. They have one child, Charles Shiras Morris Jr. 2. Robert Maxwell Dilworth, married Jane Campbell, daughter of J. W. Patterson, the noted engineer of Pittsburgh. Mr. Morris is the sales manager of the Pittsburgh branch of the Western Electric Company. They have two children, Margaret Mary and Robert Maxwell. 3. Lily Shiras, married Dr. Cecil C. Jarvis, of Clarksburg, West Virginia, where they now reside. They have one child, Rebecca Shiras Jarvis. 4. James Oliver, a graduate of Trinity College, at present connected with the C. D. & P. Tele- phone Company (Bell Telephone) of Pittsburgh.
GEORGE (4) SHIRAS, son of George (3) and Lily E. (Kennedy) Shiras, was born in Pittsburgh. He is a graduate of Cornell and Yale Law School. He has
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been prominent in both law and politics, and has been a member of both State and National Legislatures. George Shiras married Fannie P., youngest daugh- ter of the Hon. Peter White, of Marquette, Michigan. They have two children, Ellen White and George (5). Mr. and Mrs. Shiras reside at present in Wash- ington, D. C., where their daughter is a prominent member of society.
WINFIELD KENNEDY SHIRAS, second son of George (3) and Lily E. (Ken- nedy) Shiras, was born in Pittsburgh. He is a graduate of Cornell University and Yale Law School. He has been for years a prominent member of the Pitts- burgh bar. He married Clara Courtney, daughter of Albert and Ann McDowell (Price) Childs, of Pittsburgh. They have two children, Winfield and Ann Price Shiras.
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MARY PATTISON SEMPLE
MARY PATTISON SEMPLE, a descendant of one of the oldest families of Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, is the daughter of Alexander and Eliza (Irwin) Semple. Her membership in the Patriotic Order is based upon the distinguished services of her maternal grandfather, Major John Irwin, who fought throughout the war of the Revolution. He settled in Pittsburgh after the close of that war, coming principally to take possession of the many acres of land which were given him in part payment for his services to his country. His military order book, which he carried in his breast pocket, bears the marks of several bayonet thrusts and is greatly prized by his descendants. Not an old man in years, but weakened by his many wounds received in battle, Major Irwin died in Pitts- burgh early in the nineteenth century.
He married Mary Pattison, who survived him, and to her was left the care of their four children: Margaret (Mrs. George), John, William and Eliza (Mrs. Alexander Semple). This far-sighted and capable woman, Mrs. Mary (Pattison) Irwin, quickly realized that a growing river town would need quantities of rope, so she gathered together the necessary materials and men, built a rope walk and founded the most lucrative and enduring business of rope making. She soon admitted to partnership her son John who proved a most enterprising and valu- able assistant. This business continued until about 1876 and made fortunes for her John and his sons, Henry and John Irwin, who continued the business. Acres in Pittsburgh did not then bring in revenue, but Mrs. Irwin's bright and timely idea that the boats then commencing to ply upon the three rivers would absorb the output of the rope manufactory proved to be correct, and was the foundation and main structure of the Irwin fortunes. Patriotic was the work. Commodore Perry's fleet on Lake Erie was rigged with ropes made under Mrs. Irwin's supervision.
John Irwin, son of Major John and Mary (Pattison) Irwin, was the head of the family for many years. He is remembered as a man of highest character, of courtly even military bearing, a gentleman of the old school, respected and loved by all who knew him, and in whose work all had implicit faith. In 1828 he was burgess of Allegheny City (now North Side, Pittsburgh,) and held many posts of responsibility. He was a director of the Bank of Pittsburgh, and president of the company that built the first bridge across the Allegheny river, connecting Allegheny City with Pittsburgh. He succeeded his father as the Irwin family representative in the "Society of the Cincinnati". His wife was Hannah Taylor and they left children: Mrs. Mary Adair, Mrs. Margaret Nevin, Henry Irwin, Mrs. Susan Travelli, Mrs. Hannah Nevin, John Irwin, Mrs. Mar- tha Bele, William Irwin, Annie, unmarried. Hannah Taylor's father was the first minister of Trinity Church in Pittsburgh.
ALEXANDER SEMPLE, father of Mary Pattison Semple, was the youngest of three brothers, all born in the town of Castle Dawson, Ireland. His brother William (eldest of the brothers) settled in Pittsburgh, owning at one time what
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is now the Arthur Sullivan estate, overlooking the Monongahela river, one of nature's beauty spots, before mills and factories came to spoil her perfect work. The younger brother, Alexander, was for many years of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. About the year 1828 he came West with his belongings, crossing the mountains in his carriage, settling in Pittsburgh. Here after a time he with his nephew, William, opened a dry goods store on Market street, but the venture was short-lived, William Semple entering the iron business, founding a business later known as Semple & Bissell. Alexander Semple was a man whose greater interests were those of the church. For many years he was an elder in Dr. Elisha P. Swift's church in Allegheny City ( Presbyterian). He was a man of most sympathetic nature. His presence was sought by the sick and dying of all denom- inations, when his prayers served to lead them to the very gate of heaven. A friend of the poor and afflicted, his was a busy and useful life. He was strongly opposed to human slavery, but he did not live to know that the result of the Civil War was the freeing of all slaves in the United States. He died in 1861. His wife was Eliza, daughter of Major John and Mary (Pattison) Irwin.
MARY PATTISON SEMPLE, only daughter of Alexander and Eliza (Irwin) Semple, was born on Sandusky street, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in a home built on property deeded to Eliza Irwin as part of her government legacies. This mansion has only recently disappeared. After her father's death in 1861 Miss Semple went abroad. After sojourning in Italy one year she returned, and for four years, until the death of her mother, they lived in Sewickley, Pennsyl- vania. She then left the large circle of relatives and removed to Boston, Massa- chusetts, where musical advantages (meagre at the time in Pittsburgh), and more especially the liberal fatth of Unitarianism were the magnets. James Freeman Clarke found her an eager listener for ten years, when she again crossed the seas. Many years of travel and change have brought her back to her home city, where she now finds her heart satisfied with the faith which she loves and the music she delights in. Surrounded by many friends of the past who, as the years travel on, become more and more necessary, she still leads a happy, useful life, content with simple pleasures and doing good as oc- casion offers.
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CHARLES PARRISH HUNT
CHARLES PARRISH HUNT, of Wilkes-Barre, is a son of Francis William and Sarah Althea ( Parrish) Hunt, the former a native of England, but the latter a descendant of early settlers in Massachusetts and Connecticut, whose descend- ants with many of their nativity settled in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsyl- vania.
THOMAS HUNT, grandfather of Charles Parrish Hunt, was a barrister of the city of York, England, where he was born in 1770, died in 1822. He married Rachel Bell, a member of the Society of Friends, who died in Canada. They had six children: Dr. Ellwood, a surgeon in the Royal army, died in Australia ; Dr. Frederick Bell, a physician in the city of York, England, and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburg, Scotland; Lawrence; Anna; Har- riet ; Rachel; Francis William.
FRANCIS WILLIAM HUNT, father of Charles Parrish Hunt, was the fourtli son of Thomas and Rachel ( Bell) Hunt, and was born in the city of York, England, May 17, 1806. In 1835 he emigrated to America and lived for a time in Cincinnati, Ohio, but soon after located at Meshoppen, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the mercantile and lumber business and was postmaster of the town. In 1845 he removed to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and was for a time engaged in farming and storekeeping, later engaging in the coal business and acquiring a large amount of real estate, becoming one of the representative bus- iness men of Wilkes-Barre. He was a director of the First National Bank of Wilkes-Barre and a member of the First Presbyterian Church and of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. He died in Wilkes-Barre, November 6, 1871. Francis William Hunt married, May 6, 1840, Sarah Althea Parrish, born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1817, died in Wilkes-Barre, October 24, 1893, daughter of Archippus Parrish Jr., of Wilkes-Barre, and his wife, Phebe (Miller) Parrish, and a descendant on the paternal side from some of the earliest settlers of New England. Children: Ellwood Herring, born at Meshoppen, Pennsylvania, February 14, 1841, now a prominent screen manu- facturer ; Charles Parrish; Francis William, who died in infancy; Anna Marcy, of Wilkes-Barre.
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John Parrish, the earliest ancestor of the later Pennsylvania family of whom we have any record, was a resident of Groton, New London county, Connecticut, prior to King Philip's War, when all the settlers were driven out by the Indians and the town abandoned. He resided during this troublesome period in Concord, Massachusetts, but returned to Groton with the other set- clers after peace was restored. Little, however, is known of him except that he was a man of advanced years in 1667.
Sergeant John Parrish, of Groton, New London, Connecticut, was the own- er of land there as early as 1677; was one of the four surveyors of the town in 1680; was constable in 1683, and in the same year was one of the committee chosen to prove "the Rite and titill we have to our Town Ship", when the set-
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tlers in Groton found the question of their town title in dispute; was selectman of Groton in 1684-89; fence viewer and sergeant in 1690; and a Deputy to the General Court in 1693. In the latter year, owing to threatening Indian trou- bles, he removed with his family to Preston and Norwich, Connecticut.
John (2) Parrish, son of John (1) Parrish, above mentioned, born about 1660 in Groton, Connecticut, removed to Preston with his father in 1693. He was a farmer in Preston, Connecticut, and later at Stonington in the same state. He died at the latter place in 1715. He married, December 29, 1685, Mary Wat- tel.
Lieutenant Isaac Parrish, son of John (2) and Mary (Wattel) Parrish, born 1697-98, probably in Preston, Connecticut, settled in Windham, Connecticut, in 1720, where he bought one hundred acres of land and was a farmer and also lieutenant of the "First Company, Trainband", appointed May 1, 1745. He died at Parrish Hill, Scotland, Windham county, Connecticut, 1764-65. He had married at Stonington, Connecticut, March 31, 1720-21, Margaret Smith, born July 20, 1698, died December 20, 1753, daughter of John and Susanna Smith, of Preston, Connecticut, and granddaughter of Daniel and Mary (Grant) Smith, of Watertown.
Archippus Parrish, son of Lieutenant Isaac and Margaret (Smith) Parrish, born October 10, 1735, died 1780, and is buried at Storrs, Connecticut. He married, March 10, 1763, Abigail Burnap, born May 8, 1739, daughter of Ja- cob and Abigail (Clark) Burnap, descendant of an old family early settled in New England who wrote their surname Burnap; now the families originally bearing the same name generally write it Burnet, and not infrequently Burnett. The American ancestor of the family is supposed to have been Robert Burnap, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1642, and of Reading, Massachusetts, in 1691, where besides him there appear several others of the same name, among them John Burnap. Jacob Burnap, son of John and Mary Burnap, was born about 1704, died August 31, 1771. He married, February 3, 1736, Abigail Clark, who died October 3, 1796. They had twelve children of whom Abigail was the sec- ond. Abigail (Clark) Burnap was of the family of Lieutenant William Clark, of Dorchester, in 1636, and of Northampton in 1659, and by his two marriages and also the marriages of his children, the Clark surname- became allied to some of the best stock of the Connecticut valley, notably with the family of Elder John Strong and of Lieutenant Thomas Cooper. Archippus Parrish settled in North Mansfield, Connecticut, now Storrs post office, in 1766, where he bought land and started a tannery. The family stood high in the estimation of the community, "being much respected", the church records state. Upon the death of her husband, Mrs. Parrish sold the tannery property, but remained in Mansfield until her children grew to maturity, and then probably removed with some of them to another locality.
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