Commemorative biographical record of Washington County, Pennsylvania, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 19

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1540

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > Commemorative biographical record of Washington County, Pennsylvania, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 19

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AMES W. PATTERSON, in his day a lead- ing citizen of Franklin township, was born May 1, 1815, in Washington county, Penn. He attended the subscription schools of the home neighborhood, and early evinced an unusual aptitude for business. He began life with but little financial aid, and November 1, 1836, was married to Caroline Van Kirk, who was born

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July 1, 1817. Some time after their marriage the young couple moved to Athens county, Ohio, where they lived two years, and then came to Franklin township, Washington county, where he purchased an improved farm, upon which he erected fine buildings, and was extensively engaged in agricult- ural pursuits, becoming a very prosperous busi- ness man, and dealing in stock and wool. Mrs. Patterson died March 11, 1862, leaving a family of eleven daughters, namely: Parmelia, wife of John N. Andrews; Mahala A., deceased; Sarah, wife of Hiram McClain; Evaline, married to Oliver L. Hart; Minerva, deceased wife of C. M. Minton; Mary P., wife of Joseph Hunter; Miranda V., married to B. C. Lindley; Emma, deceased; Ella C., wife of Dr. Cephas T. Dodd; Caroline L., wife of Joseph M. Clark, and Martha A., married to Clarence Manon. For his second wife Mr. Patter- son was married, on August 15, 1865, to Mrs. Ann Elliott, who died October 20, 1885, having been preceded to the grave by her husband, May 24, 1884. Mr. Patterson was a member of the Demo- cratic party. He was actively interested in relig- ious matters, and contributed liberally to tlie sup- port of the Master's cause; he was an elder of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at the time of his death.

JAMES Q. McGIFFIN. Nathaniel McGiffin, great-grandfather of this gentleman, was a native of Scotland, from whence he removed to Ireland in his youth, with his father's family. He came to America prior to the Revolu- tionary war, entered the Continental army, in which he served, participating in the battles of Brandywine and Trenton, and experiencing the memorable winter of Valley Forge. He served for a time under Gen. La Fayette and received an honorable discharge at the end of the war, signed by Gen. Washington. By occupation he was a farmer, and about the year 1781 he made a settle- ment on Ten Mile creek, Amwell township, this county, where he died. He had two children, viz .: one daughter, Elizabeth, married to Jacob Cook, a farmer, who died in Texas.

His only son, Thomas, was born in Amwell township, in this county, January 1, 1784, and re- ceived his education at Canonsburg Academy, studied law with Parker Campbell, Esq., and was admitted to the bar of Washington county, in February, 1807. He commenced practice at Vin- cennes, Ind., and was also admitted at St. Louis, to practice in the then Territory of Louisiana. In 1809 he returned to Washington county, and during the remainder of his life continued in prac- tice in the chief borougli and in adjoining counties, a portion of the time in partnership with John L. Gow, Sr. At the same time he carried on his

farm in Amwell township, which he stocked with thoroughbred cattle from Henry Clay's farm in Kentucky. He enjoyed the friendship of Mr. Clay, with whom he interchanged letters expres- sive of mutual esteem and confidence. He was interested in politics, and in 1836 represented the county in the Legislature. Thomas McGiffin was one of the contractors who built the Cumberland road, also known as the "National Road," and had large contracts in Washington and Fayette counties, Penn., and in Virginia; associated with him in the enterprise were Maj. John H. Ewing, Judge Baird and others. He was married to Maria Norton, a native of Connecticut. To Thomas and Maria (Norton) McGiffin were born children as follows: Nathaniel (deceased), who was a mer- chant in Knox county, Ohio; Thomas, Jr. (de- ceased in 1890, at the age of seventy years), was an attorney in Washington, Penn., having been admitted to the bar in 1841 (in 1865 he removed to Fairfield, Iowa, where he carried on farming); George Wallace (died in Washington, Penn., when young); Philo Norton (died in boyhood); Norton, the father of the subject of this sketch; Maria, married to Thomas Boyd, died in Connells- ville, Penn .; Julia, married to Rev. William Ham- ilton, for years a missionary among the Indians, is deceased; Margaret, married to Rev. W. B. Mc- Ilvaine, formerly of East End, Pittsburgh, late of Peoria, Ill. (deceased), died at the latter place in February, 1891; Ann, unmarried, lives in Peoria. The father of this family was an able lawyer, a genial wholesouled man, and enjoyed the esteem of a wide circle of friends.

Norton McGiffin, son of Thomas, Sr., was born January 23, 1824, in Washington, Washington Co., Penn., and received his primary education at the public schools of the borough, after which he at- tended Washington College, from which he grad- uated in 1841. Subsequently, for a period of two years, he read law with Nathaniel Ewing, Esq., at Uniontown, Penn., and then, the Mexican war having broken out, he enlisted in the First Regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company K (this company was known as the "Du Quesne Greys"), at Pittsburgh, and served throughout the entire struggle, participating in the siege of Pueblo, the storming of the Castle of Chapultepec, City of Mexico and Vera Cruz. His company was sur- rounded in the streets of Pueblo, and the greater part of it was cut to pieces, but he escaped serious injury. At the close of this war he was commis- sioned colonel by the governor of Pennsylvania. On his return to the pursuits of peace he was elected treasurer of Washington county, serving from 1849 to 1852, after which he farmed until he was elected sheriff, an incumbency he filled from 1859 to 1861. In response to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers in the war of the Rebel-

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lion, he led the first company that left Washing- ton for the front, known as the " Washington In- vincibles." This company left Washington April 20, 1861, and in Pittsburgh was incorporated as Company E, in the Twelfth P .. V. I., upon the or- ganization of which Norton McGiffin was elected lieutenant colonel. At the close of the three months' service Col. McGiffin was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Eighty-fifth P. V. I., Col. J. B. Howell, under Gen. McClellan, serving in the Peninsular campaign, during which he was stricken with disease from which he still suffers. Being disabled, he resigned his commission and returned to Washington, a mere shadow of his former self. About the close of the war he went to Ohio county, W. Va., where he resided until 1870, then returned to Washington county. In 1880 he was elected to the House of Representa- tives, serving until 1882, in which year he re- moved to Ida Grove, Ida Co., Iowa, where he engaged in farming. In 1886 he proceeded to Fair Haven, Cayuga Co., N. Y., and in 1890 was appointed U. S. Consul at Port Rowan, on Lake Erie, Ontario (Canada), with headquarters at Sim- coe, a few miles further north. On March 13, 1892, he was appointed U. S. Consul at Port Hope, Canada. where he now resides. In 1853 lie was married to Miss Sarah Houston, daughter of James Quail, one of the early settlers of North Strabane township, having come about the year 1816; of his children, William lives near Topeka. Kans .; Alexander in Ida Grove, Iowa, and a daughter (Mrs. George F. McCombs) in Allegheny, Penn. To Col. and Mrs. McGiffin were born six children, five of whom are yet living, viz. : Sallie Quail, widow of G. W. Henshaw, of Virginia; Thomas, living at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands; James Quail, sub- ject proper of these lines; Philo Norton, superin- tendent of the "Imperial Chinese Naval College" at We Hai Wei, China (he is a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md., and for a time was in the U. S. Navy); and Nathaniel, at present a student at Hamilton College, New York.

James Quail McGiffin was born September 21, 1856, in Amwell township. this county, at the common schools of which place he received his primary education. Afterward he entered Wash- ington and Jefferson College, but while in the sophomore year he left for California, where he remained four years. On his return to Wash- ington, in 1878, he read law with John W. Donnan, Esq .. and was admitted to the bar of Washington county, Jannary 9, 1882. In the spring of the same year he moved to Ida Grove, Iowa, where he remained, engaged in the practice of law till March 1891, when he returned to Washington and re- sumed the practice of his profession. In Decem- ber, 1884, Mr. McGiffin was married to Miss Carrie, daughter of Noble Ruggles, of Manchester, Iowa,

and two children have come to brighten their home: Norton and Helen Elizabeth. Politically our sub- ject is a Republican.

AMES K. MITCHELL, one of the representa- tive business citizens of Washington, and a typical self-made man, is a native of Mis- souri, born in Pike county August 15, 1853. His grandfather, Alexander Mitchell, in an early day made a settlement, in company with his brother Andrew, at Short Creek, W. Va., on a farm. Alexander married a Miss Jacobs, a native of near Wellsburg, that State, and children as fol- lows were born to them: Isaac, who died in St. Louis, Mo. (one of his sons, John, is clerk of the county courts at Wheeling, W. Va .; two other sons -Zachariah, an attorney, and Samuel, a merchant- live in St. Louis, Mo.); Samuel, who died in Wheeling, W. Va .; Jane, who died December 9, 1892, and Zachariah, the father of James K.

Zacharialı Mitchell was born in 1816, in West Virginia, where he was reared to agricultural pur- suits, which he followed for some time; later he became a contractor in Texas, where he was living at the time of the breaking out of the Rebellion; he served in the Confederate army as a commis- sary. The war crippled him financially, and at the close of the struggle he went to Lexington, Mo., where he died in 1882. He was a Democrat in his political predilections, and at one time was assessor for Clay county. In Wheeling, W. Va., he was married to Miss Ann, daughter of George Baird, who was a son of Absalom Baird, of Revolu- tionary fame, and the children born to this union were George B .; Alexander, treasurer of the Mutual Savings Bank of Wheeling; Martha B .; Isaac W., and James K. The mother died in Missouri August 28, 1853, when the subject of these lines was two weeks old.

Until the age of five years James K. Mitchell was reared at the home of his uncle, Isaac Mitchell, in St. Louis, Mo., and was then brought by the family to Washington, this county. Here he at - tended the public schools, and at the age of four- teen commenced to work in the Baird grocery as clerk, remaining there till 1882, a period of fifteen years. In that year he bought an interest in the Budke Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of powder cans, at Canonsburg, where the sheet-iron mills, in which his brother George B. Mitchell had an interest, were located. The latter was also con -. nected with the Riverside Iron Works of Wheel- ing; he died in March, 1890, leaving a widow and two children, now living in Washington. In 1884 our subject sold out his interest in the powder can industry to the Canonsburg Iron Company, and on January 1, 1885, embarked in the grain and agri- cultural implement business in Washington

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borough, in partnership with J. A. Howden, their place of business being situated where the B. & O. R. R. station now stands. In this they continued till the following January, when Mr. Mitchell bought out his partner's interest, and his uncle, A. T. Baird, became associated with him, which arrangement remained in force until the death of Mr. Baird in March, 1887. In January, 1888, Mr. John W. Seaman became partner with Mr. Mitchell in the general hardware and house fur- nishing business, under the firm name of Mitchell & Seaman. This partnership continued until May, 1892, when Mr. Mitchell sold his interest to Mr. J. W. Seaman and rented the room on the corner of Main and Wheeling streets, from W. C. Bryson, and organized "The Dime Savings Institution of Washington," which was opened for business Jan- uary 1, 1893, with Dr. Thomas McKennan as pres. ident and Mr. Mitchell as cashier.

On July 14, 1885, Mr. Mitchell was united in marriage with Miss Frances J., daughter of Joseph F. Osborne, of Clarksburg, W. Va., whose family were originally of Fayette county, Penn., whence they moved to West Virginia. To this union have been born three children: Osborne, Baird and Susan Baird. Politically Mr. Mitchell is a Repub- lican, and has served his borough as treasurer. For the past six years he has been treasurer of the Western Pennsylvania Agricultural Association, and is at present treasurer of the Mutual Building and Loan Association. He has been a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Washington since 1876, and in 1884 was elected an elder in same.

OHN A. BEST. John Best, Sr., was born in Benburb, County Armagh, Ireland, in May, 1780. From his early training and constant reading in the land of his nativity, he learned much of the United States, and her progress. He and his wife landed in Philadelphia in 1811, and thence journeyed over the Alleghany mount- ains in a wagon to Pittsburgh, and hearing of Washington county as a great wool-growing sec- tion, he concluded that the county seat, or its neighborhood, would be a proper place to settle in, and to that place he went, not by stage or railroad, but by wagon, then the only mode of conveyance. He purchased the property on the northeast corner of Beau and Franklin streets, and there erected and engaged in the wool-carding business, where the first stationary engine in Washington county was placed and owned by him. He remained as a prominent citizen of Washington till 1856, when his two sons, John and William, purchased farms near New Concord, Guernsey Co., Ohio. His wife being dead, and his daughter married to James S. Bushfield, he concluded to leave his adopted town and go and live with them. John Best, Sr.,

while still a resident of Washington was one of the committee to receive Gen. La Fayette on his last visit to this country when he was on his way over the old National pike to visit George Washington at Mount Vernon. . John Best, Sr., was a Mason, having entered that order in Ireland, in Lodge No. 722, which Lodge was organized in 1788, his own father having procured its charter from the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and the meetings were held in his house. He died in 1878 at the advanced age of ninety-eight years, the oldest Mason at that time in the country.

John Best had four sons to survive him: Samuel, James, John and William. Samuel married Miss Isabella Dickson, to whom were born Isabella D., wife of John Woodcock, of McCune, Kans .; Ellen R., wife of R. A. Anderson, of Claysville, Penn., and John A. Samuel Best died in New Orleans of yellow fever, and his wife died in Buffalo town- ship, Washington county, in 1881, at the age of seventy-five years, a devout Christian, and a loving and beloved mother, esteemed by all who knew her.

John A. Best, the son of Samuel and Isabella Best, was born in Washington, May 20, 1838. In 1853 he was a newsboy on the Examiner, a weekly newspaper owned at that time by Thomas Grayson, shortly after which he learned the print- ing trade on the same paper. He worked at his trade on the Pittsburgh Dispatch, for some time, and then went to New York. After being there some time he returned to Pittsburgh and started a steam job printing office, and branched out into the mercantile business, which he has been in ever since. On Thanksgiving Day, 1869, he moved to Washing- ton, and opened a general store and printing office on the corner of Main and Chestnut streets, where the Washington Observer was first printed by him under the editorship of Horace Durant. During the financial panic of 1873 he failed and lost every - thing, leaving him in debt, but he has since paid every cent that he ever owed, and now owns one of the largest businesses in the county. occupy- ing No. 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83 and 85 North Main street, and constantly adding to it; he is not only progressive but aggressive, and that is the secret of his success.

On September 3, 1863, Mr. Best married Jennie D., daughter of John E. Roberts, of Hartford, Conn., and there were born to them seven children, five of whom are still living: Grattan G., Nellie M., Albion E., Jennie I. and John A., Jr. Mrs. Best is an active worker in the W. C. T. U., of which she is president, and devotes a great deal of time to local charity and doing good. In 1879 Mr. Best, with some other public-spirited citi- zens, built the Washington Lead Works, which were destroyed by fire in 1883. He is a believer in Divine healing, and is president of the board of directors of Bethany Home, No. 113 Centre

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avenue, Pittsburgh, an institution for the educa- tion of young men for the ministry and mission- ary field.

Grattan G., son of John A. and Jennie D. Best, was born in Pittsburgh, Penn., June 9, 1864. He came in 1869 with his father to Washington, where he was educated, spending two years at Trinity Hall, being the first scholar enrolled in that institution, and then went to Washington and Jefferson College, class of 1885. He studied bookkeeping at Duff's Commercial College, Pitts- burgh, and has ever since been in business with his father. Mr. Best is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, being past eminent commander of Jac- ques de Molay Commandery No. 3, the second oldest Commandery in the State, and is a thirty- second degree Mason. At the time Mr. Best was eminent commander he was the youngest command- er in the State. On February 25, 1886, Grattan G. Best married Carrie, daughter of Jonathan Brownlee, of Buffalo township. Mr. Best is a practical printer, and now publishes the Weekly Financial Economist. He says he does not re- member the time when he could not set a stick of type, as he was raised in a printing office. He is very much interested in Sabbath-school work, and is superintendent of Jefferson Avenue M. E. Church Sunday-school, also president of the Ep- worth League.

REDERICK WHITTLESEY, M. D., for nearly forty years a resident of the borough of Washington, and one of the leading physicians of the county, is a native of Ohio, having been born in Atwater township, Port- age county, March 6, 1830.

The family name is one of prominence in the Buckeye State. John H. Whittlesey, grandfather of the Doctor, was the fifth person to settle in At- water township, Portage Co., Ohio, making a home for himself and family in the wild woods. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. Elisha Whit- tlesey, who was member of Congress from 1823 to 1839, and first comptroller of the U. S. Treasury for nearly thirty years. and William Whittlesey, who represented his district in the Ohio State Senate in 1839, and was elected to Congress in 1848, and also Charles Whittlesey, the State geolo- gist of Ohio, were near relatives. Friend Whit- tlesey, cousin of our subject, is a member of the present Ohio Legislature.

John B. Whittlesey, father of Dr. F. Whittlesey, now aged eighty-seven years, is still living in Ohio, where he has followed farming. He was married, in 1828, to Emeline Mix, of Atwater, who died in Portage county, Ohio, in 1866, leaving four chil- dren: Frederick (subject), Mary (now deceased), Emma (wife of Rev. Wilson, of Canton, Ohio), and

Charles (killed on the railroad, in 1867, when thirty-five years of age); Julia Helen, the third child in order of birth, died in infancy.

Frederick Whittlesey received his literary edu- cation entirely in his native county, where he also read medicine, finishing his studies in 1855. He then commenced the practice of his profession in Portage county, but in 1856 he came to this county, taking up his residence in Washington, where he has since remained and built up an envi- able practice which extends to all portions of the State, his specialty being chronic diseases. In 1851 the Doctor was united in marriage with Miss Laura L. Teel, of Alliance, Ohio, who died in 1853, leaving one child, Josephine, wife of Amos Benja- min, of Portage county, Ohio. In 1855 the Doc tor was married, the second time, to Mrs. Hannah Chittendon, of Youngstown, Ohio, who died June 3, 1892. Socially the Doctor is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, in which he held the position of D. D. G. M. for ten successive years, and is the present treasurer of the Chapter and Commandery. In politics he is a Republican. The Doctor is not a member of any church. His religious views are inclined to be agnostic, and while very decided in his opinions, he is not in the habit of thrusting his ideas upon others whom he has reason to believe differ with him. He believes that enlightened human reason, untrammeled by prejudice, is the highest tribunal known to man, and that every ra- tional being has a right to decide for himself all questions pertaining to his present or future wel- fare.

C OL L. M. MARSH, one of the representative business men of Washington, was born June 24, 1824, at Orange, Essex Co., N. J., the eldest child of Abraham R. and Sarah (Munn) Marsh, both natives of New Jersey.

Abraham R. Marsh, father of our subject, was born July 8, 1800, in Rahway, N. J., where he was reared and educated. He learned the trade of shoemaker, which he followed in connection with storekeeping for many years, and he lived to a patriarchal age, dying in 1890, when ninety years and two days old. He had married Sarah, daugh- ter of David Munn, of New Jersey, and their chil- dren were L. M., David, Stephen, Harriet, George, Abraham, Charles, and Henry and Mary (twins). The mother died in Huron county, Ohio, in 1860, aged fifty-eight years. The father of this family was a Whig in politics, but a Republican as soon as that party was organized. In religious connection he was an old-time member of the Presbyterian Church, in which for sixty years he was an elder.

Col. L. M. Marsh passed his boyhood in his native county until he was thirteen years old, when he accompanied his parents to Coshocton, Ohio,

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the family residing there two years, then moved to Huron county, Ohio, where they made their home some years. Our subject remained in Coshocton county nutil he was twenty-one years old, and then proceeded to Marietta, Ohio, where he worked at the tailor's trade, which he had learned in Coshoc- ton county. From Marietta lie moved to West Virginia, remaining there until 1862, in which year he joined Company E, Tenth W. Va. Volun- teer Infantry, as captain, which regiment was as- signed to the army of the Potomac, and did guard duty throughout the early part of their service. At the battle of Kernstown he was wounded in the foot, and was left on the field, where he was capt- ured by the Confederates, who took him to Libby prison. After two months' confinement there he was paroled, and in six months thereafter was ex- changed. During the six months he was on duty as member of a Court Martial at Baltimore, Md. He rejoined his regiment, and shortly after was mustered out with the command, our subject being then lieutenant-colonel. Col. Marsh then came to Washington, Penn., where he was for the next two years engaged as a bookkeeper, and then (1870) received the appointment as secretary and treasurer for the Washington County Fire Insurance Com- pany, which position he still fills. He also does a large real-estate business, his son, Addison C., being associated with him, the style of the firm being L. M. Marsh & Son. On January 14, 1850, Col. Marsh was married to Louisa, daughter of Asa McCollum, of Washington county, and two chil- dren were born to them, viz .: Ella (Mrs. William S. Parker) and Addison C. Our subject is a mem- ber of the M. E. Church; in politics he was originally a Whig, and since the organization of the party has been a Republican.

S AMUEL M. CHARLTON, proprietor of the well-known and long established confection- ery business in Washington, comes of Ger- man ancestry. His grandfather, Robert Charlton, a native of Germany, came to Washing- ton county in 1813, and died at Cook's Place, Chartiers township, in 1828, his wife (who had ac- companied him from the Fatherland) dying some time later. They had a family of seven children, of whom only one, James, survives-his home being in Iowa.

Samuel Charlton, eldest son of Robert, was born in Germany and came with his parents to this country and county. By occupation he was a wagoner, or teamster, on the National Pike be- tween Washington, Penn., and Baltimore, Md. He was twice married: first time to Miss Shipe, who died leaving two children: Robert (now de- ceased) and Frank (in Mannington, W. Va.). His second marriage was with Mrs Elizabeth Morrow,

nee Hewey, a lady of Irish parentage, and they had a family of five children, as follows: John H., in Washington; Mary, wife of Fred Hood, of Washington; Susan, also in that borough; Re- becca, deceased wife of Henry Llewellen (she died in 1874), and Samuel M., subject of sketch. The parents soon after marriage came to live in the borough of Washington, where the father died about the year 1858, at the age of sixty years, the mother in 1875, aged sixty-five.

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Commemorative biographical record of Washington County, Pennsylvania, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 19

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1540

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1540