Commemorative biographical record of Washington County, Pennsylvania, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 2

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 2

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WASHINGTON COUNTY.

citizens of Washington, none have better deserved success than has the subject of this sketch, as no one will question who knows the history of his early struggles.

AMES M. McBURNEY, a rising young attor- ney of Washington, well versed in civil law which is his special practice, is a native of the borough, born March 7, 1858. His great-grandfather, James McBurney, married Martha McGoffin, and they had six . children, viz. : Mary (Mrs. John McAuley), Alexander, Jo- seph, James, Martha (Mrs. James Matthews) and Jane (Mrs. John Gillespie). Of these, James, who was a native of Washington county, married and had children, as follows: Ebenezer, James, Joseph, Eliza (Mrs. Hawkins), Martha (Mrs. Watson), Sarah (Mrs. Thompson, of Mercer county), and Catherine (Mrs. Gault, also of Mercer county), all dead except Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Gault. Their father was an officer in the Pennsylvania Militia, and died many years ago on his farm in South Strabane township, now owned by the Zediker family.

Ebenezer McBurney was born in 1814, in Mer- cer county, and was educated in the subscription schools of the locality of his birth. He learned and worked at the trade of carpenter in Washing- ton, where he put up many buildings; later in life he was employed in moving buildings, at which he was considered, in his day, quite an expert. Some years before his death, which occurred September 12, 1889, when he was seventy-five years of age, he gave up working at his trade. He was a kind- hearted, generous man, too confiding, over liberal with his means, and, through giving bailment for others, lost a large part of his hard-earned estate. He was a Democrat until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he went over to the Repulican party. He was too old to go to the war, moreover had broken his leg by falling off a barn, but he served as provost-marshal for his district; was also private detective for the county, under Ralph Mc- Connell and J. F. Taylor, district attorneys, serv- ing as such six years. At one time he was a member of the old Seceder Church, but having joined the I. O. O. F., he was dismissed from the church. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Maxwell, who came from Wheeling, W. Va., to Washington where he (Maxwell) worked at his trade, that of hatter. Eleven children were born to this union: Helen, wife of Joseph Shaw, in Houstonville, Chartiers township; Samuel F., on a stock farm in Texas; John F., on the old homestead in South Strabane township; Alexander F., a dentist in Canonsburg, this county; James M., our subject; George M., a farmer in Belmont county, Ohio; Kate M., wife of George M. Haldeman, of Wash-

ington; two daughters, Mary and Margaret, who died at the age of sixteen and twenty-one respect- ively; and two that died in infancy. The par- ents are both deceased, the mother having passed away six months before the father.

James M. McBurney received his primary edu- cation at the schools of the neighborhood, and then (1875) entered the preparatory department of Wash- ington and Jefferson College, graduating in 1881 in the classical course. After leaving college he taught one year as principal, in Mckeesport Academy, being associated with Rev. Robert M. Russell, who now has charge of a U. P. Church in Pittsburgh, East End. Returning to Washing- ton, Mr. McBurney commenced the study of law with Hon. H. J. Vankirk, finishing under John W. Donnan, and was admitted to the bar of Washing- ton county, April 27, 1885, since when he has been in the continuous practice of his profession in the borough. In 1889 Mr. McBurney was united in marriage with Miss Annie S., daughter of J. B. Reekers, of Washington, and one child, Louise R., has come to cheer their home. Our subject has been a member of the U. P. Church since 1876, is a deacon in the same, and a teacher in the Sabbath- school. He is a Republican, but does not allow politics to interfere with his business, which com- mands all his time, and receives his diligent attention.

W ILLIAM MARTIN, president of the First National Bank of Canonsburg, is the only living representative of his branch of the Martin family in Washing- ton county; he is a native of the same, born December 18, 1821, on a farm in North Stra- bane township. He is a son of Samuel and Mary (McNary) Martin, the former of whom was a son of James Martin, a native of Scotland, who immi- grated to this country at a very early period, set- tling in York county, Penn. ; the latter a daughter of David McNary, of Cross Creek township, Wash- ington county, same State.

Samuel Martin, great-grandfather of our sub- ject, emigrated from Scotland with his son James, and was the first of the family to come to York county, where he followed farming and died. He had one daughter, and three sons-Andrew, Peter and James-of whom Peter and James came to Washington county in 1804. James had married Margaret McNary, in York county, and the chil- dren born to them there were Samuel, Esther (Mrs. Joseph McNary), Isabella (Mrs. John C. Hanna), Margaret (Mrs. David Templeton), all now deceased. The father of this family was born in 1763 and died in 1853, aged ninety years, the mother passing away when the subject of this sketch was a little boy.

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

Samuel Martin, father of William, was born in 1790, in York county, Penn., and received his education at the subscription schools of his locality during a few weeks in winter time, the remainder of the year being devoted to learning the practical lessons of agricultural pursuits. On the death of his father he came into possession of the homestead in North Strabane township, Washington county, and it may be here stated that the land was origi- ually patented by the Government to one James McCready, from whom it was afterward purchased by the Martin family. Oil was found on the old homestead farm in 1887, and nine wells have been sunk on it. All were producers; two when the oil gave out were sunk deeper and made gas wells; these were piped to Pittsburgh by Jones & Laughlin, and are still producers. After his mar- riage with Mary McNary, in 1812, Samuel Martin made a final settlement on the old farm in North Strabane township, carrying on general farming till the time of his retirement to Canonsburg, where he died in 1878, aged eighty eight years. His wife, a native of Washington county, Penn., died one year later, at the age of eighty-nine years. They were active members of the Chartiers United Presbyterian Church. Their family consisted of ten children: Esther (now the widow of B. M. Crouch, of Mansfield. Ohio), Margaret (deceased wife of Judge McCarroll, of Washington county, Penn.), Sarah (widow of Robert Rowen, residing near Venice, Hanover township, Washington Co., Penn.), James (who removed many years ago to the vicinity of Mansfield, Ohio), John and David (who died when small children), William (subject), Isabelle (Mrs. Ross Taggart, of Beaver county, Penn.), Isaac (a farmer near Indianola, Iowa) and Eliza Jane (residing at the old home in the edge of North Strabane township, this county).

William Martin, the subject proper of this memoir, was reared on the farm where he was born, and received his rudimentary education at the primitive subscription schools of the neighbor- hood, afterward attending Jefferson College, Can- onsburg, several years, and then returned to the farm which he has since conducted with well- earned success. He taught school one term in the county. On April 24, 1850, Mr. Martin married Mary A. Houston, of Lowellville, Ohio, daughter of Hon. David Houston, who for several years served as State senator on the Democratic ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have two children: David Houston, who graduated from Wilmington College, and is now practicing law in Pittsburgli, and Samuel Albert, a Presbyterian minister, now professor of theology at Lincoln University, in Chester county, Penn. In 1873 Mr. Martin moved into the borough of Canonsburg to educate his children, and has since made his home here, in the West Ward. He and his wife are members of the United Presby-

terian Church, in which he has been an elder forty years. Politically he has been an influential Republican since the organization of the party. but is no partisan. He has served as school di. rector for some time. Mr. Martin is well preserved for his years, and is of an active, social and hos- pitable disposition.

EORGE SCOTT HART was born in the City of Pittsburgh, Penn., on the 29th of July, 1824. He was the son of John and Susanah (Barr) Hart, both of whom were descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry. When the sub- ject of this notice was but four years old, the family removed to Burgettstown, Washington Co., Penn., and four years later settled at Washington, Penn. In the latter town George grew to manhood, and in it spent the remainder of his life. He received his primary education in the private schools then in existence, and in 1838 he entered the Washing- ton College, in the same town, as a student, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1842, when he had scarcely entered his nineteenth year. Several of his classmates rose to places of high distinction. Among them were Caleb Bald- win, who became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa; J. Kennedy Ewing, afterwards President Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial Dis- trict of Pennsylvania; Rev. Franklin Moore, an eminent as well as eloquent minister of the Meth - odist Episcopal Church.

After leaving college the subject of this notice was engaged in teaching for two years, one as a private tutor in Accomac county, Va., and one in the public school at Prosperity, in Washington conn- ty, Penn. Afterward he entered the office of John L. Gow, Esq., a prominent lawyer of Washington, Penn., as a law student, and in August, 1846, after due examination, he was admitted as a member of the Bar of Washington county. The same year he was appointed Deputy Attorney General, to fill a vacancy. When that , office afterward became elective, he was nominated for the place by the Democratic Convention, and at the ensuing elec- tion obtained a majority of the votes cast, and was commissioned for the full term of three years. During his term of office several very important criminal trials took place, in all of which it was demonstrated that he was an able and fearless prosecutor.

In May, 1853, he acquired an interest in the Washington Examiner, a weekly newspaper, and for three years he was its principal editor. Tiring of journalism, he disposed of his interest in the newspaper in 1856, after the close of the Presi- dential campaign, and thenceforward until his fatal illness his time and energies were devoted to his chosen profession. In 1876, without opposition,

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

he was nominated for the office of President Judge of the Twenty-seventh Judicial District of Penn- sylvania, by the Democratic Convention, and the Convention's action was ratified by the voters of the District at the general election held in Novem- ber of that year. He was duly commissioned, and served for a term of ten years from the first Mon- day of January, 1877. Judge Hart also served, previous to his elevation to the Bench, as a member of the School Board of Washington for some twelve years, more than ten of which he acted as Secretary.

After the death of his father, in 1859, Mr. Hart assumed the headship of the family, caring, and abundantly providing, for his mother during her declining years. By his unselfish exertions and personal sacrifices, the old home was saved for his brothers and sisters, and they remained together until circumstances brought about changes in the family circle. He was the family counsellor, men- tor and friend, and his chief aim through life was to make them happy.

Such is a brief sketch of the life of a good man. He died at his home, near Washington, on the 15th of May, 1888, surrounded by grief-stricken rela- tives and several of his sorrowful neighbors. Two days after his body was laid away by the side of kindred dust in the Washington Cemetery, to await the resurrection of the just.

T® HOMAS McKENNAN, M. D., a well-known prominent and successful physician of Wash - ington county, was born May 21, 1825, in the house where he at present resides in the borough of Washington.

In 1800 the first of the family came to Wash- ington county in the person of Col. William Mc- Kennan, a merchant, who was born in 1758 at New Castle, Del., a son of Rev. William Mc- Kennan, a prominent Presbyterian minister, who had a church for fifty years in Wilmington, Del. ; he came to America about the year 1730, and died in Delaware, where he had settled. Col. McKennan at a very early date came from Delaware to West Virginia, to what is now Wellsburg, later moving to Washington. He was present at the battle of Brandywine, in 1777, where he received a wound, from the effects of which he died, and he spent the memorable winter at Valley Forge. He mar- ried Elizabeth, a daughter of John Thompson, a prominent citizen of Brandywine Hundred, in Delaware, and a niece of Thomas Mckean, a mem- ber of the first Congress from Delaware, who later came to Pennsylvania, of which State he became governor; he was one of the Signers of the "Dec- laration of Independence." Col. William Mc- Kennan and his family moved to Charlestown, Va. (now W. Va.), from there to West Middletown,

this county, and finally, in 1801, to the borough of Washington, where he died in January, 1810, his widow in 1839, at the age of seventy-eight years. The children born to them were seven in number, as follows: William, John, Thomas McK. T., David, Ann, Rev. James W. and one that died in infancy, unamed.

Hon. Thomas McK. T. McKennan, the third son of Col. William McKennan, was born in 1794, in Newcastle county. Del., and received his primary education in the private schools at Washington. When sixteen years old he graduated from Wash- ington College, in the second class, there being three members in that class. Immediately there- after he began the study of law under Parker Campbell, an attorney of Washington borough, and November 7, 1814, at the age of twenty-one, was admitted to the bar, and he at once commenced to build up his remarkable career. The year after his admission he succeeded Walter Forward as deputy attorney-general of the county, serving in that capacity until 1817; and his rise at the bar was rapid and honorable, the front in his profes- sion being maintained throughout his life. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Jeffer- son College. In 1831 Mr. McKennan became a member of the House of Representatives of the United States, remaining in Congress four terms, and declining re-election on account of his urgent professional work at home. In 1842, however, a vacancy occurring in the House through the demise of Joseph Lawrence, Mr. McKennan yielded to the solicitations of his party, and the public demand, and served the balance of the term. He was chairman of the committee of the whole for two months, in the first session of that year, and during his incumbency rendered powerful aid to the more important industries of the country. In 1840 he was chosen a Presidential elector, and in 1848 he was made president of the Pennsylvania Electoral College. In 1850 he was called by Presi- dent Fillmore to the position of Secretary of the Interior; but for various reasons he had no liking for the office, and a few weeks after his appoint- ment he resigned and returned to his more genial home. Soon after this he became president of the Hempfield Railroad Company, and while attending to its affairs died July 9, 1852, at Reading, Penn.

Mr. McKennan had entered Washington Col- lege at a very early age, and passed through the entire curriculum. In February, 1813, he was appointed tutor of ancient languages, in which capacity he served eighteen months; in April, 1818, he was chosen a member of the college corporation, continuing as such up to the day of his death, a period of thirty-four years. For several years he held the position of adjunct professor of languages. The life of Mr. McKennan was one of the purest probity, and among the galaxy of distinguished

The M. P. Wokeumana

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

men of Pennsylvania he exerted great influence in the development of the State, and in his quiet, unobtrusive yet effective way, contributed largely toward the shaping of her political destiny. In his private life he was beloved by all as a loyal citizen, a devoted husband, an affectionate and indulgent parent, and a true friend. He was devotedly attached to children, was a lover of good men, and a supreme detester of all manner of vice and meanness.

In 1815 Mr. McKennan was united in marriage with Miss Matilda, daughter of Jacob Bowman (of German ancestry), one of the pioneer merchants of Brownsville (Penn.), "Old Fort Redstone," as it was then called, and who died there at the age of eighty-two years. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. McKennan as follows: William, ex- United States judge; Jacob Bowman (deceased); Thomas M. T. (who died in infancy); Isabella L. (deceased); Thomas, subject of sketch; Ann E., John Thompson (deceased), and Matilda, wife of George W. Reed, of Pittsburgh. The mother of this family died in March, 1858.

Thomas McKennan, whose name opens this biographical memoir, attended the common schools of his native town, and at an early age entered Washington College, from which he graduated in 1842. He then began the study of medicine, at- tended the University of Pennsylvania at Phila- delphia, graduating therefrom in 1846, after which he was professionally engaged in the Philadelphia Hospital and Almshouse at Philadelphia, one year, and for the following three years in the prac- tice of medicine at Allegheny. In 1851 he returned to Washington, where he has since been engaged in the active practice of his profession (a period of over forty years), during which experience he has met with unqualified success and gained unlimited popularity. His practice has extended far and wide throughout the surrounding country, and in addition to general pathology he has had many surgical cases, in all of which he has proven eminently successful.

In 1854 Dr. McKennan married Margaret M., daughter of L. W. Stockton, who died in Union- town, Penn., in 1844. He was widely known in his days as the principal stage proprietor in his sec- tion, in fact, as one of the largest in the United States, one of his lines running from Baltimore to St. Louis, through Washington. Twelve children were born to Dr. and Mrs. McKennan, of whom three are deceased; of those yet living: T. M. T. is an M. D. and professor in the medical college at Pittsburgh, and the eldest daughter, Matilda, is the wife of James Cummins, of Wheeling, W. Va. Politically Dr. McKennan was originally a Whig, and since the organization of the party has been an uncompromising "black Republican." He has been a trustee of Washington and Jefferson College

many years, a member of the board of managers of Pennsylvania Reform School; member of the school board of Washington; trustee of Washington Female Seminary, and president of the board of managers of Washington Cemetery Company.

(OHN W. STEPHENS, retired farmer and merchant. The ancestors of the subject of this sketch emigrated to this country from Wales quite early in the seventeenth century, and settled in Bucks county, Penn., and thence, somewhere about the middle of the century, his great-great-grandfather, John Stephens, removed to what is now Washington township, Fayette Co., Penn .; this county being a part of what was then embraced in Westmoreland county. Whether this John Stephens was born in this country, or in Wales, the writer has been unable to learn. After their removal to this part of the country, they lived for some years in a blockhouse for protection from Indians. From the record on his tombstone in the Redstone cemetery, where he and large numbers of his descendants are interred, we find he was born in July, 1714, and died in 1806, aged ninety-one years and ten months. His wife's name was Sarah, but of her maiden name and history we know nothing. They had nine children-six sons and three daughters. The sons' names were John, Levi, Seth, Thomas, Isaiah and Evans. The daughters' names were Mary, Rachel and Rebecca. Of the history of the sons we know but little, except of Levi, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Two of the sons, Seth and John, removed, we learn, at an early day to Kentucky, and Alex- ander H. Stephens, of Georgia, a prominent figure in the political struggles preceding and during our recent great Rebellion, was a descendant of one of these sons.

Of the history of two of the daughters we know more. Mary, in her fortieth year, was united in marriage to William Hogg, of Brownsville, Penn., both of whom died in their eighty-sixth year-she on November 11, 1840, and he on January 27, 1841. This Mr. Hogg was a very successful bus- iness man, and became prominently known through- out this part of the State as a man of great wealth for those times. He and a few others in 1812 or- ganized the "Monongahela Bank of Brownsville. Penn.," under "Articles of Association" which were exchanged for a "Charter " in 1814. This is thought to be the oldest bank organized west of the Alleghanies. About the same time William Hogg and his nephew, George Hogg, Dr. Wheeler and Jacob Bowman, organized the Episcopal Church of Brownsville, and erected for it a good substantial church building. Some years later (in 1830 it is thought), Bishop Chase, of Ohio, and Henry Clay, of Kentucky, visited William Hogg at

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

Brownsville, and negotiated with him for the pur- chase of 8,000 acres of land in Ohio, he agreeing to sell it to them for $2.25 per acre, on condition that they would have erected thereon an "Institu- tion of Learning;" he further stipulating to donate the one-third of the proceeds of said land sale, or $6,000 to the enterprise. This was the origin of " Kenyon College," of Gambier, Knox Co., Ohio. Rachel, another daughter, married Roland Craig, who with him settled, lived and died near West Alexander, Washington Co., Penn., leaving quite a large number of descendants. Of the other daughter, Rebecca, we know nothing, except when her father and other members of his family re- moved to the western part of the State. She re- mained in Bucks county, and (we suppose) died there. Whether she married and left children we know not.

The son, Levi, the great-grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, was born in Bucks county, Penn., July 14, 1744, and died February 13, 1808, about two years after the death of his father John. Some time after his removal from the east to the western part of the State, he was married, Decem- ber 4, 1775, to Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Brown, who had removed from Chester county, Penn., and become residents of what is now Perry township, Fayette Co., Penn. His wife's birth is recorded as being on March 27, 1757, and her death on March 17, 1829. Their marriage bans were performed by Esquire Van- Sweringer. They had eiglit children, seven of whom grew to manhood and womanhood; one (a son) died in infancy. The names of their children who grew to years of maturity were Nathaniel, born January 8, 1782, died May 13, 1869; Sarah, born April 17, 1786, died February 4, 1864; John, born February 23, 1788, died August 23, 1853; Levi, born September 10, 1790, died January 13, 1878; Anne (Nancy), born July 8, 1795; Elizabeth, born in January, 1798, and Thomas, born July 20, 1800. This Levi Stephens was by profession a civil engineer, and for some years was in the employ of the Government as surveyer of public lands; and by reason of the financial embarrassment following the close of the Revolutionary war, he was offered by the Government land instead of money for his services, which was accepted by him, and the larger amount of this land still remains in posses- sion of his descendants.

Nathaniel Stephens, the eldest son of Levi, and the grandfather of John W. Stephens, was mar- ried in 1799 to Hannah, daughter of Joseph Dod- son, by whom he had eleven children, two of whom died in childhood, the otliers all living to a good old age. Their names are John D., born Febru- ary 25, 1800, died December 3, 1870; Elizabeth, born September 25, 1803, died October 26, 1886; Mary, born July 4, 1805, died June 2, 1883; Na-

thaniel, born June 5, 1807, died August 1, 1886; Catherine, born March 4, 1809, died January 9, 1886; Joseph, born in 1813, died April 19, 1863; Levi, born August 7, 1814, still living; Hester, born June 14, 1816, still living, and Sarah A., born June 28, 1818, died March 30, 1891. Nathan- iel Stephens married, for his second wife, Elizabeth Houseman (nee Hill), by whom he had one son, Joshua N. Stephens, born September 25, 1822, and died March 5, 1883.

John D. Stephens, eldest son of Nathaniel and Hannah Stephens, father of the subject of this sketch, was married June 28, 1821, to Mary, daughter of John Nutt, of Chester county, Penn. She was born June 4, 1788, and died April 14, 1869. They had six children: Lee P. and Hannah (twins), born March 1, 1822; John W., born De- cember 14, 1823; Nathaniel and Mary (twins), born September 22, 1824; and Ezra N., born Sep- tember 19, 1831. Of these children, Ezra N., the youngest, died at Los Angeles, Cal., August 19, 1883, and Natlianiel died in Fayette county, Penn., in February, 1892. Lee P., Hannah and Mary still survive.

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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 2

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