Commemorative biographical record of Washington County, Pennsylvania, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 35

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 35

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lison was a most exemplary man, hardworking, thrifty and scrupulously conscientious. He was a prominent member of. the Presbyterian Church, and a trustee of the Chartiers congregation.

Jonathan Allison, whose name opens this bio- graphical memoir, received his rudimentary edu- cation at the common schools of his district, and at the age of seventeen years entered Jefferson Col- lege, remaining two years, when, owing to the death of a brother, he returned home and engaged in farming, which he has for the most part fol- lowed through life. After his marriage he bought of William Hopkins a farm of 148 acres, situated about one mile from the place of his birth, and here remained eight years, when he purchased a part of his grandfather's old farm, from the An- drew Allison estate. Here it was that a hundred years ago, while excavating the land for drainage, grandfather Allison discovered the first coal found in Washington county, some of which he dug up for blacksmith's use, and sold at 25 cents per bushel, after hauling it many miles; but not till long afterward was it used for house fuel. Andrew Allison had mined coal for some time, not as a reg- ular business, however; but when in 1872 the Chartiers Valley Railroad was built, Jonathan Al- lison opened the mine on a large scale, developing it to its fullest working capacity, and sending the product to the lake ports, even as far as Chicago, besides supplying the borough of Washington and other places with the bituminous mineral. From 1873 to 1891 he employed about fifty men at the mine, and shipped over a million bushels per an- num; but in 1891 he sold the concern ont to J. V. H. Cook & Sons, of Canonsburg, Penn., and re- tired from the coal interests. In 1887 Mr. Allison removed to the "Old Acheson Homestead," in Washington, where he now resides. On April 7, 1857, Jonathan Allison and Margaret Gabby were united in marriage. She is a daughter of William and Margaret Gabby, the former of whom was a farmer of Franklin township, where he died; the lat- ter is still living in Washington borough, at thead- vanced age of eighty-three years, in fair preserva- tion, but blind for the past five or six years. To Mr. and Mrs. Allison were born the following named children: Mary, deceased when a child of four years; Maggie, who died in Canonsburg, was married to William Dickson, of that place; Al- bert, a farmer in Chartiers township; Thomas, in the Citizens' National Bank; Edward and William (twins), the former of whom is attending the Med- ical College at Pittsburgh, the latter was drowned in 1881, when coming from school, by falling off a foot-log laid across a creek; and John, Ralph and Jennie, all three at home, attending school.

Mr. and Mrs. Allison are consistent members of the First Presbyterian Church, in which he is a deacon. Politically he was a Whig, up to 1856,

but since has been a stanch Republican. For twelve years he served as school director, being first elected the year he cast his first ballot; was a justice of the peace from 1872 to 1873, but re- signed in order to accept the position of represent- ative to the State Legislature to which he had been elected in the fall of 1872, and in which he served with eminent ability for two terms. Through some condition of politics, Hon. Mr. Al- lison was the only representative from Washington county in the State Legislature at that time, since when, however, there have been two. For a couple of years he was a burgess of Washington borough, during which period the town was greatly improved in many respects. Mr. Allison was one of the original stockholders, in 1886, of the Citizens' National Bank, and is now one of its directors.

OHN P. CHARLTON, junior member of the firm of Hart & Charlton, proprietors and publishers of the Washington Democrat, was born January 5, 1842, in South Strabane township, Washington Co., Penn. His father, John Charlton, was reared to manhood in the Key- stone State, and was here married to Maria, daughter of Peter Grounds, a native of Germany, who emigrated to America and made his home in the New World in North Strabane township, where he was a farmer and blacksmith up to the day of his death. He was a Whig in politics, and in church connection a Lutheran; he and his wife are now sleeping their last sleep in Washington Ger- man cemetery. The children born to John and Maria Charlton were Samuel R., John P., Joseph G., William J., Henry, Mary; Margaret and Thomas J. Mr. Charlton carried on a general store in Washington for some time, and during the later years of his life followed the huckstering business, his residence being alternately at Wash- ington and Canonsburg. He died in 1853, and his widow died at Canonsburg, January 27, 1893, aged eighty-six years. She was a member of the Christian Church.

John P. Charlton received his education at the common schools of the neighborhood of his birth- place, and at the age of fourteen entered, as "devil," the office of the American Union in Washington, Penn., but after one year's experience there he found employment with Christman & Clokey, with whom he remained one year, at the end of which time he became a "typo" on the Washington Review. While in this last office,

young Charlton, in 1864, warmed by a spirit of patriotism, laid aside the stick and took up the sword in defense of the Union. He enlisted in Company K, Third Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, which battery was assigned to the army of the James, and was most of the time stationed at Fort-

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ress Monroe. While here our subject was detailed to work in the Government printing office at Nor- folk, Va., where he remained nine months and then rejoined his regiment. He was mustered out No- vember 5, 1865, returned home, and after a brief rest resumed the peaceful art of printing in the of- fice of the Cumberland Presbyterian at Waynes- burgh, Penn. Coming to Washington, he worked on the Reporter, then under the management of Moore & Armstrong, for three years. In 1869 he was nominated for the office of recorder of deeds of Washington county, and elected on the Demo- cratic ticket; at the end of the term he was candi- date for re-election, but was defeated. Mr. Charl- ton we next find assisting in the management of the " Valentine House," a leading hotel in Wash- ington, Capt. Hugh Keys being then proprietor. In 1873 he was appointed deputy sheriff under Sheriff William Thompson, which incumbency he filled with characteristic ability for three years. In 1876 he was nominated for sheriff of Washing- ton county, but was defeated, and soon after the death of Mr. Thompson he took charge of the " Fifth Avenue Hotel" at Pittsburgh, in the capac- ity of administrator. After conducting this hos- telry nine months he returned to Washington, where he was employed as foreman in the office of the Democrat, at that time under the management of A. H. Ecker, who died in February, 1881. In June, same year, a partnership was formed be- tween our subject and Alexander Hart; under the firm name of Hart & Charlton, they purchasing the entire business and plant of the Democrat, which paper they still own and publish.

On April 11, 1866, Mr. Charlton married Mary C., daughter of John and Susan Wolf, and the children born to their union are named respective- ly John S., Susan C., Ella M., Gertrude and David M. Mr. Charlton's political predilections are ably and undisguisedly illustrated in the columns of the Washington Democrat.

B OYD CRUMRINE, one of Pennsylvania's prominent men and whose name in Wash- ington county is as "familiar as household words," is a native of the county, having been born on February 9, 1838, in East Beth- lehem township, on the farm first occupied by his grandfather in 1800. He was a son of Daniel and Margaret Crumrine, and, as will be presently seen, with the exception of a great-grandfather on the maternal side, who was an Englishman, George Rex by name, his blood is all German, from the npper Rhine.

From 1682 to 1776 Pennsylvania was the cen- tral point of emigration from Germany, France and Switzerland. For the first period of twenty years, that is until 1702, not over two hundred

German families arrived, and those settled princi- pally at Germantown and other localities near Philadelphia. But the period from 1702 to 1727 marked an era in early German emigration, and between forty and fifty thousand persons left their Fatherland. Queen Anne of England, desiring to fill up her American colonies without depleting the British kingdom, caused copies of a book to be distributed throughout the Palatinate in Germany -having her portrait as a frontispiece, and the title in gold letters, on which account the book was called "Das Golden Buch"-to induce the Palatines to come to England in order to be sent to the Carolinas, or to others of her American col- onies; and it is said that in 1708 and 1709 thirty- three thousand Germans left their homes on the Rhine for London. Of this large number it is said that seven thousand, after having suffered great privations, returned half- naked and in despondency to their native country, ten thousand died for want of sustenance or medical attendance, and other causes, and the survivors were sent to America.

In 1727, during the time of Governor William Keith, German immigration had so much increased that it was feared that Pennsylvania was becoming "a foreign country;" and a regulation was estab- lished by the provincial government requiring that foreigners on their arrival should subscribe an oath of allegiance to the kingdom of Great Britain and of fidelity to the proprietaries of the Province. All persons over sixteen were made to sign this oath, and when they could not write, their names were written for them and attested by a clerk. By this means the names of over thirty thousand Ger- man and Swiss immigrants into Pennsylvania be- tween 1727 and 1776, when the colonies separated from the mother country, have been preserved. These lists are still to be seen in the Department of State at Harrisburg, and the attention of one who examines them will be attracted by two things to be observed: (1) Every ship's-list of passengers, almost, was headed by the name of the pastor who was leading them as a flock into the wilderness; (2) Excepting a very small percent- age of the whole number, every name is written in German, evidently the writer's autograph, and generally in the clear hand of a good penman. From these lists I. Daniel Rupp made up his "Collection of Thirty Thousand Names of Immi- grants," published a few years since in Philadel- phia.

In this collection of thirty thousand names there are but two " Krumreins." On September 11, 1732, "the ship Pennsylvania, John Stedman, master, from Rotterdam, last from Plymouth," landed with "seventy-three males above sixteen, women and children of both sexes ninety-eight, in all one hun- dred and seventy-one." In this list is the name of " Hans Michael Krumrein." On September 5, 1748,

TUC E QUITEKUNST CO. PRINT.

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"the ship Edinburgh, James Russell, master, from Rotterdam, last from Portsmouth," landed with one hundred and twenty-seven persons; and in this list of names is that of "George Lenhart Krum- rein."

Hans Michael Krumrein, after having resided in the neighborhood of Philadelphia until after 1741, passed westward into Northampton and finally into Centre county, where some of his de- scendants still live, others having passed on into Ohio. George Lenhart Krumrein went into Balti- more county, Md .; afterward, perhaps, into Geor- gia, returning to Maryland at a later day. In 1800 George Crumrine, a grandson of George Lenhart Krumrein, it is believed, passed from Baltimore county, Md., over the Alleghanies into the valley of the Monongahela, and settled upon a farm in East Bethlehem township, Washington county. One of his sons, Daniel Crumrine, was born upon the same farm. He married Margaret, the daughter of John Bower, Esq. The Bower family was of Swiss-German origin, and came west from the Juniata Valley in 1796.

The boyhood of Boyd Crumnrine, the son of Daniel, was passed upon his father's farm, and during the winters of 1854-55 and 1855-56 he at- tended the Bridgeport schools, Brownsville, Penn .; and in the spring and summer of 1856 he was a student at Waynesburg College. In September of the latter year he was admitted to the Sophomore class of Jefferson College, Canonsburg; and at the beginning of his second term he was permitted, at his own request, to drop into the Freshman class, in order that he might lay a better foundation for a complete classical course. With that class he continued till his graduation, on August 1, 1860, when he divided the first honor of his class of over fifty men with Mr. Roland Thompson, of Milroy, Penn., and delivered the Greek salutatory on commencement day. Through the whole course he was a diligent student and a vigorous thinker, doing nothing by spurts, producing level work and square work always, and striking the highest grade-mark in nearly every recitation. At the be. ginning of the junior year Prof. John Fraser formed what he called his select class, embracing all the juniors who graded above ninety, to whom he offered special instruction in mathematics and general literature. The class consisted of Mr. Crumrine and four others, who met at night for two years in the Professor's chambers, where, as a reward for mastering a dozen extra volumes of higher mathematics, the privileged five were re- galed, often into the "wee sma ' hours," by the best thoughts and noblest sentiments of the man, who, as a teacher, stands without a rival and without a peer in the memories of his pupils. One year before graduation Mr. Crumrine chose the profession of law, and entered upon it with 11

Hon. John L. Gow, of Washington, Penn., as his preceptor, to whom he recited once a week during his senior year in college. The first year after graduation he taught a select class of young ladies at Canonsburg, continuing his law studies at the same time. On the twenty-first of August, 1861, he was admitted to the Washington county bar.

The war of the Rebellion interfering with his purpose to begin legal business in the West, in the following November he enlisted in Company B, Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was made quarter-master sergeant of the regiment. After spending the winter of 1861-62 in the trenches at Washington, he was discharged in or- der to accept a commission as first lieutenant in a brigade of Eastern Virginia Volunteers then form- ing, but soon after his commission was received the Government issued an order discontinuing all re- crniting service and disbanding all uncompleted or- ganizations. This made him a citizen again; and, returning home he opened, in May, 1862, an office in Washington, Penn., and began the practice of law, in which he has continued ever since with suf- ficient business always on hand to keep him stead- ily occupied. Of his own efforts lie wrote to the class-historian for the reunion in 1885: " I have tried to keep my little boat trimmed neatly, and to trim it myself and after my own way. My sole ambition has been to do as well as I could what has been set before me. The law, to me, has been a very jealous mistress, yet, as a relaxation and a mellowing of the lines of toil, which otherwise might have been hard to me, I have been a rider of bobbies, one after another, always with the res- ervation of the liberty of changing them at my own will and pleasure; philosophy at one time, then entomology, the microscope, and, of late years, history and philosophy."

In 1871 Mr. Crumrine compiled the "Rules of Court of Washington County;" in 1872-75 he pre- pared "The Pittsburgh Reports," legal cases of the several State courts not elsewhere reported, in tliree volumes octavo. In 1878 he published "Omnium Gatherum, or Notes of Cases for the Lawyer's Pocket and Counsel Table," of which the edition is now exhausted. In 1882 he composed a large part and edited the whole of "The History of Washington County," a quarto of one thousand pages, small type, published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., of Philadelphia.

Mr. Crumrine is a Republican in politics, but has never sought political preferment. His tastes are altogether literary and professional. He was given the degree of Master of Arts by Jefferson College in 1863. From 1865 to 1868 he was district at- torney for Washington county, and in 1870 was appointed deputy marshal of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania, to compile

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the Social Statistics of that district for the Ninth Census. After this temporary employment out- side of his profession, in inatters in which he had great interest, he confined his work to his practice until April, 1887, when, without solicitation on his part, he was appointed, by Governor Beaver, State Reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; and, accepting the appointment as one suited to his tastes and experience, he had published at the end of his term in May, 1892, thirty-one volumes of Pennsylvania State Reports, which seem to meet with the approval of the bench and bar of the State. Secretary of State Charles W. Stone, in response to a letter concerning these reports, wrote in 1889 as follows: " Mr. Crumrine is making a model reporter, and his work is held in very high estimation by the bench and bar throughout the State. He is improving the style and methods of reporting, and is exceedingly faith- ful and painstaking in his work. The profession generally appreciates this fact, and also the promptness in the publication of his reports, and their improved typographical execution. You can- not speak too highly of his official efficiency." He has also been the recipient of many other well- merited compliments, written and verbal, from members of both bench and bar, of all phases of politics, which it would be superfluous to here re- iterate. Indefatigable in his work, he is a lover of it. In the winter of 1891-92, when Mr. Crum- rine's name was presented to President Harrison for an appointment as United States district judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania, among many letters in his favor from judges and lawyers of the State, the justices of the Supreme Court joined in a letter to the President which was such as to make Mr. Crumrine feel more than comfortable, even when he failed to receive the desired appoint- ment. At the general election in November, 1891, he was chosen a member of the constitutional con- vention, provided for by the act of the General As- sembly of Pennsylvania passed June 19, 1891. However, a majority of the electors of the State voting against the convention, it was not held. At the date of this writing his name is being men- tioned as a candidate for the office of Judge of the Supreme Court.

On the day following that on which he was made a Bachelor of Arts, Mr. Crumrine was married to Miss Harriet J., daughter of George A. and Jane B. Kirk, and they have had four children: Ernest Ethelbert. Louisa Celeste, Roland Thompson and Hattie J. Of these, Ernest E. is a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College, and is partner in his father's law office; his wife is Gertrude, the daughter of Rev. Dr. J. F. Magill, of Fairfield, Iowa, and they have one child, a son. Louisa was educated at the Washington Female Seminary, and is now the wife of J. P. Patterson, Esq., of

the Pittsburgh bar; they have one child, a daugh- ter. Roland T. and Hattie J. both died young. Mr. Crumrine is stalwart in form, turning the scales at over two hundred pounds, and is as fine a specimen of physical manhood as the eye needs wish to look upon.

[The foregoing sketch is for the most part compiled from "A Biographical Album of Prominent Pennsylva- nians," published at Philadelphia in 1889.

OSEPH RANKIN MCLAIN, a citizen of Claysville, was born January 8, 1828, in Cross Creek township, Washington Co., Penn., a son of William and Margaret (McClelland) McLain.

The family are of Scotch-Irish descent, the great-grandfather, William, having come to this country from the North of Ireland at a very early day, settling in Adams county, Penn. Two of his sons, who were civil engineers, assisted in locating the dividing line between Maryland and Pennsylva- nia, and his son, John, grandfather of Joseph R., was born about the year 1740, in Adams county, Penn., where he was reared to manhood and edu- cated. When he had reached inaturity he set out for the then "Far West," arriving finally about the year 1770, in Washington county. Here he married Hannah Marshall, of that county, after which they at once made their home on a farm near Canonsburg, where they remained some few years. The children born to this pioneer couple were: Jo- seph (who was in the service of the Government for the suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection, and died in the service), Mary (Mrs. John Rankin), William, Hannah (Mrs. John Hayes), and John. The father of this family died when he was yet a comparatively young man. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church.

William McLain, their second son, was born in Chartiers township, this county, June 23, 1779, and was reared to manhood in that township. He was a great lover of books, and, although he had no school facilities (the death of his father impos- ing on him hard work on the farm from early boy- hood), yet, by close application to study, he overcame what appeared to many insurmountable difficul- ties. At the age of nineteen he commenced teach- ing, continuing in same for thirty years, and prov- ing himself at once an apt scholar and skillful teacher, besides leaving an impress on his scholars not readily forgotten. On March 4, 1806, he was inarried to Agnes Fink, who bore him two children: John, born December 21, 1806, and Samuel A. (who became a minister of the Gospel), born July 23, 1808. John lived with his father until 1846, when he bought a farm in East Finley township, and resided there until his death, March 13, 1890; he was a zealous worker in the Church, and gave

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liberally toward its support. The mother of this little family dying August 21, 1808, Mr. McLain married, November 7, 1811, Margaret, daughter of Thomas McClelland, of this county, and to this union the following children were born: Agnes (now the deceased wife of James Sawhill, also de- ceased), born August 8, 1812; Hannah (now de- ceased wife of Ira Blanchard, also deceased), born January 14, 1814; Mary, born November 1, 1816; Martha (deceased wife of Rev. Alexander McCarroll, D.D., also deceased), born September 21, 1818; Thomas (deceased in childhood); Mar- garet (Mrs. Robert McKahan), born February 15, 1822; William (died in childhood); Eliza J. (de- ceased wife of James Wright, also deceased), born February 11, 1826, died July 10, 1857; Joseph R. (subject of this sketch), and Sarah (widow of of Hon. A. K. Craig, deceased), born December 7, 1830. Mr. McLain remained in Chartiers town- ship until 1817, when he removed to Cross Creek township, then in 1830 purchased a farm in Buf- falo township, on which he made his home until 1866, in which year he removed to Claysville, where he died March 2, 1872, at the patriarchal age of ninety-three years; on April 1, 1875, his wife followed him to the grave. In politics Mr. McLain was a Democrat until 1828, when he became a Whig, remaining so until 1850, and then voted the Free-soil ticket until 1860, after which he was a stanch Republican until the day of his death. For many years he was a justice of the peace. He and his family were adherents of the Presbyterian Church, of the Session of which he was a member for forty years.

Joseph R. McLain received a liberal education at the schools of his locality, and was reared to the practical life of a farmer. On November 27, 1849, he was married to Susanna, daughter of James Ralston, and to this union the following named children were born: Luretta Mary (deceased wife of John M. Gamble), W. J. E., Maggie (wife of Dr. J. N. Sprowls), John A., Joseph M. (now deceased), David C., Susan, Rebecca, and George W. Mr. McLain resided in Buffalo township from 1830 until 1856; then moved to Claysville, but two years thereafter purchased the home farm in Buffalo township, to which he removed, remaining there until 1866, when he bought a farm in Donegal township, and there he had his home until 1872, in which year he came to Claysville, where he is yet residing. After this he was engaged in the general mercantile and wool busi- ness until his retirement in 1888. When about the age of seventeen years, he commenced teach- ing school, in which he continued eighteen con- secutive winter terms.

Mr. McLain, in politics, was first a Whig, and since the formation of the party has been an active Republican. He has been elected to and served

in various important offices. In 1867 he was elected a jury commissioner of the county, holding the position one term; in 1876 he was elected to the Lower House of the State Legislature, serv- ing in the sessions of 1877-78. In 1878 he was again a candidate, but was defeated by Finley Patterson, by fourteen votes. In 1886 he was elected to the State Senate, serving four years. He was a school director for Buffalo and Donegal townships and the borough of Claysville, Mr. McLain and his family are members of the Pres- byterian Church, and since 1883 he has been a member of the Session of the Claysville Presby- terian Church.

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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 35

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