Commemorative biographical record of Washington County, Pennsylvania, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 39

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 39

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ters and one daughter-in-law, viz .: Thomas, An- drew (married), Margaret (who married a cousin, John Miller), Sarah (married to Thomas, a brother of John Miller), and Mary, who remained unmar- ried. In March, 1812, Thomas Miller bought the tract of land named in its patent "Peace and Plenty."

This farm, which became the Miller homestead, was inherited by Thomas Miller, Jr., who was in his twenty fourth year when he came to America. He married, after coming to America, his cousin, Margaret Miller, who died within a year. His second wife was Elizabeth Brown, who died. leav- ing him one daughter, Margaret (now Mrs. James K. Hamilton, of Brownstown, Ind.). His third choice was Catherine Shaw, who came to this country with her family in 1818 . from County Donegal, Ireland. She bore him seven children: Thomas, Elizabeth, Sarah and Jane (twins), Mary (who married Rev. I. N. White, of Fairview, Ohio), Catherine and John Monteith. All are now de- ceased, except Elizabeth, who now lives in Avalon, Allegheny Co., Penn. (She had been a most de- voted daughter to her parents in their old age.) Thomas Miller devoted himself to farming and sheep raising, making a signal success in that business. He was a devoted Freemason, and in politics was a Democrat, stumping the county for Polk's election. He was a member of the old Seceder Church, in Mount Pleasant township. He died December 23, 1877, in his ninety-second year. He divided his estate among his children.

John M. Miller was born March 18, 1842. At the age of fourteen years he was sent to Elder's Ridge Academy, then to Jefferson College, Canons- burg, from which he was graduated in 1861. He then entered his name as a law student in Phila- delphia, but was obliged to return home and take charge of the old homestead. On September 13, 1866, he was married to Miss Agnes White, daugh- ter of W. S. White, now of Canonsburg. Of their children, five-three sons and two daughters -are living.

Mr. Miller's prosperous career as a farmer is well known among his fellow-Pennsylvanians, among whom his position as a prominent stock raiser was well established. He enjoyed a national reputation as a breeder of North Devon cattle. At the time of his death he was president of the American Devon Cattle Club; vice-president of the Spanish Merino Sheep Breeders' Association; a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and a member of the Western Pennsylvania Agricultural Association. He was a farmer who loved his voca- tion and his home, improving not only the land but the stock buildings and methods of farming. In other business pursuits he was equally success- ful, his enterprising spirit prompting him to look beyond the immediate profit of a transaction, and

to estimate the general advantages to be obtained therefrom. He was a man of the strictest integ- rity, doing business only upon an honorable basis, which fact, combined with his ability and good judgment, brought him deserved success and made him a recognized authority in business matters. Politically, he was a Democrat, but, though inter- ested in public questions, was averse to political preferment. He served for many years as justice of the peace, and in other township offices. He was deeply interested in the public schools, spend- ing much of his time in planning for their im- provement.

On the morning of May 14, 1888, he was stricken with apoplexy, and at one o'clock of the same day he passed away, seemingly without any pain. Mr. Miller was possessed of a fine appear- ance and of a hearty, genial manner, which, with his generous disposition, won him friends innumer- able. His heart and hand were ever open to the cry of suffering, and, his sympathies aroused, he gave with a liberality not warranted by his re- sources. In brief, when he was laid to rest, the entire community, no less than his kindred and intimate friends, mourned the loss of a public benefactor, a true Christian and an upright, honor- able business man.

Mrs. Miller still retains the old farm in Mount Pleasant township, but in September, 1890, came to her present home in Washington borough, in order to give her children better educational ad- vantages.

OHN AIKEN. Joseph Aiken, the grand- father of the subject of this sketch, came to this country from Coleraine, County London- derry, Ireland, near the beginning of the present century. He was a Scotch-Irish Presby- terian, his ancestry having been driven over from Scotland at the time of the persecution.

Four brothers came, first stopping in Adams county, Penn. ; then one settled and died in Law- rence county, Penn., another removed to Harrison county, Ohio, and two remained in Washington county, Penn., one in the northern part and Joseph in Canton township. The one last named was a linen weaver. He died in 1843, and was buried in North Buffalo churchyard. He had ten children, of whom William was the eighth. William learned the tailor's trade with Charles Hawkins in Wash- ington, Penn., whom he served as an apprentice from the age of fourteen until he was twenty-one. He started in business first at West Liberty, W. Va., but soon moved to Short creek, Jefferson county, Ohio, where he remained many years. . He is still living in a warm, heartsome old age, on his farm at Coolville, Ohio. He first married Nancy Daugherty-the eldest of twenty-one children-at

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West Middletown, Penn., in 1843; and several years after her death became the husband of Mag- gie Stollar, whose father belonged to the family of that name in West Finley township, in this county.

John Aiken, the eldest of twelve children of William, was born in West Liberty, W. Va., Feb- ruary 7, 1844. When he was a few weeks old the family moved to McKee's Factory, Jefferson coun- ty, Ohio. After he attained sufficient age he worked at farming during the summer and attend- ed school in the winter, until August, 1862, when, at the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the Union Army, in Company D, One Hundred and Twenty- Sixth O. V. I. During the first nine months he served at Cumberland, Md., and Martinsburg, W. Va., when the regiment became a part of the Third Corps, Army of the Potomac, and later of the Sixth Corps. He served as private, corporal and ser- geant. On September 18, 1864, when he was serv- ing in this regiment under Gen. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, he received from the War De- partment a commission as first lieutenant in the Twenty-Ninth U. S. C. T., with an order to report for duty in the Army of the Potomac. He re- mained, however, with the old regiment for sev- eral days, and participated in the battles of Opequan, September 19; Flint Hill, September 21; and Fisher's Hill, September 22. On September 28, he started to join his new regiment, into which he was mustered October 10, 1864, at Poplar Grove Church, Virginia. This regiment then formed a part of the Fourth division of the Ninth Corps. It was afterward transferred to the Twenty-fifth Corps, in the Army of the James, in front of Ricli- mond. Ten days after he was mustered in, he was placed in charge of and was the only officer in the company. From that time until he was mustered out in December, 1865, excepting a few days, he was in command of a company in this regiment. In the early part of 1865 he passed the requisite examination, and was recommended for promotion to a captaincy. He was informed that the com- mission was ordered, but as it was so near the close of the war he never received it, and, conse- quently, was not mustered. He was in the cam- paign that ended in, and was present at, General Lee's surrender. He was in twelve battles and many skirmishes, but was never wounded. In January, 1866, Mr. Aiken became a student in Washington and Jefferson College, and remained there two years; at the end of which time he began the study of law with Alexander Wilson, of Wash- ington, Penn., and was admitted to the bar there, December 13, 1869, since which time he has de- voted himself exclusively to the practice of his profession. He was elected a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Washington in Feb- ruary, 1883, and was commissioner to the General

Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at Omaha, Neb., in 1887, serving as a member of the judicial committee of that body. The chief glory of his civil life, however, is in the relation of teacher in the Sabbath-school of the First Presbyterian Church since March, 1866, and from 1874 of the Students' Bible class, whose average annual en- rollment has been about fifty. Over one hundred and twenty-five representatives of this class have gone into the Christian ministry. He is a director of the Washington Refining Company, also of the Washington Fire Insurance Company, the First National Bank of Washington, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Washington and Jeffer- son College.

The subject of this memoir was married to Jen- nie Blaine in December, 1869, in East Bethlehem township, Washington county, and from this union there have come five children: Mary, attending the Western Female Seminary at Oxford, Ohio; Blaine, a student at Washington and Jefferson College; Rose, also at the Western Female Semi- nary, at Oxford, Ohio; and Ella and John, in the Union School of Washington. Mrs. Aiken's fa- ther, Matthew Blaine, lives at Beallsville, Penn. His father, Leonard Blaine, was one of the old- time Scotch-Irish "School Masters." He did good service in the line of his profession for many years in the eastern end of this county.

W ILLIAM HOSACK PAXTON, of the firm of Paxton Brothers, a highly respected citizen of Canonsburg, is a descendant of one of the oldest families in Washington county, Penn.

John Paxton, grandfather of subject, was a na- tive of York county, and came to Washington county in 1782. He married Martha Paxton, also a native of York, who, when a child, crossed the mountains on horseback, in coming to Washington county. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Pax- ton settled in Chartiers township, where they died. The children born of their union were: Thomas (who married Miss Jane Mills), Eliza (who mar ried John Nesbit, and lived on a farm in Chartiers township, where she and her husband died; they had no children), Isaac, Samuel (who married Miss Harsha, by whom he had two sons and one daugh- ter) and John.

John Paxton, father of subject, was born in Can- ton township, September 10, 1810. He worked on his father's farm until about sixteen years of age, and then went to Washington, Penn., where he learned the saddle and harness trade, which he fol- lowed exclusively until 1856, when, in partnership with Matthew Wilson, he engaged in butchering

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and stock dealing. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and energy, traits of character that manifested themselves at an early date. When a small boy, he, in company with a sister, raised a crop of oats, threshed them with a flail, and carried them on horseback to Washington, where they sold them. Money was scarce in those days and strict economy was practiced, one pair of shoes being made to last a year. Mr. Paxton married Mrs. Elizabeth (Wilson) Power, a widow, and daughter of Henry and Jane (Dill) Wilson. By her first marriage Mrs. Power had two daughters, Margaret and Anna Power. Margaret Power married Thomas Bell. He went to California in 1852, during the gold fever, and died there in 1855. To this union was born one daughter, Anna. Mrs. Bell, after her husband's death, lived with her stepfather's family until her death, which occurred June 6, 1889. Anna Power married David Hart, and they made their home with William and Oliver L. Pax- ton, in Canonsburg.

Henry and Jane (Dill) Wilson, parents of Mrs. John Paxton, lived on a farm in South Strabane township. They were members of the Presbyterian Church. Four sons and two daughters were born to them, viz .: Dill (a farmer by occupation, wlio married but had no children), Matthew (who learned the saddle and harness trade with his brother-in-law, John Paxton), Thomas (who grad- uated from Jefferson College, studied for the min- istry, graduated in theology, became a Presbyterian minister, and married Miss Margaret Sanders, of Baltimore, and by her had two sons, Morris and Calvin D., both of whom are Presbyterian minis- ters), Samuel J. (who graduated from Washington College and at Allegheny Theological Seminary, and was for many years, and at the time of his death, professor of theology in Allegheny Theolog- ical Seminary; he had one son and two daughters, viz .: Robert D., a lawyer in Allegheny county, unmarried; Catherine and Jane, both of whom are married), Jane (who married Louis Guthrie, a tailor of Moundsville, W. Va.), and Elizabeth (who was first married to Mr. Power and afterward to John Paxton).

Mr. and Mrs. John Paxton were members of the Presbyterian Church. He died December 24, 1890, at the age of eighty-one. Mrs. Paxton was born December 10, 1809, and died October 29, 1858. Their marriage was blessed with seven sons and two daughters, a brief history of whom follows: (1) Wilson N. Paxton graduated from Jefferson College in 1856, went South as a teacher, and after returning to Canonsburg, Penn., read law. He was admitted to the bar of Allegheny county, and practiced his profession in Pittsburgh. In 1862 he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served

three years as second lieutenant. He was taken prisoner at Gettysburg on the second day of the fight, carried to. Libby Prison, and remained there and at other prisons twenty months. He was promoted to the captaincy of his company, and is now in the pension office at Washington, D. C. He married Miss Emily J. Newkirk, but has no children. (2) Thomas Paxton is engaged in the butcher and cattle business. He enlisted in Com- pany D, Tenth Regiment, P. R. V. C. Reserves, in April, 1861, and was killed at Spottsylvania, May 9, 1864, being shot through the bowels while do- ing picket duty. He was never married. (3) Mar- tha Jane Paxton died January 24, 1890, unmar- ried. (4) John R. Paxton graduated from Jeffer- son College with honors. At the time of the com- mencement of the Civil war, in 1861, he was in the junior class at college. He enlisted in Com- pany`G, One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania Volunteers; Captain Frazier, of this company, was professor in Jefferson College. At the close of the war Mr. Paxton came home and re-entered Jeffer- son College, where he graduated. He then entered the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, graduated there, and also at Princeton Theological Seminary. He married Miss Mary L. Lindsay, of Allegheny. His first charge was Churchville, Maryland, from there to Harrisburg, and then to Washington, D. C. He is now minister of the West Presbyterian Church, New York City. His marriage was blessed by four children, of whom one son and one daughter are now living. (5) William Hosack, subject of our sketch. (6) Oliver L. Paxton, who was born March 23, 1848, and educated in the common schools. He is engaged in buying and shipping stock, in partnership with his brother, William Hosack. (7) Mary E. Paxton married Rev. W. F. Conner, a Methodist minister, of Johnstown, Penn. To them have been born two daughters, Mabel and Bessie. (8) Matthew H. Paxton was born in 1854. He entered Jefferson Academy, and completed his education at La Fay- ette, Penn. He was appointed assistant pay- master of the Government under Maj. Keefer, and traveled over the Northwest and Southwest. He was married in Walla Walla, Wash., and was stationed for a time in Newport, Ky., but dislik- ing to travel, he resigned his position as assistant paymaster, and located in Walla Walla, where he has been elected county assessor and appraiser three times, and where he owns land and is en- gaged in the real-estate business.

William Hosack Paxton, the subject of this biographical sketch, was born March 9, 1846, in Canonsburg. Politically, he is a Republican. Mr. Paxton ranks among the prominent business men of Canonsburg, and is highly respected both in social and commercial circles.

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R EV. GEORGE McDONALD, the leading character in this sketch, was born February 25, 1825, in Donegal township, Washing- ton Co., Penn., near West Alexander.

George McDonald, his grandfather, was a native of Scotland, from either Rosshire or Sutherlandshire, and related to Flora McDonald, the heroine of two dynasties and two continents. [Flora McDonald in her youth saved the life of the last of the Stewarts. She afterward emigrated to North Carolina. Her husband and son being made officers of the Highland Regiment raised for the defense of their King, she gave her five sons and son in-law for the cause, accompanied them to camp, and encouraged them to fight for their King. ] George McDonald's ancestors were the Lords of the Isles off the west of Scotland for cent- uries before these islands became subject to the king of Scotland. Grandfather McDonald was twice married: first to Miss Gordon, and they had one son William. After the death of his first wife, he married Barbara McDonald, the result of which marriage was two sons, John and George. He (grandfather) immigrated to America in the good ship "Janet," in 1773, and located on the Potomac near Mount Vernon. After the close of the war for Independence, he with his family crossed the Alleghanies, and purchased a farm on Chartiers creek, near the present county home. Here his son John was born. There he remained from 1780 to 1792, when he purchased and moved to a farm in East Finley township, south of Clays- ville, where he passed the remaining years of his life. He was a most devotedly pious man, and act- ive in the building up of the church in his region. A Presbyterian of the regular Scotch type, and among the founders of the Presbyterian Church of West Alexander, he never let worldly affairs inter- fere with his religious duties. Not only was he punctual in attendance on the means of grace, but watchful for the peace and prosperity of Zion. He was known as the "Scotch singer," and often led the people in the service of song. He died November 25, 1811, and was laid to rest beside his wife, who had preceded him, in the church burial ground at West Alexander.

John McDonald, son of George, was born in 1788, in Chartiers township, Washington Co., Penn., but in early life went with his parents to their new home in East Finley township. In his early manhood he married Margaret Byers, of the same county, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Shannon) Byers, the former of whom was a son of Samuel Byers, who was born in Chester county, Penn., where the connection had resided for generations. Samuel was there married to Jane White, and their children were: William (who set- tled near Maysville, Ky.), Samuel, James, Thomas Ebenezer (of Mercer county), Andrew, Nancy and

Rachel. Samuel Byers, Sr., came west from Chester county in 1777, and located on a farm near Canonsburg. He was a stanch Presbyterian and did good work in planting the church in that region. Thomas, the son, with his wife was most courageous in battling with danger in their new home in East Finley, because of the attacks of Indians. The following are the names of their children: John, a physician; Sarah, wife of Adam Wylie, M. D .; Thomas, a farmer, married to Mar- garet Hamilton; Jane, wife of David Stewart, Margaret, wife of John McDonald; Anne, wife of Andrew Yates; James, a farmer, married to Mary Stevenson; Nancy, wife of John Brice, a farmer; Rachel, wife of Hugh Wilson, a merchant; Samuel, a farmer, married to Anne Wilson, and William, also a farmer, married to Rebecca McCurdy, and then to Miss Thorn. One son and five sons-in- law were ruling elders in the Presbyterian Church. Thomas Byers was a vigorous farmer and a prom - inent business man. He was a bright example of Christian piety. In 1813 he was installed an elder in the Presbyterian Church of West Alex- ander, which office he filled with great acceptance, being called the peacemaker of the Session.

John McDonald after marriage remained four years on the old home farm in East Finley town- ship. At that time he purchased a farm in Don. egal township, south of- West Alexander, where he passed the remaining years of his life. The fol- lowing are the names of their children: Thomas (deceased), Barbara (wife of Thomas Frazier, Esq.), Mary S., Eliza J., George, John McC., Thomas, William and Rachel M., all three de- ceased, Mr. McDonald was always in keeping with the advance of the age, and being a friend of liberal education, gave all his children favorable opportunities for mental culture in the academy at West Alexander. He often filled offices of trust in the community. After the death of his wife in May, 1867, he moved to West Alexander, remain- ing there till his death, December 11, 1868. But his example in the church shone most conspicuous. He made profession of his faith in early life. In 1828 he was elected an elder, and about the same time Sabbath-school superintendent, both of which offices he filled forty years. Of him his last pastor (Rev. W. H. Lester, Sr., D. D.) writes: "He was a wise counselor and a man in whom the pastor could safely confide; warm-hearted and true in his devotion to the church; a faithful student of the Word of God, and prompt in the discharge of Christian duty, he will long be remembered by the people as a truly devoted and pious man. His Godly life was an ornament to religion. His most special gift was prayer. He loved the Savior and the church; but in prayer he excelled. He would take the congregation in the arms of his faith, and lay them down at the mercy seat for a blessing.

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His words were so plain and Scriptural; his tones so simple, childlike and tender, it could only have been the Spirit making intercession. Deeply moved himself, be deeply moved others. He was pre-eminently a man of prayer. He gave his only two surviving sous to the ministry."

Of each of the sons the following is a brief rec- ord: Each (of the sons) labored on the farm with their father till entering their life work, as oppor- tunity afforded, he being a vigorous farmer. They both were educated in the West Alexander (Penn.) Academy, in the branches belonging to the college course, and each labored with tlicir father on the farm. Rev. George McDonald, after having com- pleted the classical course pursued in college, at West Alexander Academy, engaged for some years in teaching in the public schools, and afterward taught two and a half years in the academy of West Alexander. During this period he com- menced the study of theology under Dr. John Mccluskey, his pastor, and completed the course of study under Rev. William H. Lester, D. D., Dr. Mccluskey's successor. In April, 1857, he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Washington. Soon after licensure he received a call to the Presbyterian Church of Beallsville, Ohio, where he continued to labor more than twenty-five years, giving a portion of his time to the churches of Woodsfield and Powhatan, Ohio. In the winter of 1883, he received and accepted a call to the church of Upper Ten Mile, Prosperity, Penn., and continued his labors till May 20, 1890. Since his resignation of the pastorate at Ten Mile he resides at West Alexander, and is interested in evangelistic work, not feeling sufficiently vigorous to assume the full responsibility of the pastoral work. Mr. McDonald was married, May 20, 1858, to Martha S. Blayney, of West Virginia. The following is a brief account of their children: Nannie Maggie is the wife of Elmer Ellsworth Miller, a merchant of Beallsville, Ohio (she grad- uated from Steubenville Female Seminary in 1879); John M., a physician, was a student of Washing- ton and Jefferson (Penn.) College (afterward he attended Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and graduated in April, 1885; he is married to Ada C. Baker, of Barnesville, Ohio, and they now reside in Columbus, Ohio; he is a Presbyterian and a Republican); Rev. Charles H. graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in the class of 1886 (the same year he entered Union Tlieological Seminary (N. Y.), from which he graduated in 1889, was licensed and ordained in 1889, and went under commission of the Board of Home Missions to Alexandria, S. Dak., where he labored two years. Early in 1892 he received and ac- cepted a call to the pastorate of the First Congre- gational Church of Woodbridge, N. J. He was married November 24, 1892, to Mary M. Bell, only

daughter of James R. and Mary C. Bell, of West Alexander); Mary Elizabeth, the youngest, has at- tended tlie Washington Female Seminary (she is still at home with her parents, and is giving con- siderable attention to music). Like the parents the children all take great delight in music, and are blessed with great power of voice. Mr. Mc- Donald being an instructor of music, led the choir of the old home church for several years.

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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 39

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