Commemorative biographical record of Washington County, Pennsylvania, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 65

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 65

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Mr. Bell has been for the past twenty five years engaged in the banking and money-loaning busi- ness, in which he has been successful. He is temporarily residing on his Highland farm, on the road leading from Prosperity to Sparta, in Morris township, Washington Co., Penn. In politics he is a war Democrat, and with his wife is an active member of the Presbyterian Church of Upper Ten- Mile.

R S. H. KEYS, M. D., the oldest practicing physician in Monongahela, traces his line- age to Hibernian ancestry. His grand- father was born in Ireland, and in an early day set sail for the New World. After ar- riving in America he located permanently on a place now known as the Miller farm, near Bealls- ville, Washington Co., Penn. Politically he voted with the Democratic party, and in religion was a member of the Episcopal Church. His children were Andrew, Thomas and Hugh.

Hugh Keys was born in 1790, in the "Emerald Isle," and with his parents came to America where he learned the shoemaker's trade. In 1810 he was married to Elizabeth Irwin, a native of Maryland, whose parents died when she was very young. The newly wedded couple first located in Baltimore,. Md., then moved to Hillsborough, Washington Co., Penn., where he conducted a hotel for many years. He finally moved to Fayette county, Penn., and there followed his trade for several years. He was actively identified with the Democratic party, and held various local offices, having in 1840 been elected canal commissioner under Van Buren, which position he held until his death. He was a leading member of the Episcopal Church. He died in October, 1841, his widow on January 23, 1886, in her ninety-sixth year. They were the parents. of the following children: Mary, wife of James Thompson, of Beallsville; William; Margaret, married to R. S. H. Henderson, of Lawrence coun- ty, Penn .; Andrew, in Fayette county; Sarah,

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married to Nelson Randolph, also of Fayette county; John; Christian; George; James; Hugh; R. S. H. and Thomas, all now deceased except Andrew and R. S. H.

Dr. R. S. H. Keys was born March 12, 1832, in Fayette county, Penn. When twelve years of age he left home, first entering the general merchandise store of E. C. Roddy, in Upper Middletown, Fay- ette county, and then worked for his brother, John Keys, M. D., at Bentleyville, Washington county, remaining there several years. He finally entered his brother's office, and after studying medicine and dentistry for about seven years, took his brother's place. On August 23, 1856, Dr. Keys married Elizabeth, daughter of John and Julia Holland, of Bentleyville, and continued to reside in Bentleyville until 1862. He was then commis: sioned lieutenant of Company D, Twenty-second Pennsylvania Cavalry, and went to West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, but returned to Bent- leyville the same year. In the spring of 1863 he came to Monongahela, where he has since followed his profession with eminent success. He is a stanch advocate of the principles embodied in the Democratic party, and has served as a member of the school board of the city. In religious faith he is a member of the Episcopal Church. To his marriage with Elizabeth Holland the following children were born: Julia, wife of George R. Smith, of San Francisco, Cal .; Lizzie, wife of Charles Oldfield, also of San Francisco; Harry K., in the West; John, a boatman on the Monongahela; Vol. O., Catherine and Sophia, all three deceased; and James Stockdale, at home. The mother of this family died September 6, 1881. and for his second wife Dr. Keys married, June 6, 1883, Mrs. Emeline Howe (a native of Monongahela), widow of Maj. S. B. Howe (to whom she was married in 1864), and daughter of Ira R. Butler, of Carroll township, this county. Maj. S. B. Howe was a native of Washington county, Penn., born May 2, 1835, was educated in California, same county, and there learned the trade of brick molding, which he followed several years. He served dur- ing the war of the Rebellion, having enlisted in the First West Virginia Veteran Cavalry at its organi- zation, and was soon promoted to second lieutenant and captain, respectively, in which latter rank he distinguished himself in many hard-fought battles of the years 1863-64. In the campaign of 1864 he was selected and detailed by Gen. Averill to command the company of scouts, in which capacity he performed some of the most daring exploits of the war, and received the highest encomiums from the commanding general. In February, 1865, he was commissioned major, and immediately, in command of the First Regiment West Virginia Veteran Cavalry, started on the great raid of Gen. Phil. H. Sheridan up the Shenandoah Valley and

to the James river. After this historic event he performed, among other prodigies of valor and generalship, at Little Sailor's creek, an important part, his brigade making the best and most success- ful charge of the war, capturing Gen. Ewell and his entire corps, cannon, battle-flags, etc .; in fact, it is said of him that he was "second to no regimental commander." At Appomattox Court- house, April 8, 1865, he was killed at the close of that obstinate engagement, at the hour of mid- night, whilst gallantly leading his regiment in his final charge, and the following day Gen. Lee sur- rendered.

Dr. Keys now confines himself to city practice, and at special points on the line of railroad, hav- ing practically retired from country work, it being too fatiguing. He is a Knight Templar.

M ISS NANCY SHERRARD, for nearly twenty years principal of the Washington (Penn.) Female Seminary, is a native of Ohio, born in Jefferson county. Her

parents were Robert A. and Jane Sher- rard, the former of whom was well known in the community in which he lived, and was noted for his upright character and earnest convictions of duty, the latter a woman of much strength of char- acter. From both parents Miss Sherrard inherited strong religious impressions, which have always been carried into her life. After attending the public schools of her native county, she entered the Steubenville (Ohio) Female Seminary in 1847, and was graduated from that institution in 1851. After an extended experience as a teacher in seminaries and other excellent schools, she was, in 1874, elected principal of the Washington Female Seminary, entering upon her duties in September of the same year.

This excellent and time-honored school was established in 1836. From that time until the present it has always had the reputation of keep- ing abreast with other institutions of its class. It has been noted for the excellence of its teachers in all departments, and the Christian influences which have been exerted in the school and which have gone out from it. The school has steadily in- creased in numbers and influence, until the cata- logue for 1892-93 shows a larger attendance than ever before.

H. P. CHRISTMAN, M. D., a leading homœopathic physician in the county, with residence in Washington, is a native of the Keystone State, having been born in Upper Uwchlan township, Chester county, Febru- ary 12, 1859. His ancestors on the mother's side came to this country from Maxton Parish, in Scot-

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land, and settled in Chester county some two hun- dred years ago, his great-great grandfather, George Maxton, having been the keeper of the once famous hostelry known as the "Yellow Springs" Inn, at one time a fashionable health resort, at which place he had the honor of entertaining George Washing- ton. Our subject's ancestors on the father's side came to this country from Schleswig-Holstein (then a province of Prussia), landing at Philadelphia September 15, 1730; they also settled in Chester county, and became a prominent family in the affairs of the county.

William Davis Christman, father of Dr. Christ- man, a native of Chester county, served with dis- tinction in the Union army.' He married Zilpha A. Maxton, of the same place, and they became the parents of three children, viz. : Cora (who died in young womanhood), G. H. P. and Frederick B., the latter at this time (1893) being engaged in bus- iness in Chicago.

The subject of this sketch passed his boyhood and youth principally in West Chester, Chester county, receiving his education in the common schools and graduating at the high school (being the only male member of his class); he also re- ceived private instruction from Prof. Franklin Taylor, late superintendent of the schools of Phil- adelphia. In 1877 he commenced the study of medicine in West Chester under Dr. Joseph E. Jones, a graduate of the University of Pennsylva- nia; then entered the Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, graduating with honors March 10, 1881, and afterward attended lectures in New York. At Baltimore, Md., and at Wilmington, Del., he was assistant to well-known physicians of those places. He practiced medicine in Philadelphia for a time, and came to Washington, Penn., in 1890, where he has since been engaged in a lucra- tive practive which is rapidly expanding. Polit- ically the Doctor is a straight Republican, and while a resident of West Chester was especially active in the interests of his party. The Doctor is unmarried and resides with his parents.

OHN M. FULTON, dentist, Washington, is a native of the county, born in South Strabane township, July 14, 1858, a son of Samuel Fulton, also a native of South Strabane town- ship. The family are of Scotch-Irish extrac- tion, and John Fulton, grandfather of subject, came to this county in an early day, settling in the original township of Strabane, where he died. He had married Hannah McMillan, granddaughter of John McMillan, who founded the college at Can- onsburg. She died in 1891 at the age of seventy years, the mother of the following children: Sam- uel (deceased); James R., in South Strabane town- ship; Thomas, in Illinois; William and John, both

in South Strabane township; Elizabeth, wife of William Pry, in Virginia; Belle and Robert. The grandfather, John Fulton, died in 1869, at the age of fifty-nine years.

Samuel Fulton received a liberal education at the common schools of his native township, and at Jefferson College, where he took a literary course and graduated in the class of 1857. He then studied dentistry in Washington, and subsequently entered into partnership with one Robertson, in 1866, which continued for a short time when he bought out his partner's interest in the business, and continued with eminent success up to his death, which occurred February 11, 1890, when aged fifty-seven years, the result of an attack of the "grip." He was originally a Democrat, but in the later years of his life was a pronounced Pro- hibitionist. In 1857 he was married to Miss Mar- garet J., daughter of John Rankin, of North Strabane township, and five children were born to them, as follows: John M. (subject of sketch); Mary Hannah, wife of Rev. John Scouller, in northwestern Pennsylvania; Ollie Belle (married to George Walker), now deceased; Anna H. and Ada M., the last named dying from the effects of the "grip." The mother is yet living in Wash- ington.

John M. Fulton, the subject proper of this mem- oir, received a thorough common-school training, and began studying his profession in his father's office. In 1879 he entered the Pennsylvania Den- tal College at Philadelphia, from which he gradu- ated in 1881, and he then at once commenced the practice of dentistry in Washington, in partnership with his father, which existed until the latter's death, since when our subject has continued the business alone. He is well skilled in his business, and has a wide circle of friends. On December 4, 1883, Dr. Fulton was married to Elizabeth, daugh- ter of John E. and Julia A. (Winters) Bell, of Wash- ington, to which union two children have been born-John Donnan and Samuel Floyd. The Doc- tor is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church, and in politics is a Democrat.

The Bell family are prominent in Washington county. Thomas Bell and Agnes Scott were mar- ried February 3, 1814, and became the parents of ten children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Robert, March 3, 1818; William, Octo- ber 23, 1820; John E., September 24, 1822; Rachel, August 2, 1824; Josiah S., June 23, 1826; Thomas C., July 24, 1828; Esther, January 13, 1831; Violet, August 5, 1832; Boyd and James. Of these, John E. married Miss Julia A. Winters, and their children were as follows: Millie (now deceased), Gretta (wife of John Donnan, of Wash- ington), Lula (wife of John Sweeney, of Elm Grove, Penn.), Sadie (wife of Dr. Thistle, of Washing-

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ton), Carrie (wife of Horace P. Rose, of Johns- town, Penn.), and Elizabeth (wife of Dr. John M. Fulton). The father of this family died December 29, 1874, in Washington; the mother is still liv- ing, and is now in her seventy-third year. Mr. Bell was a Republican, and held the offices of county treasurer, prothonotary, clerk of commis- sioners, and at the time of his death was Deputy United States Collector of Internal Revenue, all of which incumbencies he filled faithfully and to the satisfaction of all. He was a most highly es- teemed citizen, and after his death was much missed in the community, for his uprightness and integrity of character had won him hosts of friends. His widow, Mrs. Agnes (Scott) Bell, is a daughter of Alexander and Rachel (McDowell) Scott, and a granddaughter of Josiah and Violet Scott. Alex- ander Scott (born in December, 1763) and Rachel McDowell (born November 17, 1773), were mar- ried November 18, 1790, by Rev. John McMillan, and were the parents of children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Violet, August 15, 1791; John, January 7, 1793; William, April 8, 1794; Agnes, January 24, 1796; John, September 29, 1798; Sarah, January 30, 1801; Josiah, December 1, 1803; James, March 26, 1807, and Rachel, August 18, 1810.

OHN M. STOCKDALE. "Hic et ubique" might justly be applied as the motto of the sturdy Scotch-Irish race, who have so deeply made their impress, the wide world over, as champions of liberty and civil rights, and are ever to be found in the van of civilization and progress. Of such strong, hardy and brave people comes the gentleman whose name appears at the opening of this biographical sketch.

Mr. Stockdale is a native of Greene county, Penn., born in 1824, a son of William and Han- nah Stockdale. James Stockdale, the grandfather of John M., came from the North of Ireland about 1787, on a visit to America, and was led by circumstances to remain. Having exhausted his funds in traveling about the country, he began milling, which business he had learned of his father in Ireland, intending to make money enough to return home; but the Fates ordered otherwise, for he fell in love with and married Miss Weir, and never went back. In 1790 the young couple settled in what was then Washington (now Greene) county, where were born to them children as fol- lows: William, Nancy (now Mrs. Robert Patton, of Fayette county, Penn.), Sarah (wife of Maj. James Ringland) and Elizabeth, wife of Squire Benjamin Jennings, of Waynesburg, Greene Co., Penn. The mother of these children died in 1823, and the father in 1840, at the age of eighty-six years.

William Stockdale, father of our subject, was born in 1792, on the homestead in Morris town- ship, Greene Co., Penn., and was brought up there. He married Hannah McQuaid, a daughter of John McQuaid, of Washington county, Penn. Their residence was the old home place, where they passed the remainder of their lives. The children born to them were: (1) James, whose death, at forty-five, was the result of an accident at a railroad station in Lancaster, Ohio; he had lived for a number of years in Baltimore, and was twice a member of the Legislature of Maryland. (2) John M. (3) Robert P., who lives in Mt. Pleasant, Henry Co., Iowa. (4) Thomas R., who left Jefferson College (Penn.) with the class of 1856, and located in Summit, Miss., where he con- tinues to practice law; he has represented his Dis- trict for several terms in Congress, and is now a member. (5) Mary, the wife of Dr. Thaddeus Dodd. (6) Isabella, who married H. B. Lind- ley, of Morris township, Washington county, and (7) Sarah P., who married Joseph B. Wise, Esq., of West Bethlehem township, Washington Co., Penn. The father died at the age seventy-one years, on the farm upon which he was born, and the mother in 1873, aged seventy-six years.

John M. Stockdale was born and reared on the farm, was sent to an academy to prepare for col- lege, and graduated from Washington College in 1849. He studied law with T. M. T. McKennan, and his son Judge William McKennan, of Wash- ington, Penn., and was admitted to practice in 1852. In 1853 he became the owner and editor of the Waynesburg (Greene county) Messenger, the- only Democratic newspaper in the county. In 1854 he was elected, on the Democratic ticket. to- represent Greene county in the State Legislature, and was re-elected in 1855. In 1856 he went to. the Northwest for recreation and health, but be- came connected with business matters in Fort Dodge, on the Des Moines river, Iowa, and re- mained there until 1865. In the meantime he was. appointed (in 1857) Register of the Government Land Office in Fort Dodge, which he held until. July, 1861. During his residence there he dealt very largely in real estate, having bought and sold more than two hundred thousand acres of land, as. the records show; but the Civil war depressed or destroyed, for the time, nearly all land values in the Northwest, and made real estate a hazardous- investment. In 1863 Mr. Stockdale, in his ab- sence, was nominated for the State Senate from his district in Iowa, but declined to accept the nomi- nation. In 1864 he was an elector on the McClel- land ticket. In 1865 he removed to the city of Baltimore, where he engaged in the wholesale drug trade in the well-known house of Stockdale, Smith & Co., on the corner of Howard and Ger- man streets, and also in a Petroleum Oil Refinery,

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near the shipping wharves, until the Standard Oil Co., by methods now well known, secured control of all pipe lines and means of transportation, in- cluding heavy special rebates that crushed all com- petitors.

In 1881 Mr. Stockdale removed to Washington, Penn., and published the Review and Examiner until 1886 when he retired from journalistic work and is now in a law office in Washington. In 1884 he received the nomination of the Democratic party for Congress in a District embracing Wash- ington, Beaver and Lawrence counties. In 1883, when the project was untested by experience, he applied for and secured a State Charter, for the transportation and consumption of natural gas for "heat and light." The prosecution of the project by a company of enterprising citizens resulted in the development of natural gas and oil in the imme- diate vicinity, stimulating enterprise, and Washing- ton, Penn., is now the most beautiful, attractive and flourishing town on the waters of the Ohio.

In 1857 Mr. Stockdale married Miss Martha, daughter of Abner Clark, of Ten Mile Valley, Washington Co., Penn., whose grandfather was an early settler of the county. She has a sister, Mrs. Logan, of Philadelphia, Penn., and two brothers, William E. and James E. Clark, both married and living in Washington, D. C. One child, Elizabeth C., has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stockdale, and lives with them at their home on East Wheeling Street, Washington, Pennsylvania.

S C. CARMACK. This gentleman, the genial and popular landlord of the well-known and widely patronized hotel in Monongahela, known as the "Sheplar House," comes of German ancestry.

Peter Carmack, the first of the family known to have been born in America, was reared and mar- ried somewhere "east of the mountains," and in an early day came to Bedford county, Penn., set- tling in the town of St. Clairsville, where he fol- lowed his trade of shoemaker during the rest of his life. He was in politics an Old-line Whig. The children born to him, eight in number, were Abra- ham, Daniel, Peter, Rachel, Susanna, Maria, and two whose names are now unknown. Of this fam- ily, Abraham Carmack was born in Bedford county, Penn., and at the early schools of St. Clairsville received a fairly liberal education for those days. Learning blacksmithing, he followed that trade in his native county, in Somerset county, and for a time in Monongahela, whither he had come in 1839. Shortly after his arrival here, he took up the trade of stone mason which he followed during the rest of his life. He died in 1864, a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Baptist Church. He married Susanna Wickham, of Hancock, Md.,

and the following named children were born to them: Josiah W., Zachariah, Hezekiah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ameriah, Soriah, Maria, Annah Sophia, Margaret Keziah, and Rachel Soriah and Savanah. The mother of this family departed this life in 1884.

In 1852 Hezekiah Carmack married Miss Louisa Crall, of Monongahela, and they had two children: S. C. and Susie V. Mr. Carmack went to Califor- nia in March, 1852, by the overland route, the trip occupying five months, and while en route he fell exhausted from thirst. A friend ran three miles for water, and returned with some just in time to save the life of the nearly expiring man. When he arrived in Sacramento, Mr. Carmack worked for a time at his trade, that of molder, and then' took up land and commenced farming, but a disastrous flood came, which so discouraged him that he be- took himself to the mountains, there to try his luck at mining. Here he, I. Shelby Crall and Lenard Savage located the "Savage Mine" at Virginia City, Nev. After leaving that place, Mr. Carmack located in North San Juan, where he built a saw- mill, at the same time interesting himself in mining. He afterward sold out and proceeded to Chico, Butte Co., Cal., and again took up farming, in- cluding the raising of stock, which he is yet en- gaged in at the same place. In politics he is a straight Democrat.

S. C. Carmack, the subject proper of this sketch, was born February 28, 1862, in North San Juan, Cal., where he received his education. In 1882 he came to Monongahela, and here for some three years worked in Mark Boreland & Son's clothing store, and then for H. Landefeld two years. In April, 1892, he took charge of what is now known as the "Sheplar House," a hostelry he conducts with characteristic ability, care and judgment, and where he is building up a reputation as caterer for the traveling public and others, second to none in the county. On April 13, 1888, while employed in the store of M. Boreland & Sons, Mr. Carmack was married to Lillie, daughter of the late James P. Sheplar (of whom a brief sketch follows), and one child, Prescott, has been born to them. In his political preferences Mr. Carmack is a Repub- lican.

JAMES P. SHEPLAR (deceased), who in his lifetime was one of the best representative men of Monon- gahela, was a native of the county, born in Peters township April 21, 1822, a son of Philip and Mary (Hill) Sheplar, the former of whom first saw the light in Washington county, where he was reared and educated. He married Mary, daughter of Henry Hill, of the same county, and the children born to them were John (deceased), Jacob (in Davenport, Iowa), James P. (deceased), Henry (deceased), Nancy (wife of Capt. James Campbell, of river fame, now residing at Huntington, W. Va.),

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Marvin (deceased), Samuel (on a stock ranch, Santa Rosa, Cal.), Josephine (wife of Dorvile Libbey, in San Francisco, Cal.), and Cyrus (deceased). Philip Sheplar was all his life an enterprising agriculturist in the county, and for years was proprietor of the "Nation Hotel" in Pittsburgh. In politics he was a Whig and Republican, and in church connection a Baptist. He died in Pittsburgh about the year 1862.

James P. Sheplar attended the common schools of the neighborhood of his boyhood liome, and when eighteen years of age went to West Alexan- der where he learned blacksmithing with a man named McGowan. Afterward he worked at his trade in Washington, Manchester, Connellsville and West Newton, and later was engaged in ped- dling stoves in Washington county. In 1852 he went to California by the overland route, the journey taking from March to July 4, following, and here followed his trade for a short time until he commenced mining; but at the latter occupation he did not long remain, for we find that he soon returned to his old trade among the "gold dig- gers." Returning to Washington county in 1852, he concluded to make his future home in Monon- gahela, and having purchased the "Hempfield House," he successfully conducted the same until 1883, when he retired from the hotel business and removed to a comfortable dwelling he had erected in the same town. Some time after taking the hotel he changed its name to "Sheplar House," by which it is now known. In connection with the hotel business Mr. Sheplar at one time dealt largely in sheep, leaving the "House" in the care of his wife while he was absent in Texas buying sheep. There he left them, however, as the war was then in progress, and returned to Washington county, but afterward revisited Texas and sold of his pur- chase what of the sheep could then be found. He also paid no little attention to the oil development in the vicinity of Oil City, Penn., being interested in several wells there.

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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 65

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