Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1, Part 11

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Centre County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Clarion County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 11

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The car works was started in 1873, Mr. Bush contributing the use of the valuable water power. and subscribed $10,000 stock, he being elected the first president of the company.

He was also chiefly interested in getting the nail works here. Mr. Achenbach having come to town for the purpose of trying to raise a com- pany, but without success, Mr. Bush met him at Lock Haven after he had left, brought him back, and immediately called together a few of the in- fluential citizens, and a company was formed headed by Gen: Beaver, and the nail works built.

In order to show their appreciation of Mr. Bush's public spirit, all the leading citizens of Bellefonte, on the fourth of May, 1869, joined in a letter of thanks to him, and the tender of a public dinner at the "Bush House," which Mr. Bush accepted, designating June Ist for the occa- sion, which passed with great eclat.

Constans Commandery No. 33. Knights Tem- plar, was chartered June 10, 1868, Mr. Bush being one of the first signers for the charter, but yielded the right of eminent commander to the Hon. S. T. Shugert, he being the next elected eminent commander. He was a charter appli- cant and the first high priest of the Royal Arch Masons, Chapter No. 241, which was chartered in 1872; he also took a prominent part in the lodge of Free Masons, and was a thirty-second degree Mason of the Scottish Rite Consistory.

Mr. Bush was married to Miss Louisa Tomb, a daughter of George Tomb, of. Jersey Shore, whose ancestors settled at Sunbury about 1750, on the 14th day of December, 1858, and settled permanently in Bellefonte. Their issue was three daughters and two sons, two of the daughters dying in infancy; Elizabeth married Chas. L. Calloway, of Baltimore; George T., at home, is the subject of another sketch; and Harry is at

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

present the general manager for a lumber com- pany at Carthagena, Columbian Republic, South America. Mr. Bush died on the morning of September 23, 1886. The following notice, ap- pearing in the Democratic Watchman the next day, would best indicate the feeling of the com- munity at such a bereavment:

"BELLEFONTE'S BENEFACTOR GONE. . The death of D. G. Bush Esq., which occurred at his residence in this place yesterday morning, of a complication of diseases which have kept him in poor health for several years, removes from our midst one of the biggest-hearted, liberal- minded and enterprising citizens this section of the State has ever had. In his death Bellefonte loses one who has done more to build up the town, to enlarge its business facilities, to add to its real wealth, and to improve it in every way, than all its other capitalists combined. It loses a citizen whom every one respected; a neighbor who was loved by all; a man who needed no seals or written contracts to require him to keep his word; whose integrity was above suspicion and whose liberality in public enterprises others might feel proud to emulate."

The remains of Mr. Bush were committed to the grave at three o'clock on the Saturday after- noon (September 25) following his death, in the Union Cemetery. During the funeral services and burial all places of business were closed, and the people of the town, irrespective of age or sex, mournfully did honor to him who had done so much for the town. The Commandery of Knights Templar from Lock Haven, together with . the Bellefonte Commandery, performed the last im- pressive services of that order. The Bar Asso- ciation attended in a body, he having been one whose counsel was often sought by both older and younger members. The ministers of all the Churches in Bellefonte delivered addresses, and the attendance upon this solemn occasion was the largest ever witnessed in Bellefonte, as every one felt it to be a duty to pay their last respects to him who had done so much for his fellowmen. In the evening the court house was crowded to participate in the memorial services of the Bar Association, and many feeling addresses were de- livered by Hon. A. G. Curtin. Hon. Judges Furst and Hoy, Col. J. L. Spangler, Hon. John G. Love, Wilbur F. Reeder, E. C. Humes and others.

C MOL. J. P. COBURN, president of the First National Bank of Bellefonte, is one of the leading citizens of Centre county, and in fact is well-known throughout eastern Pennsylvania. For forty years he has been identified with al-

most every important enterprise in his locality, and his influence has been helpfully exerted in all the varied activities of social, religious, busi- ness and political life. His title was gained through service upon Gen. George Buchanan's staff, and he was also a member of Gov. A. G. Curtin's staff with the same rank. The peer of the best, he enjoys a wide acquaintance among prominent men, and was a personal friend of James G. Blaine for many years.

The family name was originally Cockburn, and the Colonel's ancestors came from England about 1620, settling in Connecticut. Col. R. Coburn, our subject's great-uncle, did gallant service in the Revolutionary army, and was killed in the battle of Saratoga. The branch of the family in which our interest is especially centered came from Connecticut in the latter part of the last century, and bought lands in Bradford county, Penn., where they located. These estates were later taken from them by the decision in the con- test over the adverse titles granted by Penn and the English Crown.

Dr. Charles Coburn, the Colonel's father. was born in Woodstock, Windham Co., Conn., October 30, 1785. Having prepared for his profession during his early years, he located at Aaronsburg in 1814, where he continued to prac- tice successfully for many years. He was a man of fine intellect, and advanced ideas, a thorough " Yankee," jovial, good-natured, outspoken yet dignified, and was rarely gifted as an agreeable and entertaining conversationalist. Politically, he was an active, earnest and influential Whig, after- ward a Republican. His nature was deeply and sincerely religious; from his youth he was a sincere and earnest member of the Presbyterian Church. and during his early life, when the locality in which he resided was comparatively a wilderness. he carried with him and distributed the Bible while making professional calls among his people with- out cost to those unable or too poor to pay. He organized the first Sunday-school in Aarons- burg, where he resided, and was largely instru- mental with others in founding the Presbyterian Church there, and at Spring Mills, seven miles west of his home, in Penn's Valley, in which he held the office of elder for many years until his death.

On January 15, 1824. Dr. Coburn was united in marriage with Miss Peggy C. Potter, daughter of Gen. James Potter, of Potter township, Cen- tre county, of Revolutionary fame. She died leaving no issue, and on June 24, 1830, Dr. C'o- burn married Miss Margaret Huston, also of Pot- ter township, who was born September 18, 1800. the daughter of James and Catherine (Ewing)

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Huston, a family noted among the people of Penn's Valley for their modest, unostentatious generosity, and sterling integrity. Her father's early home was in the Cumberland Valley, but he became a pioneer settler of Potter township. Centre county, and owned one of the largest and best farms in that locality, his systematic meth- ods of cultivation being an important factor in his successful management. Mrs. Catherine Ewing Huston was during her childhood cap- tured by the Indians in a corn field on her father's home farm near Spruce creek, Hunting- don Co., Penn., and made to tramp barefooted to Niagara Falls and Montreal, where she spent two years or more wandering about with the sav- ages. From constantly hearing and using their language, she had almost forgotten her native tongue, when she was finally exchanged and sent back in safety to her home. Dr. Coburn's long and eminently useful life ended April 25, 1858, and his wife did not long survive him, her death occurring August 21, 1861. Of their five chil- dren, only two lived to adult age-our subject and his sister Margaret, who married Morgan F. Medlar, a banker and broker at Allentown, Penn- sylvania.

Col. Coburn was born July 11, 1831, at Aaronsburg, and the common schools of that town afforded him an entrance to the path of knowledge. Our subject spent three years in school at Owego, N. Y., two at Harrisburg Academy, and then entered the "Old. Tenant School," at Hartsville, Bucks Co., Penn., where he prepared for Yale College. He did not take a collegiate course, however, as both his parents had become invalids, and for their sake he re- turned to Aaronsburg and tenderly cared for them until they passed away, his filial love making this sacrifice a pleasure. For seven years he was engaged in mercantile business as clerk and proprietor, and in the meantime he read law in the office of Hon. A. G. Curtin and Edmund Blanchard, at Bellefonte, Penn., and in 1860 was admitted to practice. His business ability has made him a valued adviser and helper in important ventures. For thirty years he la- bored unceasingly to secure the assistance and aid of capitalists and others in the construction of the Lewisburg & Tyrone railroad, of which he is a director, and which was finally built at a cost of $2, 500,000, and is now in successful oper- ation via Coburn, Lemont and Bellefonte. Although he was acquainted for many years with the route which the road must eventually take, and had the best of opportunities to enrich him- self by purchasing land along the line, he re- frained from taking advantage of the opportunity,

out of a high sense of personal honor and a loyal consideration of the rights of the community. He has served as director of the First National Bank of Bellefonte, with acceptability, and July 1, 1896, he was elected to the office of president. This bank is known as one of the oldest, most reliable and successful banking institutions in this part of Pennsylvania. It is a noteworthy fact that no paper of his was ever discounted or dis- honored, notwithstanding the extensive business operations in which he has engaged. He was married October 17, 1860, to Miss Jane E. Hus- ton, daughter of Thomas Huston, late a well- known and prominent resident of Nittany Valley, Centre county.

Kind and considerate in all the relations of life, the Colonel cherishes enmity toward none. Politically he is a Republican. He has never sought office although frequently offered to him, and no man takes a keener interest in the success of his party, and the prosperity of the country than he, and his counsel is valued by those who know him, while his influence is felt by both friend and opponent.

H ON. JOHN BLAIR LINN, of Bellefonte, is one. of Centre county's many men who have been called to positions of honor and trust- in the public affairs of the State, which, to- gether with his connection with works on local history and genealogy of Pennsylvania families, has given him a large acquaintance and a repu- tation not confined to the State.

William Linn, his great-great-grandfather, emigrated from the North of Ireland, in 1732, and settled in Chester county, Penn. Accord- ing to family tradition, his wife died in Ireland, and he brought with him an only son, William. They remained in Chester county but a few years, when, following the tide of emigration, they set- tled upon the frontier of the Purchase of Octo- ber. 1736, near what is now known as Roxbury, in Franklin county. The names of William Linn, Sr., and William Linn., Jr., appear on the assessment list of Lurgan township, Cumberland county, for the year 1751, one year after the erection of Cumberland county (1750). Here the ancestor died, having nearly reached the one hundredth year of his age. His father fought on the side of " the Orange " at Boyne, July 1. 1690, and was said to have been in Capt. Hugh Wilson's company, the first Irish officer who crossed the river. William Linn, Jr., born in 1722 in Ireland, was an officer in Middle Spring Church. In June, 1755. he was in Philadelphia with his wagon, and with his team was pressed

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHIICAL RECORD.

into the service to haul supplies to Gen. Brad- dock's army, and was present at the noted defeat. He died April 16, 1812, and is buried in the graveyard attached to Middle Spring Church. He was twice married; his first wife, the one from whom our subject descended, was Susanna Trimble, who died, according to tradition, in Shippensburg, in November, 1755, where in con- sequence of an Indian raid the frontier inhabit- ants had gathered. The children by this union were William and John.

The former, William (3) was born in Lurgan township, February 27, 1752; graduated at Prince- ton, N. J., class of 1772; studied theology un- der Rev. Robert Cooper; D. D .; appointed chaplain of 5th and 6th Penn. battalions Feb- ruary 15, 1776; pastor at Big Springs (now Newville), Cumberland county, until 1784; presi- dent of Washington College, Md., 1784-1785; pastor of Collegiate Dutch Church, N. Y .. 1786- 1 1808; the first chaplain of the House of Repre- sentatives, U. S., May 1, 1789. His published works are "Sermons, Historical and Character- istical," N. Y., 1791; "Signs of the Times," N. Y., 1794; " A Funeral Eulogy on Gen. Wash- ington, delivered February 22, 1800, before the New York Society of Cincinnati;" "Sermon on the Death of Alexander Hamilton," etc. Shortly before his death Dr. Linn was elected president of Union College, Schenectady, but was never inaugurated. He died in Albany, N. Y., Janu- ary 8, 1808. Dr. Linn married (first) January 10, 1774, Rebecca Blair, daughter of Rev. John Blair, vice-president of the College of New Jer- sey, at Princeton, 1767-1768.

John Linn, the other son of William Linn (2) by the first marriage, was born in Lurgan township, April 2, 1754. He came from Lurgan to Buffalo Valley (now Union county), Penn., in 1775; on November 7, 1780, he married Ann Fleming, born September 6, 1761, daughter of John and Ann Fleming, of Cumberland county. Their children were: Susanna married William Thompson; Ann married Andrew McBeth; Will- iam married Jane Morrow; John married Mary F. Chamberlin; Margaret married Joseph Mc- Calmont; James F .; and Jemima (died unmar- ried). The parents of these children died, the father on March 18, 1809, and the mother on September 4, 1841.

James F. Linn, next to the youngest child of John Linn, was born December 6, 1802. He | worked on the farm at his mother's until 1818. 1 Later he attended school at Milton, and in 1823 began reading law nuder the direction of James , Merrill. He was admitted to the Bar in 1826, and began the practice of his profession at Lewis-

burg, which place he made his residence through- out life. Beside the profession of law, he was a practical surveyer and very fond of it, which went well with his legal profession in matters of settlements of estates and in the land law trials. He made copies of all surveys, and preserved a copy of every one he made; the copies were in a book, and the others were all filed away separ- ately into townships and counties, and all were indexed in a pass-book, so that a stranger could turn to them and understand. There are over six hundred, and they are a complete history of the early transfers, and many titles would be in- explicable without them. He also preserved a memorandum of every business transaction in which he was engaged. The little slips of paper, on which the calculations and memorandums of the transactions happened to be made, were all gathered up and put away with the case. He kept a common pleas docket, copied precisely from the prothonotary's docket, in which there was no entry except what was to be found there, a collection docket, a brief book, issue lists; in fine, from 1826 to the day he did his last. there is in his office a history of his business. He was an accurate and careful lawyer. He was learned in his profession, and withal, in the early part of his life, carried with it his reading of poetry and history: in later life he was much devoted to the- ology. He was a Democrat, along with the old Democrats of Jefferson, Jackson and Martin VanBuren, became an Abolitionist, voted for Birney, and lived to see the day when his favor- ite themes-Temperance and Abolition of Slav- ery-were triumphant. He was a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, and with all his dignity and appar- ent austerity very friendly to all the amusements of life. His death occurred October 8, 1869. Mr. Linn married July 20, 1826, Margaret I. Wilson, daughter of Hugh Wilson (4) and Cath- erine Irvine, and their children were: Mary L. married Rev. Henry Harbangh, D. D. ; Wilson I. Inarried Elizabeth Brown: John Blair is our sub- ject; J. Merrill married Mary E. Billmeyer; Oli- ver D. died young: Anne C. married Dr. John S. Angle: Laura S. was the first wife of Dr. John S. Angle.

Hugh Wilson (4) was the great-grandson of Thomas Wilson, and was a native of Northamp- ton county, Penn., born October 21, 1761; died on his farm near Lewisburg, Penn., October 9. 1845. He served a number of tours during the Revolution as a militiaman, under Col. Nicholas Kern, and removed to Buffalo Valley (now Union county). Penn .. and kept store at Lewisburg, 1798-1804. He married February 17, 1790, Catherine Irvine, born November 16, 1758, died

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

August 21, 1835, daughter of . Capt. William Irvine, of the Revolution. Thomas Wilson, from whom Hugh is the fourth generation, was an officer in King William's army, among the first to cross the river Boyne, on horseback on the inorning of July 1, 1690. He was specially rewarded, for his bravery, with a grant of land. He resided in County Cavan, Ireland, having an extensive bleach-green within a mile of Coote Hill, not far from the county town. His an- cestors had emigrated from Scotland to Ireland. Thomas had one son Hugh, born in 1689, in County Cavan, Ireland; married Sarah Craig, in Ireland; emigrated to America and settled in the "Irish Settlement" as early as 1736. His home lay northwest of what is now known as Howertown, in Allen township, Northampton Co., Penn. His land comprises 730 acres. He erected a flour- ing-mill which was torn down as late as the spring of 1857. Upon the erection of North- ampton county, in 1752, he was commissioned one of the justices of the peace for the county .. His last commission as justice was issued March 15, 1766. His death occurred in the autumn of 1773, and his remains rest in the old graveyard at the settlement.

John Blair Linn was born at Lewisburg, Penn., October 15, 1831, and inherited his incli- nation to genealogy and local history from his father, James F. Linn, whose memorandums and newspaper files were the sources from which inuch of whatever is valuable in the " Annals of Buffalo Valley" was derived. He was prepared for college at the Lewisburg Academy, under John Robinson, Esq., late of the Philadelphia Bar; entered Marshall College at Mercersburg, Penn., in May, 1846 (sophomore class), half ad- vanced, where he graduated at the age of seven- teen in the same class with the Hon. Charles A. Mayer, some years ago president judge of Clinton and Centre counties. He read law in his father's office, and was admitted to the Bar September 10, 1851. The years 1852 and 1853 he spent in Sullivan county, which had just been opened out, where he was elected district attorney. He re- turned to Union county in 1854, where he prac- aced his profession until his removal to Belle- fonte, in April, 1871. On April 10, 1873, he Was appointed deputy secretary of the Common- wealth by the Hon. M. S. Quay, and May 15, 18;8, upon the resignation of Mr. Quay, he was commissioned Secretary of the Commonwealth, " which incumbency he remained until after wow Hoyt was inaugurated. and then returned *.. Bellefonte. Mr. Linn and Dr. Egle were nade editors of the Second Series of Pennsyl- ima Archives, the publication of which was rec-

ommended by Gov. Hartranft in his annual message, January 7, 1874, and they were is- sued in twelve volumes, under Mr. Quay's su- pervision. In 1879 Mr. Linn published the "Annals of Buffalo Valley," a local work em- bracing the history of Union county principally. It is a book of 620 pages, replete with interest, though largely local, and involved an immense amount of painstaking labor. While he was Secretary of the Commonwealth, there was pub- lished under his direction " Duke of York's laws, 1676-82, and Laws of the Province, 1682-1700." In 1882 he edited a " History of Centre and Clin- ton counties" in a handsome volume of nearly 700 pages, which has preserved all that is of value of " Men and things in these counties " in a readable and entertaining shape. Mr. Linn has not only inherited from his father his incli- nation to genealogy and local history, but also that same methodical and systematic manner of looking after his business affairs, and that same sense of right, justice and honor and Christian manhood-characteristic of his father-is pos- sessed by him. He is an exemplary. citizen, known and beloved by all. His work in the line of history and genealogy has been one of labor and love-he being fond of research and inves- tigation. He possesses that love of books, and a literary taste that has been characteristic of a distinguished ancestry. He is identified with the Presbyterian Church. Politically he is a Re- publican. During the war of the Rebellion he was a patriot, and served his country.

Mr. Linn was twice married; (first) October 22, 1857, to Julia J. Pollock, borr February 2, 1831, daughter of F. W. Pollock, of Milton, Penn., and their children were : Sarah P. G., born April 9, 1859; and Bessie W., born Sep- tember 13, 1860. Was married (second) to Mary E. D. Wilson, daughter of Samuel Hunter and Mary Benner Wilson, and their children are: Mary H., born July 26, 1869, and Henry Sage, born January 18, 1873, at Bellefonte, Penn. The latter is a member of the Society of Cincin- nati. He is associated in the office with his fa- ther under whom he is preparing himself for the profession of the law. A well-educated. bright, genial and affable young man, he surely has be- fore him a promising future.

J UDGE AUSTIN O. FURST. Every profes- sion has its prominent men; some made such by long membership, and others by their pro- ficiency in their calling. The subject of this sketch is made conspicuous among the jurists of Centre county both by the length of time he has

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

devoted to the pursuit, and by the eminent suc- cess he has made of it. He is one of those men who may be said to have chosen well in the se- lection of a profession. Possessed of a keen sense of discrimination, mature judgment and a natural taste for the various branches of legal business, he has by years of study and practice placed himself among the foremost members of the learned Bar of the great State of Pennsyl- vania.

Judge Furst has descended from honored fore- fathers who came to America from Holland after the Reformation, his paternal ancestors being followers of Martin Luther. John George Furst, the grandfather of Judge Furst, purchased from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania a large tract of land in the eastern portion of Nittany Valley, which he laid out into farms for his four sons- George, John, Samuel and Thomas -- and daugh- ter-Catherine. These sons and daughter were reared in the Valley referred to, married there, and settled on that tract of land. George, how- ever, afterward located in the vicinity of Free- port, Ill., where he passed the rest of his days. Two of the sons, Samuel and Thomas, were noted hunters of this section of the country, in which they were reared. The five children above named were strongly attached to the Church of their forefathers. John George Furst died in Clinton county (formerly Centre) in 1821, and his wife, Agnes, in 1813.

John Furst, the second son of John George Furst, and the father of Judge Furst, was born in the Susquehanna Valley, August 18, 1785, and was given one of the farms referred to, on which he resided until his death, which occurred April 14, 1859, when he was nearly seventy-four years old. He was a man of ordinary education, but possessed good common sense; a man of practi- cal ideas which made him a useful citizen, and he was a lifelong agriculturist. He was inter- ested, and took an active part, in the local af- fairs of the county; was a Jacksonian Democrat, and in his religious views was a Lutheran. His wife, Barbara (Shuman), was a daughter of John and Catherine Shuman, of Millerstown, Perry county, this State. John Shuman died March 7, 1807, aged forty-five years, his wife, Cather- ine, passing away in 1826, at the age of sixty years. In religious faith the Shumans were Methodists. To the marriage of John Furst and Barbara Shuman were born eleven children. Judge Furst being next to the youngest. The mother, who was a woman of great force of character, lived to the advanced age of eighty- seven years, being remarkably well-preserved both physically and mentally. Her death oc-

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Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1, Part 11

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1358

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1358