USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Volume I > Part 31
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In politics Mr. Mansfield is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party, in the local councils of which he has long been an active factor. For six years he was member of the Beaver council, and school director; and for twenty-five years was justice of the peace for Darlington township and mar- ried eight hundred and seventy-six
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couples, mostly runaway couples, who came into Pennsylvania to escape the Ohio license law. In 1880 he was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature, also in 1890, 1892, 1894, and again in 1903, cov- ering five terms or ten years. While in the Legislature he was a member of many important committees including the coal and mining, of which he was chairman, and the appropriation and sol- diers' orphans' committees. He was an active and influential representative, and secured considerable important legisla- tion for Beaver county.
Mr. Mansfield retains a deep and sin- cere interest in his old comrades-in- arms, and signifies the same by member- ship in Beaver Post, No. 362, Grand Army of the Republic. Formerly he be- longed to Darlington Post, serving as commander of both posts for many years. He has passed through all the degrees of Masonry and has attained the thirty- second degree in the Scottish Rite. He is affiliated with the order of Odd Fel- lows, and likewise connected with the Knights of Pythias, passing all the of- cial chairs.
In 1911 Mr. Mansfield published a volume entitled "Historical Collections of Little Beaver River Valley," with il- lustrations and check lists of some eight hundred wild flowers, ferns and birds ; and in the extended discoveries of fossil ferns, birds, insects and shells, has clear- ly shown that the primitive organic structures of this world were much more perfect than is generally believed, and compared with the fossils of the tertiary veins, simply discloses some develop- ment but no evolution. Truly, each form of being was perfect from the first. He has also published a volume on Fire Clays, and one on Cannel and Bituminous Coals of this section of the State. All his works are recognized authorities in their respective departments. He is a member of the American Philosophical
Society of Philadelphia, the A. A. A. S. of Boston, and has contributed many valu- able specimens to various important col- lections of the country.
December 13, 1872, Mr. Mansfield was married to Lucy E. Mygatt, and they are the parents of three children: Kirtland M., is unmarried and is connected with the schools at Elwyn, Pennsylvania; Henry B., is married and resides at Rochester, where he is in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Lines; and Mary L., remains at the parental home. Mr. and Mrs. Mansfield are loyal mem- bers of the Beaver Presbyterian Church, in which Mr. Mansfield has been an eld- er for thirty-four years. Ira F. Mans- field became a member of Christ Epis- copal Church in Philadelphia, when five years of age, and has ever since been a regular Sunday school attendant, with the exception of the three years spent as a soldier in the Civil War. In the Mt. Pleasant Church at Darlington for twelve years, and in the Beaver Church since 1887, he has taught a Bible class of forty women, and is an ardent church worker. The family home is one of the most im- posing in this city of beautiful residences, and is situated on a high elevation at the corner of College and First streets, the same overlooking the Ohio river and its beautiful fertile valley.
Mr. Mansfield has lived a life of use- fulness such as few men know. God- fearing, law-abiding, progressive, his life is as truly that of a Christian gentle- man as any man's can well be. Unwav- eringly he has done the right as he has interpreted it. His life history is cer- tainly worthy of commendation and of emulation, for along honorable and straightforward lines he has won the suc- cess which crowns his efforts and which makes him one of the substantial resi- dents of Beaver and the great State of Pennsylvania.
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BROBECK, Charles P.,
Financier.
Charles P. Brobeck, now living virtu- ally retired at Rochester, Pennsylvania, was here engaged in the drug business for fully a third of a century. His busi- ness tactics were always characterized by fair and honorable methods, and his ad- mirable success was on a parity with his well directed endeavors. He has been a potent influence in banking circles in this city, and is still a member of the board of directors in the People's National Bank. He has ever manifested a deep and sincere interest in all matters affect- ing the good of the general welfare, and in every respect is a loyal and public- spirited citizen.
At Monaca, in Beaver county, Penn- sylvania, occurred the birth of Charles Philip Brobeck, who is a son of Henry Jackson and Pauline F. (Swarz) Bro- beck, the former of whom was born in Beaver county, and the latter in Ger- many, whence she came to America with her parents in 1831, at the age of four years. Henry Jackson Brobeck was cap- tain of a steamboat on the Ohio river during the short period of his active career, and he was summoned to the life eternal July 2, 1858, at the comparatively early age of thirty-nine years. His cher- ished and devoted wife, who long sur- vived him, passed away April 23, 1906, aged seventy-nine years. Mr. Brobeck was originally an old-line Whig in poli- tics but after the formation of the Re- publican party transferred his allegiance to that organization. He was always in- terested in community affairs, and gave freely of his aid and influence in support of all measures and enterprises for- warded for the betterment of mankind.
The first in order of birth in a family of two children, Charles P. Brobeck, was reared to maturity in Beaver county, where he attended the public schools and
Beaver Academy, in which latter institu- tion of learning he was graduated, in the year 1872. His sister, Matilda F., whose birth occurred January 6, 1848, is now residing at Rochester. After completing his education Mr. Brobeck was employed in a drugstore at Rochester for a number of years, and in 1873 he engaged in the drug business on his own account in this city. He built up a splendid patronage as a druggist, and at the time of his re- tirement, in 1906, he was the owner of one of the finest drug establishments in Rochester. During the period of his career he has been actively identified with a number of important business concerns of a local character, and he was one of the organizers of the Rochester National Bank, in which he was a direc- tor from the time of its incorporation until it was absorbed by the Rochester Trust Company. He also assisted in the organization of the People's National Bank, in which he has considerable money invested and in which he is still a director.
September 25, 1884, Mr. Brobeck was united in marriage to Miss Matilda L. C. Brehm, a daughter of August and An- gusta (Mascher) Brehm, who immi- grated to the United States from Ger- many shortly after their marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Brobeck are the parents of two children: Amalia Augusta, born June 24, 1885; and Frederick Henry, born October 26, 1887. Frederick Henry Bro- beck is most successfully engaged, tem- porarily, in the banking business at Monaca, in the Monaca National Bank. Mrs. Brobeck is a woman of most pleas- ing personality and she is deeply beloved by all who have came within the sphere of her gentle influence.
In his political convictions Mr. Bro- beck is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor, and while he has never been an aspirant
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for the honors or emoluments of public office of any description, he is well in- formed on all public questions and gives a loyal support to men and measures meeting with the approval of his judg- ment. In a fraternal way he is prom- inent in Masonic circles and in religious matters he and his wife are devout Pres- byterians. The family have been zealous factors in church and Sunday school work and are generous contributors to all charitable organizations.
KENNEDY, Charles H., Lawyer, Public Official.
The activity and enterprise of any growing center of population is perhaps as clearly indicated in the class of pro- fessional men who look after its legal interests as in any other respect, and it is with pleasure that we refer to the career of Charles H. Kennedy. He is the popular and efficient incumbent of the office of burgess of New Brighton, and has gained a position of distinctive priority as one of the representative members of the bar of this section of the State, where he has a large legal prac- tice and where he is financially inter- ested in a number of important business enterprises.
Charles Hugh Kennedy was born at New Brighton, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1882, and is a son of George F. and Ella B. (White) Kennedy, both of whom were born in Beaver county, this State, and both of whom are living (1913), their home being at New Brighton. George F. Kennedy is of Scotch-Irish descent, and is associated with his broth- er Thomas L. in the cooperage mann- facturing business, being a member of the well-known M. T. & S. Kennedy Com- pany, which concern was organized by Samuel and Mathew T. Kennedy. He is a Republican in politics and takes an ac- tive part in community affairs, having served for twenty years in the borough
council and for twelve years as a mem- ber of the local school board.
To the public schools of New Brigh- ton, Charles Hugh Kennedy is indebted for his preliminary educational training. He was graduated in high school in 1900, and then entered Geneva College, at Beaver Falls, in which excellent in- stitution he was a student for two years. In 1903 he entered the office of Judge Hice, at Beaver, and there began to study law. He made rapid progress in his legal studies, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania State Bar in Septem- ber, 1906. During the year 1907-8 he at- tended the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Kennedy initiated the active prac- tice of his profession at New Brighton in the fall of 1908, and he now has a large and lucrative clientage. He has figured prominently in a number of im- portant litigations in the State and Fed- eral courts, and he ranks as one of the most skilled attorneys in this part of the State. In connection with his profession- al work he is a member of the Beaver County Bar Association and in politics he is an uncompromising Republican. In the fall of 1908 he was elected bur- gess of New Brighton for a term of four years, and he is acquitting himself with all honor and distinction in discharging the duties of that position. He is secre- tary and treasurer of the Fallston Fire Clay Company at New Brighton and he is interested in other business concerns of a local nature.
Mr. Kennedy is a member of Union Lodge, No. 259, Free and Accepted Masons, also the Chapter, Comman- dery and Lodge of Perfection, and he is likewise affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. He is connected with the Beaver Valley Country Club and is an advocate of good healthy athletics. He was reared in the faith of the United Presbyterian church. Mr. Kennedy is unmarried.
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WILBUR, Warren Abbott,
Financier, Man of Large Affairs.
A man of affairs whose celebrity ex- tends far beyond the limits of his county is Warren Abbott Wilbur, of South Beth- lehem. founder of the Bethlehem Foundry Machine Company, and for twenty years its president. Mr. Wilbur is officially identified with a number of financial and industrial organizations, and has been, for more than a quarter of a century, a leader in the business world of his city and county.
Henry Wilbur, grandfather of Warren Abbott Wilbur, was a representative of an old Connecticut family, and was dur- ing his early life a sea captain, later re- moving to Mauch Chunk, where he passed the remainder of his years. He married Eveline Packer, sister of Judge Asa Packer, and, like himself, a member of an old New England family. Mr. Wil- bur died in 1863 and his widow passed away in 1868.
Elisha Packer Wilbur, son of Henry and Eveline (Packer) Wilbur, was born January 31. 1833, in Mystic, Connecticut, and in 1859 settled in Bethlehem, where he engaged extensively in the coal busi- ness. While still a youth he became con- nected with the Lehigh Valley railroad, and rose steadily step by step, becoming eventually its president, a position which he held for many years. He married Stella M., daughter of Merritt Abbott, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and they be- came the parents of several children, of whom the eldest was Warren Abbott, mentioned below. The record of Mr. Wilbur, both as a business man and a citizen is one of unusual honor and dis- tinction.
Warren Abbott Wilbur, son of Elisha Packer and Stella M. (Abbott) Wilbur, was born May 1, 1859, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and received his primary education in the parochial school of Beth- lehem, passing thence to Mount Pleasant
Academy and then entering Swarthmore College. His business career began in September, 1877, when he entered the service of the Bethlehem Iron Works Company, afterward operating a blast furnace and carrying on coal operations. In 1880 he became a partner in the firm of E. P. Wilbur & Company. In 1887 he was made vice-president of E. P. Wilbur Trust Company, and in 1910, upon the death of his father, succeeded to the office of president. He was a partner and stock- holder in the firm of J. W. Fuller & Com- pany, afterward the Lehigh Car Wheel & Axle Company. Mr. Wilbur is now presi- dent and director of the following orga- nizations: The Sayre Water Company ; the First National Bank of Sayre ; the Jef- ferson Coal Company; Connellsville & State Line Railroad Company ; the Wil- bur Coal & Coke Company ; and the Val- ley Coal & Coke Company of West Vir- ginia. He is president of the Jefferson Railroad Company, and a director in the Lehigh Foundry Company, the Lehigh Pulverizer Mill Company, the Lehigh Valley National Bank, the Western Mary- land Railroad, the Lehigh Valley Trac- tion Company, the Lehigh Coke Company and the Franklin Coal Company. He is also president of the Packer Coal Com- pany, and a director of the Empire Steel and Iron Company. This long list of ar- duous and responsible positions would be simply astounding to anyone unfamiliar with Mr. Wilbur's character and career, but to those who know his capacity for work, his power of concentration and clearness and rapidity of judgment, it suggests nothing marvelous nor even un- usual.
It is, however, a mistake to think of Mr. Wilbur solely as a business man. He is deeply interested in educational institutions and in charitable and benev- olent work. He is chairman of the ex- ecutive committee of the board of trus- tees of Lehigh University, and treas-
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urer and also trustee of St. Luke's Hos-
A native of Moon township, Beaver pital. In all municipal affairs he takes a county, Pennsylvania, David Kerr Coop- public-spirited interest, and holds the er was born February 17, 1856, and is a office of treasurer of the borough of South Bethlehem. Politically he is a Democrat. He belongs to the Society of Mining Engineers, the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars, the South Bethlehem, Bethlehem and Northampton Clubs, the Phila- delphia Club and the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia, and the Pennsyl- vania Society of New York. He affili- ates with the Masonic fraternity, includ- ing the Knights Templar; also the Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Episcopal church.
Mr. Wilbur married (first) Sallie P. Lindermann, daughter of Dr. G. B. Lin- dermann, and they became the parents of one son: Robert E., born July 17, 1881. Mr. Wilbur married (second) Kate, daughter of Charles Brodhead.
Mr. Wilbur is a man who has caused his prosperity to minister to the general good. It is such men as he who, wher- ever they are found, impart an impetus to business and vitalize all the best in- terests of their communities.
COOPER, David K.,
Educator, Lawyer.
David Kerr Cooper, who is a member of the well-known law firm of Cooper & Richey, of Beaver, Pennsylvania, maintains his offices in the Beaver Trust Building. He is a distinguished at- torney in this city and, inasmuch as he has gained his success and prestige through his own endeavors, the more honor is due him for his earnest labors in his exacting profession, and for the pre- cedence he has gained in his chosen vo- cation. He has long figured prominently in Republican political circles and is a man of mark in all the relations of life. Arts. Upon leaving college he was
son of Robert and Mary (Ewing) Coop- er, both of whom are deceased, the form- er having passed to the life eternal Au- gust 28, 1893, at the age of seventy-seven years, and the latter having died May 12, 1871, aged forty-seven years. Robert Cooper was a prominent farmer in Beav- er county during his active career, and he was a stalwart Republican in his po- litical allegiance. He was active in pub- lic affairs and was always foremost in everything that pertained to the advance- ment of his community. He was in- cumbent of a number of local offices and served for a term of three years as di- rector of the poor of the county. He was a lifelong member of the United Presbyterian church and a ruling elder in the old Raccoon Church for many years. He was a man of honorable and straightforward methods in his dealings with his fellow citizens, and commanded the unalloyed confidence and esteem of all with whom he came in contact.
The sixth in order of birth in a family of nine children, David Kerr Cooper, was reared to maturity on the old home- stead farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. As a boy he attended the dis- trict schools of Moon township and later was a student in Beaver Academy for several terms. Both before and after leaving the Academy he taught school, three years in the district schools of Beaver county and five years in the Sharpsburg Academy, at Allegheny. During the latter five years he also pre- pared himself for college, and in 1883, was matriculated as a student in West- minster College, at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, in which he was grad- uated as a member of the class of 1884, duly receiving his degree of Master of
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elected superintendent of the Public Mrs. Cooper are devout members of the Schools at Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, United Presbyterian church, in which he is a member of the board of trustees. Both are active in church and Sunday school work. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the lodge, chapter, council and commandery of the time-honored Masonic order. The attractive Beaver home is maintained at No. 154 Beaver street, and the same is the scene of many interesting social gatherings. and for the next four years was the pop- ular and efficient incumbent of that po- sition. In the meantime he had been registered as a law student in the office of IIon. John N. Buchanan, of Beaver, and he was admitted to the State bar September 17, 1889. Mr. Cooper initi- ated the active practice of his profession at Beaver, and here carried on an indi- vidual practice until April, 1890, when he formed a partnership alliance with Rob- FRENCH, Aaron,
ert Richey, with whom he has since been associated in a most successful law prac- tice. He has been admitted to practice in all the State courts, and in connection with the work of his profession is a valued and appreciative member of the Beaver County Bar Association. He is a member of the board of directors of the Fort McIntosh National Bank, at Beaver, and is financially interested in other important business enterprises of a local nature.
In his political convictions Mr. Cooper is an uncompromising supporter of the principles and policies upheld by the Re- publican party, in the local councils of which he has long been an active work- er. In 1901 he was honored by his fel- low citizens with election to the office of District Attorney for Beaver county, and he served in that capacity for one term. He has on several occasions been a member of the Republican County Committee and has frequently been chairman thereof. He has likewise been a delegate to District and State conven- tions.
April 16, 1895, Mr. Cooper married Miss Ola Capron, a daughter of Smith M. and Sarah J. (Jilson) Capron, of Lewis county, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have one son and one daughter: David Kerr, Jr., whose birth occurried February 1, 1907; and Ola, born Septem- ber 4, 1908. In religious matters Mr. and
Manufacturer, Man of Affairs.
A man of singularly strong personality which exerted a powerful influence on his subordinates and all about him was to be found in the person of the late Aaron French, organizer and president of the A. French Spring Company, of Pitts- burgh. He found the happiness of his life in the success of his work, and in the company which he organized he has raised for himself a magnificent testi- monial to his business enterprise and determination. It is rare to find a work of this scope and importance practically the result of a single directing intelli- gence. His business judgment was sound and clear, and he was possessed of an amount of foresight which enabled him to develop his business interests to the very best advantage.
Aaron French, grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, resided in Massa- chusetts.
Philo French, son of Aaron French, was born in West Springfield, Massa- chusetts, in 1795, and died in October, 1823, at the early age of twenty-eight years. After acquiring a reasonably good education for the time at the public schools, he became associated with his father in the manufacture of powder, but the mill in which they were financi- ally interested having been wrecked by an explosion in 1817, they removed to
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that part of Ohio known as the Western Reserve of Connecticut, and made their home at Wadsworth. They were pion- eer settlers in that district, the only roadways leading to the settlement be- ing those wluch had been blazed by the residents. Mr. French acquired a suffici- ent amount of property here, which he cleared for cultivation of the home sup- plies, and his position as traveling agent for a powder house in the east added materially to his income. He married Mary, a daughter and youngest child of William McIntyre, a Highland Scotch- man. Mrs. French had thirteen sisters and brothers, all of whom attained an age of seventy-five years and upward, she herself living to be ninety-one years of age, her death occurring in 1877. She married (second) Daniel Stearns, of Ohio, by whom she had seven children : John M. and Lucy, twins; William L., David E., Frank N., Daniel M., Charles L. The children of Mr. and Mrs. French were: Philo, born February 22, 1819; Henry, who died at the age of twenty- seven years; and Aaron, see forward.
Aaron French, youngest child of Philo and Mary (McIntyre) French, was born in Wadsworth, Medina county, Ohio, March 23, 1823. His school attendance was limited, as he was obliged to begin the practical and active work of aiding in his support at the early age of twelve years. His first employment was as as- sistant in farm labors, and the following year he was apprenticed to learn the blacksmith's trade. It had always been a matter of keen regret to him that he could not attend school for a longer period of time, but he tried throughout his life to supply this deficiency, and suc- ceeded far beyond his expectations. Two years were spent in the employ of the Ohio Stage Company at Cleveland, Ohio; one year with the Guyosa House, in Memphis, Tennessee, and he was then for a time a western agent for the Ameri- played decided executive ability. He
can Fur Company. These widely divers- ified lines of business gave him an in- sight into business conditions which was invaluable in his later career. When he was twenty years of age he became a student at the Archie McGregor Acad- emy at Wadsworth, Ohio, and pursued a course of one year's duration. He left this institution in the fall of 1844, cast his vote for Henry Clay, for president, and went to the south after the election. The following year found him in St. Louis, Missouri, and later his services were en- gaged by Peter Young, in Carlyle, Clin- ton county, Illinois, in the manufacture of wagons. While thus engaged he was stricken with a severe attack of chills and fever which kept him confined to a bed of sickness for almost four months, and, after returning to Ohio with his brother, he was incapacitated for work which required any degree of activity for about four years. While his body was of necessity comparatively inactive, the mind of Mr. French was storing itself with a mass of knowledge which fitted him later in life to bear with honor the enor- mous interests and responsibilities which developed upon him. When he resumed his active business career he accepted a position which had been offered him by the Cleveland, Columbus & Lake Shore Railroad Company at Cleveland, Ohio, and one of his first works was the erec- tion of the iron structure necessary for the Painesville bridge. His connection with this company was uninterrupted until his return to Norwalk, Ohio, in 1854. The cholera epidemic of that year laid low numerous victims, and Mr. French was the only man who was able to work throughout this dreadful season, his employment being in a blacksmith shop. The following year he was given charge of the blacksmith department of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh railroad at Wellsville, in which capacity he dis-
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