USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Volume I > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
Although Judge Kirkpatrick failed of election at the time he was a candidate for the bench, because of the strong Dem- ocratic majority in the district, he was in the same year elected president of the Alumni Association of Lafayette Col- lege, and in 1875 he was appointed Dean of the Law Department of that college, which in that year was established. He continued to fill the position until fi- to the wearisome details, quick to com-
281
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
prehend the most subtle problems, and THOMPSON, Joseph Henry, logical in his conclusions, fearless in the Lawyer, Legislator. advocacy of any cause he might espouse, he took to his office rare qualifications for success, and his course during the four years of his service as Attorney General was one which awakened the highest commendation of the best citi- zens of Pennsylvania.
On the expiration of his term of office, Judge Kirkpatrick returned to Easton, where he resumed the private practice of law. In 1894 he was unanimously nom- inated for Congress by the Republican party in the Eighth Congressional Dis- trict, and reduced the usual large Demo- cratic majority to less than two hundred votes. In 1896 he was again nominated, and after a hotly contested conflict was elected by a majority of three hundred and twenty-nine over his competitor, Laird H. Barber, the Democratic nom- inee, carrying his own county by an in- creased majority. He took a prominent part in the session of the Fifty-fifth Con- gress, and delivered a number of speeches on the momentous questions of the day that attracted widespread interest. He was an ardent supporter of the adminis- tration of President Mckinley, and his Congressional record won for him the admiration and support of his constitu- ents throughout the district. The good of the nation he places before partisan- ship, and the welfare of his constituents before personal aggrandizement. He commanded the respect of the members of Congress, and at home,-in the state of his nativity where he is best known, -- he inspires personal friendships of un- usual strength.
Judge Kirkpatrick was married, No- vember 20, 1873, to Miss Elizabeth H. Jones, a daughter of Mathew Hale Jones, and their children are two in number : William Huntingdon and Donald Kirk- patrick.
Joseph Henry Thompson, one of the young and rising members of the Beaver county bar, is the son of Jacob and Sarah Jane (Reilly) Thompson, of Kilkeel, County Down, Ireland, and Boston, Massachusetts. In 1871 Jacob Thompson and family came to the United States, locating in Boston where he was in the bakery business until his accidental death in 1883. Mrs. Thompson was in very poor health and, showing no improve- ment after a sojourn in California, was compelled to accept her physician's dictum, that the only hope for her and her babe was in a quick return to her na- tive island. She returned to Ireland in July, 1872, and regained her health, liv- ing there until her death in August, 1903.
Joseph Henry Thompson was born in Kilkeel, County Down, Ireland, Sep- tember 26, 1871 ; a few months later the family came to Boston, Massachusetts, and a year later he was again taken across the seas with his invalid mother to their former home. He was educated in the public schools, continuing in Ire- land until April, 1889, at which time he came again to the United States, where he entered Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, whence he was graduated Bachelor of Arts, class of 1904. He then took a post-graduate course at the University of Pittsburgh, received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from that in- stitution in 1905. He decided upon the profession of law and at once entered the law department of the University of Pittsburgh.
Mr. Thompson was admitted to the Beaver county bar in 1908 and at once began the practice of his profession in Beaver Falls. He is a member of the Beaver County Bar Association, and holds a leading position among the
282
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
younger lawyers of the county bar. He McDOWELL, Major Alexander, has taken an active part in politics and has received deserved recognition from his party.
He was made the chairman of the Beav- er County Republican Committee in 1910 and 1911; nominated for State Sen- ator from the Forty-seventh Senatorial District April 13, 1911, and elected at the following election in November. He took his seat at the following session, serving on committees. Mr. Thompson has been a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard since February 28, 1906, enlisting on that date as a private of Company H, Fourteenth Regiment ; was elected second lieutenant, November I, 1906; elected and commissioned captain of Company B, Tenth Regiment, Decem- ber 17, 1910, and elected major of the Tenth Regiment of Infantry, June 29, 1912.
He is a member of Beaver Valley Lodge, No. 478, Free and Accepted Ma- sons; Chapter No. 28, Royal Arch Ma- sons; Beaver Valley Commandery, No. 84, Knights Templar, and New Castle Lodge of Perfection, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He also is a member of Beaver Falls Lodge, No. 348, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Al Hakim Grotto, No. 33, of New Castle, Pennsyl- vania, and Beaver Falls Lodge, No. 758, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His clubs are the Tamaqua of Beaver Falls, Beaver Valley; Country, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh Athletic Association, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mr. Thompson and wife are members of St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Beaver Falls, Penn- sylvania.
He was married, September 26, 1908, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Violet Edith, daughter of Charles E. and Violet Smeigh. Child: Joseph Smeigh Thomp- son, born in Beaver Falls, August 3, 1909.
Soldier, Legislator, Financier.
A man who has with unusual force stamped his personality upon his com- munity and his times, is Major Alexander McDowell, of Sharon, President of the McDowell National Bank, ex-Congress- man and veteran of the Civil War. For more than forty years Major McDowell has been a resident of Sharon, and he is inseparably and conspicuously identified with all the city's most vital and per- manent interests.
Parker McDowell, father of Alexand- er MeDowell, was a native of Venango county, Pennsylvania, and was for years engaged in the lumber business. While always a prominent member of the Whig party, he neither sought nor held office. Mr. McDowell married Lavinia, born at Titusville, daughter of Jonathan Titus, in honor of whom the place had received its name.
Alexander, son of Parker and Lavinia (Titus) McDowell, was born March 4, 1845, in Franklin, Venango county, where he received his education in the publie schools. At an early age he learned the printer's trade, and worked on the first paper ever published in Titusville, after- ward being employed on the first sheet issued in Oil City. Later Mr. McDowell was for about five years editor and pub- lisher of the "Venango Citizen", a week- ly Republican organ, published in Frank- lin. It was in the office of this paper that Mr. McDowell had learned his trade. In 1869 lie disposed of his interests therein, and in 1870 came to Sharon and engaged in the banking business with Colonel James Bleakeley, and William J. Bleake- ley, under the firm name of James Bleakeley Son & Company. In 1872 he bought out his partners and continued business as a private banker, under the name of Alexander McDowell, Banker, and continued so until 1907, when the
283
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
McDowell National Bank was chartered.
In politics Major Alexander McDowell has always been an active Republican and has taken a leading part in public af- fairs. The year after his coming to Sharon he became a member of the school board, and he is still serving in that body, having held for thirty-eight years the office of treasurer of the board. In 1892 he was elected to the Fifty-third Congress as Congressman-at-large from the State of Pennsylvania, and following the Fifty-third Congress he was chosen clerk of the House of Representatives, serving sixteen years consecutively, and then retiring upon the election of a Dem- ocratic Congress. Since his withdrawal from public life Major McDowell has given his whole attention to his duties as bank president and to his extensive private interests in Sharon.
Circle in Sharon, and is a man of in- fluence in all circles.
Major McDowell married, September 19, 1866, Clara, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Dubbs) Bleakeley, of Frank- lin, the family having originally come from Dauphin county. Major and Mrs. McDowell are the parents of the follow- ing children : James P., a farmer ; Eliza- beth, wife of Edward Bucholz, a mer- chant of Sharon ; Willis, lieutenant-com- mander, United States Navy; Mary B .; Clara, wife of Glenn Carley, a contractor of Sharon; and Harry B., cashier of the McDowell National Bank.
A career like that of Major McDowell is its own eulogy, and is perhaps best summed up in the simple words-finan- cier, legislator, soldier-honorable in all.
On July 12, 1862, Major McDowell en- KING, Dr. Cyrus Black, listed in Company A, One Hundred and Physician, Surgeon. Twenty-first Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, with the rank of Of the great professions, arms, law and medicine, that illustrious trio which has for centuries given to the world some of its noblest leaders and benefactors, that of medicine is certainly the most gracious. Its votaries, unlike those of arms and the law, wage war not with any portion of mankind, but with the enemies of the human race at large, and in their hour of triumph they hear none but friendly voices. The warrior comes from the bat- tlefield bearing the palm of the vic- tor, hearing at the same time the shouts and plaudits of his triumphant followers and the groans and defiance of the vanquished; the laurels won in in- tellectual controversy crown the brow of the advocate, while the mingled voices of applause and execration resound through the forum; but the physician's conquest is the subjugation of disease, and his paeans are sung by those whom he has redeemed from suffering and pos- sergeant. His regiment formed a part of the Army of the Potomac and partici- pated in all the battles of that army. He was wounded at Gettysburg on the eve- ning of the first day, and for two days thereafter was a prisoner, the ground of his regiment being captured. He was paroled on the field and was on parole for sixty days, rejoining his regiment shortly before the battle of the Wilder- ness, where he was again severely wounded. After his recovery he was brevetted Major and assigned to the Twenty-first Regiment, United States Regulars. Being discharged on account of his wounds, he served with his regi- ment until March, 1865. Major Mc- Dowell affiliates with the Masonic Order and is a member of the Chapter and Commandery, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks. He was one of the organizers of the Protected Home sibly from death, and when his weapons
284
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
fail to cope with an adversary whom he can never wholly vanquish, his sympathy alleviates the pang he cannot avert.
In the foremost ranks of these helpers of humanity stands Dr. Cyrus B. King, one of the most prominent among the physicians and surgeons of the Iron City. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1839, the youngest but one, in a family of twelve children born to Dr. Samuel M. King and Maria (Black) King. The parents were both natives of Western Pennsylvania. His paternal grandfather, Samuel, was a na- tive of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, of Scotch- Irish descent, and the advent of the fam- ily to the Keystone State antedates the Revolutionary War. Samuel King was a merchant of Carlisle. He moved to two years longer. For years Dr. King Uniontown, Fayette county, near the close of the past century, becoming one of the first merchants of that place and a man of note in the community. Samuel Black, Dr. Cyrus B. King's maternal grandfather, came from Ireland to Amer- ica, shortly after the Colonies had de- clared their independence from the moth- er country, and was engaged in farming and glass manufacturing. He became a large holder of realty in Pittsburgh, was very active in public affairs, prosperous, established the first ferry from Pitts- burgh to Birmingham, and died in 1845. Dr. Samuel M. King was educated at Jefferson College, and graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. He immediately there- after began the practice of his profession at Monongahela City, and continued the same there and elsewhere in Washington county for about fifty years. He won eminence in his profession by his intelli- gence, skill and industry. Both he and wife were members of the Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Cyrus Black King was educated at Columbia College, Washington, D. C., and at the age of about twenty years
began reading medicine with an older brother at Monongahela City. In 1861 he entered Jefferson College and two years later graduated with honors. On the 8th of March, 1863, the day succeed- ing his graduation, he entered the Union army as assistant surgeon, and was at once assigned to duty in the army hos- pital at Philadelphia, where he continued to serve until the close of the war. He was then appointed superintendent of the West Penn Hospital and the Pittsburgh Soldiers' Home, Pittsburgh, and served in that capacity for four years, when he removed to Allegheny (now the North- side, Pittsburgh) and began private prac- tice, still continuing in charge of the medical department of the hospital for has been numbered among Pittsburgh's most eminent physicians, and his prac- tice is a very extensive one. Dr. King is a member of the following medical associations : American, Centennial, State and Allegheny County, and he has been president of the last. He is on the staff of the Allegheny General Hospital, the Children's Memorial Hospital of Allegheny, Pittsburgh Hospital for Chil- dren, and has been consulting surgeon for the Mckeesport Hospital. Dr. King is a constant and laborious reader, and has ever kept in touch with the achieve- ments of research throughout the medi- cal world; and his library testifies to his thoroughness as to details and his in- finite capacity for taking pains. It is well stocked with books of many coun- tries, medical classics, reports and an- nals, and he is constantly adding to his supply of references and information on the many and varied points of interest attached to his exacting profession. It is this close attention and inveterate appli- cation which have made him the man he is in the medical world of to-day.
In 1863 Dr. King married Miss E. G. Kerr, daughter of Rev. John Kerr. She
285
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
died in 1881, leaving three children : Anna, wife of Thomas W. Blackwell; Nina D .; and Samuel V. He married (second) April 30, 1897, Mrs. Frances K. Brown, daughter of Josiah King. Dr. and Mrs. King and family are socially popular in Pittsburgh, and their home is the seat of a gracions hospitality.
Happily gifted in manner, disposition and taste, enterprising and original in ideas, personally liked most by those who know him best, Dr. King's career has been rounded with success and marked by the appreciation of men whose good opinion is best worth having.
McKEAN, Arthur,
Lawyer, Legislator.
It is always most gratifying to the biographer and student of human nature to come in close touch with the history of a man who, in the face of almost in- surmountable obstacles, has plodded per- sistently on and eventually, through his determination and energy, made of suc- cess not an accident but a logical result. Arthur McKean, who maintains his home at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, is strictly a "selfmade" man and as such a perusal of his career offers both lesson and in- centive. He has been eminently success- ful as an attorney of recognized ability, has served the Beaver County District of Pennsylvania with the utmost efficiency in the State Legislature, and has ever manifested a deep and sincere interest in all matters pertaining to the good of the Democratic party, of whose principles he has long been a zealous and active ex- ponent.
Arthur Mckean was born in Lower Bunell township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1882, and is a son of John S., and Frances (Hoffman) McKean, both of whom are natives of Westmoreland county, where they have
resided during practically their entire lives thus far.
To the public schools of Parnassus and New Kensington Mr. McKean is indebted for his preliminary educational training, which was later supplemented by a course of study in Geneva College, at Beaver Falls, in which excellent institu- tion he was graduated as a member of the class of 1904, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Subsequently he at- tended the Western University of Penn- sylvania for one year and also took a two years' law course in that institution. He completed his law studies in Beaver, under the able preceptorship of Hon. William B. Cuthbertson, and was ad- mitted to the State bar in January, 1909. since which time he has been engaged in the active practice of his profession at Beaver Falls, where he has already gained prestige as an able and repre- sentative attorney. While pursuing his legal studies he taught school during the year of 1907 in the New Brighton High School.
As has been stated, in politics Mr. Mc- Kean is an uncompromising supporter of Democratic principles. He served as justice of the peace while a law student, and also as school director in the borough of College Hill, for which he is now so- licitor and where he maintains his home. He was president of the Board of Health at College Hill, in 1912. In November, 1910, Mr. Mckean was elected a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature to represent a strongly Republican district. While in the House he served on a num- ber of important committees, including those on the judiciary, railroads, and law and order. He has always taken an ac- tive part in local politics and is now chairman of the Democratic County Committee. He has frequently been a delegate to various conventions of his party. In fraternal circles he is a valued member of Parian Lodge, No. 662, Free
286
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
and Accepted Masons, and of the Royal ing each winter until 1886. During this Arcanum.
January 10, 1906, Mr. Mckean was united in marriage to Miss Eleanor Ferguson, a native of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Hugh and Lula (Smith) Ferguson. Mr. and Mrs. McKean have two sons, Hugh and John. The religious faith of the Mckean family is in harmony with the tenets of the Presbyterian church, in which Mr. McKean is a member of the board of trustees. Mr. and Mrs. McKean are popular in connection with the best so- cial activities of their home community, and they command the unalloyed confi- dence and esteem of all with whom they have come in contact.
RIEGEL, Adam J., M.D., Physician, Public Official.
In this age of specialists it is a rare occurrence to find a man who is success- ful in both his chosen profession and in general business life, yet this happy combination of professional and business ability is found in Dr. Riegel.
Dr. Adam J. Riegel, born July 2, 1862, in East Hanover township, Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, is the son of Henry S. Riegel, born in the same township in 1840, a farmer and landowner. He mar- ried Leah, daughter of George Boeshore, a farmer and landowner of the same township. Adam J. was the eldest of a family of five, the others being: Grant, the second son, married Emma Moyer ; Lizzie, the only daughter, married Cor- nelius Lantz; David, the third son, mar- ried Emma Brant ; Harry, the youngest, married Susan Klopp.
Adam J. Riegel spent his early life upon the East Hanover homestead farm and obtained a good education in the public schools. In 1880, being then eigh- teen years of age, he began teaching school, during the winter term, continu-
period he attended the Lock Haven State Normal, whence he was graduated with the class of 1884. He then decided to en- ter the medical profession and began study under the direction of Dr. Daniel P. Gerberich, an eminent physician of Lebanon. In 1886 he entered Hahne- mann Medical College, at Philadelphia, whence he was graduated M.D., class of 1887. He began the practice of his pro- fession at Frederick, Pennsylvania, the same year, remaining until 1888, when he located in Lebanon, where he has a well established reputation as an honorable, skillful physician. He is a member of the State Homeopathic Medical Society, and is held in high esteem among his professional brethren. During his pro- fessional career, Dr. Riegel has been the preceptor of several young men and women who have taken their first start toward professional life under his able guidance. Among these may be men- tioned: Sadie Krall, M.D., now practic- ing in Chicago, Illinois; Harriett Hughes, M.D., located in New York City ; George S. Fisher, M.D., practicing in Lebanon ; Henry C. Whitmeyer, also practicing in Lebanon, and A. E. Heinbach, practicing physician in Renovo, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Riegel was elected County Phy- sician in 1899, and still holds that office (1913) ; has been a member of the Le- banon Board of Health and since 1900 has been president of the board ; was ap- pointed County Medical Inspector by Health Commissioner Hon. Samuel G. Dixon. Since 1907 he has been physician in charge of the Lebanon Tuberculosis Dispensary, No. 5, a most important po- sition, having an assistant physician and a graduate nurse. Since his appointment five hundred and eighty-four cases of tubercular diseases have been exam- ined, a number of the tubercular cases have been sent to the State Sanatorium at Mount Alto, and others treated at the
287
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
dispensary. This briefly outlines Dr. prosperous and beautiful. Among the Riegel's professional usefulness and ac- tivity.
In the business world of Lebanon he is no less prominent. He was one of the incorporators of the (now) Lebanon Val- ley Furniture Company and president since its organization ; also an incorpor- ator of the Lebanon Hardware Company and for eight years its president; for eleven years he has been a director of the People's National Bank; was con- nected with the Rivetless Chain and En- gineering Company; the Mechanics Building and Loan Association, and with other Lebanon enterprises of perhaps lesser importance. In all these com- panies he is a moving, directing force and is held in high esteem by his business associates, while in his adopted city he is rated among the leaders in public spirit and civic enterprise.
He married, June 5, 1888, Anna, daugh- ter of John E. and Elizabeth Hughes, of Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, her father a coal and lumber merchant of that city. The only child of Dr. and Mrs. Riegel is Guy Hughes Riegel, born in Lebanon, October 4, 1890, a graduate of Columbia College and now a student in the Law School of Columbia University. The family home is a modern residence built by Dr. Riegel's order on North Eighth street. Both Dr. and Mrs. Riegel are members of the Protestant Episcopal church; the doctor a Republican in pol- itics.
JENKINS, Thomas Christopher, Man of Affairs.
The business men of the old Iron City! We all know them as history and tradition have preserved them for us- men whose lives furnished examples of commercial probity and enterprise, and civic and social virtue; men whose mon- ument is the Pittsburgh of the present, America and Cuba.
foremost of the noble company to whom the present generation owes so much was the late Thomas C. Jenkins, for more than half a century prominently identi- fied with the best business, financial and social interests of Pittsburgh.
Thomas C. Jenkins was born April 1, 1832, in Prospect, Oneida county, New York. He was of Welsh ancestry, the son of Jenks Jenkins, who was one of the pioneers in the tanning industry in New York State, and a large landowner. Thomas C. Jenkins was one of seven children, and was educated in the dis- trict country school. His mental alert- ness and love of learning was such that he completed the school course at an un- usually early age. For some time he as- sisted his father in the tanning business, and there acquired the training and ex- perience that was later to bring him so much success. Subsequently he engaged in the same industry near the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, but was obliged to give this up in a short time on account of delicate health. He then de- cided to go to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where one of his brothers was engaged in farming, and, oddly enough, his journey westward by way of the Ohio river, led him through Pittsburgh, which in those days of stagecoach and steamboat travel was the gateway to the West.
It was about this time that gold was discovered in California, and in 1850 Mr. Jenkins organized and equipped a party of pioneers, which after "fitting out" at St. Louis, followed the "Overland trail" to the Pacific coast. Mr. Jenkins mined gold in Trinity county, California, dur- ing the years 1853-1854, but in the latter part of the year 1854 he entered the gen- eral merchandise business in Sacramento, California, remaining there until 1857, when he disposed of his enterprise and returned to the East by way of Central
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.