USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of the state of Pennsylvania with a compendium of history. A record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume I > Part 30
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CHARLES ARTHUR MUEHLBRONNER.
Charles A. Muehlbronner, present senator from the forty-second senatorial district of Pennsylvania, is of German parentage, and the son of a veteran of the Civil war, Christian H. Muehlbronner, who was born in Germany and came to this country in 1855. He followed the occupation of a mechanic in Philadelphia for some time, and afterward moved to Lagrange, Ohio. He responded to the call for volunteers for the preservation of the Union, and, enlisting in a cavalry regiment, served till the close of the war, with as honorable a record of service to his adopted country as many native born could boast of. He then came to Pittsburg and was employed on the construction of the South Side water works. He soon afterward moved to a little tract of land now in the twenty-third ward, and engaged in tilling the soil. and especially in grape culture, his fruit being noted all over the state. He died in 1869. He had shown himself to be a model citizen, and was a worker in the Lutheran church. He had three sons, of whom two are now living.
Charles A. Muchilbronner, the eldest of this little family, was born in Philadelphia. May 10, 1857. He had what might have been consid- ered an unpromising start in life, for up to his twelfth year he was privi- leged to attend only a little log schoolhouse in Jefferson county, West Virginia. But he was ambitions for higher learning, and early mani- fested the energy and determination to go up higher. When his early schooldays were ended he became an apprentice to a painter, and for
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the next four years labored at his trade and at night studied such books as he could get. Naturally the goal seemed to be far away, and his progress slow, but that there was progress none can doubt who know the man as he now is. From 1870 to 1873 he was a clerk in a general store. Then followed a period in which he feels that he sowed his wild oats, although the harvest of experience was certainly very valuable. He started out to see the world, alone, on May 10, 1873, and made the long journey to California by means of freight and stock cars,- "side-door sleepers," to descend to the vernacular of the profession. By the time he had reached his destination he had also reached the con- clusion arrived at by the majority of those who are not hardened knights of the road, that there is no place like home. But he remained in Cali- fornia fifteen months, and then came back to his native state.
The beginning of Mr. Muehlbronner's successful career was rather humble. He first become known to the public as a peddler of yeast and oysters. He got a monopoly of supplying all the grocers of Alle- gheny with oysters, and from that branched out into the poultry busi- ness. This proved profitable, and he continued it for seven years in the Pittsburg market. In 1889 he established the commission firm on Lib- erty street, and, with yearly increased business, he has conducted it till the present time. Of course these few words cannot completely convey the history of his commercial career, for he had discouragements, was compelled to struggle against difficulties, but it is a pleasure to record that he has triumphed, and to-day he has the reputation of being one of the most reliable business men in the city of Pittsburg.
Mr. Muehlbronner has taken much interest in politics and public affairs. He has always been an enthusiastic Republican, and has mani- fested his pride in his city by using all his influence for its advancement. When twenty-two years of age he was tax collector for the seventh ward
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of Allegheny; he served for three years as a school director, and was in the common council for the same time. He was elected to the select council for a term of four years. After serving two years in the last mentioned body. he resigned because of election to the legislature in 1890. He was a member of the lower house during the sessions of 1891, 1893, 1895, 1897 : was chairman of the municipal corporation committee ; was the father of the prison labor bill, which has proved so satisfactory to the people of the state, and exerted his influence in securing the pas- sage of many other laws which were beneficial to the state, among them a law providing for a change in the charters of cities.
Mr. Muehlbronner was elected to the state senate in 1898. He was a member of the senate committee appointed to welcome home the brave boys of the Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment, after their loyal service in the Philippines. The senate committee planned to meet them in San Francisco and escort them home, and great preparations were made for their reception. Through some error the soldiers arrived first, and were compelled to remain on board the vessel for a day before the committee arrived. Their joy on reaching home was somewhat marred by the death, on the homeward voyage, of their colonel. Alexander L. Hawkins. His successor at the head of the troops was Lieutenant Colonel J. E. Barnett, a personal friend of Senator Muehlbronner, and it happened that the latter had been chosen to deliver the address of wel- come. And the Senator did all in his power for the comfort of "the boys," and through his influence many extra courtesies, such as Pullman and dining cars, were bestowed on them. The largest concourse of peo- ple ever gathered in Pittsburg greeted them on their arrival, and the late President Mckinley, who was the city's guest at the time, gave them a kindly greeting that they will never forget.
From the preceding narrative it will be seen that Mr. Muehlbronner
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is an eminently self-made man, and his career not only furnished himself much satisfaction, but the people of the county and district have set their seal of approval upon him by electing him so often to represent them. A prominent business man of Pittsburg gives the following tribute: "For over ten years I have been acquainted with Mr. Muehl- bronner. There is embodied in his name everything that is right and honorable. A man that has come up from the humble walk of life and lias successfully conquered every obstacle before him, a successful mer- chant by indefatigable work and attending closely to business, and pos- sessing the entire confidence of the community .- I could not say too much for him."
Mr. Muchlbronner is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. As a club man, he is enrolled on the registers of the Tariff. Elks' Club. the Americus. the Union League. Republican, Union Hunting and Fishing, American Clubs, the Alle- gheny Turners, and various other social organizations. Mr. Muehl- bronner was married May 11. 1878, to Miss Amelia Behm, and they are the parents of six children, two sons and four daughters.
JOHN W. NESBIT.
Among the native sons of the old Keystone state who have won prestige in civic. military and official life is John W. Nesbit, who is in- cumbent of the important office of United States pension agent in the city of Pittsburg and who is prominently identified with various business enterprises in the county. He served in the war of the Rebellion, and was mustered out with a good army record ; he made an excellent record as a member of the state legislature; and has won through his own 26
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efforts a distinctive success in connection with industrial and other busi- ness activities. Thus he becomes unmistakably eligible for representa- tion in a work of this nature.
John W. Nesbit was born in South Fayette township. Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of May, 1840, being the son of James McConnell and Eliza ( Woods) Neshit, representing stanch old Scotch- Irish lineage, while the respective families have long been established on American soil. Mr. Nesbit was reared under the sturdy discipline of the farm, and his educational privileges in his youth were such as were afforded in the public schools of the locality and period. He continued to assist in the work of the homestead farm until the dark cloud of civil war obscured the national horizon, when on the 22d of August, 1862. he enlisted as a private in Company D. One Hundred and Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which was shortly afterward assigned to the Army of the Potomac, with which it was in active service under Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant, taking part in many of the most notable conflicts which marked the course of the great struggle, including the battles of Chancellorsville. Gettysburg. Mine Run, the Wilderness, Laurel Hill. Spottsylvania, North AAnna, Cold Harbor. Petersburg, Wel- clon Railroad. Dabney's Mills, and Hatcher's Run, besides many minor engagements and skirmishes. Mr. Nesbit remained in active service until the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge and was mustered out as a sergeant.
After the close of the war Mr. Nesbit returned to his home and resumed agricultural operations, later becoming active in connection with political, business and military affairs. In the year 1875 he effected the organization of Company C. Fourteenth Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, of which he was elected captain on August 14th of "vat year. He continued in command of this company until July 9. 1893.
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when he was elected major and forthwith assumed command of the Second Battalion of the regiment. On the 12th of May. 1898, he enlisted for service in the Spanish-American war, but soon afterward resigned to resume his duties as United States pension agent at Pittsburg. to which office he had been previously appointed. Major Nesbit became actively concerned in political affairs a number of years ago, having ever been an uncompromising advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and his prominence in county politics led to his being chosen as the candidate of his party for representative of the sixth .Alle- gheny assembly district in the state legislature, to which position he was first elected in 1880, serving during the sessions of 1881 and 1883 and being subsequently re-elected and serving in the general assemblies of 1889, 1891 and 1893. He was an active working member of the legislative body, in which he was assigned to several important committees within the several sessions, and he ably represented his constituency and the interests of the state at large.
On the Ist of February. 1895. Major Nesbit received from Governor Hastings the appointment as superintendent of the state arsenal, at Har- risburg, and he continued in tenure of this office until December 16. 1897. when he resigned. In 1896 he was a candidate for sheriff of Allegheny county, but was defeated in the nominating convention. On June Ist of that year he was elected president of the Sixth Assembly District Republican League, while his appointment to the office of United States pension agent was conferred by our martyred president. William Mc- Kinley, on the 18th of December. 1897. He has since rendered most effective service in this capacity. having been reappointed to the office. by President Roosevelt, on the last day of January, 1902.
Major Nesbit is identified with a number of important business enterprises and has taken a particularly lively interest in all that con-
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cerns the development and material upbuilding of the attractive town of Oakdale, where he maintains his home, having a handsome residence in Hastings avenue. He owns a stock and fruit farm at Beechmont. this county, and gives the same his personal supervision: he is an in- terested principal in the Oakdale Insurance Agency: is secretary and treasurer of the American Safe & Lock Company, of Pittsburg: is a stockholder in the Carnegie, McDonald & Canonsburg Street Railway Company : is president of the West Penn Telephone Company ; a director of the First National Bank of Oakdale and also in the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, of this place : and is secretary and treasurer of the Oakdale Printing & Publishing Company, by which is published the Oakdale Times, to whose columns he is a frequent contributor. Aside from these more purely business associations, it may be mentioned that Major Nesbit is also a member of the board of managers of the Boys' Industrial Home, at Oakdale: is president of the Oakdale Armory Asso- ciation, secretary of the Oakdale Cemetery Company, president of the Melrose Cemetery Company (at Bridgeville ) and a member of the Oak- dale board of health.
Major Nesbit is a member of the First Presbyterian church, in his home town. as is also his wife, and fraternally he is identified with the Union Veteran Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic. A promi- nent city official of Pittsburg gives the following estimate of the char- acter of Mr. Nesbit : "My acquaintance with him dates from August 22. 1862, and it was my good fortune to be a fellow comrade in the same company and regiment with him during the Civil war. He en- listed as a private and was mustered out a sergeant, and I regarded him as one of the best men in the company. He was liked by everyone, by reason of his excellent traits of character, and appeared to be in his glory ". a battle. His bravery and daring were not his only good qualities.
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Genial and kindly in his intercourse with all, he was a model soldier and showed himself to be an upright and moral man, never being guilty of a small act and showing a marked appreciation of and love for his friends. I ever considered his word as good as his bond. and as a soldier he had the confidence of all his comrades. In private life he is an excellently good business man and a capable and trustworthy official."
On the 20th of October, 1870, Major Nesbit was united in mar- riage to Miss Jennie B. Chubbie, a daughter of Benjamin Chubbie, and they have had the following children: ilarry J. Nesbit, practicing law in the firm of Miller, Prestley & Nesbit: Charles B. Nesbit, connected with the Tinplate of Griffiths & Company, Waynesburg. Pennsylvania ; Frank W. Nesbit. a law student and private secretary, who died April 17, 1902. All were graduates of Washington and Jefferson College.
DR. FRANCIS GRAHAM GARDINER.
Dr. Francis Graham Gardiner, one of the leading medical practi- tioners of Pittsburg. Pennsylvania, is the son of Francis Gardiner, who was born in Ireland in 1800. The latter was a man of learning, had received a good education in the old country and taught school in Ire- land in the early part of his career, and after moving to the province of Ontario, Canada, followed the same calling for several years, but for the greater part of his life devoted his attention to agriculture. He was a much respected man in his community. was strictly upright in his dealings, and his successful and persevering industry resulted in the accumulation of a handsome property. He was an Orangeman in the old country, and was for many years a member of the English Epis- copal church, in which faith he died in 1878.
Dr. Francis G. Gardiner was born in Newboyne, province of On-
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tario, Canada. August 4, 1850, and up to his seventeenth year attended the Dominion public schools. At that age he entered Georgetown Acad- emy at Georgetown, Canada, and the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by Westminster University. In 1875 he matriculated in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and was graduated there in 1880. lle was also a student in both the Bishop Medical College in Canada and the Detroit Medical College in Michigan. In 1880 he came to Pitts- burg, and since this year has been continuously engaged in the practice of medicine in this city, where he enjoys a large and lucrative practice. and has also taken a successful part in other business activities. He is physician for the Protestant Episcopal Home and Home for Incurables.
Dr. Gardiner is president of the Allegheny Valley Bank, to which position he was elected in 1900. He has made extensive investments in real estate in Pittsburg, and the supervision of this property requires con- siderable attention besides that which he gives to his professional duties. Dr. Gardiner is just in the prime of life, and his broad intellectuality and his excellent physical health and genial character afford him the utmost enjoyment of all the good things that life offers. He has a cultivated taste in literature and is an omnivorous reader. being the possessor of a very costly library of medical works and classics. He is much interested in mathematics, and is proficient in that branch of learning. While he resided in Canada he was engaged in teaching school for six years. Dr. Gardiner is a Democrat, and is senior warden of St. John Episcopa! church. He is unmarried.
JUDGE GEORGE SCOTT HART.
Judge George Scott Hart, deceased, one of the shining lights of the legal profession and a representative of the bench of Washington.
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Pennsylvania, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, July 29. 1824, and lied at Washington, Pennsylvania, May 15. 1888. He was the third son of John and Susan ( Barr) Hart, natives of western Pennsylvania. descended from Scotch and Irish ancestry, respectively.
When George Scott Hart was still a boy the family removed to the town of Washington, and he received careful training in the public and private schools of that place, being admitted later as a student at Washington College, from which he was graduated with honor in 1842. After completing his collegiate course he taught a country school dur- ing one term, and then accepted the position of private teacher in the home of Judge Joynes, of Accomac county. Virginia. During the year spent in Virginia, he began the study of law, having bis employer as preceptor. When he returned to Washington he entered the law office of John L. Gow. Esq., quite a distinguished lawyer, and under his gnid- ance pursued his legal studies until the required course had been com- pleted. He was admitted to the bar of Washington county at the .August term, in 1846. The year following his admission a vacancy occurred in the office of deputy attorney general ( district attorney) for Washington county, and the young lawyer was appointed to fill that vacancy. In the fall of 1850 he was elected to the same office, and served the full term of three years, discharging his duties with conspicuous ability. Shortly after his successor had been chosen, he seems to have tired of the legal profession, and for several years thereafter edited with marked ability and success the Washington Examiner, an influential and popular news- paper. In 1857 he disposed of his interest in the newspaper plant and returned to the practice of the law, and soon secured all the work he was able to do. For many years he was engaged on one side or the other in nearly all the important litigation in the courts of Washington county.
In 1876, without solicitation on his part. the convention of the
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Democratic party in Washington county unanimously named him as the party's candidate for the office of president judge of the twenty-seventh district of Pennsylvania. The Republican party nominated the then presiding judge, the Hon. A. W. AAcheson, as his opponent. Both can- didates were able lawyers and popular men, and the contest was close and exciting. When the votes were counted it was found Mr. Hart had been successful by the small majority of five. Mr. Hart assumed the duties of Mis office the first Monday of January, 1877, and for ten years and until the end of the term for which he had been chosen, he was faithful, honest and courageous in the discharge of all official busi- ness. When he retired from the bench it was with shattered health, resulting from the exacting and onerous duties of ten long years. He opened an office for the practice of law in the town where nearly his entire life had been spent. Clients came to him with important business. but he was physically unable to engage in the active duties of his pro- fession. Hle sought his clients and instructed them to secure counsel. gave up his office and tried to recover his health by travel and otherwise. but it was all futile. In a few short months he passed away peacefully and quietly.
Such is the record of one of the purest men who ever adorned the bar or bench of Pennsylvania. His private life was above reproach. By reason of the early death of his father. Judge Hart became the sup- port of his mother and sisters and greatly aided his brothers in their upward struggle. He was unselfish in every way and cared not for the possession of money except for the good that he might be enabled to do for others by its use.
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ALEXANDER NIMICK.
Alexander Nimick, deceased, one of the oldest business men of Pittsburg at the time of his death, and prominent as a manufacturer and financier for nearly sixty years, was born in Pittsburg. February 20. 1820. When he was twenty years old he and his brother were employed by Michael Allen in the steamboat business, and they later succeeded to the business of their employer. He was next identified with the iron business, and he and his brother, William K., had a large share in the Sheffield steel works of Singer. Nimick & Company, and in the Sligo iron works of Phillips. Nimick & Company. In 1863 he became con- nected with the Jones & Nimick Manufacturing Company. successors to Jones, Wallingford & Company, owners of the variety works at Lockton station on the Panhandle Railroad, and in 1872 the former firm became the Jacobus & Nimick Manufacturing Company, and, in 1882, the Nimick-Brittan Manufacturing Company, with Mr. Nimick as presi- dent. This concern manufactured all kinds of builders' hardware. Other of the extensive manufacturing enterprises with which Mr. Nimick was connected during the active period of his life, was the Standard Nut Company : was head of Nimick & Company, pig-metal merchants; and interested in the Pittsburg Locomotive Works and a director of the Oliver Wire Company.
Although the interests above mentioned would make Mr. Nimick's place secure in the industrial world. his widest reputation rests upon his record as a financier. Ile was one of the incorporators of the West- ern Insurance Company in 1849, and for thirty-three years was either a director or president of the company. In 1852 a large block of the stock in the Pittsburg Trust Company was owned by Mr. Nimick and his brother William K. This institution was incorporated. in 1864. into
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the First National Bank of Pittsburg, of which W. K. Nimick was president until April. 1875. when he died and was succeeded by james Laughlin. On the death of the latter, in December. 1882, Alexander Nimick was elected president. Two years before his death, on account , of failing health, Mr. Nimick resigned this trust, and took the office of vice president, Charles E. Speer being made president. He was also, until his death, vice president of the Exchange National Bank, and a director for many years ; and was director of the Real Estate Savings Bank.
Such a life of industry and activity in commercial and industrial lines did not prevent Mr. Nimick from following the incentives of his liberal and philanthropic nature, and taking part in much of the benevolent work of his city. He was a member of the board of managers of the West Penn Hospital and Dixmont Insane Asylum, and was interested in the Deaf and Dumb Institute at Edgewood. During the Civil war he was one of those who remained behind while others went to the front, but are deserving of all praise for their devoted efforts in furnish- ing the much needed assistance to those in the field, and for helping by word and deed the cause of human liberty. He was one of the original incorporators of the Homewood cemetery, and was also connected with the Allegheny Cemetery Company.
Mr. Nimick's first wife was a sister of the late Major William Frew, and his second marriage was with a sister of the late Colonel Hartley Howard. The second wife died many years before her husband, leaving one son, William Howard Nimick, who is vice president of the Keystone Bank. Mr. Nimick lived for a number of years with his sister, Miss Mary Nimick, but the last two years of his life were spent at the home of his son, where his death occurred on December 20, 1899. He had been reared in the faith of the United Presbyterian church. He had
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played his part in life well. and the maturity of his youthful hopes and plans was happily symbolized by his ripeness of years, and he passed away venerable and honored.
WILLIAM N. HOWARD.
Not alone is there particular interest attaching to the career of the honored subject of this sketch as one of the representative business men of the city of Pittsburg and as the son of a clergyman who wiekled a large and important influence on religious life and work in this city, but also in connection with his gencalogical record. in the reviewing of which we find his lineage, both agnatic and maternal, tracing back to the carly colonial epoch in our national history and to stanch Scotch and English derivation, respectively. Through such sources have we attained the true AAmerican type, and along this line must our investigations proceed if we would learn of the steadfast and unyielding clements which con- stitute the basis upon which has been reared the lofty and magnificent superstructure of an enlightened and favored commonwealth.
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