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 II > Part 4
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Adam, who inherited many of the excellent traits of his father. was educated in the public schools and the Newels private school in Pittsburg, and in September. 1869. entered Duff's Mercantile College. where he was graduated. Ile began his career in the humble position of chiver of a wagon for the firm of which his father was a member, was afterward made the company's bookkeeper, which he continued for four years, and then learned and worked at the trade of carpenter, after which he was made foreman and then superintendent. Up to 1883 he had a working interest in the company, and in 1886 was admitted to a partnership, and he has since done much to keep the establishment upon the high plane upon which its original proprietor placed it. and to ad- vance its interests still further. Mr. Wilson is a clear-headed and cal- culating business man, and has the confidence of the public in all his undertakings.
Mr. Wilson has been a life-long Republican, but takes no active part in politics. He is a member of the Duquesne Club and the Belle- field Club of Pittsburg, for years has been a member of the Pittsburg Builders' Exchange and the Master Builders' Association. and acted as president of both organizations. He was married in 1897 to Miss Mary Dickson Watson, of Pittsburg, and three children have been born to them.
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WILLIAM STEVENSON.
William Stevenson, deceased, was for nearly half a century one of the most familiar in the commercial marts of Pittsburg. Coming here when a boy, and without means, he tried various mercantile enter- prises with more or less success and eventually found solid ground for the establishment of a firm which has continued without a break for more than thirty years. During all this time Mr. Stevenson was an influential figure in the business and financial world of the iron metrop- olis. As a merchant he ranked high. not only on account of his skill hoth as a buyer and seller and his intimate familiarity with the trade. but because of the probity of his life and the strict integrity of his deal- ings. Aside from his business, which absorbed so much of his atten- tion, he found time to attend to all those duties which go to the making of a good citizen, and has an exemplary character in all the walks of life. As father of a numerous family, as a consistent church member. as a factor in worthy enterprises of an uplifting nature, Mr. Stevenson presented an example worthy of imitation and one which gained him universal esteem The story of his life is soon told, as it was quiet and symmetrical from beginning to end and characterized by no incident out of the ordinary.
Ilis father was Francis Stevenson, who came to America from county Antrim, Ireland, in 1813. and shortly afterward located in southwestern Pennsylvania. Like most Irish emigrants of that day. he came over with little or no means and was compelled to depend upon hard work to make provision for the day that was passing over him.
William Stevenson was born in Washington county. Pennsylva- nia, neur Cannonsburg, in November, 1821. and at a very early age found himself compelled to struggle for a living. In the hope of find-
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ing an opening, he went to the town of Pittsburg, which, though at that time not a large place, was already giving signs of the great future that animated it as the center of the iron industry of the nation. Soon after hus arrival Mr. Stevenson, though as yet hardly more than a boy, succeeded in getting into the firm of Young. Stevenson & Love, who opened a dry-goods store on Market street. He soon withdrew from this concern, however, and joined the co-partnership of Mitchell, Stev- enson & Company for the manufacture of stoves. He acted for some time as a commercial traveler of this firm, but eventually withdrew and united with his father-in-law in the printing and stationery business on Wood street and Third avenue. After the death of his partner he joined with William G. Foster in the establishment of a firm under their joint names, which was destined to be permanent and prosperous. Stevenson & Foster, who began business as wholesale printers and sta- tioners nearly thirty years ago, have continued up to the present time. and. though recently increased by the addition as partners of Alexander Calhoun. J. O. Wells, B. S. Smith. George R. Dorman. Man C. Steven- son and Edwin L. Stevenson, the only change in the title was to Steven- son & Foster Company. Subsequent to the original formation of the firm the place of business was changed to Fifth avenue and later to the building on Wood street that was recently destroyed by fire.
There is something pathetic in the fact that this disastrous con- flagration, by which was destroyed so much of his life work, occurred during the last and fatal illness of the veteran founder, though the news of the calamity was mercifully withheld from him. His health had been failing for some time, and he died February 15, 1901, from a general breaking down. about ten days after the destruction of his mer- cantile establishment. The firm, however, with characteristic energy, immediately began operations to re-establish their plant, and so speedily
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was this accomplished that scarcely a check in the business was notice- able. It is still going on as of old. and is recognized as one of the standard concerns of its kind in the enterprising metropolis at the head of the Ohio river.
Mr. Stevenson was long connected with the First United Presby- terian church at Pittsburg, and both by precept and example enforced the best tenets of enlightened Christianity. In 1863 he selected as his bride Miss Helen Mar, daughter of William S. Haven, with whom he lived in happiness and harmony for over thirty-seven years. The union proved as fruitful as it was happy, resulting in the birth of twelve chil- dren, whose names and present status are thus presented in chronolog- ical order: Margaretta and Helen Mar remain at home with their mother: Walter E. is an employe of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company: Man C. was associated with his father in the printing business: May is the wife of F. K. McCance, of Pittsburg : Edwin 1. was associated with his father in the printing business: Ber- tha is at home : William D. is with the Jolis-Manville Company: Mal- colm R. is with the Monongahela Furnaces of National Tube Company. McKeesp rt. Pennsylvania: Paul is manager of Pittsburg office of Morse Chain Company: Donald is at the Pennsylvania State College: and Kenneth is attending Blair Presbyterian Academy of Blairstown. New Jersey.
FRANKLIN HARD ROCKWELL.
Franklin Hard Rockwell, who is numbered among the substan- tial citizens of this portion of the Keystone state, was born in Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, on the 27th of November, 1844, while his father. John S. Rockwell, was a native of the state of New York, but sub-
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sequently took up his abode in Wisconsin. Mr. Rockwell is directly descended from Revolutionary stock. His ancestor, Jabez Rockwell, Jr. ( 1740-1837). fought under Colonel Samuel H. Parsons in the Sixth Regiment of Connecticut, and a detailed account of his services are given in the public records of Danbury, Connecticut.
The early education of Franklin 11. Rockwell was acquired in the district schools of his native state, and when a mere lad of fifteen years he chose to become a tanner in Honesdale. Pennsylvania, in which busi- ness he continued until 1871. In that year he came to Warren and resumed the occupation of a tanner. During the many years which have come and gone since Mr. Rockwell entered upon his business career he has prospered in his undertakings, and he is now the owner of one hundred and twenty-five thousand acres of land in Mexico and forty thousand acres in the state of Kansas, besides extensive mining interests in Arizona. He has also disposed of valuable oil lands to the Standard Oil Company, which were worth many thousands of dollars and which were located in this vicinity. Much might be said as to Mr. Rockwell's aggressiveness in business, of his force and energy, com- bined with the judiciousness that has enabled him to amass a large for- tune, and in addition to his interests already mentioned he has been a director in the Warren Savings Bank and is now president of the First National Bank of Warren, which latter position he has held since his election in 1894.
On the 3d of July. 1866, Mr. Rockwell was united in marriage to Miss Tamer Gilbert, a daughter of Edwin E. Gilbert, of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and three children have been born of this union, all of whom are living. In his social relations he is a member of the Lotus Club of New York city, also of the Conewango Club, of which he was one of the organizers and its first president, and is connected with many
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other clubs. both here and elsewhere. Although reared under Demo- cratic principles, he has always been a stanch Republican, but is not a politician in any sense of the word, although he is at all times deeply interested in the success of his party. He is a member of the Episcopal church, with which denomination he has worshiped for many years. The family reside in Warren, and their home is surrounded by a beau- tiful lawn containing extensive shrubberies and flowers of all varieties.
FORSTER WILSON MITCHELL.
Forster Wilson Mitchell, banker, was born in Center county, Penn- sylvania. May 7. 1828, and is a son of Thomas and Eliza ( Lamb ) Mitch- ell, carly settlers of Allegheny township. Venango county. Mr. Mitchell was reared on the old homestead in this county, and has resided here since the coming of his parents, in April. 1836. He followed farming and lumbering, and since the earliest period of the oil excitement has been an extensive operator. For the past eighteen years Mr. Mitchell has also been engaged in the banking business, and is now senior mem- ber of the firm of F. W. Mitchell & Company. Bankers, Oil City, Penn- sylvania.
He was married to Miss Laura M. Wilson, of Enterprise. Warren county, Pennsylvania, in May, 1851. She is the mother of three chil- dren. Herbert W., deceased : Lottie M., wife of Dilworth Richardson. of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Stella V., wife of Bryan H. Osborn, at- torney-at-law. of Franklin, Pennsylvania. Politically Mr. Mitchell has been a stanch Republican since the organization of that party. and takes an active interest in the success of its principles and measures. In 1875 he was appointed by Governor Hartranft one of the Centennial Commission of Pennsylvania, and served as treasurer of the board dur-
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ing that historic event. Mr. Mitchell has been one of the most success- ful men of his adopted county, and has always been a liberal supporter of every worthy local enterprise. He is recognized as one of the public- spirited, prominent citizens of this portion of the state.
SAMUEL MCCLURE.
Samuel MeClure, agent and general manager of the Stewart Iron Company, Limited, of Sharon, Pennsylvania, was born in Little Beaver township. Beaver county, Pennsylvania, January 3. 1839. and is the eklest son of Joseph and Nancy ( Clark ) MeClure, of Clarksville, Penn- sylvania.
Joseph MeClure was born in the parish of Convoy, county Donegal. Ireland, in April. 1810. and was a son of Nathaniel and Catherine ( Noble) McClure, natives of the same place. In 1831 Nathaniel and wife, with three sons. Joseph, John and Thomas, emigrated to Little Beaver township. Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where they settled on a farm and where the father resided until his death. During the construc- tion of the Beaver & Erie canal. Joseph MeClure began working on that improvement in Beaver county, and while engaged in his labors on the canal, learned the stone-cutting trade. He continued working and contracting on the same public improvement until he arrived at Clarks- ville. Mercer county. He there met and married Miss Nancy, daughter of Samuel and Mary Clark.
Samuel Clark was born near the Lehigh river, in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1770. Seven months after his father's death in the latter part of 1771, his mother returned to Wallpack. Sus- sex county, New Jersey, where she had been reared. Her people were Germans, and little Samuel first learned to speak that language. His
Jammer MEdire
Joseph, Milluno
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mother by her industry supported her family in their infancy, all through the tedious war of the Revolution, and was often subjected to much trouble and annoyance, the Indians being on the north and west. and the British army on the south and east, and more than once she was forced to seek safety in the fort. At the age of fourteen Samuel was bound ont to John Dimen. a carpenter and wagon-maker, and served through seven years of drudgery. On April 18. 1792. he married Mary Custer, by whom he had ten children, as follows: William, born June 8. 1794. in Sussex county. New Jersey: Samuel, born in New Jersey. August 13. 1790, died near Sharon : Catherine, born in Jefferson county. Ohio. April 12, 1798, married James Simonton: Abraham, born in Jefferson county, Ohio, May 21, 1800, died in Clarksville, in October. 1888: Mary, born in Jefferson county, Ohio. March 10, 1802, married John Conley: Sarah, born in Jefferson county, Ohio, April 11, 1804. married John Gillespie : Susannah, deceased, born in Pymatnuing town- ship, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, July 15. 1806. married John Fruit ; Jane, born in Mercer county, January 8. 1811; and Nancy, born in Mercer county. September 6, 1813. and died April 17. 1890, the wife of Joseph MeClure, of Clarksville. Samuel Clark, Sr., died October 29. 1860, aged ninety years, nine months and twelve days, and his widow. Mary ( Custer) Clark, died October 7. 1863, aged ninety-one years, eleven months and twenty-three days. Her family gave to the world the brave General Custer, who was killed by the Sioux Indians in June, 1876.
Soon after his marriage, Joseph MeClure returned to the old home in Beaver county, where he remained until 1840. when he sold the farm and removed to Clarksville, where he engaged in merchandising, while also conducting stores at other points in Mercer county. His mother. with his brothers John and Thomas, afterwards removed to Girard. Pen-
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sylvania. where John and the mother resided until their decease, and where Thomas still lives. In 1846 Joseph MeClure and his brother John formed a partnership with B. B. Vincent and David Himrod, and under the firm name of Vincent, Himrod & Company, erected the first blast furnace in Sharpsville, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and Joseph located at that point. After a trial of several years, this venture proving unsuccessful, be returned to Clarksville and resumed the mercantile business in connection with farming and contracting. About 1859 he gave up the mercantile trade, but continued farming and contracting up to the time of his death, which occurred on March 29, 1899.
To Joseph and Nancy McClure were born ten children: Samuel. Joseph N., Thomas, Catherine. Mary. Nancy, Sarah, John, Nathaniel and Rebecca, all of whom are living except Catherine, who died July 22, 1883, John, who died March 8, 1892. and Joseph N., who died in May, 1898. Mr. McClure was a Whig until 1854, when the growth of Know- nothing-ism. made him a Democrat, which he remained until the break- ing out of the war, then voted with the Republicans until 1863, when he again became a Democrat and supported the principles of that party until the time of his death. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church, and was largely connected with the growth and development of the Shenango valley for nearly half a century.
Samuel MeClure received the usual common school education and then spent several years at Girard Academy, Girard. Pennsylvania. He grew to manhood under the parental roof, working on the farm and clerking in his father's store, during boyhood. and in 1861 he began clerking in Clarksville. In 1862 he entered the employ of James Wood & Son, of Pittsburg. and was sent to Homewood Furnace. Lawrence county. Pennsylvania, to take the management of their store at that place, being transferred during the following year to Wheatland as
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLE.INNI.I. 599
cashier and bookkeeper of their interests there. Hle filled these positions, and also those of superintendent and manager, until 1873, when this firm failed, and he then went to West Middlesex as manager of a blast furnace there.
In January, 1874. Mr. MeClure came to Share to accept the posi- tion of superintendent of the Stewart Iron Company, Limited. In Oc- tober, 1889. he acquired an interest and was elected one of the managers. as well as being general manager, of the iron business of this company in the Shenango valley and their coking interest at Uniontown. Fayette county, Pennsylvania, which was constructed under his direction. Under Mr. McClure's able management the business of this firm has grown prosperous and stands second to none in the valley. He is a stockholder in, and one of the managers and vice president of the Shenango Machine Company. In 1886 he was connected with F. H. Buhl and Daniel Eagan in the organization of the Sharon Steel Casting Company, of which he was elected vice president. This company was later acquired by the American Steel Casting Company, which in 1902 became a constituent company of the American Steel Foundries. He is first vice president of the Sharon Savings & Trust Company : president of the Union Lime- stone Company und of the Valley Connecting Railroad Company: is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and of the British Iron & Steel Institute: is a Mason. member of the Duquesne Club of Pittsburg and of the Sharon Club, of Sharon, as well as many other social organizations.
On July 1, 1863. Mr. MeClure married Miss Augusta R. Dickson. of Clarksville, to which union three daughters have been born, all living ; Mary .A., who on August 30. 1883. married Charles F. Phillips, of Sharon: Anna D., who in October. 1895. married D. M. Forker: and 36
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Jennie, who is still at home. Mr. MeChuire is a leading Republican and in 18844 was elected state senator, for the forty-seventh district, and was the choice of his county for renomination.
GEORGE WILLIAMS STARR.
If a complete account of the events which form the history of Erie. Pennsylvania, were written no name would appear more frequently or figure more prominently in connection with leading events than that of George Williams Starr. For over fifty years he made this city his home, and throughout all this long period was a prominent factor in its public hfc.
George Williams Starr, Erie, Pennsylvania, was born at Burling- ton, Vermont, April 14. 1822. and died on Easter day, March 30, 1902. His parents were Jesse J. and Harriet (Hall) Starr, both of whom were descendants of pioneer settlers of New England. The founder of the Starr family in the United States settled in Connecticut from Wales in 1633. Elias Hall, the maternal grandfather of Mr. Starr, was an officer in the colonial army and was wounded at Castleton, Ver- mont, in the skirmish with Burgoyne's invading troops, prior to the latter's defeat at Saratoga. Jesse J. Starr was a hardware merchant at Burlington, Vermont, where he resided for more than fifty years. He died in 1860, surviving his wife several years.
George W. Starr attended the schools of Burlington, prepared for college at the academy of the same city, and was graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1842.
He began the reading of the law under the preceptorship of Ste- phen G. Austin, of Buffalo, New York, and continued with the law firm of Talcott and Houghton (John L. Talcott subsequently became
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the judge of the supreme court of New York and George Houghton judge of the recorder's court of Buffalo, New York ), and was admitted to practice by the supreme court of New York in 1845. He entered upon the practice of his profession at Buffalo. New York, and pursued it in that city for several years, when he accepted a position as clerk with his friend. Captain Stephen Champlin, of the United States steamer Michigan. After sailing for nearly two years, he resumed the practice of law at Buffalo. In 1852 he came to Erie. He was engaged in the coal business for some years.
In 1877 he was one of the founders of the Erie Forge Company. has been one of its board of directors since its establishment, and the president of that board since 1887. He was one of the directors of the Eric Dime Bank. He was also president of the Erie Cemetery Asso- ciation for seventeen years: was most active in the founding of the Hamot Hospital, and was one of the incorporators of that institution. Ile was a member of the first board of trustees of the State Hospital for the Insane at Warren, by the appointment of Governor Hoyt in 1880, and served en the board of that institution and the Hamot Hos- pital until his acceptance in February, 1887. of Governor Beaver's ap- pointment to the board of commissioners of public charities of Penn- sylvania. Mr. Starr was for six consecutive terms a member of the select council of Erie and was presiding officer of that body during the last year of that period. and subsequently served two additional years in the same capacity, being again president during the latter year.
He was married October 7. 1851. to Mary A. Hamot. daughter of the late P. S. V. Hamot. Mr. Starr was well known throughout Pennsylvania on account of his long connection with the state board of charities. Ile also served in the state legislature.
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JOHN TRUNKEY.
Out of the religious and political convulsions of Europe has come the best blood of America-the Puritans of New England. the Quak- ers and the Germans of Pennsylvania, and the Huguenots, more widely distributed. They came not because hunger impelled them, but as a protest against the then existing regime in their respective countries, and that protest implied mentality, manhood and intolerance of every form of mendacity. To the French revolution of 1789 and the causes which produced it is ascribable the migration of the ancestors of the subject of this sketch.
Charles Tronquet, a young Frenchman barely out of his teens. fired with the newly awakened enthusiasm of his race and attracted by the splendid promise of the constitution then just adopted by the United States, bade adieu to the home of his forefathers and set sail for America. Upon his arrival he settled in Connecticut, and soon afterward married Mary Ganguard, who represented his own race and the Puritan stock of New England. her mother's maiden name being Merritt. This union was blessed with ten children. five sons and five daughters. These children, following the example of many other descendants of European emigrants, accepted the pronunciation of their name which the English speaking tongue gave it and changed the orthography accordingly . and thus the patronymic Tronquet became Trunkey. The family of Charles Tronquet followed the tide of emi- gration from Connecticut to the "Western Reserve." then called New Connecticut. Francis Trunkey, the youngest of the five sons, settled in Vernon. Trumbull county, Ohio, and on the Ist of January. 1828. was united in marriage to Rachel Fell. of West Salem, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, whose parents were the first settlers in that locality.
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Seven chiklren were born of this marriage, all but one on the farm in Mercer county adjoining the Fell homestead acquired by the parents in 1832. and upon which they resided during the remainder of their lives.
John Trunkey, the eldest of the children of Francis Trunkey, was born on the 26th of October, 1828. His boyhood was spent mainly upon his father's farm, and there, in the intervals of the farm work. he carly developed a taste for severe study. Having availed himself of such advantages as the public schools of the district afforded. he completed his preparation for professional study at a high school in the neighborhood and at Chester AAcademy in Geanga county, Ohio. In the spring of 1849 he entered the office of Samuel Griffith, of Mercer Pennsylvania, as a law student, was admitted to the bar in June. 1851. and immediately became associated with his preceptor in the practice of law. Mr. Griffith, who subsequently represented his district in Congress, was an able and aggressive lawyer, one of the foremost ad- vocates of the local bar, and, withal, a man of popular manners, while Vir. Trunkey's diffidence and modesty were such as to incline him to shrink from rather than court the position to which his merits entitled him, but he soon overcame the disadvantages of his position. The habits which he had formed while alternately working upon his father's farm and pursuing his preliminary studies had borne their legitimate fruits when he had completed the prescribed term of clerkship. and he came to the bar thoroughly equipped for entering upon the practice of his profession. Ever considerate of the opinions of others differ- ing from his own. he was intolerant of untruthfulness and infidelity to accepted standards of right and justice. It has been asserted that he would not defend a criminal, but this was not true, although it was undoubtedly so that he would not defend a crime. Ile accepted the
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