Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921 ed
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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(IV) William Addison Shanor, eldest of the nine children of Elias and Susan (Myers) Shanor, was born near Prospect, Butler county, Pennsyl- vania, December 25, 1853. For several causes, none of which could be overcome, he was unable to attend school until he was nine years of age, his first schooling being obtained in the Martin District School near his boyhood home, built of logs, which he attended for six years, making rapid progress and at length overcoming the great handicap of years with which he had started school. When he was sixteen years of age he came to Beaver Falls and began to learn the carpenter's trade under the instruc-

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tion of his uncle, Solomon Myers, his wages at the beginning of his service being small but still much higher than those paid to apprentices during the years of their apprenticeships. After two years with his uncle he was sufficiently well versed in what he intended to make his life trade to hold his own in a force of workmen of much longer experience and of more advanced age, and accepted a position in Venango county in the employ of the Standard Oil Company, erecting standards and rigging about the oil wells for that concern, later performing the same kind of work in Butler county. After two years of this work, he left the Standard Oil Com- pany and for one year lived on his grandfather's farm, then returned to Beaver Falls, where he was married. In 1880 he followed the westward course of his brothers and sisters and went to Osceola, Iowa, where for three years he followed his trade, at the end of that time returning to Beaver Falls, where he has ever since lived and which place he has made the scene of his successful business activities. His eastern residence is peculiar in that he was the only one of a family of nine children, all of whom were eastern-born, who has found a field in the part of the country in which he was born fitted to his qualifications, all the others making western localities their scenes of endeavor. For a time after his return east Mr. Shanor was employed as foreman for Mr. Harold, a builder of Beaver Falls, but since 1900 he has engaged in independent contracting operations, with success and profit, and is known by all who have had business relations with him as a man of strict probity, whose conduct in the business world has been above reproach, and who makes the satisfaction of his patrons an important factor in all his work. Among the buildings which he has erected at Beaver Falls are the Carnegie Library, the Ly- ceum Theatre, and the plant of the Pittsburgh Seamless Rubber Company. In private life, as in the business world, Mr. Shanor is the object of the high regard of his fellows, and is the center of a wide circle of friends who esteem him for his many likeable traits and admirable principles. He is a Republican in politics, and with his wife a member of the (English) Lu- theran Church, of which he has been a deacon ever since the organization of the congregation, in which he played no small part. Mr. Shanor's resi- dence, built by him in 1897, is at No. 231 Tenth street.

He married, September 15, 1880, Susan M. Sheiver, born in Zelienople, Butler county, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1858, daughter of Henry and Sebina (Gross) Sheiver. Henry Sheiver was a native of Germany, coming to the United States when eleven years of age, settling at Brownsdale, Butler county, later moving to Zelienople, in the same county, Pennsylvania, where he died when Susan M. Sheiver was but two years old, her mother's death leaving her an orphan. After the deaths of her parents, Susan M. Sheiver was reared in the family of Conrad and Catherine Shanor, living with them until her marriage, and ever after her entrance into their home was known by the name of Shanor. By a former marriage of her father she had a half-sister, Sarah Fenstmacher, deceased. Children of Henry

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and Sebina (Gross) Sheiver: 1. Lavina, married Andrew Whiteside, and lives in Burlington, New Jersey. 2. Mary, married Burgoyne Rayton, and lives at Doylestown, Pennsylvania. 3. George W., deceased, lived in Butler, Pennsylvania. 4. Susan M., of previous mention, married William Addison Shanor. Children of William Addison and Susan M. (Sheiver) Shanor: I. Imbra Olen, born in Osceola, Iowa, November 15, 1881; a carpenter; married Ursula Wesner. 2. Harold W., born March 3, 1884; a carpenter ; married Mayme Dinsmore; lives at Patterson Heights, Pennsylvania. 3. Pearl, born December 3, 1886; married Edward Morris; lives at Beaver Falls. 4. Irvin Vincent, born September 12, 1889, died March 8, 1895. 5. Algie Victor, born December 25, 1891; a carpenter; lives at home. 6. Verna A., born June 26, 1893; lives at home. 7. Herbert, born March 4, 1896. 8. Bertram, born February 26, 1898. 9. Wilbert, born December 22, 1900. 10. Wilda, born October 29, 1904.

The trail left by the forbears of Leroy B. Miller leads, as do MILLER many others of prominent personages of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, to Germany, where all but the most recent gen- erations of the name were born and where their lives were lived.

(I) The emigrant ancestor of this branch of the old Miller family, members whereof are so numerous in the homeland and on this side of the Atlantic, was George Godfreid Miller, who came to the United States in 1845, locating near Pittsburgh, a skilled worker in wood. He was actively engaged at his trade all his life and died in that city. His wife, Ernestine, accompanied him to the United States and died in Pittsburgh. They had several children, among their sons being John Ernest, of whom further.

(II) John Ernest Miller, son of George Godfreid and Ernestine Miller, was born in Germany, and when a lad of few years was brought to the United States by his parents, the family making the voyage in 1845. As a boy he attended the schools maintained in connection with the Lutheran Church of Pittsburgh, and at an early age learned the machinist's trade. This he later abandoned to become a glass-worker, and remained in the service of the one company continuously, his faithful service and ambitious endeavors bearing such worthy fruit that he is at the present time part owner of the concern with which he served his apprenticeship. Time, though it has made slight inroad upon his physical being, has left him mentally unimpaired, and in him one sees the unusual sight of a man of nearly fourscore years going daily to his desk and attending to the multi- farious tasks that constantly arise in the management of a large business. The firm now transacts business as the Duncan Miller Glass Company, and in everything that pertains to its welfare and advancement Mr. Miller is an active force, planning, executing, advising, watching, ever on the alert, despite his years, for opportunities to outwit competitors. His church is

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the Episcopalian, and he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons. At the time of the war between the states, he enlisted in the Northern army and fought in the ranks until the final triumph of the Union cause.

He married Elizabeth L. Bair, born in Steubenville, Jefferson county, Ohio, daughter of Charles and Margaret Bair, early settlers of Steubenville, Ohio, her mother's death occurring in that place when she had attained the wonderful age of ninety-five years. Children of John Ernest and Elizabeth L. (Bair) Miller: Emma, died in infancy; Edna, died aged twelve years; Clarence M., of Washington, Pennsylvania; Loretta D .; Thomas, lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Carl, died in infancy; Zulema, married George B. Mccutchen, deceased; Leroy B., of whom further; John E., lives in Washington, Pennsylvania; Victor D., a resident of Texas; Margaret E., died in infancy; Catherine, lives at home; Lora E., lives at home.

(III) Dr. Leroy B. Miller, son of John Ernest and Elizabeth L. (Bair) Miller, was born in Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, February 23, 1881. His preliminary education was obtained in the public schools of Pittsburgh and Washington, and after completing his elementary studies and two years in the Washington and Jefferson Preparatory School he entered Washington and Jefferson College, matriculating in 1898 and re- ceiving his diploma from the classical course in the class of 1902. His next four years were spent in the Jefferson Medical College at Philadel- phia in preparation for a physician's career, and from the latter institution he was graduated in 1906. He performed one year of hospital service in St. Joseph's Hospital, in Pittsburgh, and made that city the scene of his first general practice, there remaining for two years. At the end of that time he came to New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and has since been there established. He is a member of the County, State, and National Medical societies, and is held in respected esteem by his professional breth- ren. In the five years of his Beaver county residence he has firmly estab- lished himself in public favor and ministers to a generous patronage in a competent manner, his every action in the sick room or before an operating table betraying the confident, learned physician. He and his wife are com- municants of Christ's Episcopal Church, and he holds membership in the Masonic order, the Royal Arcanum, the Knights of Pythias, and the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows.

Dr. Miller married, January 22, 1908, Florence Huxley. Children : John E., Catherine, Elizabeth.

Winfield Scott Moore is of Irish descent on his father's side MOORE of the house and Scotch-Irish and German on his mother's. His great-grandfather, Dr. Henry Moore, was born March 17, 1742, in or near the town of Boyle, Ireland, one hundred and eight miles northwest from Dublin. He was a physician, a freeholder, and a member of the Church of England. He married Mary Dodd, December 10, 1762,

Ninfield S. Moon

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and immigrated to America, landing in Baltimore in the spring of 1773- He settled on a farm four miles west of Washington, Pennsylvania, in: November of the same year, and began the practice of medicine. Seven children were born of their marriage, as follows: Daniel, Nancy, Henry, Elizabeth, Robert, Mary, William.

Robert Moore, grandfather of Winfield Scott Moore, was born March 30, 1778, on the farm aforesaid, and was educated at Washington College .. After graduating he studied law. In 1803 he was sworn in as a member of the Beaver county bar at the organization of the court. He was a man. of prominence in his day, a general of militia, and represented his district in congress for two terms, from 1817 to 1821, and also served in the state legislature. He was married to Mary Stibbs, a daughter of Joseph and Henrietta Stibbs, October 18, 1804, of which union eight children were born, namely: Joseph, Henrietta Maria, Elizabeth (wife of Daniel Agnew), Henry C., Amanda Z., Alfred Robert (the father of Winfield S.), Dr. Franklin, Caroline L.

Alfred Robert Moore, father of Winfield Scott Moore, was born March 2, 1819, died November 18, 1902. He was educated in the common. schools and at Washington College. He was a civil engineer and laid out. part of the Erie Canal, known as the Hartstown division; afterwards en- gaged in the canal boat and steamboat business for many years; retired from said business about 1857. He was county treasurer, clerk of com- missioners and register and recorder of Beaver county, closing his term. as register and recorder in 1866, and afterwards engaging in various oc- cupations. He was United States store-keeper and guager, justice of the- peace of the borough of Beaver, and also in Warren county, where he removed after the death of his first wife. He married (first) Jane Small, daughter of Colonel Henry and Martha (McIlhaney) Small. The children. of Alfred R. and wife were: Henry Robert, Alfred Stibbs, Edwin Hamlin, Winfield Scott, Isaac Harter, Annie Jane, Thomas, Philip L. In 1892 he married (second) Mrs. Elizabeth Richardson, a widow, and from that time until his death he resided at Tidioute, Warren county, Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of almost eighty-four years.

Winfield Scott Moore, fourth child of Alfred R. Moore, was born June 14, 1852. He was educated in the common schools, Beaver Seminary, Beaver Academy and Millersville State Normal School, where he graduated in 1873. After graduating he became a teacher and taught in the public schools of New Galilee for two years, and while teaching he registered as a law student with Wilson & Moore, the latter being his brother, Henry R. Moore, and was admitted to the bar of Beaver county on the 15th day of March, 1876. After practicing a short time he formed a partnership with his brother, Hon. Alfred S. Moore, under the name of A. S. & W. S. Moore, which partnership continued until 1902, when Alfred S. Moore was appointed United States district judge at Nome, Alaska, since which time he has been practicing alone. He is a charter member of the Pennsylvania

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Bar Association and has been an active member since its organization, serving on various committees of the same. He is a member of the su- preme and superior courts of the state, and of the United States district and circuit courts, and practises in all of them. In politics he has been until the past three years a Republican, but is now a Progressive. He has never held any political positions other than those bestowed upon him by his party. He has frequently been a delegate to the state conventions, and in 1908 was a delegate to the National convention. He supported Hon. P. C. Knox for president. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Beaver, and has held official positions in the church for many years. He was superintendent of its Sunday school for twenty years continuously. He has been and is a trustee of Beaver College, and also a director of the Beaver Trust Company. He is a charter member of the Bar Association of Beaver county and has been active in its man- agement.

On June 12, 1879, he was married to Mary Atkins, daughter of Isaac N. and Anna M. Atkins, of Beaver. Of this union two sons and three daughters were born: Daniel Agnew, Mary Olive, Maud Atkins, Josephine, Winfield Scott, Jr.

It has often been a matter of comment that talents have GORDON been transmitted in some families through numbers of gen- erations, and with each succeeding generation the value of this talent has increased. This appears to have been the case with the Gordon family, of which a well known representative is to be found in the person of Morris Gordon, general merchant, of Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. A foreigner by birth, Mr. Gordon has bravely over- come the numerous obstacles which he found in the path which led to success, and may be called a self made man in the purest sense of the word.

(I) Isaac Gordon, born in Russia, spent his entire life in his native land. He was a distiller in the town of Kroke, and was very successfully engaged in business. He married, and his children were: Leibe, of further mention; Louis, came to America when he was already advanced in years, and died here, after raising a large family, all his sons being wealthy mer- chants of Pittsburgh; Shem and Harry spent their lives in Russia.

(II) Leibe Gordon, son of Isaac Gordon, was born in Kroke, province of Kovno, Russia, and was in charge of the government post office there for more than a quarter of a century. He is now living in retirement in that town, having acquired a considerable fortune. He married Rachel Butzer, born in the same town and still living there. She is a daughter of Harry Butzer, who inherited his father's brewery, and a granddaughter of Mayer Butzer, who was the proprietor of a large brewery in the town of Kroke. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon had children : Morris, of further mention ;

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Jacob, proprietor of a fine grocery store at New Brighton, Beaver county ; Aaron, lives in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; Nathan, lives in Africa, where he is the owner of a brewery; Mayer, lives in Russia; Anna and Sarah, married, and live in Russia.

(III) Morris Gordon, son of Leibe and Rachel (Butzer) Gordon, was born in the town of Kroke, province of Kovno, Russia. Until the age of fifteen years he was a pupil in the public schools of his native town, and there acquired a sound, practical education. At the age of seventeen years he left the parental roof in order to make his fortune independently, and finding that good opportunities were not to be met with in Europe, he determined to make his way in America. He accordingly emigrated to the United States in 1878, making his way to the city of Pittsburgh, of which he had had favorable reports. When he commenced his business career in this country he was without means, a foreigner, and without knowledge of the language of the land in which it was his fixed determina- tion to succeed. Undeniable facts amply prove that he has successfully carried out this determination. He commenced his business career as a peddler of general merchandise, and being apt, energetic and enterprising, it was not long before he had acquired an excellent working knowledge of English, and he rose rapidly. The beginning, it is true, offered many dif- ficulties; many times Mr. Gordon was obliged to go without food and often his fare was of the poorest quality. But he was possessed of that species of bravery which enables the soldier to forget his wounds on the field of battle, having only in his mind the success which must inevitably come when a man does all that it is in his power to do. In 1884 Mr. Gordon came to Beaver Falls, and there established a home for himself, and since that time his residence has been in that town. He continued in his career of a merchant peddler until 1888, at which time he started a dry goods store in a modest way at the corner of Sixth street and Seventh avenue, then the center of the business section of Beaver Falls. Under his able management his business venture prospered, and it was soon neces- sary to enlarge the store. In 1893 he purchased his present large store building at No. 1113 Seventh avenue, and, in association with A. Fisher, opened a dry goods and ladies' furnishing emporium on a large scale, under the firm name of Gordon & Fisher. This partnership was dissolved in 1897, when Mr. Gordon bought out the interest of his partner, and since that time he has conducted the business alone under the name of M. Gordon. In point of years he is now the second oldest merchant in Beaver Falls, who has conducted his business uninterruptedly. The building in which the business is carried on is a two-story brick structure, and is the longest store in the town, having a floor depth of one hundred and sixty-five feet, and a frontage of twenty feet. There is an immense plate glass window, and the display in this is always of the most attractive character and is very frequently changed. There is always a complete line of dry goods, coats and suits for women and children, and all kinds of ready-to-wear

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garments, and the line of millinery carried is one which would do credit to a store situated in one of the largest cities of the Union. The staff of clerks employed there is amply sufficient to attend to the large custom which the efficient methods of Mr. Gordon have attracted to the store, and the wants of the customers are attended to with the utmost despatch. The attendants, also, are provided with many comforts not to be met with in other stores of like character, and they regard Mr. Gordon in the light of a friend as well as their employer.

Mr. Gordon married, August 12, 1890, Kate, a daughter of Harry Fisher; she was born in Russia, and came to New Castle, Pennsylvania, with her parents when she was a young child. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon have children: Isaac, born July 23, 1891, assists his father in the latter's store; Harry, born December 7, 1892, same employment as his brother; Esther, born May 15, 1899; Ruth, September 10, 1903. Mr. Gordon may enjoy the proud satisfaction of having so far successfully acted his part that his life affords an example and encouragement to others. By diligent application of his powers he has become one of the representative men of the town in which he resides. In his relations to the community- commercial, civil and social-he has exhibited those qualities which mark the true citizen, exerting his influence and employing his energy, not for individual ends only, but also for the general good. While American trade annals contain records of many men who have been the architects of their own fortunes, there has been none more creditable by reason of undaunted energy, well formulated plans and straightforward dealing, than that of Mr. Gordon. Mr. Gordon is of the Jewish faith, and while he conforms to the tenets of his faith, he is generous in his support of other religious de- nominations. In his donations to charity, which are extensive and numer- ous, he carries out the same principles.

The Suttons of western Pennsylvania came thither from the SUTTON eastern regions of the state and from the adjoining terri- tory of New Jersey, that being the course followed by the early ancestors of the branch herein chronicled, which begins with Jeremiah Sutton, whose parents were early settlers of Butler county, Pennsylvania.

(I) Jeremiah Sutton was born in Fairview township, Butler county, Pennsylvania, in 1808, died July 14, 1852. He was a shoemaker and when not busied at his trade was accustomed to devote his time to agricultural pursuits, owning a farm of fair size. He married, in 1835, Mrs. Margaret (Shryock) Harper, of Butler county, Pennsylvania, one of his sons being John H., of whom further,

(II) John H. Sutton, son of Jeremiah and Margaret (Shryock- Harper) Sutton, was born in Clay township, Butler county, Pennsylva- nia, November 11, 1838. He attended the district schools as a youth, and in 1853 became a clerk in the store of Harper Brothers, in North Wash-

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ington, remaining in their employ until 1858, when he went west, and spent three years in Iowa and Colorado. Soon after his return to Butler county the peace of the country was broken by the long-dreaded outbreak of war, and he enlisted in Company C, Eleventh Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves, being sworn into the Union service at Camp Wright, June 10, 1861, his regiment being attached to the Army of the Potomac. His regiment par- ticipated and he was actively engaged in the battles of Gaines Mill, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam and Fredericksburg. In the first mentioned conflict he was captured and taken to Belle Isle, where he was imprisoned for forty days before exchange negotiations were completed. He rejoined his regiment in September, 1862, and was soon after pro- moted to the rank of second lieutenant. He was a second time taken prisoner at Fredericksburg, having been wounded in the fight, and for two months was confined in Libby Prison, being paroled February 14, 1863, being sent immediately to the Annapolis Hospital, at the place of that name, in Maryland. Being dismissed from the hospital he was granted an honor- able discharge and returned to his native county, becoming a member of the firm of Harper Brothers, of North Washington, until 1864, when he settled on a farm until his election to the office of clerk of court in 1872. At the expiration of his term of office he did not return to his agricul- tural pursuits, but embarked in the oil business, with which he was pro- minently connected in the different fields of the state until his retirement, since when he has lived quietly in Butler, Pennsylvania. With his wife he is an adherent to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a loyal mem- ber of the Republican party. Mr. Sutton married, March 1, 1864, Maria M., daughter of Joseph and Nancy Mechling, of Washington township, Butler county, Pennsylvania. Children : Emma L., married H. W. Christie, of Butler; Frank M .; Agnes E., married W. E. McClung, of Butler, Penn- sylvania; Maude H., married James N. Moore, of Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania; William D .; Angie A .; John C., of whom further.

(III) John C. Sutton, son of John H. and Maria M. (Mechling) Sutton, was born in Butler, Butler county, Pennsylvania, October 26, 1878. After a public school education he entered Hahnemann Medical College, in Philadelphia, having early decided upon a doctor's career, whence he was graduated in the class of 1902. He came at once to New Brighton and has since confined his practice exclusively to that locality. He is one of the younger generation of physicians, a disciple of new ideas and mod- ern methods, and has forged steadily toward the front rank of his pro- fession in New Brighton, where he is well and favorably known. His ability in his profession is undoubted and he possesses many of the agree- able personal attributes that make him a welcome visitor even though his mission may not be of the most pleasant. He holds membership in the County, State and American Institute of Homeopathy, and is with his wife a member of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Sutton married, October 17, 1906, Eunice E. Chandler. Children: Margaret and John.

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Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921 ed Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921 ed
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: