USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 16
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(II) Benjamin F. Porter was born in Indiana, June 6, 1835, died near Wauseon, Ohio, August 24, 1902. In his early childhood his parents brought him to Richland county, Ohio, where his youth was spent. After his marriage he lived in Wauseon, Ohio, where he followed his trade, that of carpenter, until the outbreak of war between the north and the south, when he left for the front. His first enlistment was for three months, his regiment being the Tenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, from which he was
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later transferred to the Fifteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. At the expiration of his first term he re-enlisted, his organization being the Third Regiment of Ohio Cavalry and was an aide under General Judson Kilpatrick. This rank he held during the remainder of his service, and he was often the custodian and carrier of important messages between the commanders of the various armies. While bent upon a mission of this nature he was taken captive by a company of Texas Rangers, and brought before the Confederate commander. Here every pressure was brought to compel him to divulge the nature of his message, which was from General William T. Sherman to General Kilpatrick, recalling the latter from his southern raid and ordering him to concentrate his forces in the rear of Atlanta, which city fell the following day. Because of his immovable de- termination not to reveal his message, which had been entrusted to him, he was ordered to be hanged. Every preparation was made for the execution of this threat and as he stood upon the scaffold with the rope around his neck he was asked if he wished to make a dying statement. His only answer was that if it was his time to enter into the presence of his Maker, it would not be as a traitor to the cause he had sworn to defend. The strength of his purpose and the loyalty of his devotion deeply impressed the Confederate general, who, with the admiration of one brave and gallant gentleman for another, countermanded his first order, and placed him in charge of the authorities at Andersonville prison, over which place of confinement Captain Werz was in command. Subsequently he was sent to Salisbury, North Carolina, and from that place paroled at the close of the war.
During his confinement at Andersonville he was the witness of many of the cruel atrocities committed in that place, helpless prisoners being the victims, and at the close of the war he testified against Captain Werz, on trial for inhuman treatment of Union soldiers, stating that he had seen a northern soldier cast into a pack of ravenous bloodhounds. The depth of the Confederate general's respect for his prisoner at the time of his first capture, when he made his choice between death and the odium of a traitor's reputation, is shown by the words of that gentleman, spoken as he ordered the noose to be removed from the neck of his captive: "If I had a regiment of such men I could lick Hell out of the Yankees." This was not coarse profanity, nor was his remark made in derogation of the bravery of his own men, but the manner of strong men not used to the niceties of speech in expressing emotion, and no higher nor truer tribute could be made. Under General Kilpatrick he participated in many de- cisive battles, not the least of which was that of Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Land- ing, the wounds he received in active service being a bayonet thrust in the right shoulder, and a rifle shot in the knee. He was honorably dis- charged at the close of the war, and lived the remainder of his years on a farm near Wauseon, Ohio, enjoying the peace that followed the four years of such deadly struggle, in which his part had revealed the nobility of his
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spirit and the loftiness of his character. He was ever a Republican in politics, and held membership in the Grand Army of the Republic and the Union Veterans Legion. With his wife he was a member of the Dis- ciples of Christ Church.
He married, in Ohio, Jerusha Ann Taylor, born at Hartford, Con- necticut, October 15, 1845, who survives him, living in Wauseon, Fulton county, Ohio. She is a daughter of James and (Wells) Taylor, both natives of Hartford, Connecticut. James Taylor, in his young manhood, was a minister of the Church of the Disciples of Christ, and a devoted member of that sect all his life, although he did not continue in the ministry. About 1872 he moved to Nebraska, in which state he was a large real estate dealer and the promoter of many towns, one of those in which he played an especially prominent part being Wayne, the county- seat of Wayne county. Not only did he install the improvements necessary to make the towns in which he owned property attractive to prospective purchasers, but in many cases he established public institutions tending to- ward the future welfare of the inhabitants, being especially interested in the founding of religious organizations, particularly of the faith in which he had at one time been a preacher. In many towns he also founded banks, assuming entire responsibility and control until a class of residents capable of undertaking its management had settled there. In 1885 he dis- posed of all his Nebraska land and moved to California, having performed a great and useful service in the rural districts of that state in the develop- ment of the land, the incorporation of boroughs and towns, the introduc- tion of modern institutions, and in bringing to that region a class of in- habitants, thrifty, energetic and ambitious, who caused, as did their des- cendants, that country to blossom like a garden. In California he was one of the first residents and the promoter of the town of South River- side, known today as Coronna, one of the most flourishing and prosperous towns in the orange belt. He was at one time owner of the Sorrento ranch, now one of the heaviest producing orange groves in the state, the trees of which he planted. In the now common practice of irrigation he was a pioneer and led the water that gave life to his orange trees from a distance of seventy miles, an undertaking that converted land almost worthless into soil fertile beyond comprehension. Behind all of his business transactions there was a fineness of discernment that rarely led him into an unprofitable investment, a shrewd, calculating and financial sense that brought him re- turns in abundant wealth, besides gaining for him the reputation of being the most progressive and most uniformly successful promoters of western land. To the type of people with whom he had dealings his propositions made strong appeal, based as they ever were on solid and logical reason- ing, straightforward and founded on fact, points decidedly in his favor when negotiating with men who required substantial proofs. His death occurred in 1893, that of his wife having taken place in 1847, after which he married a second time. James Taylor and his first wife were the
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parents of Jerusha Ann, of previous mention, who married Benjamin F. Porter. Children of the second marriage of James Taylor: Robert, a placer miner of California, residing in Los Angeles; Mary, married a Mr. Mates, and lives in Los Angeles, California ; James, died in young manhood, was associated in business with his father. Children of Benjamin F. and Jerusha Ann (Taylor) Porter: Rosetta, married David Eberly, and died in Fulton county, Ohio; Lucy Ellen, married Judson Todd, and lives in Fulton county, Ohio; Leonard L., a stationary engineer, lives in Fulton county, Ohio; Enos Hadsell, of whom further; J. Farnum, a preacher in the Christian Union, at Fayette, Ohio.
(III) Enos Hadsell Porter, son of Benjamin F. and Jerusha Ann (Taylor) Porter, was born in Wauseon, Fulton county, Ohio, October 31, 1875. As a boy he attended the public schools of the town of his birth, and in 1892 received the degree A. B. from the Northwestern Collegiate Institute, at Wauseon, Ohio, after having completed the prescribed course. Three years later he was awarded the same degree by Hiram College, having been a student in the theological course. Although prepared in such a splendid manner for the ministry he was never ordained, and after his marriage in the year of his graduation from Hiram College he established in the general merchandise business in Tedrow, Ohio. Here he remained for but a year and a half, in March, 1897, coming to Beaver Falls, on the first of the following month opening a wholesale produce house at No. 335 Seventh avenue, which from the start was a decided financial success, in 1914 moving into his property at the corner of Eighth avenue and Fifth street. Into its management he put the best of his talented ability along business lines, and as a result it has grown into sizeable proportions, seven men being employed to accommodate the demands of customers whose residence covers all of Beaver and Lawrence counties. Besides his produce business, Mr. Porter's only other business connection is with the Federal Oil Company, of Oklahoma, the headquarters of which are at Bartlesville. He is a member of the Disciples of Christ Church, as is his wife, and he is a member of the Tamaqua Club, Lodge No. 348, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, of Pitts- burgh.
As a Republican he has been very active in political affairs, during Mr. Mckinley's campaign taking the stump for that candidate in Ohio and Michigan. Since his residence in Beaver county he has been appointed on numerous county and local committees, where his political experience and sound judgment have made him a figure of prominence. On January 24, 1910, he received an appointment from President Taft as United States Marshal for the western district of Pennsylvania, his term of office ex- piring on October 1, 1913. In 1910 he was a delegate to the state Re- publican convention, and in 1912 attended the national convention at Chi- cago which nominated William Howard Taft for the presidency of the United States. While holding the office of marshal under the Federal gov-
ENaduell Poster
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ernment he was made a member of the Panama-Pacific commission for the state of Pennsylvania by Governor Tener, and represented the com- monwealth on that commission. While Mr. Porter has never appeared before his fellows as a candidate for political preference or as a seeker for office, prominence and distinction in political matters has come to him unsought, due to his innate and remarkable ease in dealing with men and in obtaining the end for which he strives. His easy and graceful forensic powers have been of inestimable benefit to him in his public life, both when campaigning for a personal or political friend, or when addressing a gather- ing of which he is a member or to which he is a delegate.
Mr. Porter married, August 28, 1895, Esther M. Hintz, of Cleveland, Ohio, daughter of Henry and Caroline Hintz. Child, Esther Gladys, born May 28, 1899.
This is a very common name among those of British descent, HOWE and there have been men of distinction as bearers of it both in England and in the United States.
(I) John Howe, born in England, emigrated to America with his family when his children were still young. He made his home in Old Brighton, now Fallston, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he followed his trade of brick laying. He married in England, Margaret Mansel, and they had children: Joseph, Ellis, Richard, of further mention, Margaret, Ann, Jane.
(II) Richard Howe, son of John and Margaret (Mansel) Howe, was born in Wales, July 10, 1830. He came to the United States with his parents in 1832 and was educated in the public schools of Old Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. Like his father he took up the trade of brick laying, but later branched out into the contracting business, in which he was very successful. During the greater part of his life he lived in New Brighton, and while he was a staunch supporter of the Republican party, he never desired to hold public office. His religious affiliations were with the Radical Methodist Church. During the Civil War he volunteered his services, but was not accepted because of a broken ankle. Mr. Howe married, February 7, 1849, Sarah Peatling, of Corby, Lincolnshire, Eng- land, daughter of William and Ann (Carrington) Peatling. Mrs. Howe did not like the life on a farm, and came to New Brighton in her girlhood and worked there before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Howe had children: John, Sarah D., Grace, Richard Harris, of furthe mention; Jessie, Mary, Florence.
Mrs. Ann (Carrington) Peatling was born in Scotland, came to America in 1848, and made her home in New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. John Peatling, grandfather of Sarah (Peatling) Howe, was a jeweler in Boston, England, where his entire life was spent. He married Mary Gibbon. They had children: William, of further mention; John, who ran away from home, went to sea and was lost in a November storm;
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Thomas, was a wholesale liquor dealer in England seventy-five years, and was active in church work; his son, Frederick, was also active in religious and civic affairs, and was at one time mayor of his home town. William, son of John and Mary (Gibbon) Peatling, and father of Mrs. Howe, finally settled in Scioto Valley, Ohio, where he carried on his business as a jeweler and clock and watch maker. After the death of his son Edward, he removed to New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and spent his life there. Mr. Peatling married (first) Susan Booker, a Quakeress, who died in England; he married (second) Ann Carrington; he married (third) Charlotte Tuke, whose brother was a celebrated portrait painter. Only child of the first marriage: William. Children of the second marriage: One, died in infancy; Mary Ann; Sarah, married Mr. Howe, as above stated; Thomas; Edward, who was killed at the battle of Perrysville, during the Civil War; Susanna; Betsey.
(III) Richard Harris Howe, son of Richard and Sarah (Peatling) Howe, was born in New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, May 25, 1856. His education was acquired in the public schools of New Brighton, and at an early age he was obliged to take up the serious business of life. He commenced his business career as a young lad, by carrying papers, when only nine papers were taken in Beaver Falls. When he commenced assisting his father at his brick laying work, he was still so small that his hand could not reach across the width of the brick, and at the age of fourteen or fifteen years, his ambition and energy enabled him to do a man's work. Later he established himself in business as a contractor, and in 1886 he commenced to manufacture brick, an industry he carried on in connection with his general contracting business. He has now for many years been closely identified with both of these lines of industry, and has been very successful in his undertakings. In political matters Mr. Howe is a Republican with Socialistic tendencies, and has served as a member of the board of elections. He was reared in the Protestant Methodist faith.
Mr. Howe married, in 1876, Rachel, daughter of Jonathan and Ruth (Snowberger) Cook, and granddaughter of Reuben and Ann Cook. Jona- than Cook was born in Wales, and located for a time at Bridgewater, but later removed to North Sewickley township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he followed the occupation of farming. Still later he and his wife, who was born in Shousetown, Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania Dutch an- cestry, made their home in West Virginia, where they died. Mr. and Mrs. Howe had children: William, of New Brighton; John, of New Brighton; Sallie, married David Sutherland; Hazel, married George Estep, of New Brighton; Nellie, married Albert Stanyard, whose family is of England.
SHANOR Matthias Shanor, the progenitor of this family in America, was born in Strasburg, now the capital of Alsace-Loraine, at that time under French government. He emigrated to
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America prior to the Revolution, and settled in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he volunteered his services, and bore his share bravely in that momentous struggle. He escaped without a wound, but during the battle of Brandywine, a sword thrust which was aimed at his head cut off his beard close to the cheek, without injuring him. He became a farmer after the war and in later years combined this occupation with that of charcoal burner. He finally settled in Beaver county, with which section this family has since been identified. When he came from Westmoreland county to Beaver county, the journey had to be made through woods which were then a wilderness infested with wild beasts, especially wolves, and at night it was necessary to keep a fire alight constantly to ward off their attacks. Mr. Shanor purchased two hundred acres of land near Brady's Run. He married Soph- ronia Poe, whose two brothers, Andrew and George Poe, were men of great prominence in their day in Western Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Shanor had children: Matthias, Jr., settled in Rockland township, Venan- go county, Pennsylvania; Henry and George, remained in Westmoreland county; David, see forward; several daughters whose names are not on record.
(II) David Shanor, son of Matthias and Sophronia (Poe) Shanor, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1765, and died September 6, 1856. He was a very young lad when he made the journey with his father through the woods to Beaver county, and he lived at Brady's Run until he was twenty years of age. He then assisted Samp- son Piersol to build a mill on Brush Creek, hewing timbers, and doing the work of a mature man. After his first marriage he took a lease on a tract of land, built a cabin, and cleared ten acres during the first year. This was located in Sewickley township, and he traded his lease and crop for a farm of one hundred acres on Brush Creek. At intervals he added to this property, until he had at one time one thousand acres. At the time of his death he still had six hundred acres. He was a justice of the peace for twenty-eight years, and was a strong supporter of the Democratic party. His wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Unionville. Mr. Shanor was drafted in 1812 and went as far west as Middletown, Pennsylvania, where he procured a substitute for the sum of thirty-six dollars, and returned to his home in order to finish a contract he had at that time to build a furnace. He married (first) Ruth Sampson, a daughter of Sampson Piersol, for whom he had worked. After her death he married (second) Mary Foster, born on the south side of the Ohio river in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in March, 1806, died in July, 1875. She was a daughter of John Foster, who, in company with the Woods, Fosters, Hunters, and others, came in a body from New Jersey, and settled in Beaver county, south of the Ohio river. Later he located near Union- ville, in what is now New Sewickley township, They had children: Stephen, a farmer; William, laid out the town of Unionville, Pennsylvania;
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John, a farmer; Mary, mentioned above; and several other daughters. Mr. Shanor had eleven children by his first marriage, and by his second he had: I. David, now deceased, during the Civil War was a soldier from Kentucky serving in the Union army. He was captain of his company and later surgeon, and held the rank of major at the end of the war. 2. Henry, now deceased, was a farmer. 3. George, deceased, was a plasterer. 4. Adaline, died in Dayton, Ohio. 5. Laura, died in Dayton, Ohio. 6. John Marshall Foster, see forward. 7. Stephen, deceased, was a railway en- gineer. 8. Alva, deceased, was a school teacher. 9. Emeline, deceased, mar- ried Benjamin K. Piersol, also deceased, who was a well known attorney in Beaver. Two children died in infancy.
(III) John Marshall Foster Shanor, son of David and Mary (Foster) Shanor, was born in New Sewickley township, Beaver county, Pennsyl- vania, February 20, 1840. He became a pupil at the Unionville schoolhouse, which was located on his father's ground, and at a very early age was obliged to assist in the farm labors. He was but sixteen years of age at the time of the death of his father, and for several years he had full charge of two hundred acres which he farmed for his mother. He then went to Oil City, where he was engaged in the oil business, but not very successfully. Returning to the homestead, he remained there until April, 1883, when he sold out and removed to Rochester, Pennsylvania. He opened a grocery store there with which he was identified for several years, then engaged in contract work of various kinds, such as paving, making sidewalks, etc. In 1899 he was street commissioner of Rochester. During the past two years he has been park commissioner of Rochester. He is a member of the Democratic party, but will not allow himself to be bound by party ties, and will give his vote to the candidate whom he considers best fitted for the office, even if he is not the Democratic nominee. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Rochester. Mr. Shanor enlisted in 1862, in Company Y, One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served throughout his period of enlistment, nine months.
Mr. Shanor married, April 14, 1859, Amelia Belinda Cable, born in New Sewickley township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, December 25, 1840, a daughter of John Henry and Phoebe (Goehring) Cable. John Henry Cable was a farmer, and was born in Michigan, while his wife was a native of Germany. He died about 1848, and his wife about 1850. He served in the militia, and left a large family. Mrs. Shanor was brought up in the family of her elder brother, Jacob Cable. Mr. and Mrs. Shanor had children : Emma, married Frank White, and lives in Rochester, Pennsylvania; Clara, married William Rousher, an employe on the railroad, anl lives in Erie, Pennsylvania; Alva Leonard, married Hanna Brewer, and lives in Daugherty township, New Brighton, Beaver county; Charles L., married Mary Majors, and lives in Rochester, Pennsylvania ; David L., married Sarah Mecklem, and resides in Rochester, Pennsylvania; Estella,
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married William Darling, and lives in Rochester, Pennsylvania; Ira Cyrus, married Mary Hineman, and lives in Rochester, Pennsylvania; William H., married Margaret Honig; Maud, married Glen Chapman, lives in Al- legheny; Grover Cleveland, married Nellie Irvin; Roy A., married Laura Anderson.
Among the many fugitive Scotch Protestants who fled their DOWNIE country in the eighteenth century, finding asylum in the north of Ireland, were several representatives of the Downie family, ever loyal Protestants. From the time of the founding of the name in Ireland there are more complete records of the family than in their Scotland home. The line herein recorded lived near Belfast, Ireland, where the great-grandfather of Robert Magee Downie was born, about 1740. He married a Miss Craig, born near Belfast, Ireland, about 1768, and had children: Patrick; Ann, married David Hackney, of Limerick, Ireland; Catharine, married Hugh Shields and lived in the vicinity of Belfast; Jane, married Alexander Neal, near Dublin, Ireland; John, of whom further.
(II) John Downie was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1804, died near Auburn, Kansas, in 1888. He was reared to manhood in Ireland, there attending the public school, and became a follower of agricultural occupa- tions. When he was thirty-eight years of age he decided to try his fortunes in the United States, and accordingly arrangements were made and he and his family prepared for their departure, the party including, besides himself, his wife and nine children. They were delayed in starting by a violent storm, which completely destroyed all of their goods, these having been piled on the deck of the channel steamer crossing to Liverpool. In consequence of this mishap they were compelled to provide themselves with an entirely new outfit, and the time consumed in so doing made them miss connections with the boat in which they were to cross the Atlantic, and it sailed without them. The next transatlantic ship did not leave port until two weeks later, so the little band waited in Liverpool until the day of its departure. Just as their vessel was about to leave port their surprise was great to see the boat on which they had first engaged passage being towed into the harbor a total wreck, a sight filling them with a feeling of thank- fulness for their minor misfortunes, which had saved them from the ter- rible experience of a shipwreck on the open seas. Their voyage was a long one even for those days of slow-sailing vessels, requiring one hundred and one days, the party arriving in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 20, 1842, having come directly to that city from their port of entry. John Downie and his family later moved to Kansas, where he followed his original business, farming. He and his wife were members of the Reformed Pres- byterian Church. He married Mary Niblock, born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1805, died near Winchester, Kansas, in 1868. About 1826 her parents moved to Liverpool, England, where their son, James, eldest of their four
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