USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 17
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children, became an engineer and machinist, being foreman in charge of the construction of the first railroad engine used in England, exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair. Their other children were: John, Mary, of previous mention, married John Downie, and another son who was afflicted with deafness and dumbness. John and Mary (Niblock) Downie were the parents of: I. James N., of whom further. 2. Annie, born near Belfast, Ireland (as were the seven following children), December 15, 1826, married, January 22, 1852, James Glasgow, and lived near Bakers- town, Pennsylvania. 3. Susanna, born November 2, 1828, married July 4, 1856, James Shields, and lived near Tionesta, Pennsylvania. 4. John, Jr., born September 22, 1830, married (first) December 20, 1857, Mary A. Young, and lived near Portersville, Pennsylvania, (second) November 3, 1869, Mary A. Thorp, and lived thereafter near Winchester, Kansas. 5. Robert, born March 6, 1832, married, December 3, 1866, Sarah Henley, and lived near Winchester, Kansas, where he was a farmer. 6. Henry, born May 7, 1834, a carpenter, married, October 30, 1856, Elizabeth Kerr, and is living at the present time (1914) in Seattle, Washington. 7. Thomas H., born July 29, 1836, married, April 30, 1876, Florence Bishop, and lived near Sonora, California. 8. Mary, born February 27, 1838, married, July 18, 1860, J. S. Herring, and lived near Winchester, Kansas. 9. Martin, born September 7, 1840, died in 1868, having been an invalid all of his life. 10. Alexander, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1842, a carpenter, married, December 24, 1883, Maggie Duncan. 11. Edward B., born near Glade Mill, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1845, a farmer, was twice married, (first) March 2, 1876, Mary Thornburgh, (second) April 15, 1886, Lola Kincaid. 12. Elizabeth J., born near Evans City, Pennsylvania, April 18, 1847, married, October 11, 1866, T. B. Pitcher, and lived near Winchester, Kansas.
(III) James Niblock Downie, eldest of the twelve children of John and Mary (Niblock) Downie, was born near Belfast, county Down, Ireland, May 25, 1825, died in November, 1907. He was a lad of seventeen years when the trip to the United States was undertaken, having been educated in Ireland. After the family settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he did not tarry long in that locality, but went to Butler county, in the same state, engaging in farm labor wherever his assistance was needed. He saved enough from his earnings to purchase a farm, now the site of the village of Downieville, and there lived until his death, agriculture being his life- long calling. He was a strong advocate of abolition, and in the ante- bellum days his farm was a loyal stopping place on the famous "under- ground railroad," that for a time offered a refuge to many runaway slaves. At the time of Lee's desperate northern invasion he enlisted in the "Home Guards," but was never called into active service. He was a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church, prominent in all its affairs and abiding strictly to the rules that it laid down for the observance of its members, having as much regard for the spirit as for the letter of its precepts.
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Public questions also claimed a generous part of his attention and he was besides, a tireless reader, possessing a keen, well-informed mind that was stored with interesting and useful information on a variety of topics. He married, October 13, 1852, Jane Boyle Magee, daughter of Robert and Sarah (Douthett) Magee, her father, born September 4, 1800, died Sep- tember 24, 1844, her mother dying July 26, 1850, aged fifty-three years. Robert was a son of James Magee, born in county Down, Ireland, in 1769, who, upon immigrating to this country, settled in Delaware, later moving to Pennsylvania, settling in the Conoquenessing valley in Butler county, in 1797. He spent eleven weeks on the ocean when coming to this land, and in Butler did his first farming with a mattock. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, fighting in the American army, and was a member of the Covenanter Church, to which all of his family belonged. Their pastor was the Rev. Matthew Williams, and of his church Mr. Magee was an elder, his death occurring in Butler county, Pennsylvania, in 1846. He married Jane Boyle and had a family of thirteen children, five boys and eight girls, all of whom grew to maturity, all but one marrying. Jane, daughter of William Boyle, was born in Ireland in 1769 and in 1793 came to the United States with her parents, one brother, William, and four sisters, Susan, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Mary, the voyage extending over a period of thirteen weeks. Her sisters afterward married in this manner: Sarah, Philip Mowrie; Mary, John Fleming; Elizabeth, Captain Woods; and Sarah, Mr. Graham. Until her marriage she lived in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and was, until her death, on a Sunday morning, June II, 1854, a member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. In her native land she had been connected with the Presbyterian Church in the Synod of Ulster. At the time of her death, aged eighty-five years, she had, through her thirteen children, all of whom grew to maturity, eighty-six grand- children, twenty-five great-grandchildren, and twelve great-great-grand- children. Children of James and Jane (Boyle) Magee: 1. Isabel, born December 17, 1797, died in April, 1877, married Rogers Miller. Children : James, Isaac, Benjamin, William, Robert, Thomas, John, Jane Boyle, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary, Rebecca, Lucinda, and Isabel. 2. Mary Ann, born February 2, 1799, died in 1875, married John Fleming, died aged sixty-eight years, and lived at Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Children, ten in number, all of whom grew to maturity, the four eldest being Hugh, James, John, and Catherine; Hugh at one time was mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 3. Robert, of whom further. 4. Elizabeth, born February 3, 1802, died March 13, 1880, married, near Harmony, Pennsylvania, Thomas McCaw, a native of Ireland, the Rev. Matthew Williams performing the ceremony. Children : Jane Boyle, John Magee, Mary Ann, Susanna, Wil- liam, Rebecca, Margaret, George, and David. 5. Rebecca, born September 4, 1803, married Joseph Douthett, born October 6, 1807. Children: Benj- amin Smith, James Magee, Jane Smith, John H., Robert M., David Black, and Joseph Alexander. 6. William, born November 4, 1805, died in Oil
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City, Pennsylvania, May 7, 1891, married Letitia Ann Hamilton, born Feb- ruary 29, 1808, died in Oil City, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1891, daughter of William and Margaret Hamilton, natives of Ireland, where she was born, having come to the United States when twelve years of age, her marriage occurring May 4, 1830. She and her husband were buried in the same grave on the same day, their deaths taking place in Oil City within twenty- four hours. 7. George Hamilton, born near Pine Creek, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, August 15, 1806, died June 18, 1889, married March 17, 1832. 8. Susannah, born December 25, 1807, died January 2, 1877, never married, living at home and caring for her father and mother until their deaths, her own being caused by a cancerous growth. 9. Jane B., born August 29, 1809, died February 6, 1872, married Harmon De Haven, and had five children. 10. Lucinda, died November 9, 1893; married, in 1844, James Boggs. 11. Margaret, born October 20, 1813, died October 4, 1873; married, in 1836, James Anderson. Children: A son, deceased; Ellen Jane; Mary Ann; a son, deceased; Elizabeth Susan; Rebecca, deceased; Letitia, deceased; Sarah, deceased; James Blackwood, deceased; Lucinda. 12. James, born August 17, 1815, died September 10, 1864, married Mary Smith Douthett. Children: William Boyle, deceased; Jane Elizabeth, lives in Allegheny (Pittsburgh, North Side), Pennsylvania; Sarah Margaret, married Dr. Thomas John Blackwood, and lives in Newcastle, Pennsylvania ; Martha, deceased; Rosannah, deceased; Rebecca, deceased, married Thom- son Mckinney, and lived in New Brighton, Pennsylvania.
Robert Magee, third child and eldest son of James and Jane (Boyle) Magee, was born September 4, 1800, died September 24, 1844. He spent his life on a farm near Harmony, Butler county, where his children grew to maturity. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, his pastor being the Rev. Galbraith, belonging to what is now the South Union Branch. He married, March 14, 1825, Martha Douthett, died July 25, 1850. Chil- dren: I. Jane Boyle, of previous mention, married James Niblock Downie. 2. Rosannah Douthett, born October 22, 1827, died May 11, 1911, married Matthew Williams, and had two children, a son, who died young, and a daughter, Martha Susan, who died in young womanhood and was the first person buried in Mars Cemetery. 3. Mary Ann, born December 28, 1829, died July 17, 1850, an attack of typhoid fever causing her death. 4. Lucinda Bell, born January 7, 1832, married James Magee Douthett. Children : John Allison, married Letitia Crow, and had four sons, all of whom at- tained manhood; Martha Lorena, married Frank Kelly, and had two chil- dren, both graduates of the Zelienople High School; Rebecca, died in young womanhood. 5. Martha D., born January 15, 1834, married John Sproull, and had ten children, but one, a boy, failing to reach maturity; a daughter, Rosy, dying in young womanhood. The mother and father of the family, with two of their children, are buried at New Alexandria, the survivors of the family living in different localities in the west. 6. Susannah, born April 28, 1836; married, in 1862, Rev. R. M. C. Thompson, born August 20,
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1828, died March 5, 1890, a graduate, in 1856, of Westminster College, later of Allegheny Seminary, and in 1885 was honored with the degree of D. D. from Grove City College. They were the parents of six children. 7. James Renwick, born December 28, 1838; married, October 30, 1860, Martha Sproull, who died April 23, 1905. Mr. Magee married (second) Juliette Louisa Mcclurkin, the ceremony being solemnized November 16, 1906. Mr. Magee is now living in Topeka, Kansas. 8. Elizabeth, born March 24, 1842, married William Dean, and had: Maggie, Robert, William, Lucinda, Renwick, Alexander, Nellie, Myrtle, and Gertrude.
Children of James Niblock and Jane Boyle (Magee) Downie: I. Robert Magee, of whom further. 2. John Galbraith, born February 4, 1855, married, August 12, 1884, Ada Louise Neal, and has one adopted daughter, Vetta Neely, who married Alvin Hostettler and has one daugh- ter, Eva Louise Arabel. 3. Martha Jane, married, October 11, 1894, Ed- ward T. Hays, a moulder, and lives in Downieville, Pennsylvania. They are the parents of three daughters: Jean Eleanor, attending Mars High School; Martha Evadna and Mary Gladys, students in the Downieville, Pennsylvania, schools. 4. James Livingston, born March 25, 1860, mar- ried, November 26, 1884, Elizabeth Simpson Kennedy. Children: Robert Forbes, a draughtsman; James Kennedy, a well driller, married Jennie May Zeller, of Wisconsin, and lives in Somerset, Pennsylvania ; Margaret Jane, lives at home; Jennie Marie, a graduate of the Mars High School, lives at home; Martha Louise, a student in Mars High School; John Sterrett and Charles Alexander, twins, and Ruby Minerva Wood, all living at home attending school. 5. Mary Ann Elizabeth, married, April 17, 1895, William Cook, a salesman of the Keystone Driller Company, and had three chil- dren, two daughters and one son, two of whom died young. Their one daughter, Isabel Jane, is a student in high school, the family home being at College Hill, Beaver county.
(IV) Robert Magee Downie, eldest of the five children of James Niblock and Jane Boyle (Magee) Downie, was born near Harmony, Butler county, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1853. When he was about six years of age the family home was changed to near Downieville, Pennsylvania, and here he attended the public schools, teaching school in Butler county for one year after completing his preliminary education. He then matriculated at Geneva College and in 1881 received his diploma of graduation from that institution, having completed the classical course. In February follow- ing his leaving college he invented and patented a portable drilling machine, for drilling oil wells and similar work, the first machine of its kind ever made. Placing his invention before some of the most influential men of the locality, it received the hearty and enthusiastic approval and their promises of assistance in placing the article upon the market. Soon after the Keystone Driller Company was formed, the original members of the company being Rev. H. H. George, at that time president of Geneva Col- lege ; Robert Patterson, of Beaver, Pennsylvania ; J. D. McAnlis, of Beaver
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Falls, Pennsylvania; Dr. R. J. George, and Mr. Downie. A plant was erected in Fallston, Beaver county, in 1882, being moved five years later to its present site in Beaver Falls; the entire manufactory burned to the ground in 1902. In order that their production might not cease altogether from the results of this disastrous conflagration, they immediately com- menced to rebuild their former home. This was done upon a greatly enlarged scale, but even those generous provisions for the growth of the business have proven inadequate, and the company purchased the adjoining factory of the United States Steel Corporation, there continuing business, the steady increase in the company's volume of business requiring addi- tions to the buildings almost constantly. In 1892 the company was in- corporated under its former title, the present officers being: J. D. McAnlis, president ; H. H. George, vice-president; J. R. Wylie, second vice-president ; Robert Magee Downie, secretary and general manager ; R. G. Forbes, treas- urer and purchasing agent, and F. W. Ransom, assistant general manager. The Keystone Driller Company occupies a tract extending from Seventeenth to Twenty-second street and between Eighth and Tenth avenues; their buildings, constructed of concrete and steel, include foundry, machine shops, ware-houses, sheds, and offices. Three hundred men are employed, some of the principal articles manufactured being drilling and fishing tools, pumping jacks, sand pumps, portable well drilling and prospecting machines, brass tubing, sucker rods, and the well-known "Downie" Deep Well Driller. The field for their products is world-wide, wherever oil and gas are pro- duced, and the interests of the company are advanced in every civilized country by agencies. This is the manner of business that Mr. Downie made possible, and while from the first he realized the sterling worth of his invention, for which the company is especially noted, its popular favor and immense demand have exceeded even his sanguine views and expectations. In all of the plans for the extension and development of the company's possibilities he plays a prominent part, and as general manager of the entire works is responsible for the quality of its products, which have never fallen below the high standard originally set up. The concern, whose business amounts to approximately one million dollars annually, grows daily stronger under its able management by a corps of capable executives and reflects worthy credit upon those connected with it in official capacity and adds to the prestige of Beaver Falls as a manufacturing center of importance. Mr. Downie is connected with the Pittsburgh Wire Company, of Downie- ville, Pennsylvania, and is interested in many other local enterprises in different positions. Originator of the vitrified paving brick, in 1889, with George F. and T. L. Kennedy, he organized the Fallston Fire Clay Com- pany, which still is in active and profitable operation, although Mr. Downie has severed his relations therewith. Preeminently a business man, and one of unusual prowess, Mr. Downie is nevertheless deeply interested in subjects less mundane, chiefly educational and religious, He is a manager of his alma mater and is an elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church;
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also being a member of the executive committee of the National Reform Association, with headquarters at Pittsburgh, and in these positions renders service as valuable in its way as those performed in the name of the company he founded.
Mr. Downie married, November 23, 1883, Martha Margaret, born in Van Buren county, Iowa, died at College Hill, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, April 13, 1908, daughter of Jacob G. Vale, for several terms state senator in Iowa and at one time Republican candidate for governor of that state. He was descended from Quaker stock, his father being Robert Vale, of Pennsylvania. It was Jacob G. Vale's privilege and honor to hold the close friendship of Abraham Lincoln and his family. Mrs. Downie's ac- cidental death, sincerely and deeply regretted by her many friends, oc- curred in a most unusual manner, and one which revealed true heroism in her eldest son. She and her husband were returning from a college function on the early morning of April 1, 1908, when they fell into a deep excavation near their home on College Hill, whither they had lately moved. Gas contained therein ignited and both were terribly burned, Mrs. Downie fatally, before they were rescued, James Vale Downie being lowered by his feet into the furnace of burning gas to bring them to the surface, but despite his valiant behavior, his mother had been injured beyond re- covery and died within two weeks. She was buried in the Beaver Cemetery, by the side of her daughter, Anne Jane. Mr. Downie married a second time in 1909, Margaret Greer, daughter of John N. Dick, D. D., of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, her mother being a descendant, through Dr. Robinson, of Pilgrim ancestors who came to America in the "Mayflower." Children of Robert Magee Downie by his first marriage: 1. James Vale, born August 12, 1884, married Janet Theodore Metheny; Mrs. Downie is a graduate of Geneva College. 2. Anne Jane, died February 14, 1903, age seventeen years, 3. Regina Martha, born April 22, 1886; was graduated from Geneval College in 1910, and is now attending the Wom- en's Medical College, of Philadelphia. 4. Robert Rex, born August 13, 1894, a student at Geneva College. 5. and 6. Mary Lydia and John Lincoln, twins, born November 8, 1895, both attending Geneva College. By his second marriage Robert Magee Downie is the father of one daugh- ter, Elizabeth Jane Dick, born September 8, 1911.
This is an old and honored family of Ireland, and is McCANDLESS now in its fifth generation in this country. The first generation came to the United States when their chil- dren were small, and settled in Butler county, Pennsylvania.
(II) Robert McCandless was born in Ireland, and was a very young child when he came to this country with his parents. He was educated and grew to maturity in Butler county, Pennsylvania, and followed the occupation of farming. After his marriage he settled on a farm in Center
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township, where both he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. Both were members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. McCandless mar- ried Mary, a daughter of Joseph Jack, of Butler county, and had children : George J., of further mention; Jane, married Samuel Irwin, and died in Butler county; Mary, married Eli Eagle, and lives in Unionville, Butler county ; Elizabeth, married Frank Fligger, and died in Butler county ; one child which died unnamed.
(III) George J. McCandless, son of Robert and Mary (Jack) Mc- Candless, was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1838, and died in Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1898. Like his father, he engaged in farming, and after his marriage bought about one hundred and fifteen acres of land in Butler county, on which he lived many years. He then purchased an old grist mill in Conoquenessing town- ship, and operated this about ten years. In 1888 he removed to Beaver Falls, where he lived a retired life until his death. During the Civil War he was a soldier in Company B, Tenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, served for a period of seven months, during which time he was an active participant in several skirmishes, and was then honorably dis- charged by reason of ill health. He was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He had been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for a number of years. Mr. Mc- Candless married, September 30, 1862, Samantha Young, born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, February 17, 1843, now living in Beaver Falls, where she is a member of the United Presbyterian Church. They had children : Addison Young, a grocer of Beaver Falls, married Annie Heaven; Joanna, married Wesley Raisley, and lives in College Hill; Marcus William, of further mention; Robert Presley, a grocer in Beaver Falls; Beriah Nelson, superintendent of a nail mill at Struthers, Ohio; Oren Leonidas, a grocer in Beaver Falls; Joseph Couvert, a resident of Beaver Falls, married Mary Jane Snyder; James, died at the age of fourteen years; Samantha Jane, died at the age of nineteen months; Edith Lena, died at the age of seven weeks; child, died unnamed; Sylvester Merle, a plumber, resides with his mother.
Robert Young, paternal grandfather of Mrs. Samantha (Young) Mc- Candless, was born in Ireland, and came to America in his early youth. He settled in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, where he became an ex- tensive land owner and farmer. He married and had children.
Matthew Young, son of Robert Young, and father of Mrs. McCandless, was born in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, and learned the trade of tan- ning. He became the owner of a tannery in Wolf Creek township, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and in addition to this he had a farm of seventy-five acres, which he cultivated. He died there at the early age of thirty-seven years. He was a Democrat in political matters, and a member of the Covenanters Church. He married Joanna Couvert, born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, who resided on the farm in Mercer county until one year
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prior to her death at the age of seventy-eight years, at which time she was living with her daughter Samantha, in Butler county, having never re-married. She, also, was a member of the Covenanters Church. She was a daughter of Colonel John and (Bennett) Couvert. Colonel John Couvert was a veteran of the War of 1812. He lived about four miles from Centerville, on a large farm which he owned and cul- tivated, and where he died when above ninety-four years of age. He was a Presbyterian. Mr. and Mrs. Young had children: Sylvester M., a merchant, died at New Castle, Pennsylvania; Caroline, married James Vogand, and died in Mercer county; Matilda, married William McKee, and died in Mercer county; Amanda, died unmarried at the age of twenty-six years; Sarah Jane, married James Johnson, and died at Oil City, Venango county, Pennsylvania; Samantha, who married Mr. McCandless, as above mentioned; Marcus C., a carpenter and contractor, who lives at Youngs- town, Ohio; Professor William H., an instructor in music, of New Castle, Pennsylvania.
(IV) Marcus William McCandless, son of George J. and Samantha (Young) McCandless, was born in Center township, Butler county, Penn- sylvania, April 13, 1869. After completing the course at the public schools of Center township, he was a student at the Prospect Academy for two terms. He then entered the employ of the Hartman Steel Company, in Beaver Falls, commencing this occupation in 1889. He worked as a roller in these mills for a period of two years, then bought out the grocery store of Edward Shaeffer at No. 2413 Eighth avenue, Beaver Falls, and con- tinued there for two years. Removing to Twenty-fourth street and Eighth avenue, he carried on the business there for about two years and then, in 1895, built a warehouse and feed store combined with a grocery store at No. 2406 Eighth avenue. He has continued business there uninter- ruptedly along the most modern and approved lines since that time, and carries an enormous stock of goods in all departments. He has many customers who come from great distances. Deeply interested in whatever concerns the welfare of the community, he has been active in the interests of the Republican party, and has served as member of the school board of Beaver Falls for a period of six years. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife are members of the First Methodist Epis- copal Church of Beaver Falls, of which he is also one of the trustees. Mr. McCandless is connected as a member with the following organizations : Beaver Valley Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Beaver Valley Com- mandery, Knights Templar; Lodge of Perfection, at New Castle, Pennsyl- vania; the Consistory, at Pittsburgh; Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Knights of Pythias. He is a man of remarkable financial ability, and is one of the directors of the Federal Title & Trust Company. The family residence is at No. 23 Twenty-ninth avenue, where Mr. McCandless erected a beautiful home in 1908.
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