USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 22
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Mr. Young was married May 6, 1888, to Blanche Townsend, a native of New Brighton, Pennsylvania, where she was born, February 28, 1869, a daughter of Charles B. and Mary Townsend. Mr. Townsend was also a native of New Brighton and lived there all his life. To Mr. and Mrs. Young have been born two daughters: Helen, born May 9, 1889, married J. E. Knott, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania; and Madeline, born June 14, 1898, now a pupil in the High School.
Murphy is an ancient and honored name in Ireland, and is MURPHY no less honored in this country, to which the bearers of it have brought those traits which have so distinguished their ancestors.
(I) Lawrence Murphy was born in Ireland about the commencement
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of the nineteenth century, and came to this country in young manhood in the year 1830. He settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, where he labored for the city during all the years of his residence there. He built a beautiful house at the corner of Second street and Gerst alley, and there his death occurred about 1866. He and his wife were members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Murphy married Sarah Lynch, born near Londonderry, Ireland, who also came to this country about 1830. They married in Alle- gheny, and Mrs. Murphy died about 1874. They had children : William T., a soldier during the Civil War, died subsequently in the West; Mary, married James Gallagher, and died in Allegheny; Margaret, died young; John, died about 1886 in Allegheny; Catherine, died young; Lawrence, of further mention.
(II) Lawrence (2) Murphy, son of Lawrence (1) and Sarah (Lynch) Murphy, was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1855, and there grew to manhood. He learned the molder's trade and followed this from 1867 until 1885, in that section, and in the last named year removed to New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he entered the employ of Knott & Harker, with whom he remained for a quarter of a century. In 1910 he formed a partnership with his son, William George, and erected a foundry at Seventeenth street and First avenue, in Beaver Falls. This was fifty by sixty feet, and forty feet in height, the most modern machinery was installed for general foundry work, and it has been in constant operation up to the present time. They employ thirteen men and their business is mostly with the Pittsburgh district. The Repub- lican party has his staunch support, and he and his wife are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Murphy married, October 13, 1876, Anna Weiss, born in Allegheny, June 4, 1859. They have had children: William George, of further mention; Arthur Thomas, died in infancy; Jessie, married George Garvin, lives in New Brighton, Beaver county; Margaret, at home; Robert, a molder, married Edna Hunter; Lewis, Emma, Lawrence, John, Catherine, residing at home.
George Weiss, father of Mrs. Lawrence Murphy, was born in Alsace- Lorraine, in 1822, at which time those provinces were in the possession of the French. He came to America in his youth and settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, from whence he went to Cincinnati, Ohio. In his native land he had been a wagon builder, and his parents were the proprietors of a vineyard. After his arrival in the United States, he found employ- ment in lumber yards, both in Allegheny and Cincinnati. After his marriage he returned to Allegheny, where his death occurred in September, 1879. He was in active service during the Civil War, serving two enlistments, the first for nine months the second for three years, and came through all the battles in which he was engaged, unharmed, with the exception of the loss of one finger. Mr. Weiss married Gezina Ebershoff, born in Westphalia, Germany, April 27, 1833, died in March, 1900. She was but two years of age when her father died, and at the age of eight years she
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was deprived by death of her mother. The mayor of the town, who had been a friend of her father, brought up the child, and she remained with him until the marriage of her elder sister, Anna, to a Mr. Bohlen, when the three came to America, at which time Mrs. Weiss was sixteen years of age. After a short stay in Allegheny, Mrs. Weiss went to Cincinnati, where she met the man who later became her husband. They had children: Lewis J., died in Allegheny, about 1903; Anna, who married Lawrence Murphy, as above stated; John, died in infancy; Emma, married George Grimm, and lives in Pittsburgh; Emile, born 1870, died in Allegheny, 1903; Lavina and William Philip, twins, died in infancy.
(III) William George Murphy, son of Lawrence (2) and Anna (Weiss) Murphy, was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1877. His education was a comprehensive one, and was acquired in the public schools of Canton, Ohio, Allegheny and New Brighton, Pennsylvania. Upon its completion he learned the molder's trade, and for a period of eleven years he was in the employ of the Knott & Harker Company. After being superintendent of the Best Manufacturing Company for about four years, he became superintendent of the foundry department of the United States Sanitary Manufacturing Company, at Monaca, Pennsylvania, an office he filled six years. He resigned this position in order to engage in business independently, in which enterprise he has been eminently successful. He is Independent in his political views, and a member of the Catholic Church. He married, in January, 1900, Elzina Mckenzie, born in Racine, Ohio, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They have had children: Edith and Janice.
Collin Mckenzie, paternal grandfather of Mrs. Murphy, was of Scotch descent and born in Hookstown, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. He mar- ried, in early life, Rebecca Gordon, also born near Hookstown, and also of Scotch descent, and shortly after their marriage they removed to Meigs county, Ohio, where he was a farmer and land owner, and where both died.
Alexander McKenzie, son of Collin and Rebecca (Gordon) Mckenzie, and father of Mrs. Murphy, was born near Hookstown, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, December 26, 1830, died in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, 1891. He was eleven years of age when he was taken to Meigs county, Ohio, and there grew up and married. In May, 1891, he removed to New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, but his death followed within a few weeks. He married Filena Aumiller, born in Meigs county, Ohio, January 8, 1842, now living in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. They had children: Mary Elizabeth; John Collin; Sarah Janora; Estella Jane; Kenneth Clarence; Emma Florence; Ella Louisa, Elzina, the wife of Mr. Murphy, as mentioned above; James Nelson ; Anna Harriet; George Wil- bur; Pearl Albertson. John George and Mary Mahala (Zircle) Aumiller, the maternal grandparents of Mrs. Murphy, were both born in Meigs county, Ohio, and were both of German descent. He was a son of George and Sarah (Yeager) Aumiller, both of whom died on a farm in Kentucky,
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which they owned. John George Aumiller and his wife lived for many years in Meigs county, Ohio, then removed to Charles county, Missouri, where he purchased a farm, and where his death occurred. They had eight children.
Of Scotch descent, Colonel James Allison, the first of his ALLISON branch of the family to come to Pennsylvania, was of the early settlers of the part of Pennsylvania then known as "The West," whither he came from Maryland in 1773, bringing with him his family and a small band of settlers. His first winter in the new ter- ritory was spent at the "Forks of the Yough," as the confluence of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela was called, and in the following spring made his home in what became, in 1781, Washington county. He was familiar with all the hardship, privations, and often sufferings of frontier life and nobly played a man's part in the supporting of his family and the up-building of the institutions of civilization. For several years following the Revolutionary War he represented Washington county in the state legislature and was there a leader in the fight for the abolition of slavery, voting for the final act of 1788, which made human bondage in the state a thing of the past. His family still preserves a certificate of membership in the incorporated society for the abolition of slavery in the state, dated at Philadelphia, 1792, under the seal of the organization, A Presbyterian in religion, he was one of the first ruling elders in Dr. McMillin's church, At his death, which took place at the age of seventy-seven years, he was an associate judge of Washington county, a post he had held for many years. He married a daughter of James Bradford, and had children : James, William, John, George, Thomas, Andrew, Rachel, Mary.
(II) James (2) Allison, eldest son of Colonel James (1) Allison, was born in Cecil county, Maryland, October 4, 1772, died in Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, June 17, 1854, aged eighty-two years. When he was seventeen years of age his father conceived the idea of educating him for the bar, and the lad acquiescing, he became one of the members of the first Latin grammar class formed west of the Alleghenies, under the in- struction of David Johnson, of Beaver, whose school was opened in 1788-89. In this school he acquired a thorough education in the lower branches of study, and a fine working knowledge of Latin and Greek. To our modern minds it seems peculiar that one should be called from study to protect life and property, but this was exactly what happened in the case of Mr. Allison, Indian attacks becoming so frequent and so bold that he left school to serve a term in defense of the settlement at the blockhouse opposite Yellow Creek. This service completed, he entered upon the study of law in the office of his uncle, David Bradford, a distinguished lawyer and popular orator of Washington, and was admitted to the bar of Wash- ington county in January, 1796. After practicing for a few years in Wash-
-
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ington, he moved to Beaver county, in 1803, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, admitted February 6, 1804. He also gained admission to the bars of Crawford, Mercer and Butler counties, in whose courts he became a prominent and powerful figure. From 1803 until 1809 he was district attorney, a position in which he displayed ability of a high order. In 1822 he was elected congressman from his district, and although having no liking for political life threw himself into its duties in an abandon of energetic vigor, his deportment in the office so satisfying his constituents that he was swept into office for a second term in 1824. He, however, with a growing distaste for politics, refused to serve, and resigned his seat in congress before the beginning of his second term. A lover of home and family he now gratified his domestic tendencies to the full, and seldom absented himself from the family circle. After his retirement from public life, Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, an honor well deserved.
With the devotion of one whose affections are deep and sincere, he sustained a severe shock by the death of his son William, who had been his partner in business, an assistant of real value, relieving his father of much of the burdensome detail of their large practice. The death of his wife, four years later, depriving him of the partner who for half a century had shared alike his fortune and misfortune, who had strengthened him in his time of need and rejoiced with him in victory, prostrated him. Separated from his loved ones and in the evening of life, he had not the courage to continue the fight, and withdrew from society, living almost in seclusion except to the members of his family and awaited the hour that would bring the joyful reunion beyond the portals of the sky.
A sound and well versed lawyer, he was, to quote from the Argus of July 21, 1854:
Emphatically a gentleman of the old school, and bore himself with great courtesy to his fellow members, and with marked respect to the court. Kind and encouraging to the younger members of the profession, his assistance to their early efforts is remembered with gratitude. But all these personal qualities, as well as those of his intellect, were far surpassed by that higher and nobler trait-his stern, unbending integrity-which shone brightly throughout his life and won for him the title which he bore when the writer first heard him named and before he knew him, the "honest lawyer."
(III) Thomas Allison, son of James (2) Allison, was a merchant of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he resided when his death occurred, aged seventy-two years. He was a personage of considerable importance in the city, and proprietor of a store in Beaver. He married Emily Logan, and became the father of one child, Edward James, of whom further.
(IV) Edward James Allison, son of Thomas and Emily (Logan) Allison, was born in West Bridgewater, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, Feb- ruary 8, 1852. He obtained his education in the public schools of Beaver and also attended the Beaver Academy. As a young man he entered the mercantile business with his father at Beaver, leaving this employ to accept a position as assistant cashier of the First National Bank of
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Rochester, Pennsylvania. He held his office until 1888, when at the organi- zation of the First National Bank of Beaver, Pennsylvania, he became its cashier, continuing as such until his death, November 11, 1911. Active and energetic, as an organizer he was unequalled in the region, and several financial institutions owe their present firm standing to his capable founding, among these being the National Bank of Midland, Pennsylvania, of which, at its formation, he was made president. He was also interested in the Beaver Sand Company, as well as owning considerable real estate through- out the county. When the Presbyterian Church of Beaver was planned, he was made treasurer of the building fund and was for thirty years a member of the board of trustees. His fraternal affiliation was with Saint James Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. The Republican party received his hearty support, although he never held public office. When Mr. Allison received his final summons on November 11, 1911, his absence from his accustomed place caused a triple loss, to Beaver of a progressive and up- right citizen, to the wife of a considerate, affectionate husband, and to his children of a kind and loving father. He died holding the highest gifts in the power of his friends and acquaintances to bestow, their respect and honor.
He married Margaret, daughter of Rev. Alexander and Margaret (Byerly) McGaughey. The Rev. Alexander McGaughey was a native of Belfast, Ireland, was educated in the University of Glasgow, and attained his theological education at Edinburgh, Scotland. On coming to the United States he became the pastor of the Scotch Memorial Presbyterian Church, of Providence, Rhode Island. After two years in the pastorate of this church he was called to a charge in Circle- ville, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he remained for eight years. His last pastorate was of the New Salem Presbyterian Church, Beaver county, and two years after coming to that church failing health compelled him to retire from the ministry, and he made his home on a farm in Ohio township, where his death occurred in 1881. Children of Rev. Alexander and Margaret (Byerly) McGaughey: 1. Samuel John, married Sarah Cunningham ; lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 2. Margaret, married Edward James Allison. 3. Sarah Agnes, married Agnew Hice, an attorney of Beaver. 4. Elizabeth, lives at home with her mother. Chil- dren of Edward James and Margaret (McGaughey) Allison: 1. Dwight Moody, a student in Southern University of California at the time of his father's death, now an employee of the First National Bank, of Beaver. 2. Mary Margaret, born September 12, 1894, a student at Wells College. 3. James, born September 11, 1898. 4. Agnes, born October 16, 1900.
HAMILTON In the personal and ancestral history of Samuel Hamil-
ton, of Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, we find a record of patriotism, bravery and public spirit which it is a pleasure to transcribe. Three generations of this family have been
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personally active in the three most important wars which this country has been called upon to pass through, and they have borne their share with a gallantry which is well worthy of imitation.
(I) Thomas Hamilton, the pioneer ancestor of the family in this country, was born in Ireland in 1763, and came to this country in 1784. Like the majority of people at that time, he was engaged in farming. In political matters he was a staunch Whig, and took part in the Revolutionary War. He married (first) 1784, Mary McClellan, who died in 1790, and they had children: William, born January 2, 1787; James, see forward; Robert, November 10, 1790. He married (second) early in 1793, Agnes Mitchell, of Pennsylvania, and by this marriage had children: Hugh, born August 10, 1794; Mary, May 23, 1796; Samuel, May 12, 1799; Martha, December 20, 1801; Thomas, November 16, 1804; Jane, January 20, 1806; John, June 20, 1807; George, March 23, 1809; Mitchell, March 2, 1811; Milo Adams, August 6, 1815.
(II) James Hamilton, son of Thomas and Mary (McClellan) Hamil- ton, was born February 13, 1789, died September 5, 1843. He was a farmer in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, owning a tract of one hundred acres in Ohio township. During the War of 1812 he was in active service, and upon its conclusion returned to the peaceful avocation with which he had been occupied previously. He affiliated with the Whig party, and was an earnest member of the Presbyterian Church. He married, October 12, 1824, Mar- garet Sloan, born March 1, 1797. They had children: William Sloan, born August 13, 1825 ; Thomas, June 20, 1827; Martha Anna, February 23, 1830; Robert, April 20, 1832; James, August 6, 1834; Mary, November 13, 1836; Samuel, see forward. Of these children all are deceased with the exception of Samuel and Mary, the latter, who never married, living in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania.
(III) Samuel Hamilton, son of James and Margaret (Sloan) Hamilton, was born in Ohio township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, on the family homestead, February 9, 1839. He was educated in the public schools of his native township and led the usual life of a well-to-do farmer's son, assisting in the cultivation of the home farm during his leisure time. He was about twenty-two years of age at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, and was one of the earliest in his district to offer his services in behalf of his country. June 29, 1861, he enlisted in the Curtin Rifles, at Camp Wright, Beaver county, the recruiting officer being Charles Hall. He was mustered into the United States service as a member of Company F, Tenth Penn- sylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps, and was honorably discharged, April 27, 1863, on account of wounds received at the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. His record during the war is a most creditable one. He was a participant in the seven days' struggle before Richmond, under McClellan; was in the thickest of the fight at Fredericksburg, at which time he was shot through the body and lost his right arm. Here, also, he was taken prisoner of war, was confined in Libby Prison for a period of
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six weeks, when he was paroled and sent to the hospital at Annapolis, Maryland, and there he received his discharge as above stated. Upon returning to his home, after he had recovered his strength, he became a student at Duff's Business College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was grad- uated as a bookkeeper. He then went to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where for nine years he was engaged in the land department. He then returned to his former home in Beaver county, where he has been one of the leading citizens for many years. His political support is given to the Republican party, in whose cause he has been an active worker. He has served as school director for a period of three years; was county treasurer for three years; and for almost eighteen years served as secretary of the Home Protective Saving and Loan Association at New Brighton, Pennsylvania. He retired from this responsible position about one year ago. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Beaver, and has been an elder in this institution for upward of thirty years. He is a member of Post No. 73, Grand Army of the Republic, and has served as commander of this body for many years.
Mr. Hamilton married (first) October 17, 1869, Margaret Ann Brad- shaw, born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1844, daughter of Robert and Tamar Bradshaw, who died September 19, 1872. They had one child, May, born August 20, 1871, married Rem A. Johnston, of Ossian, Indiana, where she still resides, has three children: Remington A., Mary, Samuel Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton married (second) September 19, 1876, Margaret Cowden, born September 5, 1842, daughter of John Wallace and Mary (Hatton) Cowden. By this marriage there were children: I. Windfield Cowden, born June 20, 1878; chief chemist for the American Steel Foundry Company at St. Louis, Missouri, where he resides; he mar- ried Mabel Becker, has one child, Margaret E. 2. William Wallace, born July 16, 1879; teller in the Third National Bank of Pittsburgh; resides in Beaver; married Laura Anderson; had one child, Mary Eleanor, now deceased. 3. James E., born September 10, 1886; in the employ of the Stephen-Bird Lumber and Logging Company; resides in Monroe, Washing- ton; married Wilda A. Moore.
The name of Armstrong is to be found in the annals ARMSTRONG of the state of Pennsylvania from the time of the earli- est settlements in it. The members of this family have been mainly identified with the agricultural interests, although they are occasionally found in military and professional lists, and the name of John occurs in five generations successively.
(I) John Armstrong, who was a resident of Chester county, Penn- sylvania, migrated to Allegheny county in the same state, in the year 1804, and there was one of the pioneer farmers of the section. He served as a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Later he removed to Beaver
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county, Pennsylvania. When he came from the eastern part of the state, he made the journey with his family with a four-horse team and a wagon, the only mode of progression those days with the exception of oxen or on horseback. He married Mary - and they had several children.
(II) John (2) Armstrong, son of John (1) and Mary Armstrong, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1800, and when his parents had removed to the western part of the state he was lost for a considerable length of time, and finally found in a cornfield, on the North Side Pitts- burgh, between the Federal street depot and Allegheny river, now one of the busiest sections of the city. He was also a farmer. He married Ella, daughter of Matthew Dillon, a pioneer farmer of the section. They had children as follows: Samuel, married Jane Pounds; John, see forward; Ruth, married Daniel Emerich; Esther, married Samuel Russell.
(III) John (3) Armstrong, son of John (2) and Ella (Dillon) Arm- strong, was born in Darlington township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1831. He was educated in the public schools, but could only attend about three months of every year as he was obliged to assist his father in the farm labors from an early age. When he had attained young manhood, he commenced farming independently, at first on the Allegheny river, opposite Pithole, where he remained for a period of five years. He then went to the vicinity of Oil City, where he had two hundred and twenty-two acres of oil land, which he sold about 1864. At that time he removed to Beaver county, and there bought a farm of one hundred and five acres within one mile of the Court House, and sold it in 1906. He then removed to Beaver where he lived in retirement until his death, March 22, 1914. He had been an extensive breeder of short horn and Jersey cattle and Oxford Down sheep. He bred only the very finest stock and his excellent examples of Minorca and Plymouth Rock poultry also realized the best prices. He took an active part in the local political affairs, affiliat- ing with the Republican party, and was an earnest worker in the interests of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Armstrong married, in 1859, Isabella, born in Forest county, Pennsylvania, daughter of John and Jeannette (Day) Adams, and they had children as follows: Calantha A., born November 3, 1861, unmar- ried; Nettie N., born January 5, 1863, married Dr. John J. Allen, of Monaca, Pennsylvania; Anna M., born February 21, 1865, died at the age of twenty-three years; John Burton, see forward; Vienna B., born May 5, 1870.
(IV) Dr. John Burton Armstrong, son of John (3) and Isabella (Adams) Armstrong, was born in Brighton township, Beaver county, Penn- sylvania, January 15, 1868. He attended the public schools in Brighton township and the Beaver High School, after which he matriculated at the West Penn Medical College, Pittsburgh, from which he was graduated March 26, 1891. In the same year he established himself in the practice of the medical profession in Allegheny, remaining there one year, and
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