USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 24
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(III) John E. Harton, eldest child of James and Elizabeth (Elliot) Harton, was born November 2, 1830, in Beaver county, Pennsylvania. His occupation was that of contracting and building and he was a pioneer in this field of industry in Beaver county. He was an ardent Republican in his political views, and served for a period of six years on the board of commissioners of Beaver. He was also a member of the city council of Beaver. His religious affiliation was with the Presbyterian Church. During the Civil War he was a member of the One Hundred and Fortieth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served from the beginning to the end of this momentous struggle. He was engaged in advance construction for the passage of the army. Fraternally he was associated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Harton married Mary, daughter of William Moore and a granddaughter of William Moore. William Moore Jr. was a pioneer farmer in Beaver county, owning a fine farm of fifty-one acres. He was a staunch Republican and was actively interested in his party. He married and had children: Zachariah; Madison; Mary, married Mr. Harton; Milton. Mr.
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and Mrs. Harton had children: 1. William E., born in March, 1863; a carpenter by trade; married Annie Miller ; lives in Beaver. 2. Ella A., born 1866; unmarried, lives in Beaver. 3. Harry M., see forward. 4. Stanford N. born 1870, died January 13, 1901; married Annie Williams; resided in Beaver.
(IV) Harry M. Harton, son of John E. and Mary (Moore) Harton, was born in Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, September 13, 1867. He acquired an excellent education in the public schools of his native town, and at a suitable age entered the contracting business of his father, and later established himself in the same line of business. He has now been an independent contractor for the past fifteen years. For a number of years he was also engaged in the lumber business, and sold his lumber yard in 1913. His business connections extend throughout the valley, and his work is highly appreciated as that of an honorable, conscientious business man. He has never desired to hold public position, as his large business responsi- bilities would not permit him to devote time to politics, but he casts his vote in the interests of the Republican party. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Harton married, in 1892, Nettie E., born February 16, 1871, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Grove) Waterson. They have children: Anna Marie, born May 25, 1893; Gladys, February 14, 1907; John E., April 12, 1909.
Labor, honorable and well directed, has long since been granted GRINE its proper place in the plan of the world, and it is the busy man who is the leader in all the paths of life. His fidelity to the duties by which his business is carried on is that whereby he is judged by his fellowmen, and the verdict is rendered in accordance with his accom- plished purposes. The members of the Grine family, representatives of which are now living in Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, are particu- larly deserving of a favorable verdict in this respect.
(I) John Grine, a native of Germany, was a glass worker in a bottle manufacturing house in Hessen. He married, and had children as follows : Helwig, see forward; Adam, John, Conrad, Elizabeth, William, Henry.
(II) Helwig Grine, son of John Grine, was born in Hessen, Germany, 1826. He came to this country in 1839, at the age of thirteen years, and settled in Birmingham, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He found employment in glass manufacturing houses in Pittsburgh, and in the course of time became a heater in a rolling mill. About 1861 he abandoned this occupation and removed to a farm, which he had purchased with his savings, and engaged in general farming. He was a member of the Lutheran Church, and gave his political support to the Republican party. He married Cather- ine, born 1827, daughter of Daniel Kroll, who had children: Daniel, John, Catherine. Children of Helwig Grine and wife were: Cather-
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ine, married W. C. Douglass, and resides in Butler county, Pennsylvania ; William H., a mail carrier at Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania; Albert F., see forward; Amelia, married George Webber, and lives in Lyndon, Kansas; Melinda, died young; Elizabeth, Dora, Harry, deceased.
(III) Albert F. Grine, son of Helwig and Catherine (Kroll) Grine, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 3, 1856. He was educated in the public schools of Butler county, Pennsylvania. He found employment in the rolling mills, advancing in the course of time to the position of heater, which he held until 1896. At this time he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty-three acres in Big Beaver township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and commenced the cultivation of this. He also engaged in the flour and feed business at Beaver, and handles all kinds of seeds at his place of business on Fifth street. His business is both a wholesale and a retail one, and he has been very successful in its conduct. He is an adherent of Republican principles, and is a member of the United Presbyterian Church. Mr. Grine married (first) Jeannette Garland, daughter of Moses Garland, of Alexander, Pennsylvania. He married (second) Margaret Crossen. He has had children: Nellie, deceased; Lillian, resides with her parents; Mabel, married H. K. Schmidt; Paul, unmarried.
John Allen, a wealthy land owner of county Meath, Ireland, ALLEN married (first) - - Wickham, and by this marriage had chil- dren: Benjamin, Thomas, Peter, Jarvis, Anne and another daughter. He married (second) Nancy Edmanson and had children: John, Alice, Elizabeth, Jane, Anna Maria, Frank, Charles, Robert, see forward; Edwin, who died young.
(II) Robert Allen, son of John and Nancy (Edmanson) Allen, was born in county Meath, Ireland, March 6, 1832, died in Rochester, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, as the result of an attack of typhoid fever. He was in his early manhood when he emigrated to the United States, and settled in Beaver county, Pennsylvania. Energetic and industrious, he found no difficulty in obtaining employment, and was one of the force of workers on the railroad in Rochester when he died. Mr. Allen married, May II, 1857, Elizabeth Weiley, born June 20, 1836, daughter of Jarvis and Anne (Parsons) Weiley, of county Meath, Ireland, who had children: Anne, born in county Meath, Ireland, 1834; Elizabeth, mentioned above; Alice, died at the age of fifteen years; John, deceased; Jarvis, died in Australia; Robert, deceased; Emily Kate, deceased; Samuel E .; Margaret, died at the age of one year. Mrs. Weiley married (second) Richard Chandler and had children: William Edward, Richard and two who died young. Robert and Elizabeth (Weiley) Allen had children as follows: 1. John J., born in county Meath, Ireland, February 22, 1859; now a prominent physician of Monaca, Beaver county, Pennsylvania; he married Jeannette Armstrong. 2. Robert Henry, see forward. 3. Emily Kate W., born November 5, 1861 ; married Samuel H. Moore; lives in Beaver, Pennsylvania.
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(III) Robert Henry Allen, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Weiley) Allen, was born in Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1860. Whether from the fact that his birthday and that of our nation fall on the same date, or whether it is due to some other cause, it is well established that Mr. Allen has always been an intensely patriotic man. He was educated in the public schools of Beaver, and as he was obliged to leave school at the early age of ten years and begin to support himself, it may truly be said of him that he is a self-made man. His first position was on a farm and after a time he found employment in the livery business in Beaver, a posi- tion he retained for a period of three years. He then went to Green county, Iowa, where he worked on a cattle ranch for two years, and then returned to Beaver. His next field of industry was the Indian Territory, and he assisted in putting the railroad through from Arkansas City to Texas. The next eleven years were spent in California, where he was connected with the fruit growing industry and other harvest fields, after which he returned to Beaver in 1894. He is the owner of a beautiful house on Market street, and is a man of influence in the community. He is an attendant at the Methodist Church, and his fraternal affiliations are with Washington Lodge, Woodmen of the World. His wife is the owner of a fine business at No. 623 Third street, Beaver.
Mr. Allen married, in 1908, Edna B., born in Beaver, Pennsylvania, 1872, daughter of Simeon N. Dinsmore, born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, 1851, and Cornelia C. (Harton) Dinsmore, born in Beaver. Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore had children: Edna B., mentioned above; Eula, born September 14, 1875, married Thomas McGahan, and lives in Beaver, Pennsylvania; Cornelia Pearl, born February 10, 1878, married George Coonrad, lives in Rochester, Beaver county, Pennsylvania; George Harton, born August 6, 1880, died unmarried; Ernest D., born May 4, 1885, a resident of Beaver. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Allen was George Dinsmore, a Baptist minister of Butler county, Pennsylvania. He married Susan Coonrad and raised a large family in Butler county, Pennsylvania.
STURGEON If tradition be founded on fact, as it so often is, the family of Sturgeon originated in Holland, and if in- formation from the same source still be true, Sturgeons were among the first to carry the art of linen weaving from that country to the north of Ireland. In the history of the family that period embraced between the founding of the name in Ireland and 1720, when the American ancestor landed in this country, contains little connected fact, although from one of the two sons of a Widow Sturgeon, a faithful and loyal Protestant, descended Jeremiah Sturgeon, who founded the family in the United States. The first of these sons was killed at the siege of Derry, in the magnificent defense against the hosts of James II .; the other, escaping for a time from the enemy, was so closely pursued that he could obtain no rest, food, or
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water, and sank to the ground in utter exhaustion and despair, preferring there to die beneath the swords of the enemy rather than carry the sad news of his brother's death to his widowed mother. While thus awaiting the death that he was sure would come he opened his Bible, his constant companion, at random, his eyes falling upon the following passage: "I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart." Inspired by fresh hope, filled with new courage, strengthened for a final effort, he raised his tortured body from what he had believed would be its last resting-place and struggled onward to a place of safety. As has been stated previously, it was from him that Jeremiah Sturgeon, who about 1720 came to America, settling in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, descends. His Irish home was in Londonderry, and upon emigrating he brought to this country his wife, Ellen (Douglass) Sturgeon. They were the parents of three sons, one of whom was Henry, of whom further.
(II) Henry Sturgeon, youngest of the three sons of Jeremiah and Ellen (Douglass) Sturgeon, settled in York county, Pennsylvania, a short distance from Gettysburg, a locality now included in Adams county, and became the founder of the Adams county branch of the Sturgeons. His youth was probably spent in Lancaster county, and after his marriage to Letitia Rice he moved to his York county home. That he saw service in the Revolution is shown by the following extract from the Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Ser., vol. 14, p. 519 (503): "First Lieutenant Henry Sturgeon, Captain Andrew Foreman, 7th Company, 3rd Battalion, Colonel David Jamison, of associators and Militia of York county, April 5th, 1778." Henry Sturgeon was the owner and host of an old tavern upon his farm near Gettysburg, and for many years his cheerful word and cordial smile greeted the traveler passing through that locality who stopped at his house for entertainment. The duties of inn-keeper were not sufficiently pressing to require his constant attention, and he gave much time to agricultural pursuits, both he and his wife living to advanced ages, their deaths occurring near the close of the eighteenth century. For many years he was an elder of the Great Conawago Presbyterian Church, and in the churchyard of that church he and his wife lie in their eternal rest. Henry and Letitia (Rice) Sturgeon had children: Mary, Jeremiah, Henry, Letitia, Samuel, John, Margery, Robert, William.
(III) Henry (2) Sturgeon, third child and second son of Henry (1) and Letitia (Rice) Sturgeon, settled about twelve miles west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on a four hundred acre tract of land, part of which is the site of the present town of Oakdale. Here he conducted general farming operations, he and his wife, Jane (Dickson) Sturgeon, attaining good old ages. They were the parents of: Robert; Samuel Dickson, of whom further; Mary, married a Mr. Robb; Margery, married a Mr. Little; Jane, died unmarried.
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(IV) Samuel Dickson Sturgeon, son of Henry (2) and Jane (Dick- son) Sturgeon, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1781, died 1871. His youth was passed in the city of his birth, and about 1800 he moved to North Fayette township, Allegheny county, becoming the owner of a tract now occupied by the town of Noblestown. This he cleared of the encum- bering timber, burned off the underbrush, and cultivated, much of that property remaining in the hands of the Sturgeon family as most desirable real estate. In the War of 1812 he was a soldier. Church affairs ever held his active interest, he taking a prominent part in the organization of the United Presbyterian Church and being made an elder of that faith, an office he held all his life. In his later years he disposed of his Pennsylvania property to his sons and moved to Ashland county, Ohio, where he pur- chased a farm and where he and his wife lived all their remaining days. He and his wife, Mary Letitia Sturgeon, were the parents of : 1. James, died on the old homestead at Noblestown, Pennsylvania. 2. David, died in Mansfield, Ohio, 1906. 3. Henry Potter, of whom further. 4. Jane, died in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, unmarried. 5. Martha, married Griffin Gregg; died in Ashland county, Ohio. 6. Ann, married William Wilson; died in Beaver county, Pennsylvania. 7. Mary, married Robert McCracken, deceased; lives in Ashland county, Ohio, the only survivor of her genera- tion.
(V) Henry Potter Sturgeon, son of Samuel Dickson and Mary Letitia Sturgeon, was born in North Fayette township, Allegheny county, Penn- sylvania, 1827, died in Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, March 18, 1909. He grew to maturity on the homestead, attending schools as a boy, and becoming trained in all departments of agricultural work, which he adopted as his life occupation. His first operations were conducted on his father's estate, but in 1856 he sold his property and moved to Ashland county, Ohio, there acquiring one hundred and fifty acres of farm land, which he later disposed of, from 1865 until 1867 living on a tract of three hundred acres in Noble county, of the same state. For the two following years he rented farms, first in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, then in Mahoning county, Ohio, at the end of that time becoming owner of a farm in South Beaver township, Beaver county, moving from there to Beaver Falls, where he died. His frequent changes of residence were due to a nomadic instinct that had developed in him alone, his forebears ever having been content to remain in one place, but in spite of his many moves he prospered in his chosen business, and was a farmer whose experience had made him a master of all matters agricultural. As a Republican he held several township offices and was an elder in the United Presbyterian Church.
He married (first) Miriam Letitia Ewing, born in North Fayette town- ship, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, died May 3, 1885; (second) Mrs. Mattie Harsha. Miriam Letitia was a daughter of Amos and Mary Ewing, both natives of Allegheny county, where they grew to maturity and mar- ried, their deaths occurring in 1855, she following him to the grave in
John. H. Sturgeon
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three days, his age seventy-six years. He was a farmer and owned con- siderable land, the farm on which he lived now being the site of the Mc- Donald oil field .. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church, and both were identified with the several societies and movements of that organization. Children of Amos and Mary Ewing: 1. Samuel. 2. Amos, a prominent physician, now deceased; lived retired on a farm near Industry, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. 3. Abner, a farmer, died in Noble county, Pennsylvania. 4. John, a farmer, died in Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania. 5. Silas, a farmer, died in Washington county, Penn- sylvania. 6. Isabel, married Rufus Cole, a merchant of East Liberty (Pitts- burgh), Pennsylvania, and moved to Ohio, where she died. 7. Esther, de- ceased; married a Mr. Munn. 8. Miriam Letitia, of previous mention, married Henry Potter Sturgeon. 9. A daughter, died in young womanhood. Children of Henry Potter and Miriam Letitia (Ewing) Sturgeon, no issue resulting from the second marriage of Henry Potter Sturgeon: 1. Samuel Dickson, a physician, lives near New Galilee, Beaver county, Pennsyl- vania. 2. Amos Ewing, a carriage builder of Rochester, Pennsylvania. 3. John Henry, of whom further. 4. Mary L., married Columbus May; lives in New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. 5. Ada Jane, married Henry Slagle; lives in Butler county, Pennsylvania. 6. Isabel C., died unmarried in 1891. 7. Elmira A., died in infancy.
(VI) John Henry Sturgeon, third child and son of Henry Potter and Miriam Letitia (Ewing) Sturgeon, was born in Allegheny county, Penn- sylvania, April 6, 1855. His education was obtained in the public schools and in the Greersburg Academy at Darlington, Beaver county, and after leaving school he learned the carriage-builder's trade, following this for about five years in Beaver Falls. This he abandoned to accept a position in the Western File Works, for eleven years being employed as a grinder. He was then made a clerk in the register's and recorder's office at Beaver, and from 1890 until 1893 filled the office of deputy register and recorder, in the latter year beginning a ten year association with the Manufacturers' Heat and Light Company, in 1903 being elected for a three year term as clerk of court on the Republican ticket. At the expiration of his term he entered the real estate business, with which he has ever since been identi- fied, carrying to successful conclusions many ventures involving large sums of capital. This received his undivided attention until 1911, when he re- turned to public life, still keeping his real estate office open and attending to its affairs in connection with his public service. From 1909 to 1911, inclusive, he was deputy clerk of court, being elected in 1911 to the office of justice of the peace, assuming the duties of that position on December 1, 19II, his seven year term expiring on that day in 1918. In politics Mr. Sturgeon has ably discharged the responsibilities of his various offices in a business-like manner that has won the approving comment of his fellows, the same competent, confident, assurance marking his real estate dealings or any other venture which he has cause to undertake. He is a member of
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the Tribe of Ben-Hur, (founded by Gen. Lew Wallace), also Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Malta, the Order of Reindeer, the Woodmen of the World.
Mr. Sturgeon married, May 22, 1879, Ada May Sennett, born in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, died in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, September 9, 1910. daughter of John C. and Sarah J. Sennett. Child of John Henry and Ada May (Sennett) Sturgeon; Carrie May, born April 11, 1885, married R. B. McDanel, of New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and is the mother of three children, R. B., 3rd, Ada May, Mildred L.
Claiming Massachusetts as its home since its founding in CURTIS America, the Curtis family was introduced into New York state by the grandfather of Smith Curtis, the well-known editor of Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. Grandfather Curtis became a hotel-keeper, making Sherburne, Chenango county, New York, the scene of his activities. He also worked at his trade, that of wheelwright, and with his brother, who accompanied him into New York, founded the branch of the family then resident there. He was twice married, one of his sons, Dwight, becoming a tanner and shoemaker at Sherburne, Chenango county, New York. His sister, Caroline, married Mr. Peet, a farmer and teacher of music in Smyrna township, in the same county. Among the sons by his first wife, was John, of whom further.
(II) John Curtis was born in Sherburne, Chenango county, New York, about 1800, died in California in 1850. He spent his youthful life in the place of his birth and when he attained his majority became the owner of a grist-mill and tannery situated about a mile from Sherburne. His father was the operator of the mill, while John Curtis devoted his attention to the tannery and a boot and shoe factory in the town, of which he was proprietor. John Curtis was the possessor of an amiable, attractive person- ality that always gained him a great number of friends, particularly among young people, and the shop that was adjacent to his factory was frequently filled by the youth of the town, conversing with the proprietor, telling jokes, relating the most recent news, and in general enjoying themselves as only a gathering of care-free, healthy, and happy young people can. Mr. Curtis was well informed on all the political questions of the day, supporting the Whig party, and held great admiration for the political sentiments of Thur- low Weed, of the Albany Journal. He was at one time director of the poor in Chenango county. He was a lover of music and both talented and proficient as a performer upon the bass viol, directing the music in the Methodist Episcopal Church, both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church. The Sherburne community lost one of its most pop- ular members as well as one of the most dutiful of its citizens, when the gold craze of 1849 led John Curtis to California in a vain search for the precious metal. Deep was the sorrow and sincere the sympathy. tendered his wife and family when it was learned that soon after his arrival he had
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fallen ill with the fever, the result of the constant exposure on the west- ward trip and insufficient nourishment, and had died after but a short illness, during which no hope was sustained for his recovery.
He married Elsie Jones, born in Smyrna township, Chenango county, New York, died at the home her son, Smith Curtis, April 11, 1891, aged eighty-five years. She is buried in the Beaver Cemetery. After the death of her husband she made her home in Toledo, Ohio, later with her son, Smith, of whose household she was an honored and loved member until her death. Elsie Jones was a daughter of Elon and Betsey (Merrill) Jones, originally of Barkhamsted, Connecticut, who settled in Smyrna township, Chenango county, New York. The father of Elon Jones was an officer in the Revolutionary War, entering the service from his home state, Con- necticut. Children of Elon and Betsey (Merrill) Jones: I. Miles, a dealer in packed meats, in which business he amassed quite a fortune. 2. Lucius a farmer, of Chautauqua county, New York. 3. William, a physician of Toledo, Ohio, in the public life of which city he played a prominent part, holding the office of mayor for several terms. In his profession he held high rank, as he did in public office. 4. Elon, a resident of Buffalo, was employed by his brother Miles in the meat packing business. 5. Elsie, of previous mention, married John Curtis. 6. Densy, married a Mr. Sexton, and lived in Smyrna township, Chenango county, where he was a farmer. 7. Elizabeth, married a Mr. Boss, and lived in Wisconsin.
Children of John and Elsie (Jones) Curtis: 1. A son, died in infancy, unnamed. 2. Elizabeth, married Lemuel Robinson. 3. De Loss B., a merchant of Toledo, who went to the gold fields of Montana, finally settling in Cheyenne, Wyoming, later went to the Black Hills; he is deceased. 4. George, a dry goods merchant of Toledo, Ohio. 5. Smith, of whom further. 6. Helen, married a Mr. Bronson, and for a time lived in Wisconsin, later moving to Iowa. 7. Maria, married a Mr. French, and lived in Toledo, Ohio. 8. Densy, married Doctor Ellis, of Zanesville, Ohio. 9. Elsie, died young. 10. Theodore J., enlisted at the age of sixteen years in the Zouave Cadets, of Toledo, being awarded the rank of sergeant at the formation of that company, and at the close of the war bore the title of brevet-major, a remarkable military record for one of such youthful years.
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