USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 26
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died on the homestead farm. 7. Robert James, of whom further. 8. Ann Eliza, died unmarried near Le Junta, Colorado. 9. Thomas Davison, died in La Junta, Colorado.
(II) Robert James Dodds, son of Archibald and Margaret (Davison) Dodds, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1824, died in Aleppo, Asiatic Turkey, in 1870. His early life was spent in Westmore- land county, where he obtained an excellent education, although he never received a college diploma, and was an exceptionally brilliant Hebrew scholar. For fourteen years he was a missionary in Latakia, Syria, whither his wife, whom he had married in Butler county, Pennsylvania, accompanied him, and later moved to Aleppo, where he died. His life was consecrated to service in his Master's vineyard, and from the purity and perfect self sacrifice of his life, his son-in-law, Dr. Metheny, who followed him into foreign fields, drew much of the inspiration for the career he made for himself in Oriental lands. Mr. Dodds married (first) Amanda, daughter of Rev. John and Martha (Brown) Cannon, who died in Jeffer- son county, Pennsylvania, in 1852. Her father, a minister of the Covenant- er Church, was born in Ireland and came to the United States in his youth, in later life becoming pastor of the church of his faith at New Alexandria, Pennsylvania. His wife, Martha, was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, daughter of William Brown, a prominent man of that place, and there Rev. Cannon died. They were the parents of eight children, and in 1854 she and one of her children moved to Louisa county, Iowa, where she died. Three of their children survive, Renwick, Martha and Elizabeth, the latter the widow of a Mr. Nesbit. Mr. Dodds married (second) Margaret Leti- tia Dodds, a third cousin, whom he married in 1856. Children of his first marriage: 1. Mary Ellen, married David Metheny, deceased. 2. John Cannon, a farmer of La Junta, Colorado. Children of his second marriage: 3. Archibald Johnston, a graduate of Jefferson Medical College; from 1881 to 1885 was medical missionary at Latakia, Syria; in 1885 he returned to the United States for a short visit and while once more going to the for- eign field he was drowned at sea, aged twenty-eight years. 4. Margaret Elizabeth, died aged nineteen years. 5. Rev. Robert James (2), a graduate of Geneva College; attended Princeton University, and for sixteen years was a missionary in Mersine, Asia Minor; he is now pastor of a church in Coldenham, New York; he married Jennie Garrett. 6. Amanda Jane, a school teacher, died in La Junta, Colorado, aged forty years. 7. Joseph Beattie, a graduate from the medical department of the University of West- ern Pennsylvania ; was a civil engineer on the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Rail- road, died of yellow fever in Central America, whither the latter profession had called him. 8. Josiah Chrysostom Rowan, a farmer and later a con- tractor and builder of La Junta, Colorado, in which place he died; married Alice Hill. 9. Rev. Calvin Augustin, a graduate of Geneva College; for ten years a missionary in Mersine, Asia Minor, now in Iowa ; married Anna Belle Campbell.
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The Twiford family who, as the name indicates, are of TWIFORD English origin, have been identified with the interests of the state of Pennsylvania for many generations. The first of whom we have definite record was Thomas Twiford, who lived in Wash- ington county.
(II) Emanuel Twiford, son of Thomas Twiford, was born in Wash- ing county, Pennsylvania, died in Beaver county, in the same state, at the age of about ninety years. He lived in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, for a time, then took up his permanent residence in Beaver county. He was an active participant in the War of 1812. He married Nancy Cain and had a family of sixteen children, of whom the thirteen here named attained maturity : Bartholomew, lacked one week of eighty years at the time of his death; Elizabeth, attained the age of eighty-nine years; Jane, was over eighty when she died; Margaret, was also over eighty at the time of her death; John; Henry, lived to more than eighty years; Charles and Thomas also lived to be over eighty years of age; Isaac, went west at the age of fourteen years and has not been heard from for many years; Letitia; Milo, see forward; Agnes, lived to be eighty-four years old; Rebecca.
(III) Milo Twiford, son of Emanuel and Nancy (Cain) Twiford, was born in Moon township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1826, died May 25, 1913, in his eighty-seventh year. For the long period of sixty years he was engaged in farming in Beaver county, owning one farm in Independence township, and another in Hopewell township. He was a staunch Democrat in political matters, and his religious allegiance was given to the United Presbyterian Church. He married, December, 1852, Eleanor, born in November, 1826, died April 10, 1898, daughter of Daniel and Esther (Cain) McCallister, and a granddaughter of David and Ellen McCallister. Daniel and Esther (Cain) McCallister had children: Mary, married Leander Holmes; Eleanor, mentioned above; Jane, mar- ried Alexander McConnell; Henrietta, married John Hineman. Daniel McCallister was born in Hopewell township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, February 20, 1799, died September 3, 1886. Children of Milo and Eleanor (McCallister) Twiford: Daniel McCallister, see forward; Martin Agnew, died young; Mary Lucinda, died young; Thomas Newton, died young ; James Albert, unmarried and lives on the old homestead; Rebecca Jane, unmarried; Emma; Agnes, twin of Emma, married John Davidson and lives in Hopewell township, Beaver county; George P., married Esmerelda Kent and lives in Hopewell township; Margaret, married George Ingram and lives in Independence township.
(IV) Daniel McCallister Twiford, son of Milo and Eleanor (Mc- Callister) Twiford, was born in Independence township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1853. His early education was obtained in the public schools of his native county, from whence he went to Beaver Col- lege, and completed it by attendance at the New Sheffield Academy. He commenced teaching in the public schools in 1871, and was thus occupied
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in Beaver and Allegheny counties until 1884. He then commenced reading law and was admitted to the bar in Beaver county in 1889. He served as district attorney of the county from 1895 to 1899, served as deputy in the register and recorder's office under James S. Mitchell from 1903 to 1906, and under Frank D. Hart from 1909 up to the present time (1913). He is a Progressive in his political views, and a member of the Independent Americans and the Order of Patriotic Sons of America.
Mr. Twiford married (first) Theresa, daughter of Robert W. and Ann P. Scott. Mrs. Twiford died November 1, 1907. He married (sec- ond) Sarah, daughter of David and Elizabeth Crain. By the first marriage he had three children: Anna W., born 1884, married Edwin E. Slick and lives in Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Roscoe Scott, died at the age of ten months ; Philip Carleton, born 1896. By the second marriage Mr. Twiford has one child: Jane Elizabeth, born September 25, 1912.
Louis L. Bentley, elder of the two sons of Abraham and
BENTLEY Alice (Platt) Bentley, was born at New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, September 12, 1868. Completing his elementary studies in the public institutions of New Brighton, he en- tered Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York, enrolling in a course com- bining liberal arts and mechanical engineering. From this college, where he was chosen a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, he was grad- uated in 1890, immediately beginning active work in the profession for which he had studied at Cornell, mechanical engineering, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad being his first employer. During the six years that he was associated with this road he was located at Baltimore, Maryland, and Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania. In 1896 he entered the service of the United States Navy department as inspector of armor plate supplied for use in the build- ing of war vessels, Bethlehem and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, being the cities in which he was busied the greater part of the time. He resigned from the government service in 1901, and for the five following years was employed by different railroads, in the capacity of inspector and mechanical engineer, among them the Lehigh Valley; also being for one year general manager of a boiler factory in Oswego, New York. In 1907 he accepted a position as superintendent of the Beaver Falls plant of the Armstrong Cork Company, one of the largest and most prominent manufacturing inter- ests of Beaver Falls, and has since so continued. The plant of which he has active charge is a group of large, modern buildings, covering more than ten acres of ground, and is equipped with the most improved machin- ery and appliances for the manufacture of the firm's products, namely, corkboard insulation, cork floor tiling, granulated cork, composition cork, and cork paving-brick. Corkboard, the principal output of the plant, is used for lining cold storage warehouses, abattoirs, breweries, ice plants, dairies,
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freezing tanks, refrigerators, and the like, being the most efficient non- conductor of heat and cold known. The facilities at hand for placing the products of the company on the main lines of transportation are excellent, sidings connecting the yard with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the entire concern, including the hundred and fifty skilled and unskilled workmen, is under the management of Mr. Bentley. Experienced foremen have charge of the different de- partments of the plant, but to none does Mr. Bentley assign complete authority, his personal attention extending to each process, his knowledge of the practical working of the business making him a capable adviser in whatever section of the factory he may be. His energy is dynamic and is reflected in the atmosphere of busy industry that pervades the plant, his capacity for hard and tedious work enabling him to direct in person the details of this prosperous enterprise, firmly established as one of the leading industries of the town in which it was founded and yet but an infant in years. Since the beginning of his relations with the Armstrong Company, Mr. Bentley has resided in Beaver Falls, and has taken a place in the social, business, and religious life of the community that his station and capabili- ties warrant. He is a director of the Farmers' National Bank, of Beaver Falls; belongs to the Tamaqua Club; holds the Knights Templar degree in the Masonic order, and, with his wife, affiliates with the Presbyterian Church. It is but due recognition of the excellent judgment, sound busi- ness policy, wise foresight, and wise administrative capacity that Mr. Bent- ley has displayed in the position that he now holds to say that under his rule the amount of business transacted by the Armstrong Company through the Beaver Falls plant has shown a great increase and that the outlook for continued prosperity has never been brighter.
He married, September 12, 1903, Helen Elizabeth, born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, daughter of Alan J. Lawall, a retired resident of that place. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born June 29, 1904. 2. Alan, born December 14, 1905. 3. Louis L., Jr., born March 16, 1908. 4. Jeanne, born June 16, 19II. 5. David, born September 1, 1913.
This is a record of a Maryland family that has been of
OATMAN comparatively short residence in Pennsylvania, the greater part of the American family history being associated with the former state. John A. Oatman, Sr., was the first who introduced his branch of the family into its present home, his half-brother, Joseph, a con- tracting painter, and a sister, Anna, both living in New York state, the former in Brooklyn, the latter at Nyack. John A. Oatman, Sr., was born in Maryland in 1830, died in Pennsylvania in 1875. He spent his youth in Maryland and was there educated, enlisting in a regiment composed almost solely of Pittsburghians at the outbreak of the Civil War, and for three
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years was in active service. He participated in the Wilderness campaign and in one of the fights of that series of conflicts was wounded so seriously that he was in the hospital for four months. After recovering his strength he rejoined his regiment in the field and fought until receiving his honorable discharge. At the time of his enlistment his home was in Pittsburgh, and he had previously lived in Lancaster, for many years being a clerk in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Resigning from the service of this road he became manager of the Duquesne Coal Company, holding that po- sition until his death. He placed his political trust in the Democratic party, and was ever allied therewith, and was, with his wife, a communicant of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in March, 1832, daughter of German par- the Roman Catholic Church. He married Elizabeth Patterson, born in ents who, upon coming to Pennsylvania, made their home in Elizabethtown, Lancaster county. Her father was for many years a driver of coaches on the old pike between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Mrs. Oatman married a second time after her husband's death, and now, aged eighty-one years, lives with her children, having survived her second husband. Children of John A. and Elizabeth (Patterson) Oatman: 1. Mary, died aged sixteen years. 2. Alice, died in infancy. 3. John A. (2), of whom further.
John A. (2) Oatman, son of John A. (1) and Elizabeth (Patterson) Oatman, was born at Lancaster, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 16, 1857, and when he was a child his parents moved to Turtle Creek, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and here he attended a country school, later com- pleting his education in a business college. He obtained a position on the Pittsburgh and Altoona division of the Pennsylvania Railroad as fireman, and was so employed for nine years, at the end of that time being promoted to engineer and serving in that capacity for six years. In 1881 he made Homewood his residence, and while there left the railroad and became proprietor of the St. Cloud Hotel, being manager and owner of that house for several years. He came to Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in June, 1901, and purchased a home at No. 1103 Fifth avenue, for four years conducting, with uniform success, a gentlemen's clothing store. Since selling this establishment Mr. Oatman has devoted his time to his private business affairs and participates in no regular channel of business or trade, having amassed a generous fortune in his previous callings and ventures. His political party is the Democratic, and he and his wife are members of the Roman Catholic Church, while he is a charter member of Lodge No. 604, K. C.
Mr. Oatman married, in May, 1880, Sara, born in Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania, daughter of Henry and Emeline Fryberg, both deceased, her father having been a hotel proprietor in Pittsburgh and Homewood, Penn- sylvania, all of his life. Children of John A. and Sara (Fryberg) Oatman : Catherine, lives at home; Henry, lives in Charleroi, Pennsylvania; Mary, married Francis Osterley, and is a resident of Charleroi, Pennsylvania; Agnes, died in infancy.
2II
BEAVER COUNTY
To say that this history of the Orr family begins with the arrival ORR of the first emigrant of the name would be to intimate that a volume were to be written, for a work of that size would be re- quired to contain the history of the Orrs in this country, so numerous have they been and are, so manifold their pursuits and accomplishments. The task is narrowed considerably when it is added that this is a chronicle of the line of Hugh Orr, for the history of that branch covers but a century and a quarter of American life.
(I) Hugh Orr was a son of Irish parents, his ancestors all having been of that nationality, and was born on a ship sailing the high seas between Ireland and the United States. His parents settled in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and there Hugh grew to manhood. He married Jane McCon- nell. He was a soldier in the War of 1812-14, a young man at the time, the date of his birth being 1790, and later in life he received a pension from the government in recognition of services rendered. When his oldest children were young he moved to Green Garden, Beaver county, Pennsyl- vania and there purchased a farm. He died in Beaver, Pennsylvania, at the age of seventy years; his wife died in Beaver Falls, at the age of eighty- two years. The family were all Seceders in religion. Children of Hugh and Jane (McConnell) Orr: 1. Martha, married John Kerr; lives in Cleveland, Ohio, she and her sister Elvira being the only surviving members of the family. 2. William, of whom further. 3. Isabel, deceased; married Henry Kennedy, and lived in Beaver county, South Side, Pennsylvania. 4. John, deceased; was a carpenter, builder and owner of a planing mill, lived in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. 5. James, deceased; lived on the old farm; his son John is now a merchant of New Sheffield, Pennsylvania. 6. Eliza, married Robert Cooper, of the old Cooper family, and is now de- ceased. 7. Molly, married Alexander White, and is now deceased. 8. Elvira, married John C. Reid; lives in Independence township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, aged seventy-six years.
(II) William Orr, son of Hugh and Jane (McConnell) Orr, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, 1822, died in Beaver Falls, Pennsyl- vania, September 18, 1902. He was but a child when his parents moved from their home in Washington county to Green Garden, Beaver county, and in the latter place he grew to maturity, as a youth learning the trade of shoemaker. Becoming a mercantile dealer, he opened a store at Old Independence, Beaver county, also holding the office of postmaster, the government office occupying a part of his store. Here he remained until 1863, when in partnership witth Mr. R. H. Cooper he entered the general merchandise business in Beaver, the firm trading as Orr & Cooper. From 1878 until 1881 he was manager of the store of D. E. McCallister, in New Sheffield, after which position he came to Beaver Falls in 1884, estab- lishing in the grocery business. Two years later he dissolved partnership with the man who was then associated with him in business, and received his son, William James, as partner, the firm being known as William Orr &
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Son from 1886 until 1895. In the latter year his son withdrew from the firm, the father selling his business two years later and retiring from active life. During his business life as a merchant he dealt extensively in buy- ing and selling wool, for many years being the largest distributor of the wool output of the region. His life was characterized by his habits of industry, and reluctance to accept a commission unless he was confident that he could execute it competently. In all things he was reliable, and besides the qualities that brought him success in business dealings, he was the possessor of a pleasing personality which gained him popularity among his wide circle of acquaintances, and enhanced his attrac- tiveness to those who granted him regard, because of their knowledge of his irreproachable life and character. In politics he was a Republican.
Mr. Orr married Eleanor, born in West Bridgewater, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, January 15, 1837, died in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1913, daughter of William and Eleanor (McCleaster) McCallister. Her father was a surveyor of West Bridgewater, and as a Republican held many county offices, among them county surveyor, register, recorder and clerk of courts. He and his wife were Presbyterians in religion. He died aged sixty-six years, and his wife's death occurred at the age of thirty-nine years. Children of William and Eleanor (McCleaster) McCallister: 1. Nancy, married W. A. Laird, of Beaver, Pennsylvania. 2. William, deceased. 3. David, deceased, was a merchant and limestone quarryman near Wampum, Pennsylvania; his death occurred in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, in 1907. 4. Eleanor, of previous mention, married William Orr. Children of Wil- liam and Eleanor (McCallister) Orr: 1. H. Anderson, of Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania. 2. William James, of whom further. 3. David, died in Seattle, Washington, 1909. 4. Robert Lindsay, twin of David, died aged six years. 5. John H., unmarried; lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; is assistant superintendent of the Pittsburg Terminal Warehouse. 6. Thomas P., lives in Akron, Ohio. 7. Edith E., a nurse in the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(III) William James Orr, son of William and Eleanor (McCallister) Orr, was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, July 9, 1865. When he was thirteen years of age he left school, obtaining, when his family moved to Beaver Falls, a position with J. D. Strock, a grocer, later becoming the junior member of the firm of William Orr & Son, his father being the head of this firm. In 1895 he left this business and for three years was employed as salesman by McHattie Brothers, wholesale fruit and produce dealers, of Beaver Falls, later being promoted to the position of manager of the plant, in which capacity he still serves his employers. Personal participation in this line of business as a responsible head makes him an employee of unusual value, and he directs the labors of the fifteen men over whom he has supervision to the best benefit of the firm. McHattie Brothers are acknowledged one of the leading wholesale produce concerns of the region and the responsibility of managing their large business as the
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representative of the heads of the firm is no idle task, nor one for any but a trained and experienced man of ability, specifications to which Mr. Orr has been found to correspond in his almost two decades of service. In fraternal and religious circles he is also prominent, being, with his wife, a member of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, and for twelve years he has been vestryman of this organization, and the same length of time head of the Sunday school as superintendent, to the duties of which he gives the best of his time and attention. He is a Republican in politics, and is a Mason, being a member of Beaver Valley Lodge, No. 478; Harmony Chapter, No. 206, Royal Arch Masons; Beaver Valley Commandery, No. 84, Knights Templar. He is also associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Arcanum. He is a director in the Dime Building & Loan Association; vice-president and director in the Federal Title & Trust Company, and holds stock in other business institutions.
Mr. Orr married, December 17, 1890, Eleanor, born in Ireland, daugh- ter of Daniel Gaston. They are the parents of one son, George R., born July 4, 1892, a graduate of the Beaver Falls High School.
The principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, Germany, is the
ROHRKASTE locality from which came the emigrant ancestor of the Rohrkaste family of Pennsylvania, that being the birth- place of Frederick Gottlieb Rohrkaste, father of Charles William Rohr- kaste, of this chronicle.
(I) Frederick Gottlieb Rohrkaste was born October 31, 1831, died November 26, 1909. He was educated in his native country, and when a young man came to the United States, going immediately to Pittsburgh, where he entered the employ of his brother, Ernest, the proprietor of a grocery business in that city. After a short time spent in this service he had added a sufficient amount to his possessions to establish in independent operations along the same line, first at Mt. Oliver and next at Mt. Wash- ington, Pennsylvania. His next venture in the grocery business was on the south side of Pittsburgh, his store being situated at Nineteenth and Carson streets, where he remained until November, 1869, when he moved to Beaver Falls, where he made his final venture in that line, locating at the corner of Third and Sixth avenues. About 1882 he sold his property and stock to McFerron & Jamison, then purchasing the Central Hotel, of which he was proprietor for about ten years, during which time that house became known as a home of cordial entertainment and hospitable welcome to the traveling public. While he had been in business in Beaver Falls he had erected a handsome house in New Brighton, where, after selling the Central Hotel to David Magaw, he resided for a short time. Not wishing to retire from the hotel business, he began a search for a profitable location in which to build. This he found in Huntingdon, West Virginia, and after obtaining suitable plans he awarded the contract for its building, moving
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to that place as the house neared completion and directing the installation of numerous conveniences that added considerably to the attractiveness and comfort of the hotel. The hostelry had not been long in use when it was almost totally destroyed by a most destructive fire, but was immediately rebuilt, Mr. Rohrkaste continuing as its successful proprietor until the death of his wife, when he retired from active business, the property becom- ing the possession of his daughter Anna, wife of Henry Snyder. At the time of his death he was seventy-eight years of age, and during the greater part of that time had been a member of the German Lutheran Church, to which his wife also belonged. His political action was independent, and he affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was drafted for service in the Civil War, but finding it impossible to go to the front he procured the services of a substitute. He is buried, with his wife, at Saint Paul's Cemetery, on the south side of Pittsburgh.
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