Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921 ed
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 3

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(IV) Dr. Emmet Samuel Burns, son of Coston and Sophia (Bonzo) Burns, was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, August 19, 1868. His early education was acquired in the public schools and in New Sewickley Acad- emy, and he then matriculated at the Western Pennsylvania Medical Col- lege, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1891 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He established himself in the practice of his profession in Beaver Falls, Beaver county, and his skill and pro- ficiency soon enabled him to acquire a large and lucrative practice. He is engaged in general practice and surgery, and has won the esteem and con- fidence of his professional colleagues as well as that of his numerous pa- tients. In former years he filled the office of county physician for six years, but the increasing demands of his private practice obliged him to resign from this position. Politically he is a Republican, and he is a mem- ber of the Beaver County Medical Society. Dr. Burns is a member of the Presbyterian Church and also holds membership in Beaver Falls Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Dr. Burns married, in 1896, Margaret J., born in Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, daughter of David and Sarah J. Gilliland. They have no children.

(The Bonzo Line.)

This is the name of an ancient and honorable family of France, and it was originally spelled Bonzon, the spelling having been changed in America. Pierre (Peter) Simeon Bonzon, as the name appears on the baptismal record, took part in the activities of the time in which he lived. According to some records we know that the family also resided in Helvetia, but whether this was just for a time, or whether only a branch of the

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family resided there, is not a matter which can be decided with any degree of certainty.

(I) Peter Louis Bonzon, born in Paris, France, was a soldier of the time of the French Revolution, and served in the company of De Watter- ville. His discharge paper, dated April 30, 1796, is still in the possession of his grandson, George Bonzo, of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. In 1803, according to the date on his passport, which Mr. Bonzo also possesses, he set sail for America with his wife, a son and two daughters, arriving in this country after ninety days en route. He settled in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, at Bessemer Furnace, and there found employment. After some years he purchased a farm in New Sewickley township, which he cleared and improved. He built a comfortable log house, and had been living there some years when he was killed by a falling tree. His widow and their sons continued to live there for some further years, then the sons sold this farm and purchased farms of their own. Mr. and Mrs. Bonzo were members of the Lutheran Church. They had children: Jean Gabriel, born 1798, was a farmer, and died in Scioto county, Ohio; Louise Pierrette, born 1800; Jeanne Henriette, born 1802; Peter Louis, the first child of this family to be born in America, was a farmer and died in Beaver county ; Charles, of further mention; George, a farmer, died in Beaver county ; Elizabeth, married Jacob Deamer, and died in Scioto county, Ohio.

(II) Charles Bonzo, son of Peter Louis Bonzon, was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania. He settled in New Sewickley township, becoming a prosperous farmer and extensive land owner, his farm consisting of be- tween one thousand and one thousand two hundred acres, a considerable portion of which was in a high state of cultivation for that time. They lived quiet and retired lives, and had children: Henry, deceased; John; Charles ; Harrison; George; a son who died in 1869; Sophia, married Cos- ton Burns (see Burns III); Lizzie, deceased; Charlotte, deceased.

Of Scotch origin, the McCarter family was first settled in McCARTER the middle west after its arrival in this country, James McCarter, the emigrant, going thither immediately after coming from Scotland. He was accompanied upon his transatlantic trip by two brothers, all purchasing land in Columbiana county, Ohio, where they reared families and died. Among the children of James was Daniel, of whom further.

(II) Daniel McCarter, son of James McCarter, was born in Colum- biana county, Ohio, and there died. He inherited part of the paternal acres and all of his life was a farmer, an occupation he bequeathed to his son John. He married and had children, his death occurring about 1862. Chil- dren: 1. Ann, married David Moore, both deceased. 2. Elizabeth, mar- ried John Young and lived in Darlington township, Beaver county, Penn- sylvania. 3. Mary, married Alexander Anderson, of Darlington, Pennsyl- vania. 4. Alexander, a farmer, died aged fifty years. 5. Jefferson, a

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veteran of the Civil war, died a victim of a malignant disease soon after the close of that struggle. 6. William, died aged eighteen years. 7. George, a stage-coach driver in the west, was killed in Nevada when the coach he was driving was attacked by plundering Indians. 8. Daniel, deceased, a gold prospector, lived at Bullionville, Nevada, from which point he set forth in his search for the precious metal. 9. John, of whom further.

(III) John McCarter, son of Daniel McCarter, was born in Darling- ton township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in 1821, died in Chippewa town- ship, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, August 18, 1873. His early life was passed in the township of his birth, where as a boy he attended school. Attaining his majority he chose farming as his life occupation and became the possessor of ninety-seven acres of land in Chippewa township, which he cultivated profitably until his death, the property being the old Warren farm. After his death his widow bought a nearby farm and there lived until her death in 1895. He was a Democrat in political belief, having been elected to numerous township offices, and was, as was his wife, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

He was twice married, the maiden name of his first wife being John- son, of which union there were no children. He married (second) Emeline Douthitt, born on the old farm on the Enon road, Darlington township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in 1831, died in Chippewa township, same county, in 1895, daughter of Joseph and Jane (McMinn) Douthitt. Joseph Douthitt was a son of a Scotchman who was sent from his native land to Ireland as punishment for breaking some of the game laws of the former country, and while in Ireland became intricated in some serious legal trouble that necessitated his fleeing the country. He sought and found refuge upon a ship on the point of sailing from port for the United States, thus escaping his pursuers. Arrived in this land, he came at once to Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania, from there to Great Meadows, Pennsylvania, and bought a farm of which the original owner was John Allison. He married a daughter of Jacob Lutzenhouser, who had bought the Scott farm in Darlington township, where he died. Of this marriage there were eight sons and eight daughters, one of the sons being Joseph, of whom further. Joseph Douthitt, born in Chippewa township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, about 1812, grew to man- hood and was educated in that locality, in later life moving to Darlington township, where he was proprietor of an inn one and a half miles north of the village of Darlington, also owning a farm of many acres, where he died in 1884. His wife, born at Anderson's Mill, was a daughter of her to whom was attributed the distinction of being the first white woman to cross the Ohio river. Children of Joseph and Jane (McMinn) Douthitt: Emeline, married John McCarter; Caroline, married Charles P. Walker, of Rolla, Missouri; Maria, married Frederick Beck, of Cleveland, Ohio; Henry, married a Miss Kane, and died on the old Douthitt homestead in Darlington township; Eliza J., married Robert Barnes, of Bethel, Tennessee; Joseph, died in infancy. Children of John and Emeline (Douthitt) Mc-

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Carter: 1. Joseph Douthitt, of whom further. 2. An infant, died soon after birth. 3. Mary Jane, married Robert McCaughtry, and lives in Chippewa township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. 4. John Edward, a farmer of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 5. Robert Winfield, a physician of Pitts- burgh, North Side. 6. George Curtis, died in 1896, aged thirty years, in Boulder, Colorado. 7. William Wyckliffe, lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he is connected with the Colorado State University. 8. Franklin Seymour, an employee of the Standard Oil Company, lives unmarried in Oklahoma. 9. Charles Henry, died in 1888, aged twenty-two years; a school teacher by profession. 10. Clement Byron, of whom further. 11. Laura Emma, died in 1888, aged eighteen years. 12. Olive Luella, married William G. Beatty, and lives near Homewood, Beaver county, Pennsylvania.

(IV) Dr. Joseph Douthitt McCarter, eldest son and child of John and Emeline (Douthitt) McCarter, was born in Chippewa township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, February 16, 1856. He there attended the district schools, later entering Darlington Academy, at that time under the super- vision of the Rev. Alexander. Finishing his studies, he was for seven years a school teacher, later deciding upon the medical profession as his life endeavor, preparing for such a career at Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, receiving his degree in the class of 1883. On June 28 of that year he established in active practice, and has since followed his pro- fession without intermission, gaining steadily in reputation, growing stronger in influence, and increasing in usefulness with the passing of the years. His services were sought as examining physician on the pension board, which position he held for five years. Dr. McCarter is a Democrat of the most ardent nature, and was chairman of the committee appointed by the Democratic convention of the state to confer with a committee of the Independent Republicans in regard to a union of forces in support of a single candidate, namely, Judge Holt. He is a citizen who in no way shirks his share of responsibility, is induced to large service by his public spirit, and has the wide diversity of interests that makes a man broad in convictions and of value to his community.

He married, October 28, 1885, Ann T. Chomdley, born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, daughter of Henry and Sarah Chomdley, her parents both born in England, her father later becoming a plumber in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. Children of Joseph Douthitt and Ann T. (Chomdley) McCarter: I. Lucy born September 11, 1886, a teacher in the schools of College Hill, Pennsylvania. 2. Sarah, born in 1887. 3. Joseph, born in 1889. 4. Harry Chomdley, born in 1891, an athlete of reputation.

(IV) Clement Byron McCarter, youngest son of John and Emeline (Douthitt) McCarter, was born in Chippewa township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, February 18, 1867. After preliminary studies in the common schools of the township, he entered Greersburg Academy at Darlington. After leaving the latter institution he passed his examinations and for three years was a school teacher, at the end of that time entering the In-

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diana, Pennsylvania, State Normal School, which he attended for one year. Receiving a state teacher's certificate, he once more taught school, this time for a period of four years, when he enrolled in Ingleside Acad- emy at McDonald, Pennsylvania, studying there for one year. Once more reverting to his calling, for two years he taught school, spending the lat- ter year at Greersburg Academy, where he was instructor to a normal class of teachers. Resigning his last named position, he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, after two years returning to Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he was admitted to the bar, his practice now extending to all state and federal courts of the dis- trict. Since his admission to the bar, May 4, 1896, he has been in con- tinuous practice in Beaver Falls, and since opening his office has con- fined his practice entirely to individuals, holding a position as counsel with no companies, corporations or organized interests of any kind. He is deservedly a lawyer of good repute and unquestioned ability, as his record shows, and of high ideals. Among the legal fraternity he is recognized as an opponent who overlooks no point in attack or defense, who has recourse to a seemingless endless store of legal knowledge, and who is the more to be respected from the very open and aboveboard manner of his procedure. He holds membership in the Beaver County Bar Asso- ciation and belongs to Enon Valley Lodge, No. 411, Free and Accepted Masons. His political position is taken regardless of party influences,

Mr. McCarter married, November 29, 1899, Emma Miller, daughter of John Danks Carey. Her father was an old resident of Pittsburgh, and until about 1896 was employed by the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, in that year coming to Beaver county, where he purchased a farm, and died March 26, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. McCarter have had one child, a daughter, who died in infancy.

The name of Thomas is on record among the earliest of THOMAS the Colonial families of this country, the ancestors of the present generation having come over in the "Mayflower." In one generation there were nine brothers, all of whom died of a scourge, with the exception of one, and he became a mill owner and operator near Massachusetts and Connecticut state line, at Becket. His descendants re- moved to Syracuse, Onondaga county, New York. The members of the family, both men and women, have been noted in business and professional circles, holding prominent positions in the various places in which they resided, performing well their part in all the duties and responsibilities of life.

(I) Norman Thomas was born in Syracuse, New York, April 8, 1788, son of Samuel Thomas, died in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, March 9, 1840. In 1812 Samuel Thomas and three sons, Samuel, Norman and Hezekiah, came to Woodcock township, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, with an ox team, blazing their way through the woods from Syracuse, and

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later settled at what is now known as Cambridge Springs. There he owned a farm of between two and three hundred acres, which he cleared, and on which he erected a log house which is still standing. He also planted a fine orchard, and lived there until his death, about 1840. He married (first) Sally Morey, by whom he had two sons: Orland and Norman. He married (second) November 1, 1820, Sallie Coulter, born October 10, 1794, by whom he had: George, Elizabeth, Darius, Jefferson, Josiah, Wilson Coulter, Washington. Dorius was the father of Judge Thomas, of Crawford county, Pennsylvania.

(II) Wilson Coulter Thomas, son of Norman and Sallie (Coulter) Thomas, was born on the Thomas homestead in Crawford county, Penn- sylvania, October 31, 1832, died in Woodcock township, same county, July 13, 1907. After his marriage he removed to near Ottumwa and Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he bought a half-section of land, paying at the rate of fifty cents per acre. Ague, however, was very prevalent in that section, and Mr. Thomas abandoned his property there and returned to Pennsylvania, where he rented farms for some years, and during the oil excitement at Titusville he hauled oil. In 1871 he bought a farm of one hundred acres in Woodcock township, and the remainder of his life was spent there. He was a staunch supporter of the Democratic party, never having failed to cast his vote from the time he attained his majority. He was honored by election to all the offices in the gift of the township. He affiliated with the Knights of Honor, and was at one time a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Helen Elizabeth Doctor, born on the Doctor homestead in Cambridge township, November 9, 1834. She is still living in Crawford county, where she is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Thomas is the daughter of George Doctor, who was born in Germany, came to this country in boy- hood, and settled in Cambridge township. After his marriage he settled near Cambridge Springs, on the Venango river. He was a Democrat, and active in local political affairs. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Margaret, born in the North of Ireland, of Scotch descent, daughter of George Humes, who came to this country, consuming six weeks on the passage, and encounter- ing a gale that blew them within seeing distance of things overboard after having been on sea two weeks. They came when his daughter was a very young child, and located in Cambridge township, near Gravel Run. Mr. and Mrs. Doctor had children: Emma and Sarah, died young; Helen Elizabeth, married Mr. Thomas, as above stated; Mary, unmarried, lives on the old homestead; Eliza, married A. A. Skelton; Maria, married D. D. Goshorn, removed to Iowa, where she died; Caroline, Emma and Sarah, died in girlhood. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas had children: 1. George Doctor, taught four years, is now a physician in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and treasurer of Allegheny College. 2. Valorus, graduated from the Jefferson Medical College, was a teacher and superintendent in Nelson,

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Nebraska, and is now a physician there. 3. Fred E., of further mention. 4. Hugh M., was a teacher at one time and is now a farmer near Mead- ville. 5. Jennie, graduated from the Edinburg Normal School; married Robert, son of County Commissioner Lang, and lives on a farm in Craw- ford county. 6. Albert L., graduated from the Edinburg Normal School; a farmer and dairyman, and the owner of a hardware store at Cambridge Springs. 7. Norman A., graduated from the Jefferson Medical College, and is now in the practice of his profession at Oil City, Pennsylvania. 8. Vernon D., of East End, Pittsburgh, graduated from the Jefferson Med- ical College, then took a past-graduate course at the New York City Ma- ternity Hospital. 9. Frank, died at the age of fourteen years.

(III) Fred E. Thomas, son of Wilson Coulter and Helen Elizabeth (Doctor) Thomas, was born at Cambridge Springs, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, February 17, 1861. He received his education in the public schools at Woodcock borough, the Saegerstown High School and the Edinburg Normal School. For a period of five years he was engaged in teaching, then became news agent on a train, and then superintendent of the Union News Company at Peoria, Illinois. In 1886 he was ap- pointed as railway mail clerk, his route lying between Salamanca, New York, and Youngstown, Ohio, and he was thus occupied five and a half years. Twelve years were then spent as a traveling salesman in Venango, Crawford, Mercer and Lawrence counties, Pennsylvania, and in a few Ohio towns. As an active supporter of the Democratic party, he was nominated for the office of sheriff of Crawford county, 1901-02, but was defeated. For a time he was then the proprietor of a hotel at Conneaut Lake, Crawford county, then in the retail grocery and wholesale liquor business at Allegheny for two years. Selling this, he removed to Beaver Falls and purchased the Hotel Hanna, renaming it the Hotel Thomas, and has successfully managed this since August 24, 1909. The hotel has forty rooms, is fitted up with gas and electric light, and has all the most modern improvements. The cuisine is unexceptional, and the comfort of the guests is cared for in every detail. Mr. Thomas is a member of the Tamaqua Club, a local organization, and of the Loyal Order of Moose. In the latter organization he served as chairman of the rules and order committee in the most recent national convention of the fraternity.

Mr. Thomas married, January 2, 1884, Emma Hurvey Murray, born in Hartstown, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Henry Quigley and Ann Eliza (Williamson) Murray. They have had children: Clarence E., who is his father's assistant; Arleen, died in infancy; Marjorie, married, in June, 1913, Harry Richardson, and lives in Bellevue, Pennsylvania; Graydon, a student at the Indiana Normal School, of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

WERTZ For many years, from causes of varying import, mainly over boundaries, territory and tribute, French and German blood has mingled on many a hard-fought field, where naught but

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death ever quieted a turbulent spirit, where honor was sought at the can- non's mouth, and where thousands yielded their lives at the behest of an avaricious and wilful monarch, "their's but to do or die." This was indeed a mingling of blood and the fruits thereof brought to the world little but misery, privation, suffering and woe. In the ancestry of the Rev. James M. Wertz, of this chronicle, there was a mingling of the same strains, to an end far more glorious, righteous, and blessed, the founding of a race that has played well its part in the scheme of life, living to far more benefit than the tens of thousands that fell in the struggle for recognized superiority and dominion.

(I) Reinhart Wertz was born in Till Moyland, Kreis Cleve, Germany, June 24, 1826, died in Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1910. He grew to man's estate in his native land, and in 1854 sailed for the United States on the ship "America." The voyage, which con- sumed six weeks, was marked by tempestuous storms, which blew the ship miles out of her course, delaying her arrival in port, and causing con- siderable inconvenience, which might easily have heightened into suffer- ing, because of the inadequate supply of provisions on board the vessel, such a long passage being entirely unanticipated. At last the strong North Stream was struck and by its aid the vessel, much battered by the terrible storms and much in need of repairs, reached the Newfoundland shore, where the passengers were once more able to obtain full rations, grateful after the long period of insufficient nourishment. When the necessary repairs had been made the ship continued on her way, arriving at port with no more events worthy of particular mention occurring. It was on this voyage that Reinhart Wertz met the maid he afterward wedded, and for at least two of the passengers on the vessel that met with such continued misfortune the time passed all too quickly. The were married in Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, the following year, two years later moving to Kansas, where he purchased a farm, there living until 1877. During this time he witnessed many of the thrilling scenes enacted on Kansas soil in the period prior to the Civil War, during which Kansas received, with such rich merit, the name of "Bleeding Kansas," living in the middle of the territory that was the bone of contention between the advocates of abolition and the supporters of slavery. Nor was the strife over this territory the only happening that stirred the tranquility of life on the western plains, but for four years he was a member of the militia formed to protect life and property from the hostile Indian tribes of that locality. This, added to the four years that he served in the army of the Kaiser, made eight years that he passed in military service, although, of course, the confinement and routine of the last organization in which he was enrolled was not nearly so strict as in the German army. His experience in this first made him a valuable member of the second, despite the difference in the mode of warfare used by the foes of the Germans and that practiced by the Ameri- can aborigines. From 1877 until 1882 he was a resident of Glencoe, Min-

J. Mo Heck

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nesota, where he followed the occupation that had been his in Kansas, first clearing the land of the timber that covered it, that being the fourth farm from which he had removed the timber. In the latter year he made his home in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, for two years serving in the employ of the Pennsylvania railroad, and two years he worked as a caretaker of an estate in Tyrone, and at the expiration of that time moving to Braddock and later to Beaver Falls, living at the home of his son, James M., until his death. His had been an active and strenuous life, and throughout his eighty-four years he had lived beyond the reproach of any, performing well his part in the world, known ever as an upright and honorable man, trusted implicitly by all who knew him. He was a Republican in politics at his death, although prior to his Beaver Falls residence the Democratic party had been his choice. While in Kansas he served the county in the capacity of road commissioner. Both he and his wife were loyal and devout members of the Roman Catholic Church.

He married, in 1855, Johanna Nunnink, born in Gruenlow, Holland, died in Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, September 10, 1906, coming to the United States with her parents in 1854. Both he and she are buried in St. Mary's Cemetery lying side by side. Johanna was the daughter of Jacob and Alyda (Hofsteh) Nunnink, both born in Holland, where they lived until 1854, the year of their immigration to this country. They first settled near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, there living for several years, he engaged as a wagon-maker and carpenter, later becoming a farmer, his death occurring in Dawson, Pennsylvania, at the home of James M. Wertz. In his native land he had been a soldier, and with his wife was a member of the Roman Catholic Church, her death occurring in 1889, he surviving her one year. Jacob and Alyda (Hofsteh) Nunnink were the parents of : 1. John, a carpenter and wagon-maker, died in St. Paul, Kansas. 2. Johanna, of previous mention, married Reinhart Wertz. 3. Ricka, mar- ried Joseph Ebeck, and lives in Shawnee, Kansas. 4. Anthony, a car- penter and farmer, died in Kansas City, Kansas. Children of Reinhart and Johanna (Nunnink) Wertz: I. Alyda, died in childhood. 2. James M., of whom further. 3. Alyda, married Alexander Hagg, and died in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, in June, 1912. 4. Anna, died in infancy. 5. John H., an employee of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. 6. Christina, died in Minnesota in 1880, aged twelve years. 7. Charles Reinhart, a member of the fire department of Tyrone, Pennsylvania. 8. Mary Hen- rika, married John G. Sakraida, an employee of the Federal Title and Trust Company, lives in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

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Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921 ed Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921 ed
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: