USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 6
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Occupying so prominent a place in the educational system of Pennsyl- vania, Professor Green has not allowed the pursuits of a pedagogue to absorb the requirements of good citizenship. He is a veteran of the Spanish- American War, enlisting in Company E, Fifteenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, serving as company clerk and post quartermaster clerk at Fort Washington, Maryland; was an elder of the Presbyterian Church, at New Brighton, and teacher of a Bible class in the Sunday school; is past master of Union Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of New Brighton; a companion of Greensburg Chapter, No. 92, Royal Arch Masons ; a Cryptic Mason of Olivet Council, Royal and Select Masters, of Greensburg; a Sir Knight of Beaver Valley Commandery, Knights Templar, and a mem- ber of Newcastle Lodge of Perfection, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. In addition to his Masonic affiliations, he holds membership in the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. In political faith he is a Republican. In his professional, fraternal and church associations, Professor Green is of greatest value to his brethren and is held in highest esteem by those most familiar with his work and activity. He is devoted to his profession and while his success is patent to all and his worth fully recognized, his youth and talents are guarantees that the years to come will bring him further successes and still greater responsi- bilities.
Professor Green married, August 24, 1902, Edith Nesbit, daughter of W. R. and Laura (White) Nesbit, of Butler, Pennsylvania; children: Dorothy, Lois, James.
Transplanted from Ireland only two generations back, the GASTON Gaston family of Pennsylvania is a comparatively new one to the United States. Grandfather Gaston, the emigrant an- cestor, was a miller in his native land and followed the same occupation at Beaver Falls, where he made his home. He was prominent in the affairs
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of the town, then in the first stages of growth, and belonged to the Epis- copal Church. Children: John, Jemima, Daniel, of whom further; Anna, George A., Ella, Robert.
(II) Daniel Gaston was born in Ireland, and was brought to the United States by his parents when an infant. He attended the public schools of Beaver Falls and there received his entire education. He learned the trade of file maker and for thirty-three years was employed by one concern. When this firm discontinued business he became a die-sinker, an occupa- tion he still follows. While past the prime of life he nevertheless con- tinues in active labor, and is proud of the fact that he can stand more hard work than many of his associates many years his junior. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and also belongs to the Royal Ar- canum. He married Janet, daughter of David Campbell, who was a native of Scotland, a stone contractor, and one of the first settlers of Beaver Falls. Children of David Campbell: Myrtle, John, Elizabeth, Robert Samuel, Ella, Janet, of previous mention, married Daniel Gaston; Jane, died young. Children of Daniel and Janet (Campbell) Gaston: John C., of whom further; Mabel, married H. A. Riddle; David.
(III) Dr. John C. Gaston, son of Daniel and Janet (Campbell) Gaston, was born in Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, June 29, 1880. He attended the public schools of Beaver Falls, completing the high school course and later entered the University of Pittsburg. Here he took a spe- cial course in engineering, but after finishing the same he swerved from his decision to be an engineer and decided upon a medical career. He entered Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, and in 1907 was graduated M. D. He began in Beaver Falls and has there ever since continued. He has acquired a most desirable practice, has gained prestige among his breth- ren of the profession and is well regarded as a physician of merit, talent and ability. The professional cheerfulness a physician is traditionally sup- posed to radiate is entirely lacking in his personality, and is replaced by a warm, sympathetic friendliness that includes all in his presence. He is a member of the Pennsylvania State and the Beaver County Homoeopathic societies ; also of Beaver Falls Lodge, No. 478, Free and Accepted Masons, the Royal Arcanum, and the Home Guards of America. His religious connection is with the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Gaston married, De- cember 11, 1913, Helen Louise Donaldson, native of Beaver Falls.
John A. Elliott, a popular and prominent lawyer of Beaver ELLIOTT Falls, Pennsylvania, is a descendant on his father's side, of a family which for many generations was associated with Hancock county, West Virginia, and on his mother's side from an equally old family of Beaver county, Pennsylvania. The representative of the Elliott family, three generations back of John A. Elliott, was William EI- liott, who with his wife Jane, was born, lived and died in the West Vir- ginia county, his death occurring while he was still a young man, and his
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wife surviving him until she had attained the venerable age of eighty-one years and more. They had seven children in all, of whom John, the second, continued the line of descent we are following.
(II) John Elliott, son of William Elliott, was born in Hancock county, West Virginia, 1798, He continued to live there during his manhood, fol- lowed the occupation of river pilot, until he had reached the age of sixty- six years, 1864, when he removed with his family to Beaver county, Penn- sylvania, and there engaged in the business of brick merchant in Shipping- port. He still later in life removed to Raccoon Creek in the same county, where in 1875 he died. While still a young man, and living in West Virginia, he had married into another old family of that state, the Farns- worths, his wife being Rachel Farnsworth, daughter of Henry and Ruth Farnsworth, who were born, lived and died in that region and were staunch members of the Presbyterian Church. They had five children, of whom Mrs. Elliott was the eldest. Mr. Elliott was a Democrat in politics. To him and Mrs. Elliott were born five children, as follows: Adaline, who became Mrs. Daniel Freeman, of Rochester, Indiana; Caroline, married (first) James Stock, (second) a Mr. Smith, of Toronto, Ohio; William, of whom further; Esther Jane, later Mrs. Wooster Fickes, of Shippingport, Pennsylvania; Rebecca, who remained single.
(III) William (2) Elliott, son of John Elliott, was born in Hancock county, West Virginia, July 17, 1835. In 1864 he accompanied his father to Beaver county, Pennsylvania. He received his education in his native county, attending the local and subscription schools and an academy or high school. He engaged for a time in the brick business with his father after their removal to Pennsylvania. He gave up this business eventually and made his home on the south side of the Beaver river, in the rural district there, and in this location farmed for upwards of seven years. His next home was in Beaver, where he engaged in a wholesale lumber business, making a specialty of hard woods. When he finally removed to Beaver Falls, he continued this business in the new location until about seven years ago, when he retired from active business life. He was a Republican in politics. He and Mrs. Elliott were at first members of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, but later joined the Presbyterian Church, in which Mr. El- liott was a prominent figure, and held the position of elder. They became members of the United Presbyterian Church. His marriage to Miss Braden took place in the year 1856 and to them were born seven children, as fol- lows: I. Rebecca, who became Mrs. George Bispham, of Monterey, Mexico, and who died in Beaver Falls. 2. Arabell, who became Mrs. James Ridell, of Beaver Falls, where they both died. 3. John A., of whom further. 4. Charles M., a resident of La Porte, Indiana, where he is engaged in the business of manufacturing mats. 5. Idonia Clifton, engaged in the hard- ware business in Beaver. 6. Addie M., a school teacher, residing at home. 7. Jessie D., second wife of George Bispham, and now residing in San Antonio, Texas.
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No less interesting than his paternal genealogy is the account of the family of Mr. Elliott's mother. John Braden, the first of the family to settle in Beaver county, came there from Carlisle, in the early days. He was one of the pioneers of the region and supported all the hardships incident to the settler's life in that day. Among these, and by no means the least, were the depredations of the Indians, with whom Mr. Braden waged war. His son, John Anderson Braden, married Arabell Elliott, daughter of William and Margaret (Patterson) Elliott, natives of Ireland and pioneers in Beaver county. It was their daughter, Margaret P. Braden, that William Elliott, mentioned above, married.
(IV) John A. Elliott, son of William (2) Elliott, was born in Raccoon township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1862. He was educated in the public schools of his native place, and later at Geneva Col- lege, from which he graduated with the class of 1886. He had formed a strong desire for a professional life, and deciding on the law as his career, he entered the office of John M. Buchanan for the purpose of reading his subject. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar, May 31, 1889, and established himself in practice at Beaver Falls, and has successfully continued the same ever since. He has been admitted to practice before the superior and the supreme courts, and carries on a lucrative general practice. He is affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of Beaver Valley Lodge, No. 478; Harmony Chapter, No. 206, Beaver Valley Commandery, No. 84, and the Syria Temple, Pittsburgh.
Mr. Elliott married, October 12, 1893, Jennie M. Mitchell, daughter of James S. (now deceased), of Beaver county. Children: Gladys, now a student at Wellesley College, and Kathleen. Mr. Elliott and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The first member of the Douds family in America was Rob- DOUDS ert Douds, a native of England, who came to this country just previous to the Revolutionary War. Although he had been in the colonies but a short time before the outbreak of hostilities, he had nevertheless become so hearty a sympathizer with the Colonial cause, and so thoroughly convinced of the justice of their protests that he lost no time in joining the American forces. He was killed in this service. He married Elizabeth Dawson, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, of German descent.
(II) John Douds, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Dawson) Douds, was born on Yellow Beeches Creek, about six miles from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, October 29, 1778. When a lad of two years he was adopted by James Braden, retaining his own name, and lived with him until he attained his majority. For a time they lived in Pittsburgh, later moving to a farm on Raccoon Creek, Beaver county. Their first dwelling was a log hut, twelve feet square, so low that none but a child could stand erect within. Here
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they lived for three years, Mr. Braden being so busily occupied in clearing this land and in supporting his family that he had no time to improve his abode. At length a more spacious house became necessary and this was erected in the manner so popular in that period, by a "house raising," to which all the male members of the neighborhood were invited as assist- ants, and their wives to provide dinner for the crowd of workmen. Here in the midst of the forest, John Douds grew to manhood. Scenes of savage violence, perpetrated by hostile Indians, were of daily occurrence and so familiar did he become with those of the race of more friendly in- stincts that he learned their language remarkably well, and was able to speak it with ease and fluency.
When he was twenty-one years of age, John Douds married Mary, daughter of James and Elizabeth Hutchinson, the ceremony being performed on October 18, 1799, by Rev. Reno, of Beaver. The courage of this young couple in starting life with no more preparation than was theirs would to-day be considered almost a crime, in those days it was quite usual. Their household utensils were few in number and cheap in quality, he had insufficient farm equipment, most of it being home manufactured and all things considered, their outlook on life was gloomy in the extreme. Gloomy, perhaps, to the spectator, but to the two most vitally interested, their home was a castle and the world their kingdom. Which was the truer viewpoint is shown by the fact that not only did they live happily together and prosper, but that they became the parents of eleven children, all of whom were given the benefits and advantages of a comfortable Christian home. Mary Hutchinson was born at Kibrea, county Derry, Ireland, and came to the United States with her parents in June, 1789. James and Elizabeth Hutchinson located first at Brandywine, later at Middletown, Al- legheny county, Pennsylvania, and finally in Moon township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. She was a member of the White Oak Flats Presbyterian Church, and by her gentle Christian example and influence, won her husband into the same church, of which under its later name of Mount Carmel Church, he became an honored member.
Children of John and Mary (Hutchinson) Douds: I. Agnes, born July 25, 1800, married, August 28, 1817, Mahlon T. Stokes. 2. Robert, died in infancy. 3. James H., born January 15, 1805; married, August 16, 1827, Margaret Caldwell; died September 7, 1856. 4. John, born March 17, 1807; married, in December, 1832, Mary McDonald. 5. Benoni D., born August 23, 1809; married, in March, 1833, Mary Irons. 6. Eliza, born January 30, 1813; married, November 7, 1833, James Moore. 7. Mary Ann, born November 6, 1815. 8. William McC., born February 19, 1818; married, May 6, 1841, Rebecca Wyant. 9. Edward Hill, of whom further. 10. Margaret H., born October 11, 1822; married, April 8, 1841, Joseph Irons. 11. Mahlon S., born December 9, 1824; married, April 23, 1850, Rebecca Brotherton.
(III) Edward Hill Douds, ninth child and sixth son of John and
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Mary (Hutchinson) Douds, was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, July 27, 1820. He was a farmer all his life, inheriting all of his father's energy and diligence of application and wrought from the soil a com- fortable living. He was a member of the Mount Carmel Presbyterian Church, to which his parents belonged, and for over sixty years served as an elder, a wonderful record of faithful devotion to the work of the church. He married, April 29, 1845, Maria Fronk, of Beaver county, Pennsylvania. Children: Mary, married William Holmes; Rebecca, deceased; John M., of whom further below; Augustus; George F .; and two others who died in infancy.
(IV) Dr. John M. Douds, son of Edward Hill and Maria (Fronk) Douds, was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, died at Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1903, aged fifty-four years. He was educated for the medical profession and immediately after receiving his degree began practice, spending the last ten years of his life in Beaver Falls. Descending from a family of prominence, he was well known throughout the region and added to the pioneer fame of the name the honor of a successful exponent of a difficult profession. To obtain a medical diploma is no unusual feat, but to prove one's self worthy of the parchment, to meet unflinchingly the crises of practice, is the true test of professional fitness. This Dr. Douds did, and the unspoken inspiration of his presence was often as strengthening a tonic to his patients as the curatives he administered. He was a member of the various medical so- cieties, well informed as to the movements of each. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and affiliated with the Masonic order. He married Sarah E., daughter of Thomas and Melinda (Alcorn) Jackson, of Beaver county, Pennsylvania. Children of Thomas Jackson : James, John, Sarah E., of previous mention, married Dr. John M. Douds. Children of Dr. John M. and Sarah E. (Jackson) Douds: Thomas C .; Edward H., of whom further.
(V) Dr. Edward H. Douds, youngest of the two sons of Dr. John M. and Sarah E. (Jackson) Douds, was born in Mercer, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1882. He attended the grammar and high schools of Beaver Falls and afterward Geneva College for one year. After teach- ing school for one term, he chose the profession of his father as his life work and entered Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, whence he was graduated M. D. in 1907. The second of his family to espouse the healer's art he has met with enviable success in its practice, and has already made a name for himself among medical men. Youthful, learned and earnest, he is completely absorbed in his profession and devotes himself to it with untiring zeal. He belongs to County, State and National Homco- pathic Medical societies, and affiliates with the Masonic order, holding Knights Templar degree. Dr. Douds married, in 1905, Mary E., daughter of Thomas R. Edwards of Beaver county, Pennsylvania; child, Harry Eugene.
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For by far the greater part of the history of the Pinters it PINTER is necessary to go beyond the confines of the United States, the family originating in Austria-Hungary, or at least all available records beginning in that country. This narrative starts with Morris Pinter, who in that country was the owner of a factory manufac- turing pipes and other smokers' supplies. He was a member of the Jewish Church, devout in its worship and strictly obedient to its code of laws. He died at the good old age of eighty years, his wife, Fannie (Biller) Pinter, attaining the wonderful age of one hundred and three years. She, too, was a believer in the Jewish religion. Among his chil- dren were two sons, Alexander, of whom further, and Jacob, a resident of Budapest, Austria-Hungary, where he is agent for and inspector in charge of a large office building. A son of Jacob, Louis, came to the United States, and at the present time is a merchant in Midland, Pennsylvania.
(II) Alexander Pinter, son of Morris and Fannie (Biller) Pinter, was born in Körmend, county of Eisenburg, Austria-Hungary, in 1833, died in Krapina in Croatia, in 1899. During his entire active life he was a merchant in the town in which he died, engaging in the mercantile busi- ness with good success. He married Elizabeth Kohen, born in Körmend, Austria-Hungary, in 1833, now living in Agram, province of Croatia, Aus- tria-Hungary, aged eighty years. She is the daughter of Jacob, a merchant near Ratkalak, died aged sixty-five years, and Theresa Kohen, died aged one hundred and two years. Jacob and Theresa Kohen were the parents of a large family. Children of Alexander and Elizabeth (Kohen) Pinter: 1. Emmanuel, a resident of Austria-Hungary, holds the office of cashier in a bank in that country. 2. Betta, married, and lives in the province of Croatia, Austria-Hungary. 3. Etta, a resident of that land, married, her husband now deceased. 4. Leopold, of whom further. 5. Johanna, lives in her native land, Austria-Hungary.
(III) Leopold Pinter, son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Kohen) Pinter, was born in Ratkalak, Austria-Hungary, March 8, 1869. When he was seven years of age his parents moved to Körmend, county of Eisenburg, in his native land, and in that place he obtained the major part of his educa- tion, both by attendance at the public schools and through instruction by a private tutor at his home. He then entered the mercantile business with his father, remaining in that line until he was twenty-three years of age and becoming thoroughly familiar with all its details and the man- agement of its different departments, in all of which he worked in the course of his continuance in the business. He then established in business independently as an importer of liquor and merchandise, abandoning this after two years and engaging in the contracting business in the province of Croatia, leasing from the state, in connection with his contracting, the liquor interests, and collecting therefrom the rental for those privileges. From 1902 until 1906 he made this locality the scene of his activities, in the latter year coming to the United States, coming immediately to Beaver
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county. After a close inspection of the different places offering oppor- tunity for the establishment of a business and after carefully considering their comparative advantages, in 1907, he located in Beaver Falls, opening a notion store, and in connection with this, a foreign exchange. Both were popular institutions from the start, those wishing foreign drafts or desirous of other accommodations that would facilitate travel or business trans- actions abroad appreciating the conveniences provided and patronizing him who made them possible. In five years both of these ventures had out- grown their original quarters, and in 1912 Mr. Pinter erected a store build- ing at No. 1406 Seventh avenue, where he is now located in business in a much larger and more convenient store, the location also being superior to his former place of business. His line of goods is varied and well chosen, including drygoods, notions, clothing, and shoes. The small foreign exchange dealings which he conducted at first have grown into a private banking business, with much more extensive accommodations for foreign exchange than he offered at first. He is also the accredited agent for a number of steamship lines, selling passage both to and from the continent on many foreign transatlantic lines, so that a large part of the foreign population of the region are enabled to purchase their tickets from their homeland before beginning their journey, a procedure that gives a com- fortable feeling of security to one unaccustomed to travel and unused to the regulations of steamship lines. Besides these departments of his busi- ness, Mr. Pinter conducts a bath-house, spacious, clean, and convenient, for all of his nationality, an innovation that has received generous and steady patronage. He and his family are members of the Jewish Church.
He married, April 10, 1894, Sidonia Fleischhacker, born in Kutina, province of Croatia, Austria-Hungary, September 4, 1872, daughter of Bernhard and Julia Fleischhacker, both deceased. Bernhard Fleischhacker was a priest of the Jewish Church, and died in 1882. He and his wife
were the parents of: 1. Adolph, a banker of Aliquippa, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. 2. Gustav V., a banker of Rochester, in the same county. 3. Helen, married Edward Friedfeldt, and lives in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. 4. Sidonia, married Leopold Pinter, both of previous mention. Children of Leopold and Sidonia (Fleischhacker) Pinter: Alexander S., born December 18, 1907; Alwin, born August 25, 1911.
There is much that can be said in honest praise of the course that has been followed by Mr. Pinter during his residence in the United States. Industry and close attention to, not only the needs, but the wants, of the public to whom he caters has made him popular as one who takes unusual pains to insure the satisfaction of those with whom he has business deal- ings. Nothing has been a source of too great inconvenience for him if the result were for the benefit of his patrons, and these qualities, together with the reputation for honor in business and an unimpeachable name for probity and integrity, have gained him the confidence of the numerous patrons of his store, bank, and exchange. To the needs of the foreign
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element of the city he has been especially attentive, and is rewarded by possessing their almost exclusive trade, which amounts to many hundreds of dollars yearly. There is an old aphorism to the effect that two heads are better than one in the formation of plans and the laying of a cam- paign. In the case of Mr. Pinter the value, at least, of two heads in consultation has been amply proved, for in all of his business ventures his wife, who is as able a business woman as she is a loving mother and devoted wife, has been his constant advisor, and it has been she who has suggested several of the features of his operations that have been the sources of handsome profits. She is his constant confidant, worthy of such consideration, and to her Mr. Pinter unhesitatingly attributes much of the success that has come in his name.
From the beginning of the history of the family of Zeller in
ZELLER the United States the members of the branch herein written have been residents of Schuylkill county, Peter Zeller, the emigrant, who came to this country from Germany, settling in Pennsylva- nia, finally making his home in Schuylkill county, in that state. He was a farmer and spent his life in tilling his acres, He married and among his children was a son, Peter (2), who also followed agriculture in Schuyl- kill county, where he died prior to 1860. He married and had children : I. Michael, moved to Michigan, where owned a farm in Branch county, near Coldwater, where he died. 2. William, accompanied his elder brother to the west, and owned a farm in the same county. 3. Peter (3), of whom further. 4. Kittie, married Samuel Henninger. Their home was in Schuyl- kill county. 5. Anna, died unmarried. 6. Henry, died in young manhood. (III) Peter (3) Zeller, son of Peter (2) Zeller, was born near Gratts- town, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, August 11, 1830, died in Lowellville, Mahoning county, Ohio, October 11, 1865. His boyhood was spent on the home farm and after leaving school he apprenticed himself to the carpenter's trade, moving to Grattstown, Pennsylvania, where he was employed at his trade until his death, a fatal accident being sustained while thus engaged. He had not been long a journeyman when a falling piece of timber struck him on the head, death following in a short time. He held membership in the Lutheran church. He married, October 7, 1855, at Donaldson, Penn- sylvania, Melinda, born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, January 8, 1834, died October 3, 1884, eldest child of Jonathan and Mary (Reedy) Schreiber. Her parents were both natives of Grattstown, Pennsylvania, his death oc- curring in Lowellville, Mahoning county, Ohio, hers in Corning, Perry county, Ohio, aged eighty-seven years. Jonathan Schreiber was a watch- maker and jeweler, living in Grattstown until his children grew to maturity, after which he and his wife moved to Donaldson, Pennsylvania, where he was a justice of the peace, moving to Lowellville, Ohio, his last home, in old age. He and his wife were members of the German Reformed
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