USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 64
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66
(III) Jonas C. Kaszer, son of John and Mary (Molter) Kaszer, was born in Rochester, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, April 3, 1872. The public schools of Rochester furnished his early education, and this was supple- mented by a complete course at Peirsol's Academy. Upon his entrance into business life he served for a time as a clerk in the store of his father, and then learned the tin and slate business, with which he was identified for some time. He established himself in the restaurant business, in Rochester, and for four years was successful. He has been an efficient member of the Rochester police force, since 1905, in which he has risen to the rank of chief, having been chief assistant for a considerable length of time before being appointed chief. Mr. Kaszer married (first) August 4, 1892, in New Brighton, Nina M. Wallace, who died October 15, 1899. They had chil-
524
PENNSYLVANIA
dren: 1. Ethel B., born May 3, 1893; married, at Cumberland, June 18, 1909, Peter Kapsalis, and has one child, James C., born December 25, 191I. 2. Frederick M., born June 30, 1897. Mr. Kaszer married (second) March 17, 1903, Catherine Heitger, of Rochester.
HERBERT John Herbert was born in Germany, in 1827, and died in that country in 1906. His entire life was spent in agricul- tural labors, and he was very successful in this field of in- dustry. He married Katrine Rauch, born in Germany in 1829, died there in 1906. They were both members of and generous supporters of the Catho- lic Church. They had children: John, who was a priest in Germany, died September 1, 1913; Carl, see forward; Adam, in the butcher business in Rock Island, Illinois ; Rose, died in 1906; Matilda, a resident of the Austrian Tyrol; Katie, unmarried, lives in Cleveland, Ohio; Louis, a priest, living in Rome, Kentucky.
Carl Herbert, son of John and Katrine (Rauch) Herbert, was born in Germany, February 2, 1860. He was the recipient of an excellent educa- tion in his native land, and emigrated to America in 1884, arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, on October 13, of that year. While still in Ger- many he had taken a position as waiter in several hotels of the highest grade, and had occupied similar positions in Paris, France, and in London, England. While holding a position of this kind in the South of France, Mr. Herbert became acquainted with Mr. Thomas Nickerson, president of the Santa Fe Railroad, in 1884, and came to America with that gentleman, with whom he remained as a traveling companion for a period of five years. During this time he had the opportunity of traveling all over the western part of the United States, and while in California, he met Mr. Isaac Leisy, a brewer of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Herbert went to Cleveland with Mr. Leisy, and accepted a position as shipping clerk with The I. Leisy Brewing Company, and was connected with this company five years. He then went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and established himself in the wholesale liquor business, which he conducted for ten years. Prior to entering the liquor business he had been in the employ of the above mentioned brewing com- pany for nine years as a salesman. In April, 1911, he removed to Monaca, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he became the proprietor of the Hotel Monaca with which he is still identified, and which is very successful under his capable management. Mr. Herbert is a factor to be reckoned with in the political affairs of the community, and his opinions are listened to with deep interest and close attention. He is active in his efforts for the sup- port of the Republican party. He and his family are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Herbert is a member of the Knights of St. George, the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, and Rochester Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Rochester, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Herbert married, April 21, 1894, Mary Kuth, born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, August 14, 1871, daughter of Leopold and Katherine (Becker)
525
BEAVER COUNTY
Kuth, the former born in Germany, the latter in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, whose other children were: Katherine, William, Alice, Charles, Rose, Jose- phine, Clara, Gertrude, Amelia and Leona. Mr. and Mrs. Herbert have had children: Alfred, born June 16, 1896; Katherine, July 21, 1898; Marion, February 9, 1900; Josephine, July 18, 1903.
America is distinctively a cosmopolitan nation, and has attracted COOK to her shores people from all parts of the world. To no country, however, does she owe a greater debt of gratitude than to Ger- many, from whose provinces have come men of sturdy integrity, determined purpose and marked mental vigor. Men who are both builders and con- servators. The German-American is imbued most thoroughly with the spirit of patriotism, and while he never loses his love for his mother country, he combines it with a faithful devotion to the country of his adoption. This was the case with the pioneer ancestor of the family of which this review treats, and while the later generations have become thoroughly American- ized, they have never lost these admirable traits. The name in the mother country was spelled Koch, and has been literally translated into the Amer- ican form of Cook.
(I) Henry Cook, who was born in Wanegauden, Germany, 1807, came to the United States with his wife and three children in the year 1838. After their arrival in New York, they traveled from that city to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in a wagon; from that point, by way of canal, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and finally, by steamboat to Monaca, Beaver county, Penn- sylvania, with which county the Cook family has since been identified. Mr. Cook married in Germany, Margaret Reuter, born August 13, 1810, died in the United States, 1908. They had children, the three eldest born in Germany, the others in Beaver county, Pennsylvania: Jacob, born 1832; Francis, 1834; Frederick, 1838; Louisa, 1841; Henry E., see forward. Of all of these children, Henry E. is the only one now living.
(II) Henry E. Cook, son of Henry and Margaret (Reuter) Cook, was born in West Bridgewater, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, July 31, 1843. From the time he entered business life he has been prominently before the public as a man of brilliant ideas. He is largely interested in real estate matters, and at the present time (1913) is closely connected with the build- ing of fair grounds near Beaver. He is a director in the First National Bank of Beaver, and is an executor of the estate of the late John M. Bu- chanan. For many years he has been a factor to be reckoned with in the councils of the Democratic party, and has served it frequently and well. From 1882 to 1885 he was in office as sheriff of Beaver county, and from 1885 to 1890 he held office as deputy revenue collector of the district. His church affiliations are with the Presbyterian denomination. Always in- tensely patriotic, Mr. Cook served during the Civil War from October I, 1861, to March, 1865, as a member of the One Hundred and First Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
526
PENNSYLVANIA
Henry E. Cook married Sarah K., born 1845, daughter of Josiah and Elizabeth (Shumaker) Sheldrake, and they had children: Frederick H., see forward; Carrie, unmarried, lives with her parents ; Charles O., married Alice Miller and has children: Lloyd, Henry, Sarah, Margaret, Charles, Eugene, Robert, Florence; Harry W., married Mary Laird and his children : William Laird and Henry; Mary, unmarried, also lives with her parents.
(III) Frederick H. Cook, son of Henry E. and Sarah K. (Sheldrake) Cook, was born in Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, August 3, 1871. He attended the public schools of his native town, and in them acquired a sound, practical education. At the age of nineteen years he started out for himself, and it is due to his indefatigable industry, determination, foresight and executive ability that he has attained, unaided, his present responsible and important position in the community. By 1894 he had obtained a com- plete mastery of the carpentering business in every detail, and he then entered into a partnership with James T. Anderson, organizing the firm of Anderson & Cook. They established themselves in the general contracting business, their offices in the beginning being in their own homes, but their methods proved them so well worthy of patronage that they were obliged soon to branch out in other directions. In 1898 they had a lumber and builders' supply business, and in 1908 they established a planing mill in connection with their other business, and employed an average of eighteen men. At the present time the business has increased to such dimensions, that their yearly output figures up to approximately two hundred thousand dollars. They ship their mill products over the entire country, but their contracting work is of a more local nature. The lumber yards are at Fifth street, Beaver. Among the other business interests of Mr. Cook may be mentioned a directorship in the First National Bank of Beaver. He is also president of the Beaver Sand Company. The political affiliations of Mr. Cook are with the Democratic party, but the press of his numerous business responsibilities has never permitted him to hold public office. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Cook married, in 1900, Olivia M., daughter of George Cornell, born October 4, 1842, and Melinda (Woodruff) Cornell, born October 24, 1846. They have children : Frederick C., born June 24, 1905, and Elizabeth, born July 30, 1909.
BOSWELL When the names Boswell and England are mentioned in
the same breath, a third immediately comes to mind, John- son, but this is not a tale of the well-loved Doctor nor his famous biographer, but of the line of Boswell founded in the United States in 1840 by George Boswell. He was born in Nottinghamshire, England, was there educated and was married. After bearing him nine children his wife died, and after remarrying he came to the United States, settling in Beaver, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1841, he rented a farm in North Sewickley township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, from Mr. Thomas Baker,
Fredsbook
527
BEAVER COUNTY
remaining thereon for twelve years. He then moved to Patterson Heights, after his retirement making his home in New Brighton, where he died in 1861. His first wife, Millicent, died in England in 1838, his second, Mar- garet Burrell, born in Nottinghamshire, England, died in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in 1851. Children of first marriage: Mary, deceased ; George, deceased; Ann, deceased; John, a soldier of the Civil War, deceased; Wil- liam, of whom further; Job, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased; Sarah, de- ceased; Thomas, a soldier of the Civil War, deceased. Children of second marriage: Lucy, deceased; Millicent; Joseph, fought in the Civil War, died August 1, 1913; Elizabeth ; Smith ; James; Nellie, deceased.
William Boswell, son of George and Millicent Boswell, was born in Nottinghamshire, England, June 11, 1829, and when eleven years old came with his parents to the new home of the family in the United States. He immediately began to learn the shoemaker's trade and while mastering that business passed his evenings in diligent study at the night schools of Falls- ton. His preceptors at his trade were William Platt, of Old Brighton, and George Burns, of Fallston. Becoming a competent workman, he followed his trade in various places for about nine years, and in his earlier years was also employed on the canal. Since 1862 he has made his home in New Brighton, and there resides at the present time, one of the oldest residents of the neighborhood, yet as strong and vigorous in mind as in the days of his youth. He was formerly an ardent Democrat, but of recent years has found more sympathy with the Republican party, which he now supports. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, his wife having been a member of the Lutheran Church.
He married, January 2, 1851, Julia Ann Michael, born in Germany, April, 1832, daughter of Gottlieb Michael, who was, like his wife, born in Germany and immigrated to Beaver county, Pennsylvania, at an early period in its development. His trade was that of weaver, and he died in North Sewickley township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Boswell died August 13, 1902. Children of Gottlieb Michael, all deceased: Lewis, Charles, Amelia, Lucy, Julia Ann, of previous mention, married William Boswell. Children of William and Julia Ann (Michael) Boswell: Caroline, George, died in infancy; Annie, Robert, Frank, Lewis, Amelia, Emma, Lizzie, Eva. On January 2, 1901, Mr. and Mrs. Boswell celebrated the fiftieth anni- versary of their marriage, their golden wedding. In the following year their long married life, happily and usefully spent, was terminated by the death of Mrs. Boswell.
In the third generation of the Hice family of whom there is HICE record, and in the fourth generation of that of Agnew in America, was effected a union that brought together two lines of great antiquity, the first of note in Germany, the second of the noble blood of Scotland. That the glories and fame of the past shall not tower above the distinctions and achievements of the present, and lest the ancestors
528
PENNSYLVANIA
seem more illustrious than the descendants, it is well to here state that in a recent day representatives of both houses have fully shown their worth and merit before their fellows by attaining unusual eminence in the legal pro- fession. This record of Hice begins with Henry, a pioneer settler of Ligonier Valley, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, who married and there died. Among his children was William, through whom the line of descent is traced to Henry, of whom further.
Henry (2) Hice, son of William Hice, was born in Hopewell township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, January 24, 1834, died October 2, 1905. Completing the studies of his boyhood and desiring to enter the legal profession, in 1857 he entered the office of Colonel Richard P. Roberts, qualifying, under the tuition of that attorney, for entrance to the Beaver county bar, which admission was granted him in June, 1859. That his preceptor held his legal ability to be of no ordinary order was evinced by the offer he immediately extended, the formation of the firm, Roberts & Hice, an association at once begun and continued until the death of the senior member on the battlefield of Gettysburg. While a resident of Beaver Falls, which he was from 1871 until 1877, in the latter year returning to Beaver, he was appointed president judge of the thirty-sixth judicial district, re- ceiving his commission to that position, April 30, 1874. He was elected for the following term and served to its close, January 1, 1885, when he once more resumed his private practice, his influence strengthened and his reputation enhanced by his eleven years judicial duty, during which time his name had become familiar to all throughout the state, one that aroused uneasiness in the breasts of those who had cause to fear the just processes of the law. For many years he was the legal adviser of the Harmony So- ciety and of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, and was closely connected with many of the most important business enterprises of the county. His practice at the bar, both before and after his public service, was large, re- flecting the confidence placed in him as an able and honorable counselor. After the admission of his son, Agnew, to the bar, the firm of Hice & Hice was formed, the knowledge and experience of the father aiding in fitting the son to succeed to the high position he would leave vacant. Mr. Hice was never so deeply engrossed with business cares and professional require- ment, but that he found ample time to assume a leading part in any project that would bring benefit or honor upon his city or county. It was in pur- suance of this principle that he readily assented to a request from the executive committee of the Beaver County Centennial Celebration that he deliver an address on that occasion on the "Bench and Bar" of the county during its one hundred years of existence as such. His speech on that occasion was one full of interest, giving a brief and concise review of the formation of the different courts in the county, and passing mention of those more prominently connected therewith, with graceful tributes to those whose records warranted such honor. As a lawyer, it may be said of Mr. Hice that he was learned, keen, forceful and fair, that he scorned the tricks and
Henry Nice
529
BEAVER COUNTY
subterfuges of his profession with a genuine loathing, and that in all of his legal connections he was never defiled even with the slightest imputation of dishonor. In social communion with his fellow-men he was genial, kindly and pleasant, his many amiable qualities attracting to him a wide circle of friends, whose regard and respect was unfailingly accorded him, and he was the same genial and respected man in his family, a kind and devoted husband and father.
He married (first) Ruth Ann Ralston, who died in 1872; (second) in 1877, Mrs. Sarah H. (Agnew) Minis, daughter of Chief Justice Daniel and Elizabeth (Moore) Agnew (see Agnew III). Children: 1. Richard, geologist of the state of Pennsylvania. 2. Agnew, an attorney, of Beaver, Pennsylvania. 3. Mary, married John Moore, a railroad employee, and lives in St. Louis, Missouri. 4. Laura.
The history of the Agnew family is an interesting one, one of its most attractive points being the fidelity with which the members, about whom closer interest naturally attends, those of American residence, have followed the spirit of the family motto as it appears upon the Agnew coat-of-arms, Consilio Non Impetu, of which a translation in modern terms is, "With brain, not brawn." As the records of those generations unroll themselves, it will be seen to what an extent this has been true. The Agnews (an- ciently Agneaux) of Locknaw, Scotland, are of Norman descent, members of a family which was moderately numerous in France from the ninth to the sixteenth century, now entirely extinct in the country which was the cradle of their race. Toward the close of the twelfth century they were granted lands in Ireland, and about 1330, Agneau, son and heir of the Earl of Larne, acquired the lands of Locknaw in Galloway, with the hereditary title of constable and the office of sheriff of Wigtown, as well as of the baillie of Leswalt, In the fourth generation of that title Earl Douglas ex- pelled the incumbent, this taking place about 1390, it being restored in the fifth generation when Sir Andrew Agnew married, in 1426, the daughter of Sir John Kennedy, of Dunure, by the Princess Mary. Reinstatement was made by the Duchess of Turenne, Lady Superior of Galloway, who not only replaced him in his father's position, but caused charters of ratification to be passed to him, under the Great Seal, establishing also the sheriffdom of Wigtown in his family forever. Such is the blood from which Daniel Agnew, the American ancestor of the line of Agnew, descends, coming to this country from Glasgow, Scotland.
(I) Daniel Agnew was appointed a member of the faculty of Princeton College, and was for many years a professor there, occupying the chair of mathematics. He purchased a farm near Stony Brook, known as the Agnew Farm, and in the latter years of his life was steward of the college in which he had formerly held a professorship. He married a Miss Armstrong, and had children: I. James, of whom further. 2. George, moved to the western part of the country, where he died. 3. Daniel. 4. Martin, a manufacturer of New Jersey.
53℃
PENNSYLVANIA
(II) Dr. James Agnew, eldest son of Daniel Agnew, was educated in the college with which his father was connected for so long a term of years, Princeton, and became an exponent of the medical profession. He lived for a time in New Jersey, but later moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was one of the earliest of physicians. He formed a partnership with Dr. Simpson, and the following advertisement, which appeared in the city directory for the year 1819, shows the wide gulf that separates the profes- sional methods and practices of a century ago from those of our present day: "Drs. Agnew and Simpson have formed a copartnership in the prac- tice of medicine, and cojointly tender their services to their friends and all others who may apply for professional aid. Their shop is at the corner of Third and Wood Streets, where one or both may at all times be con- sulted." He married the daughter of Governor Howell, of New Jersey, her brother being the father of Mrs. Jefferson Davis, wife of the president of the Confederate States of America, while that league of states stood.
(III) Daniel (2) Agnew, son of Dr. James Agnew, was born at Trenton, New Jersey, January 5, 1809, died in Beaver, Pennsylvania, March 9, 1902, aged ninety-three years. He was a student in the academy of Joseph Stock- ton later entering the University of Western Pennsylvania whence he was graduated in 1825. He began the study of law, upon which he had early decided as his life profession, with Henry Baldwin and W. W. Fetterman, gaining admission to the bar, April 21, 1829. Almost immediately he moved to Beaver and was a resident of that place for the remainder of his life. Work in a semi-rural community was not sufficient to hide his powers from those who needed men of calm, collected and deliberative powers, and he was temporarily called from his practice to serve as a member of the con- vention that framed the constitution of 1838. He was a member of the Pennsylvania electoral college in the presidential election of 1848, which returned Zachary Taylor the first citizen of the United States, and on July II, 1851, was commissioned president judge of the seventeenth judicial dis- trict, composed of Beaver, Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties, by William F. Johnston, governor of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of the Hon. John Bredin, of Butler. Later in the year he was elected to the same office, and was commissioned for a term of ten years, from December 1, 1851. At its expiration he was re-elected and was commissioned for another term of ten years, being in 1863 elected a justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, with a fifteen-year com- mission dating from December 1, 1863, and on November 25, 1873, he was commissioned chief justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, serving until January 1, 1879, when he retired from his profession, accepting but two more private cases during his remaining years. Rarely has there been a lawyer whose experience covered so many years and who rose to such lofty position, whose contemporaries have been so unanimous in their praises of his worth, nor a judge whose opinions created less dissatisfaction at the time of their rendering nor whose decisions have stood the test of such a number
Daniel Agneau
53I
BEAVER COUNTY
of hotly contested cases and the onslaughts of lawyers of merit. He was the first judge in the United States to hand down a decision stating that "green- backs" were a lawful tender in the payment of precedent debts, and pro- mulgated many others of equal fame. An eminent lawyer once said of him: "In his opinions, if compiled in compact form, the lawyer and student would have a formidable compilation of the law upon almost every con- ceivable topic, every branch, division, and specialty of the science having received scrutinizing analysis and wise determination. Seeking the truth with conscientious industry, no cause was too small to merit his thorough investigation, none too large for the comprehensive grasp of his powers." It was one of his lifelong characteristics that he held an implacable hatred for the liquor traffic, and in his day as president judge of the county court ill fared the license-seeker who appeared before him unless legally fortified to the last extreme, for he compelled the fulfillment of the very letter of the law. His length of service in the capacity of judge had impressed him with the worthlessness of the lawyer contemptuously spoken of as "shyster," and when he detected a young lawyer deviating from a course of the strictest integrity he was wont to deliver to the culprit a long-remembered lecture, which, often arousing the ire of the guilty one, more often impressed him with the shame of the course he was pursuing and the smirch he was placing upon the profession. A patriarch in his profession, it was his wonderful ability, solid and substantial knowledge, and a mind capable of storing, cata- loguing and producing immense quantities of miscellaneous information on all subjects that enabled him to defend his claims of supremacy among the greatest legal lights of the generation. He was also a scholar of note, receiv- ing in 1864 the degree of Doctor of Laws, Washington College being the institution honoring him, Dickinson College duplicating the tribute in 1880. After his retirement he wrote a history of the "Settlement and Land Titles of Northwestern Pennsylvania," which was published in 1887.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.