USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Genealogical and personal history of Fayette county, Pennsylvania > Part 3
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of the Methodist Episcopal church ; married 1897, Mae B., daughter of Lloyd Johnston, a retired capitalist. 2. Sarah Phoebe, resides at home. 3. Elizabeth, deceased.
STICKEL The Stickel family of Con-
nellsville, Pennsylvania, de- scends from an ancestry long
seated in Germany. The founder in the United States. August Stickel, was born in that country in 1843, a posthumous child; when he was but an infant his mother also died and he was left to the care of an aunt, and on her death two years later to the civil authorities. He received a good educa- tion and became an expert draughtsman. He served the required number of years in the German army, attaining the rank of lieutenant. His proficiency as a draughts- man commended him to the topographical department, and he was placed in charge of maps. In 1874 he came to the United States and the same year was married, at Meyers- dale. to Catherine Dahl, who came to the United States a short time before the arri- val of Mr. Stickel. The young couple beganl housekeeping in Allegheny county, Penn- sylvania, and during the great flood at Butchers Run lost all their household goods, and other property. After the flood they moved to Mill Run where he established a store. He was successful and was inter- ested in several mercantile enterprises. He again met with misfortune from the ele- ments. but this time fire instead of water, and for a second time lost his property, but undismayed he began business anew, con- tinuing with great success until 1904, when he retired from active business life. He was president and a large stockholder in the McFarland Lumber Company : head of the mercantile business of the A. Stickel Com- pany, operating four stores, which were lo- cated at Mill Run, Bear Run, Rogers Mill and Indian Creek. On retiring he disposed of his interests in the company which was then organized as A. Stickel and Company. He also disposed of his interest in the lum- ber company. He. however. retained his holdings in the Westmoreland Grocery Company and in other less important enter- prises. He was an energetic, capable man of business and was held in highest esteem
L
alle Stichel For
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in business and financial circles. He was a Democrat and always took a deep interest in public affairs. He served as auditor of Springfield township, Fayette county, for fifteen years, and held other township of- fices. During the thirty-four years that he resided in Mill Run he became deeply interested in the welfare of his neighbors and employees, rendering them useful assist- ance by advice and often more substantial evidence of his interest. He was a member of the German Lutheran church, and as long as health permitted attended services at Connellsville, there being no congregation of that denomination at Mill Run. Up to his fifty-sixth year Mr. Stickel had never known a day's illness, but during the last two years of his life he was in very poor health. During the summer of 1910 he spent five months at Cambridge Springs for the benefit of his health, but although under the care of the best medical practitioners he was doomed. He died suddenly, February 9, 19II, while conversing with his wife at the residence of his son, August Stickel, No. 1008 Chestnut street, Connellsville. He mar- ried in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, 1874, Ca- therine Dahl, whom he had known in Ger- many and came to the United States to marry, she having preceded him with her parents. She survives her husband and re- sides in Connellsville. Children : I. F. W., now a member of A. Stickel and Company. 2. Mollie, married C. W. Gernet, of Pitts- burgh. 3. Ida, married Dr. D. Allison Walk- er, of Heckla, Pennsylvania. 4. August C., of whom further. 5. Otto. 6. Milton. 7. Charles, a student at the Carnegie Technical School in Pittsburgh.
(II) August C., son of August Stickel, was born at Mill Run, on March 7, 1880. He was educated in the public schools of Mill Run, Springfield township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and finished his edu- cation at the State Normal School at Cali- fornia, Pennsylvania. After working for three months for the Western Pennsylvania Street Railway Company, he accepted a po- sition as traveling salesman for a Connells- ville wholesale grocery house, continuing for five years. He became a member of the A. Stickel Company at Mill Run and leav- ing the road, devoted himself to the interests
of that company, which was composed of his father and his older brothers. He was also interested in the MacFarland Lumber Com- pany and in the Indian Creek and Ligonier Valley Railroad Company. These interests he still retains and is also president of the Stewarton Lumber Company ; secretary and treasurer of the Superba Coal Company ; secretary and treasurer of the Stickel and Buttermore Lumber Company, and has other interests of a minor nature. He is a Democrat in politics. He married, Septem- ber 25, 1907, Sarah Etta, a daughter of E. S. Showalter, of Uniontown. They have two children : Eugene Sturgis, born July 23, 1908; August, born December 20, 1911. Mrs. Sarah Etta Stickel was born at Mill Run, Pennsylvania, and educated at Mill Run. Her father was a school teacher many years ; his father, James W., was one of the oldest school teachers in Fayette county. Mrs. Stickel was a school teacher several years before her marriage.
REED This famous Scotch family was planted in America at the same time with Breckenridge, Parker, Bruce and many others, whose ancestors were as re- nowned in their native land as their descend- ants have been in this country.
(I) The immigrant ancestor was James Reed, born near Edinburgh, Scotland, where he followed the trade of a carpenter. He emi- grated to the United States in 1785, the voy- age taking three months. He was the holder of an original patent to five hundred acres of uncleared land in Washington county, Penn- sylvania, called Mount Hope, and this tract still remains in the family. He introduced several innovations in the county, owning the first two- story house ever built there. The furniture also was his own work, the house being fur- nished throughout in black walnut. The win- dows were of glass arranged on pulleys, very unusual at that period. After his arrival his house was the only one on which he worked, as he devoted most of his time to clearing and cultivating his land, but when his sons became old enough to share in the responsibility of maintaining the home, he did more work at his trade. He built the first court house in Wash- ington county, and shortly before his death built a large brick house, which has always been
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the family home and is now over one hundred years old. He also operated a carding mill on his farm and did work for the neighbors from miles around. He was a Democrat, but took no active part in politics beyond casting his vote for honest, upright men for public office. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian and a strong follower of John Calvin. He died on his farm, aged sixty-six years. He married Jessina Parker. Children: 1. John, died aged ninety-four years ; married Anna Smiley and lived on a farm in Washington county. 2. Samuel, married Mary Ann Vincent and lived on half of the home farm, which he had inher- ited. 3. Parker, of whom further. 4. Jane, married Thomas Trussle, a carpenter, and moved to Missouri. 5. Nancy, married Jacob Donaldson, a farmer, and lived in Hickory, Pennsylvania, later moving to Allegheny coun- ty, Pennsylvania.
(II) Parker, son of James and Jessina (Par- ker) Reed, was born on the old homestead in Hopewell township, Washington county, Penn- sylvania, March 16, 1811, died March 17, 1871, in the same house in which he was born. He became a successful sheep raiser, owning some valuable stock and taking special pride in his Spanish Merinos, whose wool brought him a fancy figure. As old age approached he gave over the care of his farm to his sons and obtained the agency for the first mowers and reapers which appeared in the county. In poli- tics he was a Democrat, but during the civil war was a sincere and hearty supporter of Abraham Lincoln. His interest in religious matters has always been wide and sympathetic. For forty years he was ruling elder in the Up- per Buffalo Presbyterian Church, and for near- ly all of that time was superintendent of the Sunday school. He always was the delegate of the church to the synod and twice was a rep- resentative in the general church assembly when it was held at New Orleans and New York. He married Jane A. Bryce, born near West Alexander, Virginia, now West Alexander, Pennsylvania, June 7, 1811, died April 9, 1892, daughter of Rev. John and Jane ( Stockton) Bryce. Rev. John Bryce was born in Harford county, Maryland. When he was very young his parents moved to Washington county, Penn- sylvania, and here he received his early educa- tion under the teaching of the Rev. Joseph Smith. The influence of the teachings of this
good and pious instructor was seen in the next step of the young man's career, the study of theology in preparation for the ministry. He received his license from the Presbytery of Red- stone in 1788, and a short time later was or- dained a minister of the Gospel. He was ad- mitted a member of the Ohio Presbytery and established a church at West Alexander and the Forks of Wheeling, where he remained for twenty years, also preaching in Greene county and the surrounding country. He married Jane Stockton, born near West Alexander, who was a descendant of Frances McKamie, of Welsh descent, one of the founders of the first Pres- byterian church established in America at Snow Hill, Maryland. Children of Rev. John Bryce : I. John, settled in Belmont, Ohio, where he en- gaged in farming; married Annie Byers and has a grandson, Rev. James Byers Bryce, who preaches near Pittsburgh. 2. Rebecca, married Samuel Frazier, a farmer, and moved to Mus- kingum county, Ohio. 3. Frances (Fannie), married Joseph Blaney, a farmer, and died near West Alexander. 4. Alice, married William Craig. a farmer. 5. Margaret. 6. Jane A., of previous mention. Children of Parker and Jane A. (Bryce) Reed : 1. John B., of whom further. 2. Parker, born December 4, 1841 ; moved to Pawnee county, Kansas, and is engaged in the farming implement and hardware business at Larned : married Hannah Walker. 3. Rebecca, born February 29, 1848; married Samuel P. Wilson; they live on the old home farm in Washington county, which he purchased from the heirs. 4. Henry, born May 17, 1852; mar- ried Anna De Mont, of Kansas : he is an exten- sive landowner and capitalist of Larned, Kan- sas. 5. Luther, born October 2, 1854 ; owns a large cement manufacturing plant at Osceola, Kansas.
(III) Rev. John B. Reed, son of Parker and Jane A. (Bryce) Reed, was born on the old "Mount Hope" farm in Hopewell township, Washington county, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1839. His early life was spent on the farm, attending the public school situated thereon and the Academy in Upper Buffalo. In the fall of 1858 he entered the junior class of Washington College and was graduated in 1860. He then entered the Western Theologi- cal Academy, from which he was graduated in May, 1863, having received his license to preach at the end of his second year in the Theologi- cal Seminary.
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At the time of his graduation, Rev. Adam Terrence, pastor of the Presbyterian church at New Alexandria, Westmoreland county, Penn- sylvania, had gone to war with a regiment of that county as chaplain and Rev. Reed was offered his pulpit, which he accepted and filled for one year. On December 31, 1863, he re- ceived a call to the First Presbyterian Church of Parkersburg, West Virginia, remaining there eight years. His next two charges were the First Presbyterian Church of Sistersville, West Virginia, where he remained eleven years, and the First Presbyterian Church at Fairmont, West Virginia, where he was pastor six years. His present church is the Laurel Hill Presby- terian in Franklin township, Fayette county, known as the first Presbyterian church built "west of the mountains," erected in 1772.
At the time of the arrival of Rev. Reed the church was in anything but a flourishing con- dition, but under his guidance it has prospered spiritually and financially, becoming a great power for good in the community. The mem- bership has been increased by over two hun- dred. A new brick church was erected in 1897; a parsonage built the same year ; a house built for the sexton; a new ten-acre cemetery laid out adjoining the old, and independent of all these improvements the church has eight thou- sand dollars out at interest. The Rev. Reed's twenty-four years of service in this community have borne abundant fruit, and although he is in his seventy-third year his life is still as use- ful to his parishioners as it was in the first days of his ministry. His advice is still as eagerly sought and as willingly given; his aid implored and as lovingly extended as when he shepherded his first flock in the mountains of Virginia.
He married, May 12, 1864, Belle Shields, born in New Alexandria, Westmoreland coun- ty, Pennsylvania, February 18, 1841, daughter of James M. and Elizabeth Shields, both born in Westmoreland county, of Scotch-Irish de- scent ; he a farmer and elder in the Presby- terian church. Children: I. Effie, born May 6, 1865 ; married Dr. W. A. Hopwood, of Union- town. 2. Helen, born November 24, 1869; married Dr. H. J. Bell, of Dawson, Pennsyl- vania. 3. Cora, born May 23, 1871 ; married Ellis Phillips, a farmer of Franklin township. 4. Georgia, born October 24, 1875; married Rev. Dr. F. M. Silsley, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Seattle, Washington.
5. Edna, born November II, 1879; married Dr. J. Melvin Smith, of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania.
Edward or Edwin Higby, emi- HIGBEE grant ancestor of Edward C. Higbee, of Uniontown, Penn- sylvania, was born in England and settled in New London, Connecticut, in 1648. The rec- ords state that he sold his house there for "Five bushels of wheat and a dog," September 7, 1649, which would indicate, either an inferior house or a superior dog. In 1674 he was an innkeeper at Middletown, Connecticut. He had a deed dated October 15, 1664, from Sean- keet, an Indian Sachem of Hartford, for land "Adjoining Jonathan Gilbert's" in Hartford. In 1666 he was "Free of Taxes" by vote of the court for making and maintaining the way over Pilgrims Harbor. About 1675 he moved to Jamaica, Long Island, and in 1683, and as late afterward as 1709, he was living at Hunt- ington, Long Island. He married Lydia Skid- more and was a brother-in-law of Edward Adams, son of John Adams, grandson of Jere- my Adams, according to a power of attorney given by Adams to Higby in February, 1696 or 1697, and filed at Hartford (see Hartford probate records, vol. I, p. 288). Lydia his wife joined the church at Middletown, September 30, 1674, coming thither from the First Church of Hartford, and with her six children was dismissed to the church in Jamaica, October, 1677.
(II) John, son of Edward or Edwin Higby, was born 1658, died in 1688. He married, May I, 1679, Rebecca, daughter of Samuel Tread- well. of Fairfield, Connecticut. The Inventory of his estate was dated December 28, 1688, as taken by John Hall, Francis Whitmore and Na- thaniel Stow (vol. 2, Hartford probate records, p. 7). When his wife died she was succeeded in the administration of her husband's estate by her son Edward. Children: John; Ed- ward, of whom further; Thomas.
(III) Edward, son of John Higby, was born 1684, baptized August 24, 1684. He and his wife joined the Middletown church, April 26, 1713, and were dismissed, December 19, 1773, as original members of the new church at Westfield, Connecticut, where he died Novem- ber 21. 1775, in his ninety-second year. He appears to have been one of the owners of the
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"Golden Parlour Mining Company," of Wal- lingford, April 27, 1737, but the record may re- fer to a son or nephew. He married, Novem- ber 29. 1706, Rebecca Wheeler, who died Octo- ber 22, 1772, at Middletown, Connecticut. Children : 1. John, born at Middletown, July 16, 1707, died in 1790; married, March 9, 1730, Sarah Candee. 2. Isaac, of whom further. 3. Rebecca, born 1715. 4. Sarah, 1721. 5. Stephen, 1730. 6. Daniel, moved to Lewis county, New York,
(IV) Isaac, son of Edward Higby, was born in 1709 at Middletown, Connecticut. He mar- ried, in 1730, Dinah Elton. Children : Jane. Isaac; Samuel, of whom further; Joseph, Noah, Rebecca, Daniel, Jane.
(V) Samuel, son of Isaac Higby, was born 1732. He married, in 1758, Rebecca Doolittle. Children : Samuel, of whom further; Ruth, Lemuel, Timothy, Isaac, Sylvester.
(VI) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) Hig- by, was born August 14, 1758, died April 23, 1843. He was a soldier of the revolution, serving as private in Captain Hearst's Con- necticut Troops, Colonel Erastus Wolcott's reg- iment, in the siege of Boston, 1776. He was pensioned in his later years and was on the list of New Haven, Connecticut, pensioners in 1832, and again from Milford, New Haven county, in the list of 1840 (see revolutionary roll of Connecticut. pp. 383, 654 and 660). He married, in 1783. Hannah Gilpin. Children : Betsey, born July 20, 1784; Hannah, June 16, 1786: Roxby, September 1, 1788; Samuel Gil- pin, March 17, 1791, died 1863, married, in 1814, Lucy Marlett : Isaac Riley : Lucy, April 27, 1794: Abigail Riley, January 13, 1797; Hervey, January 21, 1801, banker and finan- cier, died April 29, 1853, married Charlotte Baldwin; Benjamin, of whom further.
(VII) Benjamin Higbee, youngest child of Samuel (2) Higby, was born in Milford, New Haven county, Connecticut, July 11, 1804. With him the family makes its advent in Fay- ette county, Pennsylvania, and the name changes its orthography to Higbee. He mar- ried (second) Elizabeth Ball, who bore him four children. By his first marriage two sons were born. Children of second wife: Eliza- beth, deceased : Sarah, married Elwood Craw- ford : Israel, of whom further ; John.
(VIII) Israel, son of Benjamin Higbee, was born in July, 1835, died October 19, 1910. He was educated in the public schools, and spent
his life in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He was a wagonmaker by trade, but later a farm- er. In 1890 he moved from Jefferson to Lower Tyrone township, Fayette county, where he re- sided until his death. He was a man of high character with all the excellent traits of his Scotch-Irish ancestry. He married Eliza Jane Carter, born November 9, 1833, who survives him, daughter of Zephaniah Carter, a miller and merchant of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and his wife Mary, daughter of William and Mary Patterson, all of Fayette county, old, prominent and well known families. The Pat- tersons were early settlers of Western Penn- sylvania and Mary Gibbon Patterson is said to have ruled the first sheet of white paper made west of the Allegheny mountains. Children of Zephaniah and his first wife, Mary ( Patterson) Carter : Amanda ; Eliza Jane, who married Is- rael Higbee. He married (second) a Widow Tiernan. Children : Harriet, married Captain H. B. Cook, of Brownsville, and Josephine, married ex-Sheriff Isaac Meason, of St. Louis, Missouri. Children of Israel and Eliza Jane Higbee : Edward Carter, of whom further : Oli- phant P., born October 22, 1871, now a farmer of Lower Tyrone township, Fayette county ; he married Harriet, daughter of Daniel S. and Sophia Strickler.
(IX) Edward Carter, eldest son of Israel and Eliza Jane Higbee, was born in Jefferson township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, Oc- tober 28, 1869. He attended the public schools until he had exhausted their capacity to ad- vance him, then for one terni attended Merritts- town Academy. After teaching one year he entered Mt. Union College at Alliance, Ohio, being then sixteen years of age. He remained at college three years. After leaving college he was appointed professor in Monongahela College at Jefferson, Pennsylvania, remaining two years. After teaching one term at Waynes- burg College he began the study of law, and on March 1, 1896, entered the law office of Judge S. Leslie Mestrezat (now supreme court justice of Pennsylvania ), and studied under his able direction until admitted to the Fayette county bar, June 11, 1897. At the same term he was appointed by Judge Ewing to conduct his first case. On September 27, 1897, he opened offices in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, as junior member of the firm of Fulton & Higbee. On February 1, 1900, this partnership was dis- solved and the firm of Sterling, Higbee &
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.
Dumbauld organized. In 1903 W. H. Brown became a member of the firm, continuing until his death in 1907. In 1909 Mr. Dumbauld re- tired and R. S. Matthews was admitted. In 1911 Charles L. Lewellyn became a partner, but the firm name remains the same, Sterling, Hig- bee & Matthews. The firm maintain offices in both Connellsville and Uniontown; practice in all state and federal courts, being one of the strongest and most successful legal firms in the county.
Mr. Higbee has always been a Democrat, and though not active in politics has frequently been on the stump. In 1898 he was elected solicitor of Connellsville, and served in that capacity for ten years. He successfully conducted the liti- gation establishing the right of the city to the land known as the "public ground." He served for six years on the Connellsville school board, being president three years, and since 1903 has been a director of the First National Bank at Connellsville. His chief concern, however, is his profession, in which he has attained high standing. He is learned in the law, skillful in its application and strictly honorable in all his dealings. Since 1897 his home has been in Connellsville, where he has been a potent factor in public affairs ; his deepest interest, perhaps, being in the cause of public education and the improvement of school facilities. He is an Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Mason.
He married, September 22, 1897, Emma Lint, born July 15. 1871, daughter of William and Jennie (Kennison) Lint, of Lower Tyrone township, Fayette county. Children : Donald Mestrezat, Ruth, Brown, Edward Sterling, Emily Jean.
EDWARDS This family name is found in early days, not only in New England, but in Virginia, in old King William and Stafford counties. The Stafford county family later settled in Ken- tucky, where a descendant married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert E. Todd and sister of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. Another descendant of Hayden Edwards, the Stafford county, Vir- ginia, settler, was Benjamin Edwards, of Mont- gomery county, Maryland. Another Edwards family was of Louisa county, Virginia. John was a common name in these Virginia Ed- wards families and there is no doubt but what John Edwards, of Preston county, Virginia, was a descendant of one of them, but no rec-
ord can be found by which he can be definitely traced.
(I) John Edwards, when a man grown, set- tled in Preston county, Virginia, where he was a farmer and landowner. Later he moved to Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he con- tinued farming operations until his death. He is buried with his wife in Connellsville, Penn- sylvania. Children : 1. Squire, of whom further. 2. Green Ashbald, served as a private in the Union army during the civil war, dying short- ly after his return from the army. 3. Thomas Jefferson, married Susan Saylor and died with- out issue; she survives him. 4. Salathial, de- ceased, married and left a son. 5. Rebecca Jane, married Henry Hileman ; both died near Brownsville, Pennsylvania. 6. Mary Ann, mar- ried - Lint ; they died near Dawson, Fayette county ; their six children are all deceased.
(II) Squire, eldest son of John Edwards, was born in Virginia, January 9. 1831, died in Dunbar township, Fayette county, Pennsyl- vania, December 27, 1907. He came to Fay- ette county with his parents and became a farmer, owning about two hundred acres of land in Dunbar township, which he cultivated until his death. He was a Democrat, serving as school director, collector of taxes and poor director. He belonged to the Presbyterian church, his wife also being a member. He married, in 1858, Clarissa Leighty, born in Dunbar township. Fayette county, Pennsyl- vania, January 25, 1841, who survives him, a resident of Connellsville, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Henry and Margaret ( Barnes) Leighty, and granddaughter of Jacob Leighty, of German descent, who came to Fayette coun- ty from near Bradford, Pennsylvania. Jacob Leighty was a farmer and an early settler of Fayette county, where he died. He is buried in the Leighty family cemetery on one of the farms now owned by the J. W. Rainey Com- pany. His son, Henry Leighty, became a wealthy and influential farmer of Fayette county. He married (first) Sarah Smith, who bore him eight children. He married (second) Margaret Barnes Sechrist, daughter of Jacob and Mary (Stauffer) Barnes, residents of Can- ada and Pennsylvania, and widow of John Se- christ. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Sechrist : Ann, Mary and Lydia, all deceased. Children by her second husband, Henry Leighty: Jo- seph, now living in Kansas; Christopher, also living in Kansas; Peter, living in Missouri;
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