USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Genealogical and personal history of Fayette county, Pennsylvania > Part 5
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CUNNINGHAM The Cunninghams of Fayette county descend from James Cunning-' ham, born in Ireland. Through intermarriage they are connected with some of the oldest families of the county, notably the Craft fam- ily, early settlers at Brownsville. The Cun- ninghams were an old and prominent family in Ireland, holding position under both church and state appointment.
(I) James Cunningham, great-grandfather of the present generation, lived and died in Ire- land. He was a landholder, married and reared a large family, including a son William, the founder of this branch in Fayette county.
(II) William, son of James Cunningham, was born in Ireland, where he was educated and grew to manhood. When a young man he came to the United States, finally settling in Luzerne township, where he operated a dis- tillery and a general store with profit. He mar- ried Mary Gallagher and had issue: 1. James, of whom further. 2. Ann, married James Work. 3. John, married Mary Muir ; children : William, Jane, Robert; Eliza, died unmarried ; Elizabeth ; all deceased except Jane.
(III) James, son of William and Mary (Gallagher) Cunningham, was born in Lu- zerne township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, July 25, 1812, died April 3, 1888. He was educated in the public school, and on arriving at suitable age was apprenticed to learn the blacksmith's trade. He became a skilled work- er in iron and steel, following his trade until 1850, when he purchased a good farm in the township, spending his after years engaged in its culture. While his early school advantages were limited, he so improved himself by later study and reading that he became an unusually well informed man. His penmanship was re- markably fine, while in mechanical skill he was unsurpassed by any smith in the county. He was a Democrat in politics, active and influen- tial in party councils. He was elected and served as county commissioner, also as county auditor ; he held several township offices : was for many years a member of the school board, serving as president of the board, and for ten years was justice of the peace. He was ever afterward known locally as "Squire" Cunning- ham and was the dread of the evildoers.
He married Rosanna M. Muir, born March 25, 18II, died September 8. 1885. Children : I. Mary Jane, born November 3, 1836; mar- ried, 1859, Isaiah Newton Craft, born at the Craft homestead, April 21, 1837, died Decem- ber 8, 1910, son of Daniel Craft. He attended the old Bunker Hill school, and while still a young man purchased a farm near Lock No. 5, which he cultivated until his father's death, when he returned home and managed the home farm for the remainder of his life. Besides the general farming and stock raising operations which he conducted on the home place, his only other business venture was in 1874, when he opened a mercantile store in partnership with Alfred Cunningham at Belle Vernon. From 1866 he was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and was active in man-
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aging finances during the building of the Hope- well church. For over twenty years he was an elder in the church and for the same length of time was superintendent of the Sunday school. In politics he was a Democrat and at various times held the offices of school director, tax collector, inspector and judge of elections. He was an excellent type of citizen, unfalter- ingly performing his civil duties and giving the best of his time and efforts to his church and Sunday school work. His influence through- out the township was enormous and always en- rolled on the side of the weak and defenceless in the cause of right. Children of Isaiah New- ton and Mary Jane (Cunningham) Craft : Ewing Oscar, died 1910; Harry, died aged three years. 2. John, born September 27, 1838, died 1910. 3. Martha A., of whom further. 4. Sarah Ann, born August 21, 1843, died Au- gust 27, 1900. 5. Alfred, born August 1, 1845, died February II, 1905. 6. Ann Eliza, born March 14. 1850, lives on the old Cunningham homestead.
(IV) Martha A., third child and second daughter of James and Rosanna M. (Muir) Cunningham, was born in Luzerne township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1841. For many years she was teacher in the local schools, but for the past fifteen years has been directing the management of her estate, on which she and her widowed sister reside.
The Ralstons of Connellsville RALSTON are of Scotch ancestry and parentage. The first of this branch to come to the United States was Hugh Ralston, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1822, died 1906. He was educated and grew to man- hood in Scotland, came to the United States in 1849, and settled in New York City. He entered the employ of the New York Central railroad, and for almost half a century was sec- tion foreman on that road. He married Mar- garet Fitzsimmons, born in County Caven, Ire- land, 1824, died 1907, daughter of Patrick Fitzsimmons, who came to the United States about 1843, settling in the Province of Quebec, Canada, purchasing a farm on which he lived until his death. He married in Ireland and had issue. Margaret was about eighteen years of age when her parents went to Canada, but did not accompany them, remaining in New York City with friends, and there married Hugh Ral- ston. He was a Presbyterian ; she a Catholic.
Children : Hugh (2), now living at Bristol, Quebec, Canada ; Henry, died aged two years; Mary Jane, married J. M. McLean, and lives in Toronto, Canada ; Rachel, married John Roy, a farmer and merchant of Bristol, Canada.
(II) John White, third son of Hugh and Margaret (Fitzsimmons) Ralston, was born at Hudson, Columbia county, New York, October 6, 1854. He was educated in the public schools, and while yet a boy began business life as clerk in a general store in Hudson. He remained there in New York state until 1880, when he came to Fayette county and entered the em- ploy of the H. C. Frick Coke Company as pay roll clerk at Broadford, soon after becoming bookkeeper. He remained there about five years, then was promoted chief clerk at Trot- ter, Pennsylvania, remaining there about eight years. He was then transferred to Mount Pleasant and made chief clerk of the South- western Connellsville Coke Company, a subsid- iary company, remaining there eight years. In 1901 he was in the employ of Stuart Coal Min- ing Company, situated at Landstreet, Somer- set county, Pennsylvania. who enlarged and reorganized as the Somerset Coal Company. of which Mr. Ralston was made chief clerk and confidential bookkeeper, with residence at Som- erset, Pennsylvania. In 1904 T. F. McCor- mick, secretary and treasurer of the Connells- ville Machine & Car Company, died, and the position was offered Mr. Ralston, who accepted under the advice of his father-in-law, James McGrath, president of the company. He took up his residence in Connellsville the same year and continued secretary and treasurer of the car company until 1905, when he was appoint- ed secretary and treasurer of the Fayette Brew- ing Company, of which he was a stockholder. He is now the active secretary and treasurer of both companies. The brewing company's plant is located at Uniontown, the car company's at Connellsville. Both are prosperous concerns and afford ample scope for Mr. Ralston's abili- ties as an executive officer, which, it may truth- fully be said, are of a high order. He is a Republican in politics, and with his family is a member of the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Connellsville (Roman Catholic). He also belongs to the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Mutual Benevolent Association and the Holy Name Society.
He married, October 11, 1883, Frances Ophelia McGrath, born in Connellsville,
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daughter of James and Jane ( Clark) McGrath. James McGrath was born in Ireland in 1836 and in 1849 came to the United States, locating in Buffalo, New York, where he learned the trade of machinist in the shops of the Buffalo Steam Engine Company. He next entered the employ of the Pennsylvania railroad, and in 1859 came to Connellsville to take charge as foreman of the Smith shops of the Pittsburgh & Connellsville railroad. In September, 1865, he formed a partnership with Bernard Wins- low, and under the firm name of McGrath & Winslow leased land on Water street, erected shops, and began the manufacture of railroad frogs and switches, also tools for oil wells. This concern has passed through many changes of name and ownership, but Mr. McGrath has always retained principal ownership. In 1870 the business was incorporated as the Connells- ville Machine & Car Company, with Mr. Mc- Grath president, which position he yet holds He is a member of the Church of the Immacu- late Conception and a Democrat in politics. He married, January II, 1859, Jane Clark, born in Ireland, daughter of Thomas and Margaret Clark. Their children: I. Mary Margaret, married A. B. McHugh, whom she survives, a resident of Connellsville. 2. Fannie Ophelia, of previous mention. 3. Eleanor Ann, married J. T. Rush, superintendent of Hostettler Coke Company at Whitney, Pennsylvania. 4. Ame- lia, married Thomas Madigan, whom she sur- vives, a resident of Connellsville. 5. Kate, married Charles W. Patterson, of Connellsville. 6. Charles C., superintendent of Connellsville Machine & Car Company; married Anna Quinn. 7. John T.
Children of John White and Frances Ophelia (McGrath) Ralston : Margaret, Eleanor, James Hugh, John Rudolph, born 1890; Charles Clark, 1892; Paul Henry, 1896; May Frances, September 25, 1902.
HOOPER
This is a purely English fam- ily, the children of Thomas J. Hooper, of Connellsville, being
the first American-born generation of this branch. The family trace an English ancestry back many generations, the men of the family holding positions in the mechanical world far above the average.
(I) Thomas Hooper, born in England, was a man of education and superior mechanical in- telligence. He was a mine foreman in Eng-
land until 1881, when he came to the United States, locating in Fayette county, Pennsyl- vania, where he was a valued employee of the H. C. Frick Coal & Coke Company. He met his death through injury at the Leith mine, Oc- tober 5, 1895. Both Mr. Hooper and his wife were members of the Established Church of England (Episcopal). He married, in Eng- land, Maria Richards, who died March, 1907. Children : I. William R. 2. Thomas J., of whom further. 3. Sidney J. 4. Anna M., mar- ried Harry White, now of San Antonio, Texas. 5. Beatrice E., married John H. May, of Youngwood, Pennsylvania. 6. Edith, married Charles Harford, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 7. Leah, deceased, married F. H. Detwiler.
(II) Thomas J., second son of Thomas and Maria (Richards) Hooper, was born in Lon- don, England, February 12, 1866. He was educated in the Zetland public school of York- shire and chose a mercantile life. At the age of eighteen years he came to the United States (1884), following his parents, who came in 1881. He finally located in Oskaloosa, Iowa, where for two years he was engaged in the shoe business. He later came to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in the same business about five years as a salesman. He then located in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, entering the employ of Johnston & Norris of that city as a salesman. He continued with that firm about ten years, when opportunity offering he purchased the interest of Lloyd Johnston and became junior member of the firm of Norris & Hooper. This firm continued in successful business until September, 1910, when it was dissolved, Mr. Norris retiring and W. R. Long purchasing his interest, becoming junior member of Hooper & Long. The store does a strictly retail business and is a well known, thoroughly established concern, rank- ing high in public favor. Mr. Hooper is a Re- publican in politics and has served his city as councilman and as school director. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is the present (1912) worshipful master of King Sol- omon's Lodge, No. 346, Free and Accepted Masons. He is a companion of the Connells- ville Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and a Knights Templar of Uniontown Commandery. In the Scottish Rite he has attained the thirty- second degree, belonging to Uniontown Lodge of Perfection and Pittsburgh Consistory.
He married, January 14, 1889, Rachel E.
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Cropp, born in Dunbar township, Fayette coun- ty, Pennsylvania, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Cropp, of Dunbar township. Children : I. Albert J., born October 31, 1890; educated in public schools and business college : now en- gaged with his father in the shoe business. 2. Clarence T., born July 15, 1892 ; a medical stu- dent at the Jefferson Medical School, Philadel- phia. 3. Bertha M., born October 19, 1895. 4. Robert, born July 8, 1900. 5. Sarah, born Feb- ruary 10, 1903. 6. Ella Belle, born August 28, 1905, died March 31, 1909.
RHODES This name, spelled by the emi- grant both Roads and Roades, is found also as Rhodes and Rhoades. The founder of the Rhoads family of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania was John, who signed his will Roades. He was born in county Darby, England, about 1639. The fam- ily in that county is an ancient one and is said by Burke to have descended from Gerard de Rodes, of Horn Castle, county Lincoln, in the time of Henry II. The settlement of Penn- sylvania created wide interest among the Friends in Darby, and as a result many emigrated to the land of Penn. Among these was John (2) Roades, son of John (I) Roades. Two years later Adam, an- other son, came to Pennsylvania. The com- ing of these boys influenced the father to dispose of his English estate and join them. He came about 1696 and purchased land on High (now Market street), Philadelphia, where he is first found officially in 1698. In 1700 he sold his Philadelphia property and moved to Darby, where he bought a farm, and died in 1701. His will, signed "John Roades," made October 20, 1701, proved October 22 of the following month, mentions sons Jacob, John, Adam, Joseph, and daughters Mary and Elizabeth. Joseph, the youngest son, received his Chester county farm. The name is spelled in the body of the will "Roads." No wife is named, she no doubt having preceded him to the grave. Her name was Elizabeth. Their nine children, all born in England, are in order of birth: Adam, Mary, John (2), Elizabeth, Jacob, Abraham, Sarah, Hannah and Joseph. The four sons all married and founded fam- ilies whose descendants are found in many counties of Pennsylvania.
(I) The family in Connellsville was founded
there by Henry Rhodes, of Germantown, Penn- sylvania, a descendant of John Roades, the founder. The coming to Fayette county of Henry Rhodes was in 1800, when his daughter Mary married Joseph Smith, who came to in- vestigate a land purchase made by his father, John Smith, of Germantown. The history of this purchase is interesting: Colonel Hayes, a revolutionary officer, owned, at Barren Run, near Smithtown in Rostraver township, West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, a tract of about twenty-two hundred acres. There he built a log house, the first in the locality. Later he sold his holdings to one Shields, who in turn sold the tract to one Backhouse. The latter died before payment was made and Shields, being in need of money, advertised it for sale at Greensburg, the county seat ; there being no bidders, he obtained authority from the court to offer it for sale in Philadelphia, where it was sold in 1798 to John Smith. In 1800 John Smith sent his son Joseph out to investi- gate his purchase. The latter, before starting on this long trip, married Mary Rhodes and to- gether they came to Western Pennsylvania and founded the family later so numerous in and around Smithtown. This brings the narrative to the coming of Henry Rhodes, then a resident of Germantown. He accompanied his daugh- ter and son-in-law on their western journey in 1800, no doubt taking his own family along, or bringing them soon after. He lived in the old log house built by Colonel Hayes and later bought a farm, on part of which Smithtown now stands. He had nine children: John, Mi- chael, Peter, Henry, all of whom founded fam- ilies, and five daughters, who married : Joseph Smith, Peter Sowash, Jacob Fullmer, Solomon Hough and Michael Warner. Henry Rhodes, Jr., bought land along the river known as the "Heltervan tract," part of which he sold to his brother John.
(II) John, son of Henry Rhodes, purchased a part of the "Heltervan tract" from his broth- er Henry, married, and there reared a family consisting of Betsey, Samuel, Abraham, Henry John and Joseph.
(III) Joseph, son of John Rhodes, a farmer of Westmoreland county, became a wealthy and leading man in his community. He mar- ried and left issue, including Joseph.
(IV) Joseph (2), son of Joseph ( I) Rhodes, (this name is also spelled in Westmoreland county, Rhoades) was born at Smithtown (now
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in South Huntington township, Westmoreland county). He was a farmer and distiller ; jus- tice of the peace and a member of the Univer- salist church. He served three years in the civil war in Company B, 77th Regiment, Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Infantry, receiving honorable discharge at Nashville, Tennessee, June 22, 1865. He married Susanna Rowe, now de- ceased. They had nine children, one being Henry.
(V) Henry (2), son of Joseph (2) Rhodes, was born June 9, 1866. He was educated in the public schools, and began business life as manager of the store operated by the Youghio- gheny River Coal Company. He later formed a partnership with Irwin Smith, and until 1900 they operated a general store at Blythedale. In that year they sold out to the Pittsburgh Coal Company, and Mr. Rhodes settled in Con- nellsville with his family. He purchased the general store of I. C. Smutz and continued in business until 1910. He then engaged in real estate and insurance, until April, 1912, when he embarked in the grocery business. He is an active Democrat and was school director of New Haven borough before consolidation. He is prominent in the Masonic order, being a past master and holding the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite; in re- ligious faith a Methodist. He married Mollie, daughter of John Branthoover, for many years foreman, later superintendent of a coal com- pany in Indiana county, Pennsylvania. His first wife died young, leaving a daughter Mol- lie, aforementioned, born in Indiana county, December 28, 1867, who is still living and, like her husband, a devoted Methodist. Children of Henry and Mollie Rhodes: Roy Otis, of whom further ; Freda, Joseph, Gertrude, Mar- guerite.
(VI) Roy Otis, eldest son of Henry (2) Rhodes, was born at Smithtown, Pennsylvania, April 20, 1887. He was educated in the public school of Blythedale, and began business life as a clerk in his father's store, continuing until he was nineteen years of age. He then spent two years at Valparaiso University (Indiana), after which he returned to the store. He ac- quired a knowledge of stenography and for six months held a position at Dunbar as stenog- rapher. On May 5, 1911, he opened a gentle- men's furnishing store at No. 809 West Main street, Connellsville, where he is still located in successful business. He is a Democrat and in
November, 1911, was the candidate of his party for city auditor, failing of election by but two votes. He is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, and one of the popular rising young business men of Connellsville.
The Thompsons of Union- THOMPSON town, Pennsylvania, herein recorded, have an ancestry traced to many lands, paternally of Scotch- Irish blood, and maternally of German and Holland Dutch, the Markles coming from Al- sace and Amsterdam. In this country the Markles settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, the Thompsons coming in from the South, re- siding for a time in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, then going to the "dark and bloody" battle grounds of Kentucky.
The founder of the family in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, William Thompson, great-grandfather of Josiah V. Thompson, came to Mount Pleasant from the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania, from the Big Spring Presbyterian Church congregation near Cham- bersburg, Pennsylvania. He served through- out the revolutionary war from beginning to end, serving in the battles of the Brandywine and Germantown in 1776, and those of Tren- ton and Princeton in 1777, and also at York- town, where Cornwallis surrendered. He mar- ried .Mary Jack, of Scotch-Irish and Huguenot descent, daughter of John Jack, who was prominent in drafting the "Hannastown Dec- laration" in 1775, which preceded both the Mecklenberg Declaration and the Declaration of Independence given to the world at Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1776. Mr. Thompson removed to Kentucky after the close of the revolutionary war, became a comrade in arms of Daniel Boone, and died in Mason county of the state he helped to create and settle. There are many Thompson families of different branches and nationalities, the name being found in England. Ireland and Scotland. In Fayette county, Pennsylvania, it is well known and none is more honored.
(II) Andrew Finley, son of William Thompson, was born in Kentucky in 1789, died in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1825. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812 with three of his brothers. He was taken prisoner when Hull surrenderd at Detroit, and after his release tramped on foot to Westmore- land county, where relatives were living. There
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he married Leah, the twenty-second and youngest child of Caspard Markle, of West- moreland county, a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania (see Markle), and with his bride soon after returned to Kentucky, with her on horseback over the wilderness trail; she died in that state in 1824. He then returned to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, accom- panied by his two younger children, and there his death occurred. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson : William L., died aged twenty years in Missouri; Mary, married J. P. Crothers, of Fayette county, Pennsylvania ; Jasper Markle, of whom further.
(III) Jasper Markle, son of Andrew Fin- ley Thompson, was born near Washington, Mason county, Kentucky, August 30, 1822, died March 15, 1889, at his residence in Menal- len township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania. two and a half miles west of Uniontown. When he was three years of age, his parents being de- ceased, he was taken to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he resided with his grand- mother, Mary Markle, until her death in 1832, when he went to reside with a cousin, General Cyrus P. Markle. He was educated in the old subscription school and spent his early life in farming, clerking and bookkeeping, on the farm and in the store and paper mills of his cousin. In April, 1850, he located in Redstone township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a farm, but soon sold it and later in the same year moved to Menallen township, where he purchased a farm two and a half miles from Uniontown. Here he resided, farmed and dealt in live stock until 1862. In that year he was appointed by President Lincoln collector of internal revenue for the twenty-first Penn- sylvania district, in which office he served most effectually for four years, then resigned and re- turned to his home and farm. He collected and paid over to the government during his four years' service over $2,000,000, having in one day collected $100,000 on whiskey alone. He held two commissions under President Lincoln, covering his four years as collector and re- ceiver of commutation money.
In 1863 he became one of the organizers and original directors of the First National Bank, which is now the leading financial institution of Uniontown. He was elected president of the bank, June II, 1870, and continued at its head until 1889. the year of his death. This bank was established in 1854 by John T. Hogg as
one of his chain of private banks; later it was owned by Isaac Skiles, Jr., until 1864, when it was organized as a national bank, its number on the list of national banks being 270. Under President Thompson the bank prospered and entered upon its most successful career. He was a wise financier and laid deep the founda- tions upon which a great financial edifice has risen. He was also president of the Uniontown Building & Loan Association, director of the Fayette County Railroad, president of the Fay- ette County Agricultural Society, trustee of Washington and Jefferson College, and a di- rector of the Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania.
He was a Whig in politics until the forma- tion of the Republican party, then cast his lot in the new party. In 1868 he was a presidential elector and cast his vote for General U. S. Grant for president. In 1873 he was elected to the state legislature from Fayette county, re- versing a normal Democratic majority of one thousand votes by a majority of 1,031 for him- self. For nearly thirty years he was ruling elder in the Presbyterian church of Uniontown, of which he was an active and honored member for almost forty years. He continued in active work until March, 1889, when he died of pneu- monia on his hurried return from a business trip from Florida and Alabama, having caught a severe cold in Kentucky which developed so rapidly that he died the evening following his return home. His was a strong character, and if a reason can be given for his success in life it was due to his strict attention to business and his devotion to duty. He was consistent in his religious obligations, and was most gener- ous and unostentatious in his charities.
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