USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Genealogical and personal history of Fayette county, Pennsylvania > Part 54
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Norton had eight children, six sons and two daughters, as follows: I. Maria, deceased. 2. Margaret Cooke. 3. Carlos Alonzo, who is treasurer and secretary of the Hazelwood Oil Company at Pittsburgh; he is a man of emi- nent learning. 4. Joseph Herbert, of Nor- folk, Virginia. 5. Abram Baldwin. 6. Clar- ence L., of Mars, Pennsylvania. 7. James McIlvaine, who died in 1865, aged eighteen months. 8. Eugene Trump, of whom further.
(III) Eugene Trump Norton, son of Philo and Martha (Herbert)) Norton, was born in bridgeport, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1866, being the youngest child of the family. At the age of seven years he re- moved with his parents to Connellsville, where he attended the high school, from which he was graduated in the year 1882; this was the first graduating class of the institution, and Eugene Norton was the only boy in the class. Two weeks later he began his business career as a messenger boy in the First Na- tional Bank of Connellsville and has worked his way up through the various positions of teller, assistant cashier and cashier, until his unsolicited election by the directors as vice- president. This post he now occupies, tak- ing an active interest in the management of the bank. He is a man of many interests, and is a very prominent person in the com- munity, being an officer or member of seven- teen different companies; among these are the Riverside Metal Refining Company, of which he is president and director; the Guiler-Kendall Sand Company, of which he is vice-president and director; the Sligo Iron and Steel Company and the Meyersdale Coal Company, of which he is treasurer and di- rector; the Fayette Securities Company, of which he is secretary and treasurer, and the Connellsville Construction Company, the Connellsville News Publishing Company, the Provident Coke and Mining Company and the Wells Creek Supply Company, of which he is a director. Besides these he is president of the First National Bank of Vanderbilt, vice-president and director of Connellsville Chamber of Commerce, trustee of Bethany College of West Virginia, first secretary of the Connellsville Clearing House Associa- tion, director of Connellsville Y. M. C. A., and trustee of the Christian church, of which he is a member, as all of his family have been. He was also made, unsolicited, a director of
the Connellsville Masonic Association, which is very powerful here. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, member of King Solomon Lodge at Connellsville, the Lodge of Perfec- tion at Uniontown and the Pennsylvania Consistory at Pittsburgh. In his political convictions he is a Democrat, and has served on the city school board, of which he was at one time president.
His residence is on the family estate on Mount Pleasant road, just outside the limits of the city of Connellsville, where he has a most delightful home, enjoying the respect and esteem of the entire community; his career has been a credit to the family name of which he is justly proud, for he is a most courteous, business-like and distinguished man. Mr. Norton has been twice married. June 8, 1893, he married Miss Clara Hayes Barge, daughter of John and Rachel Barge; she was born on the 16th of October, 1866, near Newcastle, Pennsylvania, and died Jan- uary 14, 1895, having one child that died at birth. Mr. Norton's second marriage was to Mrs. Elizabeth (Barge) Porter, a sister of his first wife, who was born February 6, 1864, also at Newcastle. By this marriage he has two children: John Barge Norton, born De- cember 22, 1904, and Virginia Norton, born August 23, 1906.
(III) Abram Baldwin Norton, NORTON son of Philo Norton (q. v.), and Martha (Herbert) Norton, was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, Feb- ruary 14, 1858. He grew to maturity in Con- nellsville and became a jeweler and optician, learning the business under Mr. Yates, of that place. He afterward removed to Al- toona, Pennsylvania, and from there to Min- neapolis, Minnesota, where he was employed for a while, but returned to Altoona, where he conducted a store. In the year 1907 he finally removed to Ellwood City, Pennsyl- vania, where he is now an optician and jew- eler. He is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, and is a Democrat in his poli- tics. Mr. Norton was married at the age of twenty-six years to Laura Matilda Ake, born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, April 20, 1859, died May 27, 1906, at Cumberland, Maryland. Mr. and Mrs. Norton had five children: Abram Baldwin Jr., of whom further; Charles Wood, deceased; Harold
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Orlando, of Pittsburgh; Kenneth White, of Chicago; Martha Herbert Norton, living in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania.
(IV) Abram Baldwin Norton Jr., son of Abram Baldwin and Laura Matilda (Ake) Norton, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 7, 1885. He attended the public schools of Altoona, Pennsylvania, and Cum- berland, Maryland, taking a subsequent com- mercial course in Cumberland. After this he entered business, becoming a mail clerk on the Pennsylvania railroad at their general of- fices in Altoona. He then entered the em- ploy of the Westinghouse Electric Company of East Pittsburgh, remaining for six years in their construction department. On Febru- ary 15, 1908, he came to Connellsville and assumed the management of the Riverside Metal Refining Company, of which his uncle, Eugene T. Norton, is president, and John Gans is secretary and treasurer. This com- pany was organized in 1904 and handles solder, babbitt metals and white metal alloys; it employs about a dozen men and a number of others on the road. Mr. Norton is an en- terprising young man and full of energy and progressiveness; he is well known in the com- munity, not only as a capable business man, but as a staunch member of the Republican party, and as a member in good standing of the First Presbyterian Church of Connells- ville. On June 1, 1910, he was married to Jennie Mary Reynolds, born in Oil City, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1885, daughter of Ernest Leutellis Reynolds and Mary Eliza- beth Reed, both natives of Clarion county, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Reynolds was born in 1855 and his wife the year afterward. Mr. and Mrs. Norton have one child, Abram Baldwin Norton, the third of the name, born August 2, 1911.
NORTON
Lester Philo Norton was born in Mount Vernon, Knox
county, Ohio, April 27, 1828. His father was Philo L. Norton and his mother was Jane C. Norton, both of whom died when he was quite young. The earlier years of his life were spent in and around Mount Vernon in the employ of his uncle, Daniel S. Norton, who was an extensive real estate owner and who also operated a flour and feed mill and an oil mill. He was also the Mount Vernon agent of the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad Company when the line was first built from Newark, Ohio, to Chicago Junction. After some time in their employ he came to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, where he managed the Philo Norton farm, located east of Connellsville, where he re- mained for some years, afterward removing to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, entering the commissioner's office as clerk. In 1874 lie came to Connellsville again, entering into the publie life of the place. Being an intensely public-spirited man and always interested in the betterment of whatever place was his home he immediately became prominently identified with the political life of Connells- ville. He served as borough treasurer for a period of nearly twelve years, and was also secretary of the board of education for thir- teen consecutive years. As a member of the board of education he bore a material part in the origination of the first graduating class of the Connellsville public schools, which at that time had no high school, and helped to lay the foundation for the building of the present efficient public schools of Connells- ville.
During the civil war he was active in the recruiting of troops and delivering them to the nearest railroad station for transportation to military headquarters. Owing to an acci- dent occurring in early youth which crippled his left armı and also his eye, he was prevented from entering the service. He was a Demo- crat in politics and always an active worker for the interests of the party. He was a mem- ber of the Christian church (Disciples of Christ), being the treasurer for a number of years. Mr. Norton died February 24, 1896.
In June, 1871, Mr. Norton married Dorcas French, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Henry Clay, named after his uncle, who was a vet- eran of the Mexican war, the only child, was born at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1872, where he lived until he was two years of age, when his parents moved to Connells- ville, Pennsylvania, where he was educated and grew to manhood. Immediately after his graduation from the public schools he entered the First National Bank of Connellsville as clerk, and after serving in that position for some years was advanced to teller, and in 1908 was made assistant cashier. In 1909 he served as a member of the board of education, resign- ing when he was appointed to fill the unex-
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pired terni of tax collector. He is a member of the Christian church and of the Grand Fra- ternity. On June 20, 1906, he married Mabel, daughter of Kell and Elizabeth (Curry) Long, of the West Side, Connellsville, Pennsylvania.
BOYD The Boyds of Connellsville, Penn- sylvania, descended from William Boyd, of Scotch forbears who came from Winchester, Virginia, in 1784, making the journey on packhorses with sev- eral slaves, and six negro children were reg- istered as being born of these slaves between the years 1795 and 1809, viz .: Andrew, Millie, Ben, Pussie, Samuel and Alexander.
(I) William Boyd selected land on Mount's creek, Bullskin township, that was surveyed to him as Springhill, in June, 1786. He did not bring his family on his first coming, but after making location started for Virginia to bring them to the new home.in Fayette coun- ty. He was taken ill, however, and having no way of getting word to his wife, was greatly worried. In the meantime she, having be- come uneasy at his long absence, mounted with her two children and started westward; very fortunately they met upon the road, and all returned to Fayette county. He was a man of considerable education, and from 1792 served for many years as justice of the peace. His farm of three hundred and fifty acres was well selected and fertile, and there he died and was buried in 1812. He married and had sons: I. Thomas, of whom; further. 2. John, died at Connellsville, in 1857. 3. Robert, one time associate judge of Fayette county and grandfather of Albert Darlington Boyd, the celebrated lawyer of Uniontown. 4. James, died in Tyrone township. 5. William, moved to Ohio. 6. Jeremiah, became a physician, and after living in Louisiana for several years inoved to Washington. The only daughter of William Boyd married (first) Joseph Barnett, of Connellsville, (second) Stewart H. White- hill.
(II) Thomas, eldest son of William Boyd, was born in the Shenandoah valley of Vir- ginia, near Winchester, died in Favette coun- ty, Pennsylvania, 1856. He inherited the Bullskin township homestead, and there also conducted a distillery. He was a very popu- lar man in his community, and was considered a wealthy man. Both Thomas and wife were Unitarians in religious faith. He married
Nancy Rice, of Fayette county. Children: I. Eliza, never married. 2. William, of whom elsewhere. 3. John, moved to Illinois, where he died. 4. Rice, the last survivor. 5. Thomas, never married. 6. Randolph. 7. Ann, mar- ried George Blocker, who died in 1849; chil- dren: Clark and Eliza. 8. Richard, of whom further.
(III) Richard, youngest child of Thomas and Nancy (Rice) Boyd, was born Septemn- ber 8, 1829, in Bullskin township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, died March 27, 1899. He was a farmer, and owned a fertile field of three hundred and fifty acres, part of it the oid Springhill farm of his grandfather William and father Thomas Boyd. He was a Republi- can in politics, but never sought public office, and was a member of the Christian church. He married Maria Strickler, who survives him, a resident of Scottdale, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Stewart Strickler, a pioneer coke burner and large land owner at Jimtown, Fayette county. Later he moved to Tennessee with three of his daughters. He married Mary Newcomer. One of their sons was a soldier in the civil war, and while in Tennessee saw so much that pleased him that after the war he settled there and persuaded itis father to also become a resident of Ten- nessee.
Stewart Strickler, only son of Jacob Strick- ier, a farmer of Fayette county, was born at New Salem, near Uniontown, February 17, 1812, and received a common school educa- tion. When he was sixteen years old his mother died, and his father breaking up house- keeping, Stewart and his eight sisters, all younger than himself, were scattered among their relatives. In the spring of 1830 Stewart hired out to John Smiley, a farmer, at six dollars per month, and stayed with him till Christmas, after which he began peddling chickens and eggs, which he carried down along the Youghiogheny river in a very sim- ply constructed boat made by himself of boards, giving away the boat when he had sold his merchandise, and walking back, making such a trip every few weeks during the year 1831. Early in 1832 he began working about for different persons at making rails and washing sand, which was taken to Pittsburgh to the glass makers. In the latter part of 1832, Jacob Strickler got his children together again, Stewart, with the rest, joining him on
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the old place known as the Jimtown farm, where Stewart remained till 1835, when he married Mary Newcomer, of Tyrone town- ship, and bought a piece of land from his fa- ther at Jimtown, built thereon a house and barn, and coninenced farming. In 1837 the great financial panic came and found Stewart badly in debt for his farm. He said "times were then so hard that I had to pay fifty cents in 'shin-plasters' to see a quarter in sil- ver." He struggled on till 1840, when times began to improve, but farming being poor business, he found it necessary to exercise his ingenuity and began to conjure up ways to enable him to pull through and get out of debt. At an early day there had been an iron furnace at the mouth of Jacob's creek known as Turnbull Furnace, but then long aban- doned and in ruin. Near it was a huge pile of cinders containing a great amount of iron un- extracted from the ore. Mr. Strickler con- ceived the notion of taking the cinders to iron works in Pittsburgh, bought it for fifty, cents a ton, built a large flatboat on which he car- ried the cinders to the city, and there sold it for four dollars and a half a ton, and after- ward sold his boat, making something on it. This enterprise stimulated him to greater ef- fort, and early in 1842 he bought ten acres of coal land on the Youghiogheny river at the point now called Sterling Coal Works, built six ovens and began making coke, which lie shipped by flatboats to Cincinnati, Ohio. He carried on this business successfully for several years. At the same time there were others engaged in the business, but they were not successful and became discouraged and gave it up. About 1855 Mr. Strickler bought eighty acres of coal land, known as the John Taylor farm, and began improving it with the intent to carry on the coal business as before, but on a larger scale. In 1857 the Pittsburgh & Connellsville railroad was completed, and Mr. Strickler put into operation on his farm eighty coke ovens. At this time he built a sidetrack from his works to the main line of the railroad for the purpose of shipping coke and coal to the Graff Bennett Company of Pittsburgh, keeping their furnace going from 1860 to 1864 with two thousand bushels per day. He then sold a third interest in his busi- ness to the above named firm for $35,000, a few months afterward selling the balance to Shoenberger & Company for $45,000. Some-
where between 1835 and 1840, Mr. Strickler bouglit all of his father's old farm, paying $30 per acre. In the spring of 1864 he sold it to J. K. Ewing for $200 per acre, the latter afterward selling it for over $400 an acre. In 1867 he renioved with a portion of his family to middle Tennessee, near the Cumberland mountains.
Children of Stewart Strickler: Caroline, married Alexander Hill, and died in 1879; Maria, married Richard Boyd (of previous mention); Lyman and Dempsey, both lived upon the John Smiley farm upon which their father worked in 1830; Martha, married Bow- man Herbert; Harriet, married David Ram- sey, of Tennessee; Kate, married Dr. James Thompson, of Tennessee; Dessie F., married Joseph G. Wilkinson, then of Tennessee, now of Texas; other children: Emily Hardy, George and Norman, died young. Mr. Strickler died aged over seventy years, and notwithstanding his serious labors in life and inany dangers encountered, from some of which he barely escaped with his life, he kept his health and full possession of intellectual vigor until the last. He was respected by his wide circle of acquaintances as a man of strict integrity and of nobility of heart. Not oniy could he look back upon a life well spent, triumphant over early and great diffi- culties, but he was also entitled to enjoy the reflection that through his excellent judgment, advice and influence not a few persons in the region where he spent his most active years also were successful, enjoying many of them, the blessings of wealth.
Children of Richard and Maria (Strickler) Boyd: 1. Charles S., of Dawson, Pennsyl- vania. 2. Edgar L., of whom further. 3. Mary Lou, married Robert McCoy, and died in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 4. Herbert, superintendent of Adelaide plant of H. C. Frick Coke Company. 5. Benton, now resid- ing in Uniontown. 6. George, deceased.
(IV) Edgar L., second son of Richard and Maria (Striekler) Boyd, was born in Bullskin township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, Oc- tober 8, 1863. He was educated in the public schools and at Mount Pleasant Academy. He became a farmer, and after working the home farm two years bought a farm of eighty acres in Connellsville township, where he yet re- sides. For many years he followed dairy farming, but now is conducting regular farm-
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ing operations. He is a Republican, but very independent in political action. He has served in several township offices, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, his wife also being a communicant. He married, March 10, 1886, Molly E. Chalfant, born May 1, 1861, near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, daughter of Dr. William B. and Ellen (Fowler) Chalfant.
The Chalfants are of English descent, early settlers in Pennsylvania, said to have arrived with William Penn. William B., a grandson of Chads Chalfant, is said to have been the first Freemason to cross the mountains and settle in Fayette county. He settled at Brownsville, and was a charter member of the first Masonic lodge established there. He married Margaret Mc Manimee. Children: Abner, Mordecai, Basil, James, Robert, Wal- ter (of whom further), and Elizabeth. Chads Chalfant was a wheelwright by trade and a circuit riding Methodist preacher. He also conducted a farm. Walter Chalfant was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1794. He became a farmer and owned the home- stead farm. He married a Quakeress, Mary Brown, and had issue: Eliza, Chads (2); Samuel B., a physician : James, a farmer, died 1891; Fletcher, a soldier of the civil war; Henry, a physician ; Margaret, married Frank Wright, of Greene county; Charles B., a phys- ician, died 1862; William B., of whom fur- ther; Duncan, a veteran of the civil war, died in Nebraska: Ann, married Jackson Mulhol- land. This was a long lived family, their average at death being sixty-seven years.
Dr. William B. Chalfant, son of Walter Chalfant, died December 19, 1909. He mar- ried, June 28, 1860, Ellen Fowler, who died March 23, 1896. Children: Molly E. (of previous mention); Anna Belle, now living in Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Ora, died in infancy; Dr. John Fowler, died aged twenty-seven years, leaving children Edna and Beulah; Cari R., died in infancy; Ethel, married Homer Herbert, of Seattle, Washington, now deceased; Vivian, resides in Seattle, with her sister Ethei. Ellen Fowler, wife of Dr. Wil- liam B. Chalfant, was a daughter of John and a granddaughter of George Fowler. a revolu- tionary soldier, and a farmer of Bradford county, Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Woods. John Fowler came from Bedford to Ligonier, Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, where he followed his trade of shoe-
maker. He married Elizabeth Mickey,
daughter of and Margaret (Speer) Mickey, both born in Ireland. John and Elizabeth Fowler both died on their farm, which he bought after giving up his trade of shoemaker. Their children: Margaret, died in infancy; George, a shoemaker, died in Kan- sas; James, a farmer, died in Crabtree, Penn- sylvania; Sarah, married Samuel Payne; Mar- garet, married Dr. Morrison, and died in Kansas; Ellen (of previous mention), wife of Dr. William B. Chalfant; Alexander, a black- sınith, died in Kansas; Mary, married J. R. Wadsworth and lives in Michigan; John, died young.
Children of Edgar L. and Molly E. (Chal- fant) Boyd: 1. Earl Richard, born Decem- ber 22, 1886, died March 18, 1894. 2. Carroll, born March 19, 1889; married Jennie Youth- ers, March 10, 1912. 3. Ellen, born Novem- ber 6, 1891. 4. Pauline, May 31, 1894. 5. Anna Mary, August 20, 1899.
BOYD (III) William Boyd, eldest son of
Thomas Boyd (q. v.), and Nancy
(Rice) Boyd, and grandson of William Boyd, the first settler, was born at the old Boyd homestead, Spring Hill, in Bull- skin township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, about the year 1800. He became a wealthy farmer and lumberman, owning several farms and a saw mill. He ran the latter partly as a custom mill, sawing lumber for the neighbor- hood and doing a large business. He mar- ried (first) - Kell, (second) Lydia Ober. Children of first wife: James L., of whom further; Robert, a farmer of Fayette county, deceased; Catherine, died unmarried. Chil- dren of second wife: Frank, deceased; Hiram, now living near Erie, Ohio; Eliza- beth, married Frank Robbins.
(IV) James L., eldest son of William Boyd and his first wife, was born in Bullskin town- ship, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, died June 26, 1900. He was educated in the public school and grew to manhood at the home farm. He was engaged a great part of his time on the public works in the county, also owning and cultivating a small farm. Dur- ing his latter life he operated this as a truck and vegetable farm. He was a Republican in politics, and a member of the Baptist church. He married (first) Eliza Myers, born in West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, died Novem-
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