USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 49
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named institution in 1844, at the age of twenty years. He studied law in his father's office, and was admitted to the Venango county bar May 25, 1847. He afterward removed to Pittsburgh and entered upon the practice of his profession, and his ability soon won for him a satisfactory share of the legal business there. In 1853 he was associated with T. J. Keenan in the newspaper business. In 1855 he was appointed prothonotary of the supreme court of the district of western Pennsylvania, an office always filled by a lawyer. This posi- tion he resigned in May, 1858, to accept an appointment as chief clerk to Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, then attorney general of the United States, in the cabinet of President Buchanan, with functions since exercised by the deputy attorney-general. He held that responsible position until the end of that administration, and then returned to Franklin and resumed lis law practice, in partnership with James K. Kerr. An ardent patriot, in 1862 he espoused the Union cause and recruited a company of volunteers for the 142d Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, which was attached to the Army of the Potomac. He early displayed genuine soldierly qualities, and by successive promotions rose from the rank of captain to lieutenant-colonel in his regiment, and later was commissioned colonel of the 208th Penn- sylvania Regiment. He served throughout the war and made a most brilliant record. He commanded a brigade in the assault upon Petersburg, and in recognition of his gallantry in that and other engagements he received from President Lincoln the brevet rank of brigadier-general. At the close of the war he returned to Franklin and resumed professional work, continuing actively employed until his death. He was one of the ablest members of the Venango county bar, winning for himself, by his brilliant oratory and forensic ability, a reputation which, after all these years, is still green in the memory of all who knew him. Judge Heydrick said of him, in an ar- ticle on the Venango bar, in the "Proceedings of the Celebration of the First Centennial of the Organization of the County of Venango," (and the tribute is as just to him in his pro- fessional as in his military career ) : "General McCalmont was impulsive, and, under a great impetus, just the man to win promotion for a successful assault upon fortifications. Given the opportunity and supposed incentive, he would have led another six hundred at another
Balaklava, but might not have been willing to lead a retreat."
General Alfred B. McCalmont married, April 25, 1853, Sarah F., daughter of Evan Reece Evans, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Children : 1. Lydia Collins, born February 12, 1854: married Thomas McGeongh. 2. Sarah Lowry, born June 7, 1856; married W. V. Lewison ; children : Sarah McC., and Almina Parker, who married George Hayes, of Bos- ton. 3. Robert, of whom further.
(VI) Robert, only son of General Alfred B. and Sarah F. (Evans) McCalmont, was born in Washington, D. C., while his father was residing there and officially employed, September 18, 1859. He was educated in the Franklin schools and Princeton University, graduating from the latter institution in 1878 at the age of nineteen years, as civil engineer. After finishing his university course he read law in the office of Dodd & Lee, in Franklin, and was admitted to the Venango county bar in 1881, and from that time has practiced law in that city with conspicuous success. In pol- itics he is affiliated with the Democratic party. He is a communicant and vestryman of the Protestant Episcopal church, and is a member of the Masonic order. He married Jessie B. Crawford, daughter of William R. and Jane ( Kerr) Crawford.
(IV) John McCalmont, son of John and Elizabeth (Conard) McCalmont, was born in Center county, Pennsylvania, September 9, 1788, and died August 27, 1877. He was one of the early pioneers of Venango county, whither he removed with his parents in 1803, the family locating in the forest of Sugar Creek township. After coming to this region lie remained with his parents for a time, assist- ing in clearing and tilling the homestead farm. He obtained a good education for that early day, and taught in one of the pioneer schools On attaining his majority he removed to Franklin and engaged in the milling business, and later in the manufacture of iron. He always took an active interest in public affairs, and was county commissioner in 1814 and treasurer of Venango county from 1816 to 1818. He married (first) Maria --- , who died in 1814, without issue. He married (sec- ond) January 18, 1818, Mary H., daughter of Samuel Plumer ; she died September 3, 1842. Her father settled in Jackson township, Ven- ango county, in 1800. He was a son of Na- thaniel Plumer, who purchased four hundred
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acres of land embracing part of the site of Mount Washington, one of the present wards of Pittsburgh, on the south side of the Monon- gahela, and settled thereon in 1789, and grand- son of Jonathan Plumer, a commissary in Braddock's expedition, and quartermaster of Forbes' army, a native of Newbury, Massa- chusetts, and descendant of Francis Plumer, one of the founders of that town in 1635. Children of John and Mary H. (Plumer) Mc- Calmont : Patty, married Rev. A. G. Miller ; John, Samuel, Margaret ; and Samuel Plumer, of whom further.
.
(V) Samuel Plumer McCalmont, son of John and Mary (Plumer) McCalmont, was born in Sugar Creek township, Venango county, Pennsylvania, September 21, 1823. His boyhood was passed on the farm, assisting his father in the laborious occupation of pioneer farming. After attending the neighborhood school, he took a brief term of study at Alle- gheny College. He then entered the office of his uncle, Judge Alexander McCalmont, as a law student, and was admitted to the bar of Venango county November 25, 1847, and at once entered upon the active practice of his profession, which he successfully followed without intermission until the infirmities of age compelled his retirement, only excepting a period of three years spent in the California mining region, and a brief term in public serv- ice. He was an industrious, vigilant and ag- gressive lawyer, and one of the best known members of the Venango bar. Politically he was originally a Democrat. He was, how- ever, bitterly opposed to human slavery, was one of the most aggressive pioneer anti-siav . ery advocates, and devoted much time and lib- erally of his means to the cause. Even now there are not a few who have distinct recollec- tion of his bold and uncompromising advocacy of abolition. With the opening up of the free soil issue as opposed to slavery extension, in 1856 he became one of the organizing members of the Republican party, to which he ever afterward steadily adhered until 1874, when he aided in organizing the Prohibition party, Leing for forty years an unswerving enemy of the liquor traffic. In 1855 he was elected to the legislature, and he was twice re-elected. He married, in April, 1859, Harriet, daughter of Platt Smith Osborne, died December 25, 1912 (see Osborne VII). Children : Mary Plumer ; Samuel Plumer Jr .; John Osborne ; Harriette Osborne; James Donald, born February 10,
1870; Constance Plumer, July 6, 1874 ; David Burnett, of whom further.
(VI) David Burnett, son of Samuel Plumer and Harriet (Osborne ) McCalmont, was born in Franklin, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1876. He was reared in that town, and received his preliminary education in its public school, passing through the high school, afterward entering the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1897. He then studied law under the office preceptorship of Bryan Osborne, and was admitted to the bar of Venango county August 26, 1900, and at once entered upon practice, in which he has been successfully en- gaged to the present time. For ten years, from 1898 to 1908, he served in the Pennsylvania National Guard, attaining the rank of lieu- tenant. He is a Prohibitionist in politics, and in 1905 was elected to the state chairmanship of that party, occupying that position until 1909, when he resigned to take charge of the Venango Herald, the only Prohibition daily newspaper in the United States. He has been the candidate of his party for local offices on various occasions, and in 1903 was nominated for district attorney, being defeated by only 308 votes, and receiving 3,394 votes.
Mr. McCalmont married, September 26, 1900, Edna Swallow, born December 31, 1878, daughter of Burling E. and Lydia (Schuyler- Jack) Swallow, and a descendant of the famous Schuyler family of revolutionary fame. Children : Virginia Lucretia, born Sep- tember 10, 1905; Samuel Plumer (2nd), No- vember 11, 1906; David Burnett Jr., August 9, 1909.
This family is of excellent BLEAKLEY Scotch-Irish ancestry, as is attested by the record borne by the immigrant ancestor of the American branch, John Bleakley, of whom further.
(I) John Bleakley, son of James Bleakley, was born in the town of Merley, county Ty- rone, Ireland, October 20, 1788. With his wife (name unknown), he came to the United States in June, 1819, bringing an excellent in- troductory letter from his pastor, Presby- terian, and the following demit from his Ma- sonic Lodge, No. 911, Jurisdictions of Ireland :
To all to whom it May Concern: We the Master Wardens and Secretary of Lodge No. 911, held in the town of Merley, and county Tyrone, and on the Registry of Ireland, do hereby certify that the
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bearer, Mr. John Bleakley, a regular registered Master Mason in said lodge, and during his stay with us behaved himself as an honest brother. Given under our hands and seal of our lodge in our lodge room, dated this 12th of June, 1819, and of Masonry 5819.
The above is signed by Mathew Hunter, master, James Bleakley, senior warden, James Dogherty, junior warden, John Hanna, secre- tary. John Bleakley first settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and in 1833 removed to V'enango county, where he located perma- nently, and died September 11, 1869. His wife died soon after their arrival in this country, leaving one son, James, of whom further.
(II) James (2), son of John Bleakley, was born near Unionville, Berks county, Pennsyl- vania, September 13, 1820, died October 3, 1883. At an early age he was apprenticed to the printing business, and after completing a three year term of service he went to Butler, Pennsylvania, where he worked three years. In spite of a rather limited education, by hard work and application he was able to acquire considerable knowledge, as is shown by his next venture, which was in the newspaper publishing field. In 1842 he returned to Frank- lin, and in company with John Shugert, estab- lished the Democratic Arch, continuing its publication about two years and a half. The files of this paper from July, 1842, to October, 1843, still in possession of the Bleakley fam- ily, are the earliest continuous files extant of any newspaper in Venango county. In the spring of 1844 he engaged in business as a merchant, and through thrift and close appli- cation to work was soon able to accumulate a little money, which he invested in real estate in Franklin and throughout the country. In 1849 he erected the building occupied for many years by the International Bank. He continued in the mercantile business for about twenty years. In 1851 and for several years thereafter he was associated with A. P. Whit- aker in the publication of the Venango Spec- tator. He was elected county treasurer in 1851, and held that office two years. In 1864 he assisted in organizing the First National Bank of Franklin, occupying the position of cashier until 1867. In 1868 he opened the Interna- tional Bank, for many years one of the best known financial institutions of the country, and was its president until his death. In addi- tion to his financial interests he was also con- nected with many other enterprises, among
them being a tannery, foundry, oil refinery, and tinning establishment, and in real estate and other transactions. From the year 1859 until his death he was engaged in various branches of the oil business. He was one of the purchasers of the Galloway tract and out- lot No. 8, famous for their production of Franklin lubrication oil. The block built by him on Liberty street, Franklin, is one of the most substantial in the city. In politics he was a Democrat until Buchanan's election in 1856, but from that date affiliated with the Repub- lican party. He was burgess of Franklin sev- eral terms, and served in the council of both borough and city.
He married Elizabeth, born May, 1822, daughter of Jacob Dubbs, who came from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, his native place, and was a pioneer merchant in Franklin. Chil- dren: 1. Elizabeth, born January 16, 1845; married T. W. Bridgham. 2. Clara, born April 6, 1847; married Alexander McDowell. 3. William, of whom further. 4. Effie, born No- vember 26, 1851 ; married Dr. E. W. Moore. 5. Orrin Dubbs, of whom elsewhere. 6. Harry, born January 8, 1859. 7. Edmund, born Octo- ber 30, 1860 ; married Bertha Legnard.
(III) William James, son of James (2) and Elizabeth (Dubbs) Bleakley, was born in Franklin, July 6, 1849, died September 27, 1908. He was educated in the local public schools, followed by terms in the Waterford Academy and Oberlin (Ohio) College. At an early age he entered upon a business career that was destined to be constant. He was teller in the First National Bank. In 1868, when James Bleakley, his father, established the International Bank, he became his assistant and in 1872 became cashier ; in 1883, on the death of his father he became president of the International Bank, and under his manage- ment the International Bank continued its career of substantial prosperity. He remained in that position until 1902 when the bank be- came the Franklin Trust Company, when he retired in order to give his time to other mat- ters of importance, particularly to the exten- sive and varied interests of the Bleakley estate of which he was the chief executor. At the same time, while managing his personal business, he entered largely upon public enter- prises. He was president of the Venango Water Company several years, an organizer and president of the Franklin Electric Com- pany, and helped to organize the Franklin
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Steel Casting Company, of which he was treas- 11rer. He was identified with the Marvin Manufacturing Company in its infancy and brought this company from practically noth- ing to one of the largest manufacturing cor- porations in the city today. For a number of years and to his death he was a trustee of the State Institution at Polk, and his counsel was highly valued by the board and others con- nected with the institution. As a business man he was a prodigious worker, yet doing things without noise or ostentation. His im- pulse toward the practical benefit of others was evinced in his management of the Bleak- ley estate. He began on a large scale the scheme of building homes for people of lim- ited means, to be acquired on easy payments, and many homes on Bleakley Hill and Oak Hill attest the beneficence of the system.
Added to the multifarious and exacting de- mands of private business Mr. Bleakley was much in request in public affairs. Politically a Republican, he served twelve terms in the city council and was elected mayor in 1887 and 1888 and 1891. During his administration he succeeded in reducing the debt of the city and establishing a sinking fund for the extinguish- ment of the bonded indebtedness. In 1908 he was elected a member of the school board, and at the time of his death he was serving his third term as president. In him the public schools and pupils had an active friend. He felt the necessity of lifting the mind out of the levels of mere trade and traffic, and while overweighed with other unavoidable business cares, he still found time to aid most effec- tively in every detail pertaining to his office as school director. He was largely instrumental in the erection of the present magnificent high school building, in which he had to contend with some opposition, but, as in the case of many other of his enterprises, the results vin- dicated his judgment. He was one of the best known men in the Pennsylvania oil region, and as a financier had few equals. He measured up to the full stature of a true and good man, and in his doings, large and small, public or private, he exemplified the old fashioned, rock-ribbed virtues of honesty, square dealing and brotherly kindness. He was faithful to every trust, competent and reliable in every duty that devolved upon him. Although his time was fully taken up with business, per- sonal and official, he devoted his considerable
attention to his domestic enjoyment. His strong personality, clear mind and fair methods commanded the respect of the many with whom he came in contact, and secured their confidence and friendship. But, success- ful as he was in his relations with the outside world, he was at his best in his own home. He loved it, and spent with his family all the time he could spare from the unceasing de- mands of business. In that well ordered home, the haunt of comfort and hospitality, he found the rest, refuge and content that his nature craved. He was a cordial host, the center of cheer among his guests and family. He was an adherent of the First Presbyterian Church, and a member of its board of trustees, always giving the benefit of his counsel and generous support to the building of its temporal inter- ests.
The following resolutions on the death of Mr. Bleakley were adopted by the Franklin School Board :
To the President of the Board of Directors, Frank- lin School District :
Pursuant to the resolution passed at the special meeting of the School Board held September 28th, your committee has the honor to present the follow- ing in memory of our late President, William J. Bleakley :
After a continuous service of more than twelve years as a member of the Board of School Directors, and while serving his twelfth year as its President, William J. Bleakley died September 27, 1908. It is fitting that his long and faithful service deserve recognition by the formal action of the Board. We therefore offer this tribute to his memory, and direct that it be placed upon the record of the Board :
Chosen by his fellow citizens for so many years to fill the office of School Director, though his personal interests seemed to demand his attention, he gave freely of his time, talents and energy to the duties of his office, thus exhibiting in an unusual degree that rare quality of good citizenship which subordi- nates the demands of private business to the public good.
In all his official acts he ever kept in view the best interests of the schools, fearlessly and conscientiously advocating whatever measures would tend to their improvement, being actuated by a supreme desire to aid in the advancement of the cause of general edu- cation in our city.
It is therefore obvious to all who have been more or less intimately associated with him in his work that the Franklin School District in his death loses a staunch supporter in all that could contribute to its advancement in educational matters and that his associates greatly feel the loss that has come to them through his sudden and unexpected death.
(Signed)
F. L. BENSINGER, NATHAN EVANS, M. F. ELLIOTT.
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William J. Bleakley married, May 17, 1876, Mary S., daughter of John and Mary Anna (May) Lamb (see Lamb). Children : 1. Anna Mary, born February 4, 1877; married, Feb- ruary 4. 1903, George B. Woodbrun; one daughter, Margaret, born August 8, 1906. 2. Orrin Louis, born February 10, 1879; mar- ried, June 29, 1904, Florence Dickey Camp- bell; children : Elizabeth Jane, born April 15, 1905, Florence Evelyn, October 2, 1906. 3. . Frederick James, born October 23, 1880; mar- ried, October 2, 1907, Ethel Niedlander ; one son, Frederick J. Jr., born December 25, 1909. 4. Margaret May, born December 16, 1882; married, November 4, 1908, Louis E. Habeg- ger ; children : William J. Bleakley, born Sep- tember 27, 1909; Margaret Louise, born August 7, 1910. 5. Evelyn Elizabeth, born November 26, 1884; married, February 4, 1909, Victor W. Stewart. 6. William Jay, born December 31, 1888. 7. Donald Sher- burne, born June 9, 1894. 8. Kenneth Hunt- ington, born December 2, 1896.
(The Lamb Line).
John Lamb Jr., son of John and Nancy (Sparks) Lamb, was born near Bellefonte, Center county, Pennsylvania, June 13, 1806, died November 18, 1863. At an early age he was apprenticed to the tanner's trade. In 1829 he came to Allegheny township, Venango county, and purchased a small piece of land in the woods, on which he built a log cabin, started a tannery, and began clearing up a farm. The farm grew to be one of the largest and finest in Venango county, and the little home a popular and well known wayside inn in the old stage and coach days, and the tan- nery expanded into an extensive mercantile and lumber business. Through his efforts a postoffice was obtained for the neighborhood, which bore his name and was kept at his house. On the discovery of oil he engaged in the production and refining of that commodity in a limited way, as the oil business was only in its infancy at the time of his death. He was active in politics, and was a Democrat until Lincoln's nomination for president, when he became a Republican.
He married (first) April 23, 1833, Mary Bailey, daughter of Captain William Smith, of Water ford, Pennsylvania ; she died Novem- ber 1849. He married ( second) February I, 1853. Mary Anna, daughter of Rev. Hezekiah and Margaret (White) May ; she died Novem-
ber 17, 1877. Children by first wife : William Smith, born September 17, 1834; Alfred, De- cember 28, 1835; David, September, 1840; Nancy Elizabeth, September 28, 1842; Sarah King, October 2, 1844; Henry Rowan, April 14, 1849. By second wife: Mary Smith, April 18, 1854, married William J. Bleakley ( see Bleakley III).
Rev. Hezekiah May was born at Haddam, Connecticut, December 25, 1773, died July 4, 1843. He was a graduate of Yale College, and was distinguished for his learning, piety and abilities, and was a licensed preacher of the Gospel upward of forty years. He was extensively acquainted in the states of Con- necticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, in all of which he labored in the Gospel ministry. He was a noted minister in the early days of the Congregational, and later, Presbyterian church. He came to Venango county under the patronage of the New Eng- land Society for the Propagation of the Gos- pel in this country. He secured a tract of one thousand acres of land at Old Town, three miles above Tionesta, Pennsylvania. He was in Franklin in the earliest days of that town, but afterward removed to Tionesta, where with the help of his sons he cleared a large tract of land at Old Town, and erected a large saw mill at the place. Old Town was the re- mains of an ancient Indian village when he located there. It was called Sa-qua-lin-get, translated, "the place of council." It was pur- chased by Mr. May from John Ranger, a revo- lutionary soldier.
PATTERSON This family is of Scotch origin, and the branch here considered has been seated in Pennsylvania for several generations.
(I) Robert Patterson, a native of Scotland, married Mary Ball. They were the parents of three children: Abraham, who married a Miss Gourley, emigrated to the United States and located in or near Bellefontaine, Lyon county, Ohio; David, of whom further, and a daughter who married Thomas Hays, and re- mained in Scotland.
(II) David, second child of Robert and Mary (Ball) Patterson, was born in Scotland. He was a weaver by trade, and went to Ire- lan1, and made his home in the parish of Ka- linsha, county Down. Before he removed there he married, about 1800, Mary, daughter of William and Elizabeth Leslie; children : Rob-
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ert, born May 31, 1803; William, of whom further ; Isaac, Abraham, Jane and David.
(III) William, second child of David and Mary (Leslie) Patterson, was probably born near Belfast, Ireland, about 1804 or 1805, as near as can be ascertained. He married Isabel, daughter of Joshua and Mary (Montgomery) Coleman. In 1822 a passage to the United States was bought for the entire family, but before their arrangements for the voyage had been completed all excepting the father (David Patterson) were taken ill with typhoid fever. To the parents this affliction brought the conviction that their leaving their home was contrary to the wish of Providence, and they abandoned their purpose. However, William and his elder brother Robert were not to be dissuaded, and they proposed that if the father would provide for their passage they would go, and if they were pleased with the new country would send for the remainder of the family. William Patterson settled in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and became a successful farmer and merchant. He was a Presbyterian of the genuine Scottish type, and was zealous in promoting the advancement of the church at his new home. He assisted in building the first church of his denomination in Mercer county, and contributed liberally to its support throughout his life. In 1873 he removed to Allegheny City, where he died in 1889. To him and his wife were born eleven children.
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