USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 56
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He married Mary J. Weeter, born May 10, 1838, on a farm in Clarion county. She was twice married, her first husband having been V. R. Polliard, by whom she had the following children : John, died in infancy ; West Anna, December, 1860, married S. S. Carson ; Elmer Mead, January 22, 1863. After Mr. Polliard's death she married (second) Samuel Shirey, and to this union were born seven children : Sarah, born December 14, 1870; Mary Ellen, July 14, 1872, died September 2, 1879: Levi, August 20, 1874, died October 7, 1874; Charles, of whom further; Harvey W., December 14, 1876, died September 18, 1879; Naoma, May 5. 1879, died September 2, 1879; and Eva, twin to Naoma, died May 17. 1879. Those of the
above children who died in 1879 were carried away by an epidemic of diphtheria. Mrs. Shirey was a daughter of John Weeter, a farmer and stock raiser in Toby township, Clarion county. The Weeter homestead is now owned by Charles Shirey. There were three daughters and two sons in the Weeter family. Mr. Shirey was a gallant and faithful soldier in the civil war, during the greater part of that sanguinary conflict. In politics he owned allegiance to the principles and policies for which the Dem- ocratic party stands sponsor, and he and his wife were members of the Reformed church, in the different departments of whose work they were zealous factors.
(III) Charles, son of Samuel and Mary J. ( Weeter ) Shirey, was born in Toby township, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1875. He was educated in the district schools of his native place, and remained on the home farm until he had reached his twenty-first year. His first work after leaving home was on a street car line at Braddock, Pennsylvania. Subsequently he became a carpenter and painter and was engaged in the work of these trades for several years. In 1908 he came to his present farm in Toby township, and after run- ning this place for a short period he worked in the lumbering woods for five months. With the exception of that period he has resided continuously on this estate, which was origin- ally the old Weeter homestead. This farm comprises one hundred and thirty-three acres and is in a fine state of cultivation, Mr. Shirey owns considerable coal deposits under bis farm and in connection with his agricul- tural work runs a coal bunk. In politics he maintains an independent attitude, preferring to give his support to men and measures meet- ing with the approval of his judgment, rather than to vote along strictly partisan lines. He is an unusually affable gentleman, and has scores of sincere friends throughout Clarion county.
Mr. Shirey married, June 23, 1906, Neva Catherine, daughter of Robert E. and Mari- ctte (Coleman) Lee, prominent residents of Sligo, Pennsylvania. There were six children in the Lee family: Neva C., of whom above ; Vera Blanche ; Alford S .; Jennie R., and Paul C. and Robert, twins, the latter of whom is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Shirey have three children : Estella, born January 26, 1907 : Mary West Anna, October 25, 1900: and Charles Mead, April 12, 1912.
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The Youngs of Foxburg, Penn-
YOUNG sylvania, descend from Robert Young, of Strathmore, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. He was of English descent and of a good family. Many of this name have been ministers of the gospel, and in this branch the Rev. Lloyd Young is shown to have been a loyal faithful member of the sacred profession. In Clarion county a Young has the distinction of having been the first white male child born in the county, one Thomas Young, born 1802.
(I) Robert Young was born in Massachu- setts, died in West Virginia. In 1811 he moved to French Creek, Harrison county, Virginia, where he owned a good farm in Upshur county. He was a man of means and educa- tion, giving his children unusual advantages for that early day. He married Lydia Gould, of Massachusetts. Children, all deceased : Festus : Sophronia, married a Mr. Phillips ; a daughter, married a Mr. Sexton ; a daughter, married a Mr. McAboy; Lyman; Loyal, of whom further ; and a son died young.
(II) Rev. Loyal Young, son of Robert and Lydia (Gould) Young, was born in Carlemont. Franklin county, Massachusetts, July. 1, 1806. When he was five years of age his parents moved to French Creek, Harrison county, Vir- ginia, where he obtained a good education in the public schools. In 1826 he entered Jeffer- son College. whence he was graduated in 1828. He tutored in a private family one year, then entered Western Theological Seminary at Alle- gheny City. Pennsylvania, where he pursued study in divinity until June 21, 1832, when he was licensed by the Presbytery of Ohio, as a minister of the Presbyterian church. Soon after taking Holy orders, Rev. Mr. Young was sent to Butler county, Pennsylvania, where he preached his first sermon August 29, 1832. He preached as a candidate the following sum- mer and was ordained and installed as the third pastor of the Butler congregation by the Presbytery of Allegheny, December 4, 1833. For nearly thirty-five years he served well his Master's cause in that congregation. Although no man can estimate the good he accomplished, figures can be given showing results. During his ministry four hundred and fifty persons were brought into the church, eight hundred adults and children were baptized, and over two hundred couples united in marriage. Of the sick and dying visited and cheered, there is no record, nor of funerals attended, but he
was always the faithful pastor, and no feature of his work was neglected. He preached his farewell sermon to the Butler congregation May 10, 1868, and the same month took charge of the French Creek and Buckhannon churches in West Virginia. He remained at French Creek eight years, and was then installed as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Parkersburg, West Virginia, remaining five years. His next pastorate was the Winfield Point Pleasant and Pleasant Flats churches of West Virginia, where he labored from 1880 until 1885. He then moved to Washington, Pennsylvania, and became supply for a few years. Here his wife died, and a few months afterward, in 1888, he returned to Butler, con- tinuing ministerial work until shortly before his death, October 11, 1890. He was a man of great ability and learning. Washington Col- lege in 1858 conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity; he was twice moderator of the Synod of Pittsburgh. once of the Erie Synod, and represented the Presbytery in the General Assembly several times. His publish- ed works are: "Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes." "Hidden Treasures," "Com- munion," "From Dawn to Dark," and but a few weeks before his death he completed a "Commentary on the Book of Proverbs."
To Dr. Young more than to any other man is due the establishment of Witherspoon Insti- tute at Butler. He was the guiding spirit in calling the convention which brought that school into existence, in preparing the charter, in raising money, and in placing the institu- tion on a solid foundation. He was principal of the institution for a long period, and his name is closely interwoven with its early growth and progress. In a sermon delivered July 2, 1876. Rev. C. H. McClellan paid Dr. Young the following tribute: "A man bold in the defence of the truth, vigorous and active in frame, and indefatigable in promoting the interests of Christ's cause, his life and work in Butler will be remembered long after he himself shall have passed from earth." No better testimony to his ability as a preacher and pastor can be found than the well taught and strongly organized church he left in this place; no better proof of the reality of his piety and good works than the readiness with which all classes young and old, rich and poor, Protestant or Catholic, speaks his praise. He was indeed an Israelite in whom there was no guile.
Rev. Doctor Loyal Young
Nevy A. Cummings
PENNSYLVANIA
He married, October 25, 1832, Margaret P. (died in Washington, Pennsylvania, December 29, 1887), daughter of Rev. Robert Johnston, first pastor of the Presbyterian church of Scrubgrass, Venango county, who died aged nearly ninety years, in New Castle, Pennsyl- vania. Children of Rev. Robert Johnston: I. Judge Samuel, judge in Warren county, Penn- sylvania, two terms. 2. Rev. Watson, a min- ister of the Presbyterian church. 3. Dr. Rob- ert, a physician of Pittsburgh several years ago. 4. James, a lawyer, practicing in Kansas. 5 Margaret, wife of Rev. Loyal Young. 6. Harriet, married a MIr. Ross, a druggist, both deceased.
Children of Rev. Loyal and Margaret (Johnston ) Young : I. Robert Johnston, died in the state of Indiana, a railroad agent, and a veteran of the civil war. 2. Lydia Ellen, died in 1910, unmarried. 3. Rev. Watson Johnston, a minister of the Presbyterian church, now re- tired, living in Michigan, a veteran of the civil war. 4. Torrence F., of whom further. 5. James Wright, a veteran of the civil war; a gold seeker in Alaska ; died in California. 6. Henry Kirk White, died in Kentucky, an oil driller. 7. Samuel Hall, now a missionary in Alaska. 8. Walter Macon Long, now living in California, an oil operator.
(III) Torrence F., son of Rev. Loyal and Margaret (Johnston) Young, was born in Butler, Pennsylvania, April 9. 1840. He was educated in the public school, and in early life was a farmer. He enlisted in Company D, 100th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer in- fantry ("Old Roundheads"), and served two years, and was with his regiment at the hattles of Spottsylvania Court House, North Ann River. Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Hatch- er's Run, Fort Stedman, and the evacuation of Petersburg. He was wounded in the shoulder by a sharpshooter's bullet in front of Peters- burg and compelled to remain in the hospital one month. He received honorable discharge at the close of the war and returned to Penn- sylvania. He located at Petroleum Center and worked in the oil field for others until 1870, then moved to Richland township, near Rich- land, Clarion county, secured leases, and began operating for his own account. He has been a successful operator and so continues, being one of the oldest operators in the county. In 1892 he moved to Foxburg, where he erected a residence on the hill, which he now occupies with his family. He is a Republican in poli-
tics, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lin- coln. He enjoys the friendship of his old army comrades, and is affiliated with them in the Grand Army of the Republic. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
He married. September 12, 1867, Anna Henry, born in Philadelphia (at the time of marriage living in Armstrong county, Pennsyl- vania ), daughter of James and Rachel Henry. born in Maryland, moved to Philadelphia, later to Armstrong county. Anna Henry Young died November 12, 1910, leaving an only child, Maude Mary, born January 28, 1876, married February 26, 1907. Robert Burney, a railroad engineer. They reside with Mr. Young in the Foxburg home. Their only child, William Torrence Burney, was born April 16, 1909.
Captain Henry Harrison CUMINGS Cumings, son of Charles and Emily (Amsden) Cumings, was born in Monmouth, Illinois, December I, 1840.
He passed his youth in the middle west. He attended the schools of Madison, Ohio, teach- ing to help himself along, and at Oberlin Col- lege, Oberlin, Ohio, where he graduated with degree of A. M. in 1862. On the eve of grad- uation he enlisted in the Union army, serving until 1865 with the 105th Regiment Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry ; he was recruiting officer for this regiment. On the day of commencement of his class he stood in line of battle near Lex- ington, Kentucky, but though absent, was graduated with his class, receiving his diploma at his home on his return from war. Three months after enlisting he was detached from his regiment and assigned to duty as first lieu- tenant of Parson's Battery, which was prac- tically destroyed at the battle of Perrysville ; fifty per cent. of the members of the battery on the field were killed and wounded. Lieutenant Cumings was then assigned to duty on the staff of Colonel A. S. Hall, commanding bri- gade, and later was assigned to duty on the staff of Brigadier General E. H. Hobson. Re- turning to his regiment March 1, 1863, he participated in every campaign, skirmish and battle in which it was engaged-Louisville, Perrysville, Milton, Hoover's Gap, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost. Resaca, Burnt Hickory, Lost Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creck, near Atlanta ; Jonesboro, and also was with Sherman in his
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March to the Sea. He was promoted to a captaincy after the battle of Missionary Ridge, and was assigned to Company K, of the 105th Ohio Volunteers. He remained with his command until it was mustered out in Wash- ington, D. C., June 3, 1865. He was breveted major about the time Lincoln was assassin- ated, but as he had no active service under that title, refused to acknowledge it.
He settled in Tidioute, Pennsylvania, imme- diately after the close of the civil war, and has remained there until the present time. Prior to the war he taught school. After the war he entered the business of oil production, and had a small refinery in Tidioute, which he disposed of about 1871, remaining in the oil production business. He has served the town in various offices, being burgess during the time of the great smallpox epidemic there in the early 70's. He has been director and pres- ident of the school board from 1880 till 1913. and still has the position. He has held many county and state offices, the last being state senator from his district. He served on the committee or board of directors for the Scot- land School for Soldiers' Orphans, and on the board for the Soldiers' Home at Erie, Pennsylvania. He has been faithful and con- scientious in upholding only what was for the best interests of his townspeople and constitu- ents in every position he has held. Captain Cumings has been prominently identified with the Republican party. He was delegate to the Republican convention held in Chicago in 1888. He was a member of the state senate of Pennsylvania, 1899, to and including 1903, re- elected 1903, to and including 1906. He has been urged since then to permit his name for this office and others, but feels he is entirely out of politics now, and has earned the rest. He was prominent in the organization of the Grand Army of the Republic, has been several times commander, as well as filling other offices of the Col. George A. Cobham Post, G. A. R. He has served on the staff of state officers in the G. A. R., and in the Northwest- ern Association, Department of Pennsylvania, G. A. R., as commander, and in 1895-1896 was department commander of Pennsylvania, Grand Army of the Republic. He has also been an officer on the staff of the com- mander-in-chief of the national organization of the Grand Army of the Republic at various times. He is a member of Olivet Command- ery, Knights Templar, Erie, Pennsylvania.
He is president of the Tidioute Savings Bank ; a director of the Warren Trust Company of Warren, Pennsylvania; president of the Mis- souri Lumbering and Mining Company, and has large business interests in Grandin, Mis- souri, and Clarks, Louisiana. He is inter- ested in the oil development in Oklahoma, and in the gas production in Quebec, Canada, be- sides business interests in many smaller con- cerns.
Captain Henry H. Cumings is a lineal de- scendant from many of the Puritan settlers in Massachusetts, through Isaac Cumings, who settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1627, and his descendants who have intermarried with children and descendants of other early set- tlers of those days in Massachusetts. His an- cestral line through his father-i. e., the Cum- ings. follows.
(I) Isaac Cumings, born 1601, died 1677; four or more children.
(II) John Cumings, born 1633, died De- cember 1, 1700; married (first) Sarah, daugh- ter of Ensign Thomas and Alice (French) Howlett. In court John Cumings testified to being forty years old in 1673, and in 1679 again testified, giving his age as fifty years, and again in 1696 as being sixty-three years of age ; he had eleven children.
(III) John Cumings, born 1657, married, September 13, 1680, Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Brackett) Kinsley ; they had eight children, of whom
(IV) Samuel Cumings, born in Chelms- ford, Massachusetts, October 6, 1684, died in Groton, Massachusetts, 1718. He married, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, before Edward Emerson, justice, January 14, 1708, Elizabeth Shed, of Groton, Massachusetts. They had three children. His widow married a second time.
(V) Samuel Cummings, born in Groton, Massachusetts, March 6, 1709. died in Hollis, New Hampshire, January 18. 1772. He mar- ried, in Groton, Massachusetts, January 30, 1732, Prudence, daughter of Thomas and Pru- dence Lawrence, of Groton, Massachusetts, born September 14, 1715, died March 6, 1797; six children. (See pp. 21-27, Groton Hist. Series, Book X, vol. I, S. A. Green ; also Cum- ings Genealogy, A. O. Cummins, p. 44.)
(VI) Benjamin Cumings (Lieutenant), born in Hollis, New Hampshire, November 25, 1757, died March 8, 1804, in Brookline, New Hampshire, where he then lived. His
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name appears on the muster roll of Captain Reuben Dow's company of minute-men at the Lexington alarm, and Bunker Hill, who marched from Hollis, New Hampshire, April 19th, 1775. He was one of fifty-three men who remained at Cambridge and who volun- teered for eight months in a new company un- der Captain Reuben Dow. This company was mustered into the Massachusetts regiment commanded by Colonel William Prescott. History of Hollis, New Hampshire, page 164, states, "Benjamin Cumings enlisted for one year in either the 6th Company of the First Regiment, or the First Company of the Third Regiment, New Hampshire Continental Line, and served in the battles and operations about New York, and at Princeton and Trenton, New Jersey." The History of Hollis, pp. 203- 204-205-206; Rolls of the New Hampshire Continental Line, First and Third Regiments -among the names of the Hollis men shows Benjamin Cumings serving in the Lexington campaign, 1775; Cambridge campaign, eight months, 1775; Continental army, one year. Lieutenant Benjamin Cumings married (first) December 7, 1780, Bridget, daughter of Will- iam Poole, a revolutionary soldier, and his wife, Hannah (Nichols) Poole. Bridget Poole, born August 5, 1762, died March 3, 1785. William Poole was a private under Captain John Goss in 1776, and participated in the capture of Ticonderoga. He was born in 1726 in Reading, Massachusetts, died in Hol- lis, New Hampshire, October 27, 1795; mar- ried, June 19, 1751, Hannah Nichols. They had fourteen children.
(VII) Benjamin Cumings Jr., born in Hol- lis, New Hampshire, August 24, 1781, died in Unionville, Ohio, September 11, 1852. He was known as Major Benjamin Cumings, ob- taining the title in service in the war of 1812. He married, in Brookline, New Hampshire, March 6, 1805, Lucy Whitaker, born in Ma- son, New Hampshire, May 22, 1782, daughter of John and Thankful ( Pierce) Whitaker, of Brookline, New Hampshire; she died in Madi- son, Ohio, June 4, 1861 ; (both buried in Mid- dle Ridge Cemetery, Madison, Ohio). John Whitaker, a revolutionary soldier, born 1743- 44, died October 1, 1829, was a member of Walker's company, New Hampshire militia, which company is said to have been raised out of the Fifth Regiment Militia of the state of New Hampshire, by an order from Major General Folsom, December 7, 1776, to rein-
force the Continental army at New York until March 1, 1777. (Record from the Pension Office, O. W. & N. Dep't., Washington, D. C., and vol. XIV. Mass., pp. 438-527, Soldiers and Sailors.) Thankful Pierce, born June 5, 1744, died September 6, 1830, wife of John Whit- aker, married, December 23, 1766, was a daughter of Stephen Pierce, of Groton, Mas- sachusetts, and his wife, Rachel. Lucy Whit- aker, wife of Benjamin Cumings Jr., was born in Mason, New Hampshire, May 22, 1782, died in Madison, Lake county, Ohio, June 4, 1861. They lie beside each other in the cem- etery at Middle Ridge, Madison, Ohio.
(VIII) Charles Cumings, born in Brook- line, New Hampshire, September 5, 1814, came from Hollis, New Hampshire, with his parents, to Unionville, Lake county, Ohio, in 1825. At the age of nineteen years, when residing in Unionville, Ohio, he was converted, becoming a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. For several years he was a circuit rider in Illinois, resid- ing with his first wife and two elder children in Monmouth, Illinois. Within a year after the death of his wife, Emily Amsden, he left this work through the persuasion of his rela- tives in Ohio and returned to them, where he later married his second wife, and settled on a farm in North Madison, Lake county, Ohio, becoming a local preacher at that place. About 1876 his eyesight failed so that he gave up preaching, but he was always active in the church work until the day of his death. He died in Madison, Ohio, October 4, 1900. He married first in Unionville, Ohio, March 29, 1838, Emily (VII) Amsden, born in Stowe, Vermont, June 17, 1816, daughter of Abraham Amsden, born in Sharon, Massachusetts, Sep- tember 17, 1788, and his wife, Mehitable Cur- rier, born 1787, died April 27, 1840, daughter of Peter Currier, of Stowe, Vermont, and in 1790 of Windsor, Vermont. Abraham (VI) Amsden, father of Emily (VII) Amsden, was born in Sharon, Massachusetts, Septem- ber 17, 1788, died in Ashtabula, Ohio. He was a son of Abraham (V) Amsden, born Feb- ruary 20, 1752, died in Reading, Vermont, married, April 28, 1773, Submit Morse, born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, died in Ashta- bula, Ohio.
Said Abraham (V) Amsden, born February 20, 1752, was a son of Abraham (IV) Ams- den, born August 29, 1723, and Hannah Whit- comb, married, February 13, 1746. This Abra-
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ham (IV) Amsden was a son of Abraham (III) Amsden, born October 15, 1692, died in Marlboro, Massachusetts, March 7, 1763, aged 73 years ; married, November 29, 1722, Han- nah Newton, born 1698, died October 9, 1793, daughter of John Newton Jr., and wife, Han- nah Morse, of Marlboro, Massachusetts. Abraham (III) Amsden, born 1692, was a son of Isaac (II) Amsden Jr., born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1655, a soldier in the Indian wars between 1680 and 1683, removed to Marlboro, Massachusetts, where he was known as Captain Amsden. He was a pro- prietor of the Ockoocangansett purchase in 1684, a town clerk for a few years, and select- man for fourteen years, and a justice of the peace until after 1717. He died in Marlboro, Massachusetts, May 3, 1727. His wife was Jane Rutter (or Butler), of Sudbury, married, at Cambridge, May 17, 1677; she died in Marlboro, Massachusetts, November 22, 1739, upward of 80 years of age; she left a very interesting will. Isaac Amsden Jr. (II) was a son of Isaac Amsden Sr. (I), the first recorded settler of the name in this country, who ap- pears in Cambridge at the time of his mar- riage in 1654. He was born in England 1616 (?). He followed the trade of a mason in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he owned twelve acres of land at the time of his death, April 7, 1659. On June 3, 1654, he married Frances Perriman, who was admitted to the Cambridge church in October, 1661. The fol- lowing November her two children were bap- tized. She died in June, 1693, aged about 72 years, according to her gravestone, making her birth about 1621, though Paige's History of Cambridge states her birth about 1625.
Emily Amsden, wife of Charles Cumings, died in Monmouth, Illinois, August 14, 1851, leaving two children: (Captain) Henry Har- rison Cumings, and Lucy Mehitable Cumings. Charles Cumings married (second) September 2, 1852, Rebecca Agnes Sullivan, daughter of Patten and Mary (Buel) Sullivan, of Geneva, Ohio, born in Killingly, Connecticut. She died in Madison, Ohio, March 29, 1903.
(IX) I. Henry Harrison Cumings, born in Monmouth, Illinois, December 1, 1840, resides in Tidioute, Pennsylvania, (the subject of this article).
2. Lucy Mehitable Cumings, born in Mon- mouth, Illinois, July 22, 1844; married, Feb- ruary 15, 1872, James H. Boyce, of Willough- by, Ohio; she died September 4, 1898, while
visiting her parents in Madison, Ohio. James H. Boyce died in Willoughby, Ohio, March, 1909. They left one adopted daughter, Maude Boyce, who married Edward Mosher, and re- sides with their children in Wickliffe, Ohio.
3. Charles Elliott Cumings, born in Mad- ison, Ohio, June 15, 1853; married, May 8, 1879, Sarah E. Burridge, daughter of Cap- tain Eleazer and Margaret Burridge, of Men- tor, Ohio. They reside in East Brady, Clarion county, Pennsylvania. They have two daugh- ters-Margaret Rebecca Cumings, who mar- ried Charles Wallace, of East Brady, have one daughter, Margaret Wallace; and Char- Ictte Sarah Cumings, who married, October, 1912, Frank Hilderbrand, of Butler, Pennsyl- vania.
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