USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and its centennial celebration, Volume I > Part 28
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In 1839 there was no regular session, the time of meeting hav- ing been altered by the Constitution of 1838 from December to January. Then follow: James Sprott and William Morton, 1838-40; Matthew T. Kennedy and James Sprott, 1841; Mat- thew T. Kennedy and John Ferguson, 1842-43; Solomon Ben- nett and Thomas Nicholson, 1844; Thomas Nicholson and J. T. Cunningham, 1845; Robert McClelland and Thomas Nicholson, 1846; John Allison and John Sharp, 1847-48; John Sharp and William Smith, 1849-50.
From 1851 to 1858, Beaver, Butler, and Lawrence counties
1 Colonel Alexander L. Hawkins was elected to the Senate in 1898, but died July 18, 1899, on the voyage home from the Philippines. Budke was elected November 7, 1899, to fill the vacancy.
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were united and sent three representatives: Thomas Dungan, Daniel H. B. Brower, and Samuel Hamilton, 1851; Thomas Dungan, Samuel Hamilton, and John R. Harris, 1852; John R. Harris, Brown B. Chamberlin, and John D. Raney, 1853; Brown B. Chamberlin, William Stewart, and R. B. McCombs, 1854 and 1855; De Lorma Imbrie, A. W. Crawford and R. B. McCombs, 1856; De Lorma Imbrie, George P. Shaw, and A. W. Crawford, 1857.
From 1858 to 1865 Beaver and Lawrence counties were united, with two representatives: De Lorma Imbrie and George P. Shaw, 1858; Joseph H. Wilson and James F. Bryson, 1859-60; Joseph H. Wilson and John W. Blanchard, 1861; William Henry and John W. Blanchard, 1862; William Henry and Isaiah White, 1863-64.
From 1865 to 1872 Beaver and Washington counties were united, sending three representatives: R. R. Reed, James R. Kelly, and Matthew Stanley Quay, 1865; on the 24th of February, 1865, a special election was held for member of Assem- bly in place of Hon. R. R. Reed, deceased, and Joseph B. Welsh was elected; James R. Kelly, Joseph B. Welsh, and M. S. Quay, 1866; John H. Ewing, J. R. Day, and M. S. Quay, 1867; J. R. Day, John H. Ewing, and Thomas Nicholson, 1868; H. J. Vankirk, A. J. Buffington, and Thomas Nicholson, 1869; William C. Shurlock, A. J. Buffington, and H. J. Vankirk, 1870; D. M. Leatherman, William A. Mickey, and William C. Shurlock, 1871.
From 1872 to 1874 Beaver, Butler, and Washington counties were united, sending four representatives: G. W. Fleeger, Joseph Lusk, D. M. Leatherman, and William A. Mickey, 1872; Samuel J. Cross, William S. Waldron, David Mckee, and Jonathan Allison, 1873; Samuel J. Cross, David Mckee, A. L. Campbell, and Jonathan Allison, 1874.
Since 1874 Beaver County has been independent and sends two representatives for two years: Joseph Graff and C. I. Wendt, 1875-76; John Caughey and Gilbert L. Eberhart, 1877-78; John Caughey and Thomas Bradford, 1879-80; Ira F. Mansfield and Edward Spencer, 1881-82; A. R. Thomson and J. E. McCabe, 1883-84; R. L. Sterling and W. H. Marshall, 1885-86; Hartford P. Brown and John F. Dravo, 1887-88, 1888-90; Richard R. Quay and R. L. Sterling, 1891-92; Ira F. Mansfield and Jacob Weyand, 1893-94, 1895-96; Ira F. Mansfield and
his Lay
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Andrew J. Lawrence, 1897-98; Simon Harrold and W. H. Bricker, 1899-1900; W. H. Bricker and T. L. Kennedy, 1900-01; Ira F. Mansfield and John T. Taylor, 1902 -.
It will be apparent from the length of the foregoing list of those whom Beaver County has honored with her suffrages, and who have honored her in the high places of the State and the nation, that the number is too large for us to give biographical notices of all. Many are mentioned in other parts of these volumes, and for these we must refer the reader to the General Index. We shall limit ourselves here to brief sketches of our United States Senators, and of such members of Congress and of the State Senate as are not elsewhere mentioned.
UNITED STATES SENATORS
Of these there have been, as previously stated, two from the county. A sketch of the first one, Abner Lacock, will be found in the chapter on the legal history of the county.
Hon. Matthew Stanley Quay, the second from Beaver County to fill this high position, was born in Dillsburg, York County, Pennsylvania, September 30, 1833, the son of Rev. Anderson Beaton Quay and Catherine McCain Quay. His father was an able Presbyterian minister, whose pastorates were first at Dills- burg, York County, then at Beaver, Beaver County, and finally at Indiana, Indiana County, Pa.
Senator Quay was prepared for college at Beaver and Indiana academies, and was graduated from Jefferson College, Canons- burg, Pa., in 1850. He studied law with Colonel Richard P. Roberts, in Beaver, Augustus Drum, in Indiana, Pa., and Penny & Sterret, in Pittsburg, and was admitted to the bar of Beaver County in 1854. The following year he was appointed protho- notary of Beaver County, and was elected to the same office in 1856 and re-elected in 1859. In 1861 he resigned his office to accept a lieutenancy in the Tenth Pennsylvania Reserves. He became colonel of the 134th Pennsylvania Volunteers; assistant commissary-general, and afterwards was appointed private secretary to Governor Andrew G. Curtin. He was State military agent at Washington, major and chief of transportation and telegraphs, and military secretary to the Governor of Pennsyl- vania. From 1865 to 1867 inclusive, he was a member of the
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Legislature; secretary of the Commonwealth, 1872-1878; re- corder of the city of Philadelphia and chairman of the Republican State Committee, 1878-79; again secretary of the Common- wealth, 1879-82; delegate at large to the Republican National Conventions of 1872, 1876, and 1880. In 1885 he was elected State Treasurer by the largest vote ever given to a candidate for that office. He was elected a member of the Republican National Committee and chosen chairman thereof and ex-officio chairman of the executive committee when the committee or- ganized in July, 1888, and conducted the successful Presidential campaign of that year. And so from year to year the Colonel has worn his blushing honors thick upon him. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1892; chairman of the Republican State Committee, 1895-96; delegate to the Republi- can National Convention of 1896; elected a member of the Republican National Committee and chosen a member of the executive committee in 1896; delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1900, and was elected a member of the Republican National Committee of 1900. Colonel Quay was elected to the United States Senate to succeed John I. Mitchell, and took his seat March 4, 1887, and was re-elected in 1893. In 1899 he was defeated for re-election by a deadlock existing throughout the session of the Legislature. He was appointed United States Senator by the Governor to fill the vacancy caused by the failure of the Legislature to elect, but the appointment was not recognized by the Senate. On the day of his rejection by the Senate he was nominated to succeed himself by the Re- publican State Convention of Pennsylvania, and was re-elected United States Senator, January 15, 1901.I
Senator Quay was married in 1855 to Agnes Barclay, daugh- ter of John and Elizabeth Shannon Barclay. The children of this marriage, all of whom were born in Beaver, are Richard Roberts, Andrew Gregg Curtin, Mary Agnew, Coral, and Susan Willard.
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
The subject of the following sketch was, in order of time, the fifth of her sons whom Beaver County honored with a seat in the National Legislature.
1 Senator Quay died at his home in Beaver, Pennsylvania, Saturday, May 28, 1904, and was buried on Tuesday, May 31st, in the Beaver cemetery.
Hon. William S. Shallenberger. Second Assistant Postmaster-General.
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Hon. John Dickey was born June 23, 1794, at Greensburg Westmoreland County, Pa., and came to Beaver County about 1812. He settled in Old Brighton, where he became a clerk at Barker & Ormsby's iron furnace, of which, with James Stock- man, he finally was owner. He was the first postmaster in Old Brighton, being appointed April II, 1818, and served as pro- thonotary of Beaver County from 1821 to 1824, and as sheriff from 1824 to 1827. In May, 1827, he moved to the tavern stand at Brady's Run, to superintend the building of the Brady's Run bridge, for which he had the contract. He removed to Beaver in 1830, where he remained until 1836, when he returned to Sharon (Brady's Run), and opened one of the largest mercantile houses in the county. There also, with his relatives, Samuel and Milo Adams, he established various industries, such as boat-building, salt-works, a saw-mill, etc., and was interested in the foundry of Jeremiah Bannon and Robert Wallace. In 1828 Dickey and James McIlroy had the steamboat Rhuamah built by John Boles of Bolesville, to run from Fallston and Brady's Run ware- houses. The first trip was to Pittsburg on April 29, 1829, Wil- liam Reno as captain and John Dickey, clerk. Mr. Dickey took a deep interest in the development of Beaver Valley and of the county, and was honored by his fellow-citizens in being twice elected to serve them in Congress, first from 1843 to 1845, and again from 1847 to 1849. He also served as Senator in the State Legislature two terms, 1835-37, with great ability and distinction, being always devoted to what he considered the best interests of the people. He was appointed United States Marshall for the District of Western Pennsylvania in 1852, but died before the expiration of his term, March 14, 1853, aged 59 years.
Five sons of John Dickey and his wife, Elvira Adams Dickey, served in the Union armies; three, Samuel Adams, Major Charles John, and Robert, served full three years; Colonel Oliver J., nine months, and Socrates, three months.
Hon. William S. Shallenberger, Second Assistant Postmaster- General, was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1839. He was educated in the public schools, Mount Pleas- ant Academy, and the University of Lewisburg, now Bucknell University. Early in the Civil War he enlisted in the 140th Penn-
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sylvania Volunteers, and served under Generals Miles and Han- cock in the First Division, Second Army Corps. He was several times wounded, the last wound being in the thigh and caused by a minie ball, which could not be removed for more than two years, necessitating his discharge in October, 1864. From that time until 1876, when he was elected Representative in Congress, Mr. Shallenberger was engaged in mercantile business. He represented, in Congress, the twenty-fourth district of Pennsyl- vania, composed of Washington, Beaver, and Lawrence counties, was re-elected in 1878, and again in 1880.
During his third term he was chairman of the committee on public grounds and buildings, but devoted most of his time to the study of the tariff. His speech on April 15, 1882, has been widely circulated.
Upon his retirement from Congress, Mr. Shallenberger was engaged as cashier in the First National Bank of Rochester. He continued his connection with this bank and was treasurer of the Rochester Tumbler Works until the inauguration of President McKinley. He then resigned, in order to accept the position of Second Assistant Postmaster-General, tendered him by the President, who was a personal friend, and who, during the six years spent by Mr. Shallenberger in Congress, had been closely associated with him in many ways. Both entered the Forty- fifth Congress and represented contiguous districts-President Mckinley in eastern Ohio, and Mr. Shallenberger in western Pennsylvania.
The interests of their constituents were so nearly identical, and their own views on political and social questions so much alike, that they became warm friends, and it was due to this that President Mckinley conferred this appointment upon him. The bureau over which Mr. Shallenberger presides has jurisdiction over all transportation of mails, either by steam railways, steam- boats, electric cars, or what is known as the Star Route Service, reaching every village and hamlet of the country. This includes all foreign transportation, to and from our new possessions.
He was married on the first day of December, 1864, to Jose- phine, daughter of General Thomas J. Power, of Rochester. Their children were Thomas P., Laura, Francis W., Elizabeth, Mary, William, and Josephine, of whom Thomas P. and Francis W. are deceased.
Hon. Charles Champlin Townsend.
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Mr. Shallenberger was a member of the Baptist Church of Rochester, and a deacon from its organization to the date of his removal to Washington City.
Hon. Charles C. Townsend, a son of William P. and Sarah A. (Champlain) Townsend, was born in Allegheny, Pa., November 24, 1841. He received a good common school education. At the age of fifteen years he became a clerk in his father's office, and on the breaking out of the Rebellion he enlisted and served two years as a private in Company A of the Ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps, and in the First Pennsylvania Cavalry, to which he was transferred with the rank of adjutant. Receiving a discharge on account of ill health, Mr. Townsend returned to his home in New Brighton, Pa., when he and his brother, Edward P. Townsend, were taken in as partners with their father in his extensive busi- ness at Fallston as manufacturers of wire, wire nails, and rivets. In 1894 the sons became sole proprietors of this estab- lishment, the firm name being changed to C. C. & E. P. Townsend. This is one of the largest, as it was also one of the first industrial enterprises in Beaver County. Mr. Charles C. Townsend's sons, who now assist in running the plant, are the fourth generation of that name who have been interested in this factory.
In his religious connection Mr. Townsend is a Presbyterian and he is a ruling elder in his home church at New Brighton. In political faith he is a staunch Republican. He was elected on his party ticket to the Fifty-first Congress, receiving 21,636 votes against 14,481 votes for Samuel B. Griffith, Democrat; 1,597 votes for William T. May, Prohibitionist, and 562 votes scattering.
In October, 1865, he was married to Miss Juliet Bradford, a daughter of Benjamin Rush Bradford. The children of this union are the following: Juliet, Gertrude (died at the age of twenty-two), William P., Jr., Vincent Bradford, Charles C., Jr., Benjamin Rush, and John M. Benjamin Rush is Teller in the National Bank of New Brighton, and the other four sons occupy various positions with the firm of C. C. & E. P. Townsend.
His second marriage in 1902 was to Mattie K. Lynch.
VOL. 1 .- 15.
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Hon. James J. Davidson, deceased, was born in Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1861. He was the son of the late Colonel Daniel R. Davidson, and grandson of Hon. William Davidson, both of whom were men of prominence in the political and financial world, the latter having been several times a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature. and having been also a senator and speaker of the House. In his sixth year Mr. Davidson removed with his family to Beaver County. His early education was obtained in the public schools of Beaver and in the Beaver Seminary. In 1878 he entered Bethany College, Bethany, W. Va., and afterwards spent three years at the University of Kentucky, at Lexington, Ky., gradu- ating therefrom in 1883. Returning to Beaver, he spent the two following years in the study of law with the Hon. John J. Wickham, with a view to thoroughly equipping himself for a business career. In 1886 Mr. Davidson entered the oil trade as a new member of the firm of Darragh, Watson & Co., oil pro- ducers, and was subsequently interested in several other enter- prises. In the course of a few years he became president of the Union Drawn Steel Works of Beaver Falls, and was one of its largest stockholders.
Early in life Mr. Davidson became actively engaged in poli- tics, and was soon recognized as a leader in the Republican party. In 1894 he received the unanimous nomination of his party in Beaver County for Congress, but at the congressional conference held in Beaver Falls, he withdrew in favor of T. W. Phillips, of Lawrence County. In 1896, he was again the unani- mous choice of his county, and at the congressional conference held in Butler was nominated on the first ballot, being equally successful at the polls in the ensuing election. Mr. Davidson then went west for the purpose of recruiting his failing health, but after some weeks spent at Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs, with no improvement being indicated, he removed to Phoenix, Ariz., where, on the 2d of January, 1897, he died, at the early age of thirty-five years. His decease occurred before he had taken the oath of office as a member of Congress. Jan- uary 31, 1889, Mr. Davidson was married to Emma Eakin, daughter of John R. Eakin, of Beaver, where Mrs. Davidson, with two children of this marriage, Philip James and Sarah Norton, still resides.
A
.
J. J. Davidson.
N. P. Fetterman. (See p. 344.)
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STATE SENATORS
Hon. Samuel Power was a native of Loudon County, Virginia, and his wife, who was Elizabeth Penny, was a native of New Jersey. Many of her relatives reside in Allegheny County, pro- minent among them, Hon. John P. Penny, a lawyer, who served from 1859 to 1864 in the State Senate. Mr. Power came to Beaver County in the year 1796, and settled on a farm where Chewton is now located on the east side of the Beaver River. His wife brought with her a family of negro slaves consisting of "Old Kit" and his wife and four children-two boys and two girls. From the two boys came all the Pennys of negro blood now in Beaver County.
Mr. Power seems to have taken an active part in the interests of the Democratic party soon after he came to Pennsylvania, and he was elected Sheriff of Beaver County in 1809 and served till 1812. His election brought him to the county seat, and he took up his residence on the southwest corner of McIntosh Square. He purchased a farm near Beaver on the upper waters of Two-Mile Run, where he continued farming some years, and at the same time he was engaged in merchandising with his son-in-law, John Eberhart, Jr., on the corner of Third Street on the public square in a building which stood where the Masonic Hall now stands.
He was elected to the State Senate and served in the years 1825 to 1827, and in 1829 was elected to the House, of which he was a member from 1829 to 1833. He was a man of much public spirit, and was instrumental in securing the first appro- priation by the State to construct the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal from Rochester to the Ohio State line west of Mahoning- town, and thus connecting by a similar enterprise in Ohio the cities of Pittsburg and Cleveland by an unbroken line of water transportation. His action and interest in this enterprise gave him great popularity in the State, and at the expiration of his last term in the Legislature he was appointed Superintendent of the Canal and served in that capacity until the year 1836.
He served in the War of 1812 as Inspector with the rank of Major in the Second Brigade of the Sixteenth Division of Penn- sylvania, Militia, and marched to Meadville under orders received from the Governor under date of September 5, 1812. He served,
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also, in an expedition toward Erie in the months of January and February, 1814, when it was supposed some of the English forces were dangerously near that place. He was appointed Adjutant- General of the State in May, 1830, and served till August, 1836.
He left to survive him two sons, Thomas J. and James M., both of whom became prominent in the State. James M. built a large portion of the Erie Extension of the Ohio and Pennsyl- vania Canal; was a successful merchant and iron manufacturer for a number of years in Mercer County; was elected on the Whig ticket in 1847 as Canal Commissioner, and in 1848 was appointed by President Taylor, Minister to Naples and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He made the first and only im- provements, under a contract with the federal government, that ever were made prior to the completion of the Davis Island dam, on the Ohio River, from the mouth of the Beaver to Pittsburg. Those improvements can still be seen at a low stage of water.
Thomas J. Power was a civil engineer, and was engaged, in his early years, on the Pennsylvania Canal and Portage Railroad ; and also on the first surveys of what is now known as the Phila- delphia Railroad. He was one of the promoters of the Erie and Pittsburg Railroad. He was Adjutant-General of the State from October 25, 1856, to February 5, 1858.
General Samuel Power died at Beaver, August 22, A.D. 1840, and "sleeps his last sleep" beside his wife, Elizabeth Penny, and his son James Madison Power, in the old grave yard in the northwest corner of the county town. His second daughter, Sarah Power, became the wife of John Eberhart, Jr., and Gilbert Leander Eberhart, who furnishes this sketch, is her fifth and youngest child.
Hon. Robert Darragh was born February 23, 1776, in Dar- raghstown, near Milk Hill, County Fermanagh, Ireland, and came to America when about twelve years of age, landing at Philadelphia. For a short time he remained there, then coming on to Carlisle, Pa., and later coming to Beaver County, where he first settled on the south side, obtaining employment upon the farm of John Braden, on Raccoon Creek.
He was naturalized in Beaver County, August 3, 1807. He built a warehouse in Bridgewater and entered into the boating business, and met with success, till he suffered the loss of a
Robert Darragh,
John Dickey.
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pirogue, or flat-boat, load of merchandise, the same being caught in a heavy ice flow near the mouth of Chartiers Creek, the boat sinking and he himself narrowly escaping from a watery grave.
As there were few insurance companies in those times, the loss fell entirely upon him, and in order to assist in meeting the same, he taught school in Beaver County, later going for a short time to Yellow Creek, Ohio, where in the daytime he worked in the salt works and at night taught a night-school, until he was able to meet all losses claimed against him.
Returning to Bridgewater (in those days known as Sharon), he at once opened a general store and warehouse, and later built a large iron foundry, which he successfully conducted with his sons, John Stafford, Hart, Mattison, and Scudder Hart, under the name of R. Darragh & Sons, until in 1848, when he himself (his sons John Stafford and Hart having retired a few years before) withdrew and the business was conducted by his sons Mattison and Scudder Hart, and his son-in-law Hiram Stowe. The latter soon withdrew, leaving the business to the remaining partners, by whom the foundry business was carried on until in the summer of 1902, at which time, because of age, they sold out and retired.
The store and foundry conducted as above were long among the largest and most successful of the neighborhood.
Robert Darragh was elected to the State Senate of Penn- sylvania in 1846, where, though himself a Whig, he voted for Simon Cameron, a Democrat, for United States Senator, because of the agreement of their ideas as to a protective tariff.
During the War of 1812, when news came reporting the massacre of women and children near the present city of Warren, Ohio, he sent at his own expense all the powder, shot, lead, and flints stored away in his warehouse, to the relief of the city.
He was married to Deborah Hart, a granddaughter of Hon. John Hart of New Jersey, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. To them were born six sons: John Stafford, Jesse, James, Hart, Mattison, and Scudder Hart, and two daugh- ters, Martha A., who married Hiram Stowe, and Cynthia B., who married Dr. Milo Adams. The children (all save Jesse, who died in infancy) lived to a ripe old age, the sole survivor at this time being Scudder Hart Darragh, at the age of eighty-seven years, residing at Beaver, Penn.
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Robert Darragh was one of the pioneers of the Methodist Episcopal Church in western Pennsylvania, and one of the founders and first trustees of the Beaver M. E. Church erected in 1829, and later of the Bridgewater M. E. Church. Prior to the erection of these two churches he was a member of the old Methodist Episcopal Church located in Sharon, on the hillside, not far from the end of the present Sharon toll-bridge, and was one of the first trustees of this church.
During his lifetime he was prominently identified with the financial, mercantile, and manufacturing interests of the Beaver valley and of western Pennsylvania, and was widely known for his liberal support of the church and charitable institutions.
He died July 21, 1872, beloved and respected by all.
Hon. Archibald Robertson was born in County Tyrone, Ire- land, March 5, 1805, and came to this country with his parents in 1812. He became interested in the Fallston paper mill in 1828-29. In 1829 he built a steam paper mill in what was then called Brighton, on the site now occupied by the freight station of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, in Beaver Falls.
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